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EP.84 Kean Graham on Why Location Independence Helped Him Build a $20M Business
Glen Carlson
Cofounder, Dent
Remote working is just a part of everyday life for lots of us these days. Virtual meetings, messaging apps and online office programs make this method of business viable for companies all over the world. But it can also be a substantial factor in drawing talent to your team, as well as motivating them to stay.
In this episode of The DENT Podcast, my business partner Mike Reid has an insightful conversation with Kean Graham, CEO of MonetizeMore. Kean is somewhat of an ad tech wizard, and self-taught to boot. Kean was a “growth hacker” before it was even a term. He shares so many ad tech gems with Mark, and they discuss MonetizeMore’s competitive edge- location independence.
Kean’s unorthodox childhood set him up to always look outside the box. Growing up on his parent’s Bed and Breakfast in the Canadian Rockies, his family was always looking for ways to live independently of the corporate world. That included living “off the grid” with the help of solar power. Which is why when the company who gave him “the best job he ever had” had to lay him off when the recession hit, he decided to travel the world for a while and come up with a new approach.
When Kean created MonetizeMore, a company geared towards helping companies grow through ad revenue, his goal was to be able to keep travelling while supporting himself financially. For three years the company grew in size, all while running it on his own. But when Kean was finally ready to hire team members, he realized location independence was going to be a selling factor. Today MonetizeMore consists of 130 team members, all working remotely.
In this episode, Kean and Mike Reid go through a plethora of details on how he was able to double, triple and even quadruple the ad revenues of companies of all sizes. He also shares helpful tips to keep your team motivated over KPIs, like implementing a simple colour-coded chart.
Some other great info in this episode:
The epiphany Kean had at Machu Picchu
The perks of location independence
How to incentivize your team without a central office
Why Kean scours the ad tech forums
How a simple colour-coded system can completely change your team’s motivation
How to pick which KPIs to track