Agency Chat – Lessons On Turning Loss Into Fuel …
By Catherine Howell | Jun 20, 2019 | Blog
Toronto-raised Billy Bamboa knows a thing or two about the entrepreneurial itch. The spark, he says, all started for him in his late twenties after attending an Amway training.
A couple of “failed” businesses later, Engauge was born, opening opportunities like never before.
It’s clear to see why.
The moment you meet him, there’s a light in his eyes and the energy of someone who makes you feel incredibly comfortable. He’s generous, successful, and perseveres despite it all.
He pulls out his Muse device (a mediation technology) proudly with a beaming grin – mindset!
“I have to stay on top of it otherwise things go pear-shaped!”
He gets it.
It’s refreshing to see, especially when you hear his story.
“All I ultimately want is more time with my family. My daughter.”
Appreciating what counts …
These days, it can be easy to get wrapped up in the world of your business. Of work. For many of us, “hustling” is a flow state, we enjoy it. It can pull us in and the next thing you know, you lose sight of the connections and people around you, arguably, what matters most.
Something that Billy doesn’t take for granted.
At the age of ten he lost his father.
“I started to build really thick skin at this age.”
At the age of twenty, he lost his best friend – his mother.
“My stepdad went into a bit of a tailspin and I had to grow up really fast.”
He shares how these experiences have helped him to gain perspective in his business and life.
“Every time I’m struggling with something or facing a challenge, I remember I have what matters, my daughter, all the rest is trivial.”
“I was getting $15K cheques and was thinking to myself “Fu*ck I made it!”
Instead of folding in, he used those experiences as fuel to help him gain momentum.
His first dig into the business world was an app development company.
“I was getting $15K cheques and was thinking to myself “Fu*ck I made it! Haha!”
A couple of businesses later, Engauge – his media buying agency – was born. After Billy discovered a big gap in the automotive industry, he quickly landed 4 clients. Today, his agency is venturing into new markets with aggressive growth plans.
Building an agency …
When asked what advice he would give the younger version of himself about to step into the agency world, Billy shares:
“I failed a lot, I tried a lot of stuff and kept at it. Remember that you don’t have to trade hours for dollars and you can hack life, you don’t need to rat race your way through it all.
You have to realise it’s not going to be rainbows and unicorns. It’s not going to be smooth, it’s not going to be easy. You’re going to have amazing celebrations, you’re going to cry and laugh and be down sometimes, but get right back up.
But you have to stay plugged in along the way. Be really good with your money. Hire someone who can help you with that decision making. I hired someone in December and it’s the best decision I made. It’s not cheap, but it saved our corporation, in terms of knowing what’s going in and what’s going out.
Hire well, stick with the processes, tap into all the resources that are there to recognise when you’re in a valley, understand when you’re at a peak.
If you keep doing that, within the first six months you should have a budding agency that is going to take you where you want to go in life.”
Parting words …
“You’re going to make a lot of money. Don’t start celebrating too early and blow your money on stupid shit like this sign behind me. I shouldn’t have bought it, but I did because it looks so awesome and it was a dream of mine to have it …
But I totally should have put that money into a funnel.”
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You can check out more from Billy and Engauge here.
