Dylan Ogline is a digital marketer who, by focusing on a proven strategy, was able to grow his agency 10x within just a year. Dylan is now sharing his expertise and training others on the step-by-step process that he used to achieve success with his agency.
Dylan Ogline kindly answered a few questions.
Hi Dylan, how did you discover and develop a passion for digital marketing?
I don’t know where I read or learned it from, but I picked up the concept that digital marketing allows you to put services or products in the hands of people who don’t even know they are looking for them. I think I read that back when I was 15 or 16, and it simply fascinated me. On top of that, marketing (done right) functionally allows a business to purchase growth. It’s no longer an unknown where more sales can come from – you can just buy them, and that blew me away.
When building Ogline Digital, what was the biggest initial challenge?
Focus. I really struggled with this for years on end. I had multiple different businesses and was going nowhere really fast. It wasn’t until I caught up with an old mentor of mine that I really saw the problem. It was one of those things where I knew the problem was there, but I didn’t want to face it. So, I finally cut everything and started to focus on one single business and one main offering. Within a month, I had doubled the business, and within a year, I had grown nearly 10x.
What prompted you to pivot your focus to training others in how to grow a profitable digital agency?
I grew up in a middle-income family. My main drive wasn’t to have a Lamborghini and a Rolex or five. I wanted to have financial freedom so I wouldn’t have to worry about things like paying the electric or water bill. That was the goal, period, and I worked as hard as possible to get there.
When I started the goal was 10k/month. Then it became 200k/year. Then 500k. Then 7 figures. Along the way, I met people who ended up asking me for advice on starting their own business or agency. So, I would mentor them, and I LOVED it. While I enjoy my agency, mentoring was simply on another level of personal fulfillment for me.
Coaches have had an incredible impact on my life. So, I’ve always been passionate about the idea of wanting to do some kind of coaching.
When I hit 7 figures, I kind of took a step back and realized that I would only keep increasing my goal. I would never be satisfied if I kept wanting “more”. On top of that, I had also built my agency in such a way that things were practically automated. I had an incredible team in place, and if I wanted to, I could live the “4 Hour Workweek” lifestyle.
So, the last year or so I have really been putting my focus on training others. I realized the most effective way I could do this was with a training program.
How have you structured your training programs to help others make the leap and start their own digital agency?
I’m constantly evolving my program. I started with the goal of being able to take anyone who had an interest in starting their own business and teach them how to build an agency from the ground up. If you already were familiar with the industry great, you were a step ahead, if not I would still want to have you covered.
At first, I didn’t realize all the unknowns to people. Especially if they have never started their own business.
This may sound silly but think of teaching someone to drive. “Get in the car, start the engine, put it in gear.” Sounds simple right? But what if the person has never even seen a car before? They may not know how to open the door. What do you mean to ‘start the engine’, what is that? How do I move forward? These are all valid questions.
I started my first business when I was 14. So, I have a year or two of experience. If I am starting something new; things like setting up an LLC or a business checking account or a website are like second nature to me. I don’t even think about it. Well if you have no experience, these things might seem daunting.
So now, with my newest version of the program, I not only teach the advanced stuff like mastering Facebook and Google ads, but also the fundamentals, basic building blocks for your agency and high-level mindset training.
How have you seen digital marketing change since you first started working in the industry?
The precision and targeting. The first marketing I ever played with was Google Ads, back when clicks were five to ten CENTS, and now five to ten dollars is considered cheap!
Sure, you could target keywords back then, but it was mostly just taking a shot in the dark. Now with Facebook, you can get into some very deep psychological triggers with potential customers, on a level that you as a business owner would never guess about your potential customers. When you have just a rough grasp of what the Facebook algorithm is doing behind the scenes, you truly realize just how game-changing it is for advertising.
If you could instantly change one thing about the industry, what would it be?
The idea that you are trying to convince people to buy your product or service. I believe that is a terrible idea. You never want to convince a customer.
The end goal should be to put your product or service in front of your ideal client. Full stop. That’s it. Your ideal client may not even know you exist yet. They may not even know they are looking for your product or service. That’s fine! But you should never be trying to convince them.
I see comments on Facebook ads sometimes where the customer will put something like “I had no idea this kind of service/product existed! This is amazing.” – THAT is what we are looking for.
Digital marketing is growing fast – is now the perfect time for someone considering starting their own agency to jump in?
There is just an incredible number of businesses that aren’t even trying any form of digital marketing. Maybe they’ve spent a couple hundred bucks on Facebook or Google, and it went nowhere. All of these businesses can use help.
On top of that, you can easily have a 6-figure agency off just 3-4 clients. There are over 30 million businesses in the United States alone. Not only is it a profitable business model, but there is also a massive demand for the service.
Thank you Dylan for your time!
You can follow up with Dylan Ogline at www.dylanogline.com
