Episode Transcript
[00:00:08] Speaker A: You're listening to the Brand Alchemy podcast with your hosts Jared Asher and Jarrod Brake, where we uncover the stories and truths of real entrepreneurs and their journeys of growth and brand transformation. For more information, go to www.timelesscreative.com.au/boardroom
[00:00:29] Speaker B: Hey guys, how you going? Welcome back. This week's version of the brand upcoming podcast where we uncover the stories of entrepreneurs who have transformed their visions into a reality. I'm Jared Asher Herring, joined by my co host, Jarrod Brake.
[00:00:43] Speaker C: Hey everyone. Jared here. Great to have you back for another episode.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: Each week we share the breakthrough moments, hard won victories and strategic insights that turn ambitious founders into market leaders. Did you know? According to Ahrefs, the leading search data center in the world, approximately 90% of all website pages get zero organic traffic from Google, effectively making them invisible online. What that means is they're sabotaging themselves even without even realizing it. So this is poor SEO, unclear communication, and their competitors are stealing all the attention from you. That's where we come in. Jared and I, we're brand marketing architects and we help growing businesses claim their rightful market share online. This is where we fix it. We can do this in 30 days or less where we sit down with you and we unpack what's holding your business back and we create a master plan that brings you new and repeat customers and leads online.
So if that's you, you're tired of blending in in the background and you want to start taking some market share, here's what we can do. In the next seven days, we can offer you a boardroom strategy meeting where we unpack your business and create that master plan. All you gotta do is go to www.thomascreative.com boardroom. Guys, it is my great pleasure to welcome the team behind kimligraphy. That's Mark and Kim, the husband and wife duo behind one of Australia's leading calligraphy agencies, KimLigraphy. Founded in 2017 by Kim Tran Flores, joined by her husband Mark in 2022, chemically began as a small venture offering calligraphy workshops throughout Sydney, Australia. And Fast forwarding to 2025, Kim is now known as one of Australia's leading agencies in live personalization and calligraphy. Welcome, guys. Great to have you here.
[00:02:37] Speaker D: Thanks for having both of us. Jared and Jared. It feels like a doubles match.
[00:02:42] Speaker B: We get the Double J, double the.
[00:02:44] Speaker E: Insight, double the trouble, right?
[00:02:47] Speaker D: Interruptions, I think a lot of confusion.
[00:02:50] Speaker B: A lot of confusion as well.
[00:02:52] Speaker D: Guys, you know what would be weird? If my name is Kim.
Kim.
[00:03:00] Speaker E: But in all seriousness, we are excited to be here. Thank you for having us.
[00:03:04] Speaker B: Yeah, it's great to have you guys. And we've got a. A long history as well. In fact, a lot of people that we've been interviewing has had some sort of relevance in our story and background as friends and people in business. So it's really great to have you here, and I'm really looking forward to unpacking the juicy nuggets and story behind you guys as, as. As guests. So thank you again for being here. So let's kick it off, shall we? So for the listeners that are tuning in right now, you've got a great story, and I've known this for a long time, and I'm really excited. So do you want to share a little bit about you guys as husband and wife duo? A bit of background into the brand?
[00:03:39] Speaker E: I can start. So calligraphy started with my passion for modern calligraphy. It was inspired by my late grandfather, who happened to be a sign writer and a Chinese calligrapher. But he. He tragically died in a car accident before I was born. And, like, for a lot of people, when you put enough hours of learning, you grow a set of skills that can be valuable for others. So it didn't take very long for me to want to start to teach other people and to share that knowledge with them. So I ran my first mindful modern calligraphy workshop in Sydney, where we explored the benefits of mindfulness through the art of calligraphy. And we did that for a few years.
[00:04:19] Speaker D: And my background is in video and digital marketing. And later I found a knack in branding as well. I had already dove into the world of entrepreneurship before Kim started my own business called Falcon Creative, where you, Jared Asher, had been my business coach for three years, as a matter of fact.
[00:04:35] Speaker B: Yeah, those are the days. Exactly.
[00:04:37] Speaker D: Yeah. But I think it's a. It's a combination of seeing the potential in what Kim was doing and the idea of working together that really led me to transition as the chief marketing growth officer of kimligraphy in 2022. And during that time is when we began to pivot from doing those workshops that Kim talked about to becoming more of a nationwide calligraphy personalization agency.
[00:05:01] Speaker E: And beyond business, Mark and I have been married for over a decade. Eleven years, to be exact. We have two beautiful kids. Hendrix, our son, who's turning 7, and his little sister, Riley, who is about to hit nine months old.
[00:05:15] Speaker B: Fantastic. And you're right, like, I've known you guys for a very long time, actually. And in fact, Mark, I met you back in the AI Days, Australians.
You know, we had some incredible times back then and you know, and one of the first things that you personally, you know, said to me is I want to start a business, I just don't know how. And so, you know, we went through a lot of trial and error as to what sort of what your uniqueness was, what your skills were. And we uncovered, yeah, you have a very skilled area in marketing. It was just unpacking that and getting to that sort of that idea. And then you started Falcon Creative, which was quite successful in its own right too. And Kim, I remember the day, I remember the first time I came down to Sydney I met you, I thought this chick's a legend.
[00:06:01] Speaker E: That was a first impression.
[00:06:02] Speaker B: Yeah, you were. And I was like, I was really, I felt at home straight away when you guys welcomed me in your home and we, you had great conversations. So it's just, it's just such a great thing to, for me personally to see you guys come so far in this amount of time. And I guess for a question for you that will open this up is, you know, being that you both are husband and wife duo, being that you've got backgrounds in project management, Kim, and then of course Mark, yourself starting a business back in, back in what, 10 years ago now or earlier than that, what is the thing that you, that was really drawing you together to sort of bring that, those unique energies together. And how did that idea really start for you, Mark? And then I'll go for you, Kim.
[00:06:46] Speaker D: It's the learnings that I got from a guy called Roger Hamilton. And I'm sure you, you know him as well, Jared, and he talked about following your genius. I think for me, when I realized that I am a creative and that's where my strength truly lies. That when I went all in on that, that's when I started noticing things were working a lot better for me. I learned to apply that not just for me, but also seeing the way that Kim works and looking at what her strengths are. And I think that's kind of one of the reasons that brought us together in working as a, as a partner in the business is being able to utilize our strengths and we're not clashing heads in that sense where I would focus more on the high level visionary side of things and the creative side of things. And then Kim, she's more of a practical, hands on, she's into project management like, like you mentioned before. So she's quite good when it comes to, to talking to clients as well. I tend to focus more on the online space, which is where my strengths lie. So I think our skill sets was a massive benefit to making it happen.
[00:08:00] Speaker E: To kind of carry on from that is. You mentioned the project management and I guess for me I saw the value in delegating work to people who are very skilled in what they do. When I started a business, I had to know everything and I had to be that one person that did everything. And in most cases it is for people when they first start out because your finances are probably only allowing you so much or your resources only allowing you so much. So you do a lot of the things yourself, but you get to a point where you realize you can't do everything yourself so you need the help and you have to let go and allow people to help you. But also delegating, like Mark says, what I'm not good at to someone who like him is good at I. E. Marketing.
[00:08:43] Speaker B: That's fantastic.
[00:08:44] Speaker C: And what like being in a partnership together, what kind of challenges and benefits do you see that that that hasn't and has showed over the years?
[00:08:53] Speaker E: I think for me that one of the challenges in the beginning was not. Not so much as seeing Mark as my husband, but more so my business partner.
With the Hudson role, there's a bit of that emotional attachment and taking things personally rather than letting go and being like, you know, he's not belittling me or telling me what to do, but it's more so he's helping me.
[00:09:14] Speaker D: Yeah. I think we really learned together when it's time to really drop the ego and see it, see the. The whole, you know, the brand in the band. Right. You guys are in the DJ industry, I'm in the, you know, rock industry. And as you know, if one of the band members are going in opposite directions, it's not going to work out. So when everyone's on the same page, when everyone's understand what the direction is and there's compromises, there's understanding you're working in benefit of the bigger picture, not just for your own selfish needs. So that requires a lot of really dropping that ego.
[00:09:55] Speaker C: Yeah. So in some ways has kind of really taught you and grown you as a couple in ways which maybe you wouldn't learn as a couple going through the business journey.
[00:10:04] Speaker E: Yeah. And learning to communicate very differently.
Being much more open and honest. I used to say this to Mark all the time. What was the word? I always say stop patronizing me.
[00:10:16] Speaker B: But.
[00:10:17] Speaker E: But kind of see things from his point of view now. And the business has also helped our own personal relationship.
[00:10:22] Speaker B: I was actually, I was actually going say that, Kim. I was. My question is like, how, how have you personally found this has helped your personal relationship as husband and wife? And before, before you answer that question, I, I can understand that because I know what it's like if, if you know, you know, having a partner or having a, a wife or a husband. It is easy to allow our egos to start jumping in there, even when the intention's always good and pure. And I could imagine, you know, from your perspective and I'm interested to hear more about it, but I could imagine that that process to get to that point where it isn't a patronization, it's more of a helping hand to get to that point. And dropping that, that so called ego or intellectual mind would have been challenging at the start. But I'm interested to hear from your thoughts. How did that process go for you both?
[00:11:13] Speaker D: Because I have a coaching background, whenever I want to give Kim, you know, advice, I tend to ask her, you know, coaching questions, which to her and the time does seem a little bit patronizing.
[00:11:25] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:11:26] Speaker D: So it was really her us learning to understand our communication style. That's one. And me just, just building more of that empathy and also learning that before I give advice, it's like asking that permission. Can I give you that advice rather than just, just, just giving it?
[00:11:45] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:11:45] Speaker E: And I think that comes from me also vocalizing, like if I come to him, I say I'm going to just vent. I don't need you to solve the problem. I just need you how I feel. And then for, for Mark, he, he learned to ask before giving advice. Look, we, we don't help. We can't help it. Sometimes we just go straight into it. And that's where we have to take accountabilities for ourselves too and say, look, that's not what I'm here for. I just really need you to stop and listen. But yeah, it was a challenge at the beginning. It wasn't something that was easy that came easy either.
[00:12:16] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:12:16] Speaker D: And I think one of the biggest lessons that we learned is that disagreements is actually normal in a relationship and you have to have disagreements. I think if everyone's agreeing.
[00:12:27] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:12:28] Speaker D: There's some, you know, someone's not telling the truth or.
[00:12:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:32] Speaker E: Or someone's settling, basically.
[00:12:34] Speaker D: Yeah. Yeah. So I think learning to find harmony in the disagreements, I think that was the key.
[00:12:39] Speaker B: Yeah, that's, that's amazing. So just to summarize, you mentioned first point was learning to communicate and the second one was learning to understand disagreements. Are normal.
[00:12:48] Speaker D: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:12:49] Speaker B: That's beautiful, mate. And so, moving on to the brand, tell us a bit about your business. Tell us a bit about what is happening in the world of calligraphy at the moment. Share some insights into what's happening in that world.
[00:13:03] Speaker D: A lot of people see calligraphy as an art form, but the essence of what we do is really bringing out that human touch in a very digital, data driven AI world. And I think for a lot of businesses out there were quite familiar with the term personalization. You know, brands like Uber, Netflix, Amazon, you know, these guys lead the way when it comes to personalizing or tailoring the experience for that individual.
The thing is, a lot of personalization resides a lot in the online world.
[00:13:37] Speaker E: So what we essentially is we help bring personalization into the real world. We call it experiential personalization through calligraphy and other lettering techniques that is done by hand.
[00:13:49] Speaker D: So normally when a lot of businesses, when they think of personalization, they might think of putting out goodie bags, for example. And inside a goodie bag is something that everyone gets.
[00:13:58] Speaker E: So while the goodie bag is quite tailored to the event, the goodie bag isn't generally always tailored to the actual person receiving that.
[00:14:06] Speaker B: That goodie bag. Yes. Yeah.
[00:14:08] Speaker D: Or even, you know, the usual asking for dietary requirements, where would you like to sit, sitting arrangements, that sort of thing. So there's that question of how can we, how can businesses put on events that, that bring that personalization aspect, but also make them memorable?
[00:14:24] Speaker B: Wow. Yeah. I mean, I've seen you guys start the business and, you know, I've witnessed it firsthand. I've been in touch with it for a long time now. And I remember when you first started the business, Kim, and one of the things that I really always remembered is the integration of meditation and, and the philosophy of Zen that was brought into it.
Can you share with us a bit more about that sort of things and, and the benefits to the, you know, when they're going through this process of learning to write calligraphy?
[00:14:57] Speaker E: Yeah. So that really, it's funny because I think the art of mindfulness through calligraphy isn't just for the workshops anymore. I personally don't run a lot of public workshops anymore. I don't think I run any. It's mostly corporate workshops and businesses and companies who book us in for those experiences with their team. For me, when I personally started, it was just slowing down and taking a moment to be in the present moment because we're all like Mark mentioned to, in this busy, crazy, hectic world. We're always running around and rushing. So to take a moment, to actually slow down has so much benefits. But then when you take it and put it into the live calligraphy scenario too, even if you have like, I don't know, you've been to a shopping center and they're handing out goodies or they're giving away a freebie, you just go up, you grab it and you leave. Sometimes you don't even really stop.
[00:15:51] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:15:52] Speaker E: To take in the experience or to notice the brand. But when you have like say an artist sitting there and we actually have to stop. Right. And personalize something for you and you get to watch it, you get that small moment of just sitting there or standing there and seeing it and being.
[00:16:08] Speaker B: Mindful, basically being present to surroundings. Is that that moment of just letting go of the outside world essentially? Right, yeah. Being in that moment. And that's, you know, for me, for me that's like a, a massive thing. As you guys know, I've been into the whole Eastern philosophy Zen meditation practice for, for many, many years.
And I think the benefits are exponential to, to people when they go through that, that process. Because you can't really describe the feelings that you get or the, the, the, the benefits you have until you've actually witnessed or been through. It's not witnessed, but being through that experience. And I suppose like you're saying right now, it's like when people are, you know, witnessing and engraving or they're at a, at a live personalization, they have that, that moment. And I think that's that slowing down and being aware of your surroundings and being aware of what's happening around you, it sort of calms the mind, produces some very positive psychological benefits to them, to the brain.
[00:17:13] Speaker E: And if anything, it makes you remember the moment even more. And for us it's all about making it memorable.
[00:17:21] Speaker B: That's, that's, that's amazing.
[00:17:22] Speaker D: Especially when we're in a time where there's just so much noise now, right?
[00:17:25] Speaker B: Oh, totally.
[00:17:26] Speaker D: Online in the real world, a lot of things pulling you in, getting your attention. So people today, we're very protective of where our attention goes.
[00:17:37] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:17:38] Speaker C: It shows the importance of slowing down and everything we do, not only business, but our personal lives.
What excites you about your business right now and the people that you work with and the product that you deliver.
[00:17:51] Speaker D: One of the first gigs that we did during that transition to an agency, this is the sort of time with one of our first clients, which is a long term client who's still with us Today, so they partner with us for a Christmas activation. And we had activations in Sydney and Melbourne with four calligraphers hand lettering on notebooks and wall balls. And that's when we realized that organizations, businesses, and companies, they do have that need for personalization to be provided at their events in order to engage attendees and create an experience that is memorable. And another thing that we realized is that they also needed personalization to be delivered at scale. And the first time we work with Dusk Australia for Mother's Day, it was across five major cities, five calligraphers, and then we had another client for a Father's Day activation that needed us across 15 stores in three states. We had eight artists.
So, yeah, what started off with just Kim, you know, who did his personalization events on her own, grew to over 30 members now around Australia. So that, for me personally, that's. That's creating something at scale is one of the things that excites me.
[00:19:07] Speaker E: Mark definitely has that love for scaling things.
Let's be honest. I didn't really have that vision for as a creative.
When you start something, you think, I'm the artist, and I'm the only person who can do this because I'm the only one that knows how to create like me. So it was really hard to be able to see the vision of scaling something like this. We look at the interstate and the domestic market, and then we also think, what can we do internationally, too?
[00:19:37] Speaker B: That's amazing.
[00:19:38] Speaker D: Yeah, I think it's just the whole challenging yourself.
Every business goes through different stages, and each stage we normally hit a plateau or glass ceiling. And I think that feeling of being able to break through that glass ceiling is one of the reasons why we keep doing what we do. It's the challenge and being able to solve problems, not just for others, but for your own business as well. I think that's what brings a lot of joy for me, anyway.
[00:20:04] Speaker E: Yeah. And the other thing, like when Mark mentions breaking through the glass ceiling, when I let go of the notion that I had to know everything and everything had to be done kind of the right way the first time, that was when I was able to visualize more of the scaling and realize, you know what? It doesn't have to always be perfect and you've got help there when you need it.
[00:20:25] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:20:26] Speaker B: That's amazing. Some beautiful insights for everyone listening. It's really, really good to. To be able to share that wisdom and have you.
[00:20:32] Speaker E: What.
[00:20:32] Speaker B: What going into what you just said. Then, guys, what would be the thing that you've you know, you've been in business for quite some time now. What are the breaking through barriers that you've experienced and come out the other side and realized, wow, I connect the dots backwards and that's how I got through it. What were those things and how did you break through them?
[00:20:50] Speaker D: One of the things I really learned about business and you talked about, you know, marketing early on is there's always a work in progress, right? You tweak, you refine, and then you think, yep, that's it, I nailed it. But then later on you gain some new insights or someone shares some wisdom and you realize, nope, I don't got it.
And then you work on it and then you think, okay, I've nailed it. But you realize it's never perfect. Like Kim says, you know, you can only keep improving, making it better than the last in business. That's normal because the market changes, the way people consume, information changes, people's buying pattern changes.
So I think staying on the cutting edge has been that continuous challenge. But an important lesson I learned, and Kim, such a base on this already is that you can't effectively do it all alone. And you need others to look at your business from an outside perspective because we can easily be consumed in the business that we create these blind spots. Right?
So I think for us in the last year or so, we've really been focusing on gaining those extra perspectives from experts like you guys, from other companies, other service providers that we work with. And I think the confidence that that really comes when you do start to see the results, you know, for us, you know, prospects are coming to us out of the blue. We're signing up high ticket clients with a lot more ease.
So, yeah, I think that's one of the challenges and hopefully being able to come through to the other side.
[00:22:23] Speaker E: You know, when I think about challenges, there's this one that I always go back to and it's always been the one that inspires me the most is learning to. And it's so simple. But it's picking up the phone and talking to someone when I first started and you know, I would come to Mark for advice. Why won't this client talk to me? You know, I've been emailing back and forth and they've ended up going with someone else. And he's like, have you actually tried to pick up the phone and talk to them? And I'm like, why? There's emails.
[00:22:53] Speaker B: I'm sure you can relate here, buddy.
[00:22:56] Speaker E: Yeah, like, you know, you can, you can feel my tone through an email. And he goes, but rapport that you build with someone on even a phone call is so different.
[00:23:05] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:23:06] Speaker E: And that has been one of the biggest changes.
[00:23:09] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:23:09] Speaker E: Because I've had clients where they've clearly reached out to multiple agencies because it's a very generic email. Right. And then they would leave their phone number and I would just call them up and that and they'll say stuff like, you're the only one who's called me.
[00:23:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:24] Speaker E: And you know, to talk to me. And I actually really like you. So, you know, they've literally signed up with us based on just a phone call. Yeah.
[00:23:32] Speaker B: And I'll just jump in here too if I can just offer my own insights to that. You know, I'm a, I'm a firm believer being my background has been sales and marketing for 20 years. Years or so is you can't put a price tag on relationships. You just can't. And one of the things I've personally learned is, you know, and I've learned this from my own lessons, but also witnessing it from others as well and other brands is that when like you said, Kim, when you send an email to someone, it's okay and it's good to have a touch point. But the relationship is always established when you're talking to someone and learning about them and their story and what's held them back. And really it's getting to know them on a human level. And essentially that's what separates the, I guess the winning business against the people who haven't won the business. And for that matter, which is hardly why Jared and I never lose a business. I'm not trying to be not myself, but my conversion rates are out of 10, I'll close nine clients. And the reason why is because every single person that I personally speak to gets to understand where they currently at in their business, business journey and what the problems are they're experiencing and what the solutions are to. To how they can bridge that gap between where they are right now and where they want to get to in the future. And so that's a little.
[00:24:51] Speaker E: Sorry to jump in. And that's a little hard to do an email sometimes because you can ask someone all these questions, but then they have to sit there and respond to you and they have to, you know, versus just being able to tell you.
[00:25:02] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:25:03] Speaker E: It is, that's right.
[00:25:04] Speaker D: I think that's one of the big lessons that you taught me, Jared. And have to give. Give credit where credit is due. But if there's one salesperson that actually Taught me sales. It's you. And I'll pass. Pass that on to Kim. Yeah, thanks, buddy.
[00:25:15] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:25:16] Speaker D: Pleasure. And, and, you know, when it comes to sales, when, when we do reframe it as picking up the phone, talking to someone, because you actually want to understand what their problem is and build a connection. Building a connection and, and, and seeing if you're the right fit. So it's not trying to make a sale. It's. It's, you know, it's. It's a discovery process. And I think when you come from that perspective, it actually becomes a breeze. And I think for Kim, when she learned that and getting over her fear of picking up the phone and talking to people, she. She. She realized that that's actually one of her strengths.
[00:25:53] Speaker E: It was the fear. Was the fear of rejection. Picking up the phone and introducing yourself someone and then trying to sell to them, only for them to turn around and say no. It was that fear that kind of really turned me off sales because I thought that I had to win every sales call.
[00:26:09] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:09] Speaker E: Not realizing that it wasn't winning every sales call. It was building that connection. Because sometimes I would say no now, but they'd come back later and say, I remember you because you talked to me.
[00:26:18] Speaker B: That's exactly right. That's exactly right. And the way I always like to just one last point on this, the way I like to and discuss this is you really are building a partnership with someone to help them in their business. You're not trying to sell product. And if you, if you come from that mentality of trying to sell them something, they'll smell it from a mile away.
Then they'll run for the hills, and rightfully so, too. Because if someone's trying to sell me, I'm out the door. So when people can really get to understand that you're there to help them and they can witness that and feel that, then they're like, all right, this person's actually got an invested interest in helping me and my business. The whole paradigm shifts. And so, yeah, that's, that's great insights, guys. Tell us a bit about, you know, the brands you've been working with. I mean, I've witness you've been working with some high profile brands. Do you want to explain a little bit about that? And I'd like to, for the audience that are listening, actually, for that matter, to understand, you know, the caliber of clients you're working with.
[00:27:15] Speaker D: Really, we tend to attract a lot of corporate and luxury brands. Kim and I both have a background in corporate. Our Avatar consists of mainly professionals who do, who work with other bigger companies and they're in their event space or the marketing space. So there might be an experimental marketer, there might be part of a PR agency, even a business founder, events coordinator, events planner, brand manager, account manager. So these are the type of avatars that we work with. And we actually develop a blueprint called bizzing flow. Because like I said before, calligraphy can be easily perceived about just the art. But for us, we understand that the clients that we do work with, that they want results and whether that's more purchases, strengthening brand loyalty, increasing traffic. So our approach is both creative and strategic.
And from a high level, our blueprint, the business flow blueprint works backwards from their desired objectives. It looks at the measurable metrics and then it determines the scope. Like for example, what is the ideal personalization technique and even the level of personalization, because a lot of people don't realize this, there's different levels. So you might have more of a standard personalization versus more of a high level customization. And maybe Kim might be able to elaborate more on that.
[00:28:40] Speaker E: A standard personalization is, is for very high traffic events. So if you've got an event that's having hundreds of people through the door, let's say every hour, the level of personalization that you can do for each person is limited. Right. So we might have, where let's say a company comes to us and says, we've got notebooks and we want these personalized for at least 500 people for the day or somewhere around, we would limit and say, you know what, they would be able to get their initials done or we wouldn't be able to do this technique, we would aim for this technique instead versus a high level of customization where we've got all the time in the world. Basically they say we've got this influencer event and we've got, you know, 60 people in 10 hours to do it. We would give them the world. You can personalize whatever you like. You can have whatever technique you like, whatever color you want, whatever product you choose. So we cater that to the needs of our clients based on the event that they're running.
[00:29:34] Speaker D: Yeah. And I think the advantage for us is because we do have quite a few team members, we can go high level customization because, you know, if it's within the budget of the client, then we can introduce not just one calligrapher, but a number of calligraphers to work on that, to work at that event. So we can do more of a customized approach, if that makes sense.
[00:29:57] Speaker B: It does. It's amazing. And I've noticed I'm just going to spill a few names here just because, just helps the audience understand, you know, the type of clients you're actually working with. And so if anyone's out there that are in that same ballpark, they, they can get a reference point to that. Brands like Mecca, Meta, PwC, Tiffany and company. There's some of the names is there? I believe you've got over 200 high profile brands that you've worked with. They're the type of brands that you attract. Is that high level caliber, correct?
[00:30:26] Speaker E: It is. And it, it's based on look, there's word of mouth where people, one person, you know, I've had friends come to me and they're like, oh, so we want to work with you. And I'll ask them, how did you find out about us? You know, Meta told us about you, so now we want to work with you.
[00:30:43] Speaker D: And yeah, I think it's for brands who really value experimental experiential marketing.
[00:30:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:49] Speaker D: So if they put on events, if they, even if they do gifting for, for their clients or for vip, if they value that as part of the marketing and branding and also really to, to drive results. Because when it comes to personalization, you know, a lot of research will actually tell you, you know, for example, 76% of consumers are more likely to purchase from brands that offer personalization. So there's a lot of these statistics that show how important personalization is. And I think for, for brands that value that, but also value the human touch and putting on events for their, for their company. Yeah, those are, those tend to be the type of clients that will get the most benefit from working with us.
[00:31:31] Speaker E: And one of the other reasons I believe that we're able to work with a lot of these big brands like you mentioned, you know, we've got a really great relationship with Vittorio Coffee Ekoya and we've built that level of trust with them to be able to deliver what we say we deliver.
[00:31:47] Speaker B: It's great guys. It's really, really good to see and, and those relations like we're getting back to what we're saying before those relationships, you know, all start with conversation, doesn't it?
[00:31:56] Speaker E: Exactly.
[00:31:57] Speaker B: You've been able to achieve what you've achieved thus far and it's, it's even the start of something even bigger. Describe that. Actually now we're talking about the future. What does it look like for you guys? What does it look like for the brand and you guys within the brand.
[00:32:10] Speaker D: Simply we do want to become the default choice for premium high volume clients that's looking for calligraphy, personalization for four events and gifting in Australia. But we are expanding or have expanded to New Zealand as well. And I think just, just, just, yeah, just, just scaling our impact to give you an idea of perhaps, you know, what strategies that we're, we're going with. Yeah. Working with you guys when it comes to SEO, I think realizing future proofing our business, especially when you know this with AI. A lot of people are searching on AI the way that they do in Google now. So and, and one of the things I learned is in order to be found on AI platforms like ChatGPT, you really have to work on improving your brand profile, building a strong position in the marketplace and I think things like SEO and PR that we've dealt with in the past as well, things like that. Because a lot of entrepreneurs, they tend to get caught up in social media, spending all their time on Instagram and Facebook and content of really missing out on that opportunity of, of, you know, of, of staying on the cutting edge and using other opportunities to, to scale their business. And that's one of the things that we definitely realized because we spent so much time on, on Instagram and Facebook, not realizing later on that there's other ways to actually grow the business. So Kim, you know, we're so grateful for, for you guys because you know, you're helping us create this, this thing.
[00:33:42] Speaker B: That we created, the ecosystem of marketing.
[00:33:45] Speaker E: Yeah, yeah, I second that.
[00:33:47] Speaker B: And so you know, you mentioned New Zealand, where, whereabouts are New Zealand guys?
[00:33:53] Speaker E: So what we've been doing with New Zealand is actually working with a PR company who does distributions to influencers down there. So really all around New Zealand, depending on where these influences are kind of located too.
[00:34:05] Speaker D: Yeah, we tend to focus on the, on the major cities. So in New Zealand, Auckland perhaps Queenstown and in the major, major cities of Australia we do have team members in some regional areas as well. But it's always worth, you know, having a chat with us and seeing, you know, if, if we can assist you in that.
[00:34:24] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And, and Jared, just one last thing here before, before we wrap it up, but I've got a question for you Jared, in terms of what Mark was just saying then about AI search now for you guys that are listed listening, the audience listening to sort of help you understand a bit about Jared's background. He's been in, you know, running meta ads since essentially meta ads started. He's been involved with SEO since it began back in 2007 essentially. So he knows his way around it, but he's. Because he's at the forefront of, of SEO and what the trends are with what's happening. He's well versed in terms of what's happening with AI search as well. Well, so Jared, for the listeners listening, including Mark and Kim here, for all of us, do you want to share a little bit about what's happening with AI search so we can learn something from that as well, please?
[00:35:10] Speaker C: Yeah, definitely. As everyone knows, chat GBT's come out and people are starting to use different behaviors when they're on online. For the first time ever, just in the last week, Google's search placement has gone down to 90% of how much market share that they actually have. So that's a dramatic static loss for them. So people are starting to use different searching methods online in a different way. Like you've got perplexity, which is a very, very good search engine, chat GPT and all the other models out there. So it's basically essential that all businesses are currently looking at, you know, going into these search models and just seeing if they're appearing and if they're not, why not? And that's something that obviously, you know, you and I focus on heavily Java. But as we move into 2025 and beyond, even though it might be just a small thing now, we're going to be moving really, really fast into technology and the way things change. So essential that even if you don't use those platforms, if you're in business, you need to get onto them and see where you're coming up. Are your competitors coming up? Why are they coming up? But yeah, lots of things you can do there to actually make yourself seen.
[00:36:21] Speaker B: Yeah. And just this ties into, to yourself, Mark and Kim because one of the things that we're working, working on with, with cum is AI search. And as, as it, as it evolves, as the technology becomes more advanced and the, the adoption rate increases, more and more people will start going to platforms like Jared said, perplexity and typing in keywords like calligraphy Sydney, or you know, live personalization calligraphy and things like that. And you guys will be at the forefront of that. So in terms of marketing and innovation, it's, it's really, really adopting and staying ahead of what the trends are before those trends happen. And that's where you said Mark, is SEO has been a, you know, a part of the ecosystem for the brand and it really is because it ties in SEO Being that it's heavily tied at the moment to, to Google, as the adoption rate with, with AI search increases and that personalization people will start realizing they'll go to AI and they'll start to searching in those channels. And that's how you can cover your basis across not only Google, but your AI search. And, and, and, and that will, has created exposure for, for the brand as well. I'll just give you one quick example here as to the relevance here. So Jared and I do a lot of high end consulting for some brand agencies, award winning agencies around Australia and, and Singapore. And one of the agencies we did a campaign for, basically they were, they were in the branding agency space and one of the search terms that a user or, sorry, a business was searching for corporate, corporate brand typed in Australia's leading branding agency. And this particular company, I won't mention the name for, for various reasons they came up in this, in the search and so that particular company reached out to this branding agency and they essentially formed a relationship and became a client. And that contract in terms of revenue worked out to be over 250,000 AUD for that contract over a six month term. So the point is that AI search, as it evolves and continues to grow and the adoption rate increases will play a heavy part into the landscape of marketing, but also SEO as a whole. So yeah, very, very powerful stuff.
[00:38:40] Speaker D: Yeah, that's awesome. I mean you guys are the expert in this and it's great to know that we're in good hands.
[00:38:45] Speaker B: Yeah, awesome.
[00:38:46] Speaker E: I love delegation.
[00:38:48] Speaker B: Yeah, well, we too delegate as well. Trust me, we have to, in certain areas, of course we have to work right. Otherwise you just can't grow, you can't scale.
[00:38:55] Speaker E: Exactly.
[00:38:56] Speaker B: So just, just wrapping it up guys. Is there any, is there one question that you, for the listeners that are tuning right now, what one specific question can you ask that will leave them thinking what they can do to grow their business and why?
[00:39:14] Speaker D: I'll give you an example first. So Kim and I climbed the Harbour Bridge on my birthday this year in February. And it actually reminded me what someone said about problem solving. So it's something along the lines of, you know, imagine if you're standing at the base of the Sydney Harbour Bridge at the ground level, everything feels overwhelming. You can't see too far. Obstacles seem endless. But now if you picture yourself at the top, from up there, the entire map unfolds so you can see the path ahead, the detours and the way forward with a lot more clarity. So I guess the question for me Is, you know, are you shifting your perspective and are you in, as they say, say, standing in the shoulder of giants? Right. Because sometimes the fastest way to go higher isn't also isn't by climbing alone. It's by learning from those who've been there there, you know, seeking that mentorship, surrounding yourself with the right people who elevate and challenge you. So are you able to leverage your perspective in business and in life in general?
[00:40:19] Speaker B: That's a great question.
[00:40:21] Speaker E: Mark talks about the Harbor Ridge climb, but I always reference back to back in 2020, we had a massive car accident. I'm very lucky to be alive. But I sometimes refer when I was lying in hospital to give you an idea. I had broken my pelvis us in five places from this accident. And as I'm lying in the bed and thinking like, why has this happened? Because I like to question instead of asking why is this happening to me? I ask myself why is this happening for me, the one thing I've learned from that is, and the question I ask is, if have I done everything possible I can for my business and if not, why not? Because what do I really have to lose lose if I don't just try it. What's the worst thing?
[00:41:07] Speaker B: It's very thought provoking, guys, from both of you. Very, very thought provoking. It actually was making me think a lot of things as you're talking and I thank you. I really appreciate those questions and I, I would assume anyone that's listening to this would get a lot out of that because it's those thought provoking questions that spike the, the, the next question, which is how do I solve that problem? What is the problem I have and how do I solve that? And I think it's that and just adding to that, I think it's that, that adoption of having a problem solving mindset as opposed to being stuck in the problem and being tied to that story that you create for yourself. I think that's the winning formula because when you start actually thinking, you're flipping the paradigm from I'm in this problem, I can't get out of it to thinking how do I problem solve this? And what are the right questions I have to ask is really what creates the next level of growth as a human being, but also and how that applies to your business as well.
[00:41:57] Speaker D: Well 100 and I think, you know, for a lot of people, they, they tend to go on this journey setting goals, you know, creating those, the, the vision boards. Nothing wrong with that, but you nailed it. I think if you really Want to grow you become a problem solver. I think that is the, the key formula. I totally agree with you there.
[00:42:18] Speaker B: That's fantastic, guys. Well, well, Jared, is any, any questions you have for the guys before we, we wrap it up here, buddy?
[00:42:24] Speaker C: Yeah, I guess the main one, how do people find you if they want to, if they would like to, you know, use your services?
[00:42:30] Speaker E: So you can visit us at our website @kimligraphy au or follow us on Instagram @kimligraphy.
[00:42:38] Speaker D: And we just released an event bundle as well for, for marketers and event planners, PR agents. So you can download that for free, which will give you some insights on how to transform your event and give them experience with a calligraphy personalization. So there's a quick guide there, step by step selecting the right calligraphy style. There's cheat sheets, a playbook to master, you know, the art of luxury and corporate personalization. There's case studies as well if you want to convince, you know, your clients to, to give a calligraphy personalization a go. So you can download that, download that event bundle for free too on the website. You can find it there.
[00:43:15] Speaker C: Will that too to the. On Spotify, so everyone can grab that.
[00:43:20] Speaker D: Yeah, perfect.
[00:43:20] Speaker E: Thank you.
[00:43:21] Speaker B: So for you guys that are listening to this amazing podcast with, with Kim and Mark, it's been a really valuable lesson in learning. We've, we've all taken some really good insights from, from this conversation, no doubt. But as they've said, if you want to reach out to Kim and Mark, you can go to their website, which is kim.comk I m l l I g r-a p h y.com or is it pub me guys? Is it just.
[00:43:46] Speaker D: It's just au. Just.au.
[00:43:47] Speaker B: Yeah, I always get that mixed up. Sorry guys. Just.no.
so thanks again for everyone that's tuning in and we all look forward to seeing you next time. If you are interested, you need a helping hand to unpack where you're at in your business right now. You might have a problem that you're looking to solve. Jared and I, specifically architects in the realm of, of digital SEO and brand communication. We'll be able to sit here and unpack what your needs are and diagnose exactly what your problem is in less than 15 minutes. So if that's something you wanted to have a discovery session with us, all you got to do is go to www.timelesscreative.com boardroom. Until next time, guys. Thanks again and we look forward to seeing you all.
[00:44:36] Speaker A: You've been listening to the brand Alchemy podcast with your hosts Jared Asher and Jared Break. For more information or to request your spot as a guest speaker, go to www.timelesscreative.com.
