P30: The Burning Desire 🔥 to Be Successful (🔐 a Continuation of EP 198🔓)
Video & Audio of Our Call:
Background:
This is the continuation of our very informative and enlightening interview with Jim Wanner, the CEO of KeyMark Inc. If you want to hear the first part of this interview, just go to Episode 198. Jim considers himself fortunate to be the Chief Expectations Officer (CEO) for KeyMark, a wonderful company with great employees and a tremendous group of customers. KeyMark is dedicated to help their customers make the most of their system and to leverage the functionality they own. Jim always seeks the opportunity to keep his customers informed of new and emerging technology trends and functionality so they can make the most prudent decisions for their business.
Over the last 20 years, Jim has been privileged to work with some of the most caring, passionate and knowledgeable people in the Content Services (CS), Enterprise Content Management (ECM), Business Process Management (BPM), Case Management, and Advanced Capture industry. If you are someone interested in Content Services / ECM, Jim would definitely welcome the opportunity to connect with you and share his insights about Content Services (CS), Enterprise Content Management (ECM), Business Process Management (BPM), Case Management, and Advanced Capture Solutions.
Time-Stamped Show Notes:
- [1:11] A huge breakthrough happened that made it possible for them to get the best people for the company.
- [2:16] According to Jim, accounting is crucial to the success of early startups and growing businesses.
- [5:00] They closed a couple more big deals to keep them rolling for a year and a half. Hiring more computer science graduates also boosted their growth during this period.
- [7:03] During the early days of the company, there were three marketing campaigns they did to promote their business.
- [9:41] In 1999, a company that Jim wanted to work with turned its back on him and walked away. They soon regretted this decision.
- [12:19] Ensuring that people he works with are also successful is a huge driving force for Jim to succeed as well.
- [13:50] Goldmine is a tool they used for tracking leads and opportunities in the earlier days. Jim also emphasizes implementing a comprehensive marketing campaign.
- [19:44] KeyMark was the first to do a web workflow, which they did for Verizon Wireless.
- [23:38] In 2008, they had a major problem with a financial institution. This also served as a big lesson for Jim.
- [31:04] Jim talked about how they were able to recruit people into their company, which is based in South Carolina.
- [34:00] After their major hurdle with a financial firm, they found a banker who really understood them.
- [35:26] Jim offers some advice when dealing with bankers and financial institutions.
- [37:51] It was a very tough decision for Jim to lay off some people within the company.
- [39:22] Jim talks about the key things he did to go through the difficult times.
- [42:41] Putting the right people in the right positions within the company and other valuable suggestions to make the business expand and get out of the plateau.
- [45:20] The usual daily routine for Jim.
- [49:19] Jim enumerates key suggestions and recommendations for the listeners that could help them to succeed.
Key Point from the Interview:
- “If you don’t know that you’re going to fail, just trying to do something means a heck of a lot, and after you fail just chuck it up as a lesson, and say ok learn what not to do.”
Resources Mentioned:
- Email: [email protected]
- LinkedIn: Jim Wanner
- Twitter: @jimwanner
- Instagram: @keymarkinc
- Jim Wanner of KeyMark Hires New Account Manager
- KeyMark Announces Partnership with Livegenic
Secret Resources:
