ROYALL THE
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Will Royall is an entrepreneur at heart. The advertising agency he started is a full service firm, and is the basis of his success thus far. They do video production, web development, graphic design, media planning and purchasing, etc. While building the agency, Will networked and met a lot of people through his clients at Hilton, Ruth’s Chris, Fiserv, TGI Friday’s, Holiday Inn, etc. Many of whom he partnered with on 4-5 other businesses and some e-commerce sites. (A bunk bed company, hardwood flooring company, spa company, real estate property management company, and timeshare call center company.) Total revenues of all his companies currently exceed 5 Million dollars annually. Needless to say, now-a-days Will is working on multiple things at once. In his free time he likes to hunt, wakeboard, electronic music festivals, camping, and a good BBQs with friends. What motivated you to become a successful entrepreneur? Winning. It’s about winning. It’s also about the nice things money buys, but
more importantly it’s about winning. It feels good to be on top, help others get to the top, and continue to win deals and make other people’s companies, jobs, and families more successful in the process.
like “quitting your job right now would be crazy.” And “most people would die for that job, how can you leave it?” ask for business advice at times. Of course, it feels great to help them and offer them now that I’m able.
Entrepreneurs need to be passionate, but not emotional. How do you manage what seems like a contradiction? I have a passion for everything I do. However, I am a very logical person. It has to make sense. If it doesn’t make sense, then you just can’t continue with it, no matter what your “feeling” is for it. Feed your wins and cut your losses. You have to make sure you don’t get involved too emotionally with logically based decisions – and business is just that. It doesn’t mean though you can’t be emotionally passionate about making the right logical decision.
Did you have any role models or mentors in the earlier stages of your life, and if so, what did you learn from them? I used to find all my rich friend’s dads when I was young and corner them to find out how they made their money. They all owned their own businesses pretty much, or invested in real estate. Later in life, I seeked out mentors specific to my industry, and took the CEOs and Ad Agency execs out to lunch to learn about how to make my company more successful. I still touch base with mentors at times, but more times than not, I find myself helping and mentoring those just getting out of college now.
Have your friends and family been supportive of your career choices, and if so how where they supportive? Friends and family are more supportive than ever now. Everyone I talk to now-a-days knows if I say I’m going to pursue something, 99.9% of the time I’ll get it done, and do it better than most. In the beginning, there were definitely concerns about my decisions, but that’s because my decisions were made outside of my friend’s and family’s comfort zones. I didn’t come from a background of entrepreneurs. As time has gone on, those same people who once said words
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Whats your definition of hard work? Well, I’m always working smarter… otherwise I wouldn’t have time to enjoy the fruits of my labor, but I would say when working harder, a typical day is 6AM to 10PM at night, and more so, you should always have a constant “awareness” of always being “on” when a conversation can lead in the direction of an opportunity… regardless of time, day, or location. What sort of obstacles did you face when starting out in business? Sales. Learn sales. Sales is the life-