By Ben Cox
Photos/Special to The Source
Ryan Mason decided to bet on himself a year ago when he quit his job as a car salesman to start his own business. Elevated Ideas. Specializing in aerial photography with a drone, Mason’s photographs have captured some breathtaking images of some of the area’s businesses and events. Mason used his previous career as a way to generate organic growth for his business.
He says all of that experience plus early life lessons led him to put it all to paper and publish a book. “The first part of the book is basically my life story from age 0 to my age now and some of the things I learned along the way,” Mason says with his signature smile. Mason says that each of the life stories in the first part of the book includes a relatable life lesson. Some of those life stories, though, can be far from relatable for some.
“The first part of the book talks about growing up with a parent that was struggling with addiction. I talk about going through a tornado and ending up in the middle of a highway in a bathtub,” Mason says, “And at the end of the first section, I talk about a period of time where I had severe anxiety. I was having real bad panic attacks. I thought that was a really good story to share because a lot of people don’t talk about the mental health side. It’s something I think a lot of people experience.”
Mason began writing the book over three years ago, starting with his life story after being inspired to write by friend and realtor Joe Brikman. Brikman wrote the foreword to the book. “He’s a realtor in Miami, Florida and he has written a couple of books already. It was something that I enjoyed having his message shared with me in that type of media.” Mason says his book it’s all about running the gamut of human emotion — both the ups and the downs — and how it can go away and provide crucial life lessons to run a successful business or have a decorated career.
He believes that everyone has a story to tell, but people need to be willing to put in the work to make publication a reality. “It was a really powerful idea to me that somebody could pick up this book and it could change their life.”
The second part of the book talks about turning social media presence into a powerful marketing tool to generate customers for a small business. “It’s about turning social media fans into paying clients and paid advertising,” Mason says. The book provides the tools and the know-how to jump-starting a career or a business without paying for advertising. Mason says most small businesses start out without a budget and the book provides strategies that can be used for free to generate income.
The targeted approach to followers, Mason says, is all about your approach and not about “going viral” or producing shareable content, “You can’t bank on those [things] to convert to sales. A lot of what the book says is selecting specific people to target — basically, how to add someone to your friends list and then over time, convert them into liking and trusting you and at some point if they need your service, they can be converted into a client.” Mason outlines how to produce content for leveraging your unique voice in the digital playground to stand out by applying lessons like the 80/20 Rule of content, the Whip Effect for boosting engagement, Burn Rate Reset and other techniques that make organic marketing easier on social media.
“Eighty percent of the content that you’re producing is for [your audience] and 20 percent is for you. You may have four or five posts that talk about whatever. It doesn’t matter. It’s just a motivational quote. It’s talking about your life. It’s something people engage with,” Mason says, “Then, that 20 percent, that one-in-five posts is a pitch or it’s a ‘Hey, this is what I do’ as a friendly reminder. It may just be an example of your work. It doesn’t have to be a hard close or a hard pitch but it’s just reminding people that it’s something that you do and if it’s something they are looking for, the service is available through you.” Mason says it also boils down to authenticity and showing people what you have to offer with your small business in your own unique way.
Mason says he doesn’t take it as a slight to being equated as the person with drone footage photos around Jacksonville, “It is a pretty good idea. It’s just confirmation that what I’m doing is working obviously — that brand awareness before I walk into a room is very powerful.” He says the odds of people being converted to customers based upon that equation is higher than if someone didn’t recognize the drone footage. He says that type of brand recognition comes along with some of the lessons in the book.
Purchasing Mason’s book, “Likes To Leads: How To Turn Social Media Fans Into Paying Customers Without Paid Advertising,” also comes with free access to the #LikesToLeads30DayChallenge, a 30-day digital course that helps one apply each chapter’s tactics in small, manageable steps. Whether someone is a first-time entrepreneur refining their brand authority, or a veteran seller seeking stronger lead generation, the program guides a person through every phase of implementing new marketing skills. The book is available locally at Plan C Supply and Our Town Books. It is also available on Amazon and on the Amazon Kindle.
