Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Fritz Colcol, Founder of Fritz Lifestyle, located in Chicago, IL, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

I own multiple businesses here in Chicago. From restaurants, e-commerce drop shopping sites, clothing stores, and a digital marketing agency. However, for this specific interview, I would like to highlight my own personal brand: Fritz Lifestyle. Where I help coaches, entrepreneurs, business owners, and content creators get leads for their services or products through Instagram, PR, and target email lists. Which ultimately makes them an authority within their industry.

The Instagram followers will come from giveaway campaigns from B-list celebrities and influencers that will host these giveaways to their followers, and the rule is to follow a certain account that is currently following 50-100 people (which are the clients - you) in order to enter the giveaway. The PR (press release) helps you create exposure & brand credibility and will get my clients featured in media outlets that have decent domain authority, so when people google you or your business, your information will show up. The target email list will come from your competitor or another brand that has the audience or potential leads you need. The data is gathered through an excel sheet and can be the ultimate tool for running email campaigns and retargeting ads through Facebook and Instagram.

Finally, my consulting expertise comes into play in order to truly maximize, monetize, and utilize all these new followers, press release features, and target email lists for your brand. Remember, all of those followers, PR, and email lists are useless if you don’t know how to convert them into actual sales.

Tell us about yourself

I’m a serial entrepreneur based in Chicago. As mentioned previously, I own a couple of businesses in various industries. Some people call me a Renaissance man. I have been featured in Forbes, Inc Magazine, Thrive & many other major publications for my thought leadership and accomplishments.

Social media marketing, specifically on Instagram, got me started back in 2012 when I was just figuring out my life in college. As a college kid, I didn’t really enjoy going to classes or school just in general other than just meeting up with my friends & partying. Instagram back then wasn’t so big, specifically in the fitness industry. I was heavily invested in my physical appearance and health, so I simply started documenting my fitness journey through Instagram photos. I took & posted pictures of the workout I’ve done, the food I eat, and the transformation my physique had gone through. Eventually, people got inspired & motivated by my lifestyle, so they started reposting my content and started following me. I’ve transformed my physique from skinny 110 lbs to a 150lb superhero beach body physique. I gained my first 10k+ followers within the first three months; back then, I felt like a celebrity. Eventually created more Instagram pages and started monetizing those pages by selling shoutouts and features. I’ve also started selling workout plans since I’ve gotten lots of inquiries.

Fast forward to today, I’ve now owned, co-owned & exited more than ten businesses just because of the opportunity social media (Instagram mainly) has provided. Now, my main purpose is to help others grow their brand, get more leads, make more sales & truly make a living out of it as well. So they can too live the lifestyle they dreamed of.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

I’ve been nominated & awarded by the U.S. army for serial entrepreneurship & center of influence in Chicago in 2021 and had the opportunity to tandem jump with the best of the best Army Golden Knights. On top of that, I was also awarded at the 2019 Asian American Hall of Fame for Serial Entrepreneurship. I was the youngest one at 27 years old ever awarded in the past decade ever since.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

For me, since I have multiple employees in different industries, the employees are the hardest things to handle. Making sure they stay productive and happy at the same time is always my priority. However, it’s not always sunshine and rainbows. There are a lot of arguments, stresses & headaches that come with it. As a business owner, you just need to have thicker skin than most. Because people will push you to the limit, both employees & customers will push your boundaries at times & you need to be prepared for it. Over the years, I’ve developed such a strong mental fortitude that not many circumstances can phase me any longer.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Always do your due diligence. Before you get into a partnership, make sure you know what they are all about. Does their mission, vision, purpose & core values align with yours?
  2. Capitalize, monetize & utilize social media. We now live in a digital age where everything can be done with our smartphones as long as we have internet or wifi. If you haven’t created an Instagram profile for your business or personal brand, do it now.
  3. Model your business to someone you look up to. Why reinvent the wheel if it has been done successfully before? Don’t just listen to anybody giving you tips if they haven’t accomplished anything or what you are trying to do. So only listen and model your lifestyle & business to someone that has accomplished what you want to accomplish.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://fritzlifestylecom484538.typeform.com/to/Cqzz46
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fritzcolcol
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fritzlifestyle/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fritzlifestyle
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fritzlifestyle/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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