When you have a company named karma digital, you get a lot of questions about how you came up with the name.
As you may have guessed, I believe in karma.
To me, karma is this idea that what we put into this world we will get back in later lifetimes. Now whether you believe in life after death or not, I believe in putting good into the world we live in. One person can change this world, and collectively we certainly can.
Recently, I was in Japan- Tokyo, then up to Hokkaido. I’ve always believed in karma and my influence in this world, but on this I had a revelation over a simple cup of coffee. I popped into a coffee shop to grab a cup of coffee to go, as I planned to wander the neighborhoods of Tokyo. I finished my coffee, only to realize there were no trash-cans. I walked around for another hour realizing… still no trashcans. I know you were thinking I’d have some deep revelation while drinking a cup of coffee in a deep conversation… but actually, it was this piece of garbage with no trash-cans that showed me the impact one person can make. This story isn’t actually about the coffee cup, but the fact that I didn’t see a single piece of trash or litter the entire time I was in Tokyo. Tokyo, despite no trash-cans lining street corners like in the States, is the cleanest place I’ve ever been. No public trash-cans, but also no garbage on the streets, no gum on the sidewalks…how is this possible? Social influence. Tokyo made me a better person.
Ok, I divulged, but what I’m getting at is we each have the ability to put good into this world every day. We can toss trash on the streets or we can bring reusable mugs. I can surround myself with let’s call them “the reusable mug” people or I can BE the reusable mug person that influences others.
Fresh off my Japan trip I was freelancing, doing SEO for various sized companies. I noticed a pattern where small businesses would reach out to me for help but they were actually willing to do their SEO themselves (mainly to save money), but scared and overwhelmed. They had met with SEO agencies that pitched expensive monthly retainers (10k per month and up) but couldn’t guarantee anything. As an entrepreneur, I saw an opportunity; an opportunity to strip away all the marketing jargon, all the frills that you get with an agency and create a no bullshit SEO training.
We conduct a full-day team training where we teach your entire team the basics of SEO and how each role can contribute (or negatively impact). You’d be surprised the impact that you’ll see by ingraining SEO into your company culture… kind of like customer service skills or grammar, we should all at a minimum be aware. During our full day training, we go through the basics together and develop a project plan for your company based on the findings we ALL discover. An audit is conducted live, together as a team, to get your team exposed and actively participating in creating a strategy. This piece is critical to the overall success because you know your business best, we give you the tools and start the conversation, but you’ll think of opportunities specific to your business that we won’t.
Training is critical, but so is ongoing support. We realize a large reason companies work with expensive agencies is because they keep them accountable, ensuring progress every month, and provide reporting. We do that too! If you’re willing to put the time in to learn SEO we are confident that you’ll see results better than any agency could deliver and we will keep pushing you to raise the bar. We’re invested in your success, literally… the more people join your full-day training the more we donate to our partner charity.
karma, empowering through education
We don’t just stop at empowering companies and entrepreneurs, we want to make a social impact. One core value we have at karma digital is to bring opportunities into communities they may not exist. I feel fortunate to have been born and raised in a country with so much opportunity, with a family that encouraged me to chase my dreams. Not everyone is born where there are endless opportunities, which is why I’ve focused on bringing opportunities to the best digital marketing talent. We are committed to finding the best talent, no matter their geographical location. We only hire the top 1% of digital marketers.
As part of our mission, we’ve partnered with Qhubeka. We have a lofty goal of donating $100,000 by 2018 to our friends in Africa, and for each person that attends our training we make a donation.
Haven’t heard of Qhubeka? Our missions align perfectly, empower through education. Qhubeka is an Nguni word that means “to carry on,” “to progress,” “to move forward”. Qhubeka helps people move forward by giving bicycles in return for work done to improve communities, the environment or academic results. Most of Africa’s rural population has no access to transport and people have to walk long distances to access opportunity, education, healthcare, shops and community services. Rural schoolchildren are particularly badly affected by lack of mobility.
The challenge of walking long distances results in increased tardiness, frequent absenteeism, exhaustion and often the complete withdrawal of the child from the education system.
By providing bicycles in the communities we work in, we can empower through education. We can ensure the next generation has the opportunity to become the top 1% of digital marketers.
We are passionate about empowering through education. When you work with karma digital, you work with the best in digital marketing, you help us continue educating, you’ll get better SEO results, and the best part…you’ll never be fooled by agency jargon again!