Meet Alex Blom: Marketer, Entrepreneur, Aussie, and all around nice guy.

Alex Blom and I met at the SproutUp event here in Toronto in June. It was hosted by the ever-wonderful Erin Bury from Sprouter (if your a startup, check these guys out they’re awesome for connecting startups with each other Sprouter.com).  Alex was there of course mingling, pitching, networking as were all the 80 or so other business people stuffed into the mid-level bar on a humid summer evening.  What struck me about him immediately was that this guy knows his shit. He writes pretty damn well on his blog, he’s got a shit-ton of Twitter followers, and he’s sold several successful technology companies in Australia. Now he creates marketing plans for his clients in his consulting business.  I came back from Europe last month and he had a picture up with Richard Branson!  If that’s not a great story then I don’t know what is. When it comes to marketing I really have a lot to learn from him.

I sat down with Alex to ask him more about his background, his business, and what its like hangin’ with Richard.  Side note and personal plug: I was featured on his recent Follow Friday feature of his blog. Check it out.

How do you describe your internet marketing consulting business and your blog at alexblom.com?

Because of my background in stating and selling technology companies I’ve always been online too much for my own good. I realized long ago that I’m a far better Marketer and Promoter than I am a programmer so I focused on the marketing side of things in my previous ventures. Instead of jump head first back in I decide to keep doing the one part I’m best at, digital marketing, as a consultant.

My blog is all about marketing, online marketing with a twist of startups and new technology. I try and tailor the content to be friendly to small businesses and technical startups.

What made you start that?

I’ve always had strong followings on social networks and had half started and stopped blogs. I decided it was now time to focus, especially as my experience was getting deeper and I more often wanted a ‘voice’. I also just got sick of people emailing asking when I was going to start blogging.

What is your background, and What did you do before starting your consulting business?

I hold a degree in Marketing & International Studies with a minor in Human Resources. I’ve won several marketing awards, organized live events, worked with bands and started and sold several technology companies. Plenty of odd jobs and one off projects along the way, such as being awarded Shoalhaven Young Citizen of the Year and being nominated for YAA Young Business Person of the Year.

What kind of role did your College education play in your entrepreneurial ventures, and what kind of doors did it open for you?

University, not college Mike (sheesh, shatter my fragile ego). I was in the odd position that I had already started and sold companies by the time University came around and found the pace to be slow and the work frustrating. The real value is in the networking but I feel the connections I’ve facilitated outside of that circle have been far more valuable.

How did you raise money to start the business, or did you bootstrap it?

Bootstrap, unless you count borrowing $200 to make some bills.

Your partnered with several people who are also entrepreneurs, how did you hook up on these projects and what makes your relationship work on a business level?

When hooking up with somebody it is never a fast process. I need to like their idea, their management philosophy and them personally but I don’t want somebody who thinks the same as I do, the point is to have complementary skills. I get plenty of offers to join new bootstraps but I like to sit down for a while, get to know them, ensure I can provide a solid contribution and be happy working with them.

What is your marketing strategy for alexblom.com?

I’m not entirely sure there is a coherent strategy. I regularly have my content submitted to aggregators such as Hacker News which provides some major traffic but I was luck to have some major Twitter following and traffic beforehand. I try to focus on writing content that I feel is interesting to me and useful to the audience and let the rest happen. If nobody visited I’d probably still write the same content and I think that interest is what shines through.

AlexBlom.com drives most of the work for my seminars and consulting because of the content I write and the tone I write in.

What was it like meeting Richard Branson?

Incredibly cool. Virgin is far more popular in Australian than it is in Canada and I had read his books years ago. In Australia they have had two airlines for years, credit cards, mobile companies, records, music festivals etc and Branson is a well known figure. I was more impressed that he took the time to speak with me and say hello instead of just take a photo and leave.

Thanks for the interview Alex!

Be sure to stop by alexblom.com and in the not-so-distant future you can expect some interesting joint projects between Alex and I. More on that soon…