Simao Lagoa

Nick Abregu: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another podcast of the of the podcast the Gorillaco cast where today we have a special guest and it’s… I guess I’ll just say… I’ll say the punch line…

Simao Lagoa: Go.

Nick Abregu: Hey Google! Who is the best brand coaches’ designer expert in the entire world? Simao Lagoa.

Hey Google Voice: Your phone is in flight mode, so I can’t help you that at the moment.

Nick Abregu: Every time. Every time this… I can’t get rid of her. Every time when try to do this, put it in flight mode, it still comes out. Simao…

Simao Lagoa: Lagoa.

Nick Abregu: Lagoa, Simao Lagoa! The best coaches’ brand designer in the world. Welcome!

Simao Lagoa: Thank you very much Nick. It’s a pleasure and so far, a lot of fun already to be here today.

Nick Abregu: I apologize, I’ve changed times on you so many times.

Simao Lagoa: That’s alright. That’s alright.

Nick Abregu: But you’re very accommodating to my recklessness so thank you.

Simao Lagoa: Rolling with the punches.

Nick Abregu: Dude, thanks for coming man.

Simao Lagoa: You’re welcome.

Nick Abregu: Are you enjoying the studio?

Simao Lagoa: I am, and it had been a while since I wanted to connect with you, and they have a sit-down like this day just not record it but I’m glad we are recording.

Nick Abregu: Yeah! Me too.

Simao Lagoa: And you know, like people like-minded attract like-minded. So, we’ve met in crossed a couple of times that Business Authorities and there were a few people that I really wanted to have the opportunity to sit down with and here we are today,

Nick Abregu: Dude I am glad we did this.

Simao Lagoa: Yeah, likewise.

Nick Abregu: So, we met at a at the business authorities’ event.

Simao Lagoa: Yup.

Nick Abregu: And for those that don’t know that’s a like a convention sort of just really nice business owners so there’s no tolerance for bad businesspeople. Anyone that try to screw anyone over like they there’s no place for them and that’s nice because we get to connect on them on a much deeper level. And I think that’s really nice. I think that is a really nice concept.

Simao Lagoa: Yes. I think Johann did really a fantastic of getting the community together and activating it, just making sure we were in the same room creating opportunities for synergies and look at this, here we are.

Nick Abregu: Yeah. So, that was my first business networking meeting. The first one where they held the big…

Simao Lagoa: Seriously?

Nick Abregu: Yeah. So, that was my first on and I was like; Oh my God! There’re so many people, what’s going on? I had no idea what to expect but it was nice.

Simao Lagoa: Yeah, I think networking has been one of the biggest and most useful tools for myself. Being creative sometimes we get a little bit introverted and we tend to stay behind the screen behind the scenes and help everybody else right in front of the camera or the mic or whatever and then we forget to handle our own appearance and networking has definitely been over the last two years the most effective tools for coming out meeting people and establishing connections like this one.

Nick Abregu: Well, we were just talking before we started this that as creatives, we might be the best creatives you know in town but when it comes to business side of things like we are the worst like we’re cracked. And it’s nice but I think the good thing is that we acknowledge that, right? Because then we know our weaknesses you can work on your weaknesses.

Simao Lagoa: Yes. Well with creative community I find it that it takes a while for people to gain that awareness and because you probably have done it, I’ve done it and this is why I am the coaches brand designer because I’m a product of that environment. A product of the product, so I gained awareness of myself and realized okay I need to up my game in these areas and that’s how I realized that business was a development area, going out and being more proactive, and getting more person, more physical, yeah.

Nick Abregu: Yeah! So, I spent most of my 20s as an electrical engineer and then I moved over to business. I never had business experience; we did… I mean we did one class at UNI that was business because I they thought we’re all too dumb and she isn’t too dumb to understand business so they… they forced us to do one business class, which I’m kind of thankful for but I don’t think I learned anything. Because when you… at UNI you, it’s not the same as real-world like you learn all the technical stuff, right which is cool then the real world is just a completely different monster isn’t it?

Simao Lagoa: And add to that monster, when you decide to get up one level, so you stop being the very professional very proficient technician and you put yourself at the head of a business then that’s another level altogether.

Nick Abregu: Yeah! It’s a… but I’m glad for my personally, I’m glad I’m learning the business side of things and also my team they’re so good that they that if I do anything creative that they have to go and fix all my mistakes so I said now okay I’m stepping back I don’t want to do this I just want to…

Simao Lagoa: Empower you!

Nick Abregu: Yeah, I just want to… I just wanna be the business guy yeah because I like connecting with people. I think that’s my strength, and our beautiful take person right there a she pushed me into that as well she’s the one that told me not to buy an expensive computer, I was like but why?

Simao Lagoa: It’s gonna drag you in again.

Nick Abregu: Yeah that’s right. That’s right. So, I wanted to ask you about when we decided to do this, I asked you if you had any failed stories.

Simao Lagoa: Oh boy.

Nick Abregu: And you’re the first one to jump in, you are like yeah, I can do that.

Simao Lagoa: Yeah. I do have a few.

Nick Abregu: And two weeks later, we’re here.

Simao Lagoa: I do have a few.

Nick Abregu: Actually, before we do that let’s talk a little bit more about what you what your business is all about because I think people want to get to know you a little bit a little more. So, tell me how did you start?

Simao Lagoa: So, in a nutshell I started the usual route nine-to-five working for somebody as a graphic designer I earned my stripes in that in that field and that’s at some point I realized that I was not really fulfilled or happy with being just a graphic designer in the south part of Portugal which is a beautiful part if you’re having vacation holidays if you’re hanging out with friends but professionally speaking I started noticing that I wanted more for myself and that also matched with the time that I started doing a lot of personal development which opened up my eyes to the fact that I needed to get out of my hometown and spread my wings and here comes the first fail.

Nick Abregu: Straight into it.

Simao Lagoa: But that’s the beginnings I got out of UNI had a really interesting experience which was the first one that actually gave me a glimpse into the importance of opening your wings being connected with people being intentional about connecting with people I was put in an environment with hundreds of people selected all over the world to work in a Lisbon World Exposition in 98 and at that time where I was as a person was I didn’t want to leave my little cocoon I was very comfortable doing my little things and then I met all these people and that year I started traveling it was the first year that I got in the plane I went to different parts of Europe.

Nick Abregu: How old were you? How old were you this time?

Simao Lagoa: I was 22.

Nick Abregu: Oh wow!

Simao Lagoa: 22, one year after I finished UNI, I was very frustrated because I was doing nothing at home at my mom’s home on top of that and we both realized I needed a change of scenery – the jolt some-something didn’t to change something to happen and it definitely did that. That was… that was within that is experience itself lasted about five weeks I came back from it and within two weeks I found my first job.

Nick Abregu: Really, what was the first place you went to?

Simao Lagoa: The first job was the first web design company in Faro Algarve Portugal which was really interesting.

Nick Abregu: Wow! In 98?

Simao Lagoa: In 98 yes. Internet was still a thing that most people didn’t even were aware it existed. So, that was interesting I stayed there for about two or three years went into another advertising company that needed a designer and that’s the beginnings of graphic design for me.

Nick Abregu: Nice!

Simao Lagoa: Fast forward a few years then I worked I worked in a number of places I got to teach in UNI that was amazing…

Nick Abregu: Really? Wow!

Simao Lagoa: It was really cool, because I went from being a student. I was a model as well and then I got to be a teacher all at the same you at the same course with some of the same people which was very interesting experience and…

Nick Abregu: What kind of model?

Simao Lagoa: Just nude model. With…

Nick Abregu: Nude model?

Simao Lagoa: Yup. I was not an all-out model.

Nick Abregu: Lovely, very lovely.

Simao Lagoa: Very funny.

Nick Abregu: Do you still do that?

Simao Lagoa: No. Not anymore. What a shame. So, graphic design got.

Nick Abregu: Maybe we can Hey Google that as well.

Simao Lagoa: Maybe not.

Nick Abregu: Sorry bro. Let’s cancel that.

Simao Lagoa: It’s alright.

Hey Google: Your phone is on flight mode; I can search what you’re looking…

Nick Abregu: That’s why… it always comes out and you have to put it on flight mode.

Simao Lagoa: And by the time that I decided that I needed to up my game in professional and personal I took a couple of jobs to gather up the financials to make it happen and it was funny because I did everything from freelancing on the side on top of the business that I was working with a print house and I did security bouncing at a disco and I did what I had to do and one day at the print house that I was working at a mistake came up and people were under the pump. It was a last-minute job. And, the owner got aggravated they looked at me and what did you do you’re fired go home bla… bla… bla… this was a massive fail because one it was not my fail it was not my mistake but little did I know that being fired that day actually contributed to me really putting all my efforts and focusing on getting out of Portugal. Which was um…

Nick Abregu: What was the mistake?

Simao Lagoa: Oh, some plates got wrongly printed wrongly done and mind you I had done a fair amount that must makes myself really which was why he looked at me by default but interestingly enough I helped my ground and I said I did not do this and it ended up not it ended up being an interesting discussion with him afterwards after he cooled down and we remained in good condition but it did joke me too okay you’ve hit the ceiling this is as good as it come it’s gonna get you in this area of Portugal so you might as well dream big yeah and or go home. And I decided to do the…

Nick Abregu: So, you decided to leave Portugal. And you came to Australia first?

Simao Lagoa: No.

Nick Abregu: So, where did you go?

Simao Lagoa: For the next six or eight months or whatever, I was… I focused on creating my portfolio created my website and still did bouncing on weekends and grab whatever jobs I could to keep myself afloat. It just so happened that after a very active period of searching internationally, I got a phone call from a company that was opening in Barcelona and little did I know that this company was a worldwide tech giant. Everybody knows Vistaprint. So, Vistaprint gave me a call.

Nick Abregu: We just spoke about Vistaprint.

Simao Lagoa: Oh really?

Alia Steglinski: That’s so creepy.

Simao Lagoa: That’s funny.

Alia Steglinski: Law of Attraction?

Simao Lagoa: Very Synchronistic.

Nick Abregu: Very new isn’t it? We’ve never mentioned Vistaprint before and now we’ve mentioned it for like twelve times.

Simao Lagoa: Wow!

Nick Abregu: So, you’re welcome Vistaprint for the SEO juice you’re getting. Alright…

Simao Lagoa: It’s gonna be popping up in our news tomorrow night.

Nick Abregu: Everywhere.

Simao Lagoa: So yeah! Vistaprint gave me a call and I started the recruiting process with them it took about a month they flew me in for in-person interview after a couple of early rounds after…

Nick Abregu: They flew you in?

Simao Lagoa: Yeah.

Nick Abregu: Oh, that feels good man when a company flies you a just you feel like a superstar

Simao Lagoa: I felt like; what the hell is happening? I’m struggling to get a scrap job here and here are these guys, shows up, bring me in, fly me out, put me in a fancy hotel, in Barcelona. That’s the top of my experience as a graphic designer at the time that was like…

Nick Abregu: Vistaprint was your sugar daddy for that day.

Simao Lagoa: Just blew me away with all the all the tampering they did, they flew me in for three days I was interviewed, we did well and later on they had me in for another test of the city and I was allowed to bring somebody else.

Nick Abregu: Oh really?

Simao Lagoa: So, that was like just opening my mind like nothing else.

Nick Abregu: Yeah! it shows why they’re a worldwide company.

Simao Lagoa: Man right it really does like big toys they don’t waste time they don’t they don’t fuss around exactly once they know you’re a match professionally that’s just a default they’re gonna go into the personal side of things are you a cultural fit are you going to be able to handle her with working from with people from all over the place interestingly enough that had been my whole manifestation process in the last three to six months I had created my vision board I said exactly what I wanted I wanted to work with people from all over the world fly around have the possibility to meet other countries make X amount per month and it was to the dot everything unfolded to the freakin dot like wow seriously so that was my first big jump out of March ago and that that adventure lasted for about five and a half years.

Nick Abregu: Wow! You know it’s this vision board thing that everyone talks about it’s so OnPoint like I was I was looking through some Paestum documents at the house and I came across and I came across one of my I came across my plan and not one of my father’s my partner’s vision thing she wrote something she just wrote some stuff down and I’m like hold on this is our life everything that was written down there is a life and I’m like; what the hell’s going on? Hold on a minute, Am I dreaming or something?

Simao Lagoa: Yes, and it’s really…

Nick Abregu: I’ve never done a vision board so I don’t know if people from what people have told me or I should probably get onto it.

Simao Lagoa: I started because I just have some many little things that I achieved by being very intentional about how really I went about it and created the vision board I created the manifestation routines the discipline of doing it every day so many times a day being extremely specific yeah and I’ll give you another fail I just remembered I’m gonna take a quick note.

Nick Abregu: Please, I love… I love that… I love that… that we… that we talk about being very specific about your goals that’s so important.

Simao Lagoa: It is absolutely crucial, critical.

Nick Abregu: And I remember when I started GorillaCo, like one of the things was that I wanted a podcasting room and I just realized now that we’ve got this. And it’s nice but it’s also important as well is that to reflect back on the things that you did write down you know because if you don’t, you forget like; I forgot about this was actually something I write down.

Simao Lagoa: Absolutely amazing and I’m sure you felt it when you realized how intention actually produces the life that and find yourself in after you manifested in. If that makes sense…

Nick Abregu: It’s just like crazy, it makes me think like; life is not what you think it is. Life is not what you think it is man.

Simao Lagoa: When you become aware of your power, it takes on a whole new meaning you’re playing a different game altogether and for me the constant reminders these days they even come through Facebook. Two days ago I had a Facebook reminder of how four years ago me and my wife are all dressed up in this ship along Docklands manifesting we want to live there this is why the time they’re building the townhouses I remind you the promenade the windy beautiful promenade we’re navigating through and we’re saying to each other; we want to live there guess where I live for the last three years Docklands along the promenade in Docklands, my goodness!

Nick Abregu: That’s where the world’s best coaches brand designer lives, that’s where they all live.

Simao Lagoa: Well, edit this out.

Nick Abregu: If you’re looking for a brand designer, and you’re a coach, just have a stroll there at Docklands you’ll find…

Simao Lagoa: You’ll find me walking my dog with my wife in the morning and in the afternoon.

Nick Abregu: What kind of dog do you have?

Simao Lagoa: Keisha is a schnauzer, mini schnauzer.

Nick Abregu: Oh, that’s good man. And what’s the dog’s name?

Simao Lagoa: Keisha.

Nick Abregu: Keisha, like quiche; like the food?

Simao Lagoa: No. Keisha with “I” which means by the way; great joy which is what she gives us.

Nick Abregu: That’s lovely. She ever ripped up the couch or anything no.

Simao Lagoa: Every day. We and… we get home and there is chaos waiting for us.

Nick Abregu: But you love her. That’s the important thing. She can’t do anything wrong.

Simao Lagoa: Yes. We do.

Nick Abregu: We don’t have a dog yet, but I want one but then I don’t want one cuz dogs are heart… it’s heartbreaking like you build this bond with this… this animal that loves you unconditionally yeah and they die.

Simao Lagoa: Okay. I’m gonna take a note of that because this Zen will be the second fail, I am going to tell you about.

Nick Abregu: Did you kill one?

Simao Lagoa: No. We’ll get there.

Nick Abregu: Okay good, we can continue the podcast.

Simao Lagoa: So yeah, that was because… when I saw your post… for everybody watching this, we’re here because Nick put a post-up asking for people to share their fails put my hand up and jumped right in and that was the fail that I wanted to share with the world how being fired for something that I did not do in my job got me to actually spread my wings and become one of the best-selling designers at the top design in print company of the world that was just… it was really good.

Nick Abregu: You need a plot for that you need like something big… this is what I was, this… I did this.

Simao Lagoa: It was a… it was really interesting because with the whole process of manifesting I said to myself; I want to prove my worth I want to test my mettle. I wanted me to be among the best and even though Vistaprint is not seen in any way shape or form has a strong design presence in the design world, you have to give them credit because they look after masses of people’s needs. We’re talking about dozens and dozens of millions of clients around the world and something that I learned working for them was the importance of designing at scale. That was really one of the biggest things and while I was there I wanted to stand out, I wanted to really make my statement and prove one to myself again because I was not fully aware of the power that I held as a graphic designer as a visionary to interpret people’s visions which is today my whole slogan and creates something that would appeal to the masses, which I was able to do and that was what got me the best-selling sort of title around that. I became a best-seller in a number of campaigns three months into getting into the company I was assigned to this project, and this this project was based on my personal likings I was thinking about… I have been thinking about… this this goes back to 2007. I had been thinking about creating a t-shirt company or a t-shirt line of some sort and I shared this with my colleagues in my creative director, so they assigned me to a launch of t-shirts in Europe. Vistaprint had t-shirts all over the world but they haven’t launched in Europe that was why their whole set up in Barcelona was happening they were coming into Europe, they’re starting to speak to the local countries so France, Spain, Germany, whatnot because they had a really strong presence in the States everybody knows that but when they came to Europe they started around 2006/2007 that’s when they created a core team of designers there were six of us and I was part of that team that helped shape the future of the company for Europe. So, anyway back to the project they assigned me to that project launch of t-shirts and one day I get a tap on my shoulder from none other than the marketing manager marking director and I said to myself this is gonna be an either make or break moment or the “Oh, oh moment”

Nick Abregu: Oh, shit.

Simao Lagoa: Oh, shit moment. yeah it was the first… it was the first and he basically told me that; the test they run with my creatives were four times as much as their projected revenues in a good day. So, that got things rolling and I became branded inside the company as the funny designer the “belly girl designer” only because the t-shirt launch campaign that I created for it included a girl with half the t-shirt off showing her belly and obviously emphasizing how 50% of the prices were off of the t-shirts.

Nick Abregu: Oh, that’s funny. That’s funny.

Simao Lagoa: Very interesting launch.

Nick Abregu: That’s brilliant. Can we see the design somewhere?

Simao Lagoa: Absolutely, I have shared it a couple of days ago on Facebook, but I’ll be happy to share with you.

Nick Abregu: Please send that. Yes, send it to us so people can see.

Simao Lagoa: Note taken, done.

Nick Abregu: And if you’re listening to this and the shirt didn’t pop up. Well, I’m sorry.

Simao Lagoa: Sorry for you.

Nick Abregu: I am not on the creative side anymore. So, you can’t blame me.

Simao Lagoa: Okay! So, back to how I got to Australia. Yes so…

Nick Abregu: By the way, that’s really cool man, like that’s really cool.

Simao Lagoa: Thank you.

Nick Abregu: And what year was that?

Simao Lagoa: Two thousand… seven. Seven yes.

Nick Abregu: Oh, that’s cool.

Simao Lagoa: That whole campaign launched that year and became the control the new control for the whole company it became the top selling in Europe, they rolled it out to the US. They tried switching the girl that I had with a blonde, with a brunette, with this, with that. But it was always a belly that was always a nice-looking lady and for the next four years it became the control it’s just… and in the meantime I get creating other winning concepts so I just became sort of known for being a really good selling designer and that that whole thing just gave me encouragement. One, because approving… being being approved by 24 million customers at that time was in massive stamp of approval to my own confidence obviously and it just proved that I should have and I belong there that’s what my initial purpose was with the whole upgrading my life was to know that I belong among the best players in the field so there you go.

Nick Abregu: That is a really nice feeling to know that that all your hard work has brought you up to the expert level like even though you were an expert before….

Simao Lagoa: It was triggered by a fail of all things like when you get a hit, instead of staying down and thinking I can’t even get a job in the south of Portugal actually jolted me to jump into the biggest stage of them all and to well there and here we are today.

Nick Abregu: We’re back alright! Yeah so, it’s nice to know that you’ve come up to that you’ve risen up to that level ultimately because I mean in most companies people don’t they don’t praise you they only put you down because I think putting someone down is the motivator they need but it’s so counterintuitive to think that praising someone they think they’re going to really like understand that your valued then that your work is of expert level….

Simao Lagoa: Absolutely.

Nick Abregu: Right, and so what’s the difference between someone that thinks they’re our next point someone that isn’t an expert it’s the…

Simao Lagoa: Belief.

Nick Abregu: Belief in themselves yes that now I can do that that’s easy to do.

Simao Lagoa: And that was… there was another thing that I took away from it one now that I’ve proved my mettle now that I’ve upgraded was to understand how the culture plays a huge factor in having winning teams winning environments results to back it all up because six of us we could barely handle what was being fed by the marketing department and yet we managed to not only handle it but grow it and as we grew we got better pay we got bonuses every three months we got outings with the company we had inner department celebrations we had stock options given to us we were spoiled basically and that was a stark contrast with everything that 31 years of existing in Portugal had taught me up to that point it was a complete mind shift yeah and when I told people in Portugal what was happening with me nobody could believe it nobody everybody was like…

Nick Abregu: What country were you by the way?

Simao Lagoa: Portugal.

Nick Abregu: No, I mean with Vistaprint.

Simao Lagoa: Barcelona, Spain.

Nick Abregu: Okay. Cool.

Simao Lagoa: And that was really interesting because if you remember 2007 in Europe was the peak of the crisis and when I when I said I’m gonna leave, I’m gonna look for an international company. People in Portugal were doubtful some friends of mine who knew me I had a core circle of people around me who I shared this with and they knew that it was possible but I found out that when you have a lofty goal you don’t want to spread yourself too thin telling the wrong people because they will water it they will piss on your parade they will say that’s not possible look at the crisis were going through how are you gonna even think about flying over there finding a place bla… bla… bla… and here we go.

Nick Abregu: That is so true.

Simao Lagoa: I was literally feeling like I was inside this crystal ball nothing could touch me we’re up on the sixth floor beautiful view over the city working for the best print and design company on the planet and everybody thought that this was not possible it’s too late I don’t have the education I don’t know the right people it I’m too old and these were beliefs that I carried and it took a while to let them go yeah again coaching helped a lot with that.

Nick Abregu: Well we’re all our biggest critic, right? Look I mean we… it’s easy for us to say we can’t do that even like for… sometimes I don’t want to act on some goals that I have because I know to myself like tell myself no this that’s not gonna happen and sometimes I in the mindset where I’m like; yeah this is like clearly this is going to work and then I’ll have a break and then about an our later, I’m like; no, no, no.

Simao Lagoa: Emotional state. That’s emotional state just kicks in, right? Default blueprints come back and you put yourself back in the place of where things do not look visible. And that was your case as well?

Nick Abregu: Right exactly, and that’s why it’s so important to have a team because in that moment of inspiration, I’ll put that forward to the team and they’ll see that it’s that it yes that is a winning that is a winning method or something right whether it’s in marketing or business growth or whatever right and then I leave it with them if I can inspire them to believe in what I just said right they’ll go off and they’ll create magic right then I can go off and just doubt myself all I like because I’ve handed it over to my team that’s gonna make it happen but that has been something that has helped the business grow it’s like removing myself, removing my bullshit doubt from that moment of inspiration and I’ll go home to my partner and I tell her that’s not gonna work and she’s like; I can’t just shut up. It is going to work.

Simao Lagoa: Hold judgment. But do you notice that energetically once you do it there’s no turning back and you already unleashed the gates of abundance because I do it still today and I have to check myself on it and you just said something very important because as long as you act on it then it, becomes somebody else’s thing to do or into to handle and your beliefs will kick in then you’ve got layers upon layers of experience and probably cemented by; what your family believes what you were brought up doing and seeing and that was… that was many layers of discovery there for myself.

Nick Abregu: Yeah. That’s nice. and just as on that note… what I do with when I give the team something to do, we’ve implemented that for our clients so now when a client comes on board whether it’s starting a business from zero right whether you’ve got no experience or anything or all you just want like one video down or you want some graphics or you want some like audio whatever right the team… so my the operations manager and yeah and customer support, he’s on the call with the customer that comes on so we have an initial customer call yeah and then whoever is the expert that needs to be involved they’re on the call as well so now we’ve got two or three people on that call to understand what the client wants and sometimes the client doesn’t know what they want so the team now extracts it from them tell me these three things and we’ll create something amazing and that came from them taking my ideas and bringing them to fruition.

Simao Lagoa: Fantastic.

Nick Abregu: I trained them from my own like my own things that needed to be done yes yeah and I’ve removed the doubt so now the client doesn’t have any doubt of what’s gonna happen yeah and they can see the possibility because sometimes what the client wants is like it’s stupid alright because they don’t know any better.

Simao Lagoa: Yeah exactly.

Nick Abregu: Sometimes it’s the best thing that they’ve that we’ve ever heard and we’re like we do that exactly the Same it’s nice to have that brainstorming session because it just it stops it stops the stupid doubt young from being from saying no that that’s crap or…

Simao Lagoa: Correct. I think hearing you I was processing and it goes back to vision you have your vision and the client has his vision and during brainstorming processes, it’s a mistake or it’s an issue if you keep shooting down ideas with a sake of practicality for the sake of realism for the sake of keeping it within budget let’s talk about what we want and then we’ll see how we can get there.

Nick Abregu: Exactly, and then then you start incorporating like budget you start cooperating other ideas or they’ll say I saw this can we do this might be like we can do it but let’s do a little bit different or you know whatever suits you how come because all my years of marketing are ten over ten years in in marketing I noticed that like there’s no two campaigns that are the same even if you’re in the same industry, it’ll be a completely different campaign so people that say no just do that just do what they did it might not necessarily work. And that and that’s why I find that people that have like say five or ten years’ experience that have worked with many different companies and industries they’re the ones that you should talk to you first because they’ve got data on like ten years of data that they can put forward into your campaign it’s not just like everyone else is doing this Instagram thing or everyone is doing this you know story or whatever, let’s do that because it’s trending it doesn’t necessarily it’s gonna work correct you go to a company that’s got; ten years’ experience and has worked in many different people they can just pick and say no this worked for this because of this reason yeah let’s take that and incorporate with this idea and then we got magic and now we’re making like…

Simao Lagoa: Correct. that’s a big part of it is yeah incorporating analytics and data to your decision-making process yeah which was another thing that I found out that was so useful.

Nick Abregu: Yeah. So, I’ve got a I’ve got a friend that that he’s dad own a data and analytics company for like… for like 20 or 30 years. And he’s now a marketer himself but he told me that he didn’t pay attention to what it like he worked in his dad’s company, but he just didn’t really care what was happening and stuff, and I was like; the wasted opportunity man. Why did you waste that opportunity?

Simao Lagoa: Somebody made mistakes, or somebody studied these things yeah and there they were in front of you you’re not looking at them.

Nick Abregu: Exactly! And even he likes he just face palms like; I know. I should have paid more attention.

Simao Lagoa: Well my version of that is understanding that Vistaprint is good as what they are for what they show to the world and they’re even better at all at the level of marketing. They’re truly a magnificent mechanism of marketing and that just flew right over my head at the time because I was tied up to the graphic side of things that to the to the campaign’s, but once I realized that what did these two floors of marketers doing because they were specializing and retention marketing and acquisition marketing and product marketing and analytics and they had all these people who were top players of the world doing these things and now everybody knows what a funnel is but when that was brought up in company meetings ten years ago that was like ricocheting my head like just going to the side I was not paying attention today had I learned more of that as well I probably would have had a better marketing funnel for myself when I decided to go into business.

Nick Abregu: Yeah absolutely! So, same as made 10 years ago when I started, because I came from an engineering background so we analyze things we analyze all the all the things that can go wrong yeah say you don’t kill anyone. And you tenfold that right so you always make things ten times more secure than they are need to be all because just doing it you don’t want stuff up for us as an electrical engineer we design stuff and then the electrician goes out and implements it if one thing’s wrong he can kill himself it’s really the live wires right?

Simao Lagoa:  Absolutely.

Nick Abregu: So, I took that approach in marketing and I’m so glad that I did this. I bought this program of someone that showed you how to sell to, like run a company like a like an affiliate thing like how to become an affiliate marketer right but instead of listening to what they were doing in that program which was like videos and all this stuff they were pretty good. I watched what they did how they sold it themselves so I didn’t care what was in that video and it was like $3,000 my personal and I was like; oh that’s a lot of money but I bought it and I… so instead of instead of really studying what they were selling in the program I studied how they were selling that program but like how they were attracting people how will bring people to webinars like how I would funnel you I didn’t know what a funnel was. But I realize you go it steps yes from going from zero to paint correct and I like that and then the aftercare was also really important. So, I’m glad I did that because I implement that straight and most of the times in the first year or two, I had no idea like someone said was this like PPC. I’m like; what?

Simao Lagoa:  Not even paying attention to it much less incorporate.

Nick Abregu: Exactly. But we were doing that stuff so we were doing it but I had no idea what it was cold sounds like just going off the cuff and I was learning for my own business as well as I was going along and it was really there’s a lot easier back then, now you just need a lot more a lot more engagement with the people and…

Simao Lagoa: Other markets become very resistant and everybody knows a little bit more about yeah everything because tech has enabled us to gain that awareness.

Nick Abregu: How funny it makes it easier to sell, because people are more aware of what they need. Where’s back then you throw out these words and like sorry I don’t speak English, I don’t understand. Which is nice now. It’s kinda nice.

Simao Lagoa: It is a contrast between having straighter lines to the final destination, and more resistance along that straight line. Because everybody knows what video is but there’s so many options for a video. Suppliers, products, tools, and same with design you have Canva, we have PicMonkey you have all these things. Why am gonna hire a designer and you have to really hone it on why you’re doing what you’re doing and how you can help instead of becoming another tool.

Nick Abregu: Absolutely. Yeah so, a lot of people tell me that a lot of people say like why would I want to take your company to do my videos when I can do them myself and I say like that’s cool I like that you’re taking charge of your own business that’s important right you want to see what’s going on, but a lot of times when they create these videos on their phones and stuff like they like it the person that created it love it because they created it but I tell them what do we do make sure that your audience loves it as much as you because most the time there’s a big disconnect there right even when I create stuff like I love these like anyone else love this but I said I realized yeah no that’s not what love is.

Simao Lagoa: I’m laughing because I keep harping on this exact thing yeah and I’ll keep one example is the exact same conversation converted to graphic design, why would I hire you I got Canva yeah so I’ll leave that will bit that one alone because it’s not worth going there anymore you’ve unpacked that one the second one is I’ve lost my train of thought…

Nick Abregu: The other the other editing one?

Simao Lagoa: Graphic design…

Nick Abregu: But I know what your saying like it’s why would hire someone to do when I can do it myself.

Simao Lagoa: Just use all these tools, the other one is we become enumerated with our own stuff.

Nick Abregu: Absolutely.

Simao Lagoa: And we fall in love with this little piece of something that I created and it looks so cute and we show our family and they love us then obviously they’re gonna love it yeah but I’ll give you that example of that campaign of the t-shirts right I did three concepts for it I spent three and a half hours on the first concept I put doves in I put lighting effects I put a perspective a fake perspective depth into it I spent three and a half hours into it the second concept I put about an hour and because I had 40 minutes up until review to show the team before we put it up in front of the marketing department I created that belly roll about belly girl concept in 35 minutes I jot it together like pom pom pom black-and-white image yes it was the winning one yeah my thought my ego got in the way and I thought I’m not even gonna do this third concept yeah because the one I love the most is the Dove one and that’s gonna be the winning one okay so here’s for 24 million customers telling you you’re half an hour of investment was what better return than the three and a half hours that you put in before so that’s a huge slap in my own face that was when I realized I need to get out of my own way a lot more often. So, test the audience because they’re the final consumer like totally support and them with you on that one.

Nick Abregu: I love that it’s so true like you your product… what you created like what you love might be completely different to what your audience but also on that it’s hard for a company that’s just starting and most  of the time the people that have issues with these are the ones that are doing it themselves the ones that are doing themselves are usually the ones that are just starting out or they have low budgets right they want they want to make like a million dollars on one product right that’s their dream. I love that I love that ambition though yes because they’re the ones that it’ll siphon off the ones that was just doing it just because they headed the boss there that day compared to the ones that really want to make this product run and I love that I love that ambition yes and I love the excitement that comes when we have a talk like and the whole team’s they like yes good that’s not I love it right yeah but how does how does a company that’s just started out that might have only ever say ten customers how do they test out to a small audience because if the sample size is not being it’s not relevant enough yeah that’s always been a big issue and if you don’t have a budget to push this out to a million people yeah like you just have to really like really eat up that you don’t have like correct what these five people might be telling you they like might not necessarily be yeah what the audience like.

Simao Lagoa: That’s the biggest moving sense part of the business is when you have to adapt on the fly because you think you’re gonna set this and it’s gonna do its own growth and you have to adapt and you have to keep it that thing now there’s another variation in this whole thing and you have to consider that factor so yeah you’ve seen this pretty much every day as well a lot of people on Facebook and business groups they ask how do you like this and it’s not validated by the right audience it can I keep chipping in these posts because they lack validity and that’s something that I’ve learned throughout 22 years now but obviously for somebody starting out for somebody creating their own graphic and creating their own logo or creating their own video they like that perspective and the credibility or trust in an experienced voice is not necessarily there all the time so it becomes a problem for them because they don’t see the growth or the results that it could have had and they blame it on marketing not working branding not working your video is not a great tool but then it’s back to what you said you have to make sure you validate it appropriately.

Nick Abregu: I like something that that really stuck with me last year when I heard do you know Tony Sambell?

Simao Lagoa: No.

Nick Abregu: From spicy web ID?

Simao Lagoa: I have no Spicyweb.

Nick Abregu: So, he’s the founder. He’s an exceptional human being and really great web developer as well, his company is really awesome, but he mentioned… I loved the key word that he said destruction metrics.

Simao Lagoa: I’m gonna right that down.

Nick Abregu: Okay right that down, that’s a great one. So, Tony’s company works on trying to remove distraction metrics right from their data, for their clients and like things like; likes and views, they are destruction metrics. you might have a billion views and a billion shares or whatever but if you don’t make a sale it’s crap.

Simao Lagoa: It doesn’t matter. Well, there you go, we should have started there because I just posted something last week to the same effect. You can get 75 likes a hundred likes on your graphic image video piece of content, but it’s not relevant because when you translate it into market conditions, the market is gonna have it’s say they’re gonna be the last judge and it’s really interesting distraction metrics is another word for what I had known up until now is vanity metrics exactly the same thing yeah but still holds.

Nick Abregu: Yeah, what makes you feel good, that’s not really what grows your bank account.

Simao Lagoa: Yes. Correct absolutely. I’ve seen SpicyWeb a couple of times they popped up and I’ve looked at them a couple of times they seem to be very sturdy and knowledgeable.

Nick Abregu: They’ve been around for ten years man, they are a solid company and they’re in the Frankston area, they’re in the quest building.

Simao Lagoa: Oh yeah?

Nick Abregu: You know, in the biggest building in Frankston?

Simao Lagoa: I don’t.

Nick Abregu: Next time you drive by there, for in that area, just look for the biggest building there. They took me up to the rooftop, oh my goodness; it’s almost like it’s almost like they have an infinity pool, because the for me for my height. I looked out, and all I was seeing was just the ocean. Just the vast ocean and I’m like; oh my God this is beautiful. I want this. But…

Simao Lagoa: Enticing

Nick Abregu: But those guys that deserves? Deserves all the success that he has. He’s just hard working and he’s a good guy is a really good guy and will always look out for you for your new business as his own so yeah.

Simao Lagoa: It’s good you’re telling me that because I might just come and….

Nick Abregu: You should connect with him.

Simao Lagoa: Yup.

Nick Abregu: Tony if you’re listening, we’ve got someone to connect with you. The bromance is going to grow. And his stuff is so good.

Simao Lagoa: They certainly look like they’re capabl. From the data analytics perspective of it, to the marketing and quality of work that I’ve seen, they stand up.

Nick Abregu: Dude I’m so glad you came by.

Simao Lagoa: My pleasure.

Nick Abregu: I love it.

Simao Lagoa: My pleasure.

Nick Abregu: So…

Simao Lagoa: I was gonna tell you the other fail, if there is still time.

Nick Abregu: Yeah absolutely. Yes please. Absolutely, we’ve got time.

Simao Lagoa: Are we good with time? Yes?

Nick Abregu: Okay, let’s do it man. I am not trying to kick your ass. We got all day.

Alia Steglinski: That was the warm-up.

Simao Lagoa: That was the warm-up.

Nick Abregu: Alright, let’s get started.

Simao Lagoa: Intro is done. Let the main dish come in. This will be very interesting because it speaks of and wraps up everything that we’ve been talking about from intention to Law of Attraction to believing in what you do in a perfect way. And it’s very timely because it even sprinkles some powders over the dogs and pets and whatnot, so, it’s… today is the 10th of January.

Nick Abregu: Is it?

Simao Lagoa: Yes, because just a while ago, I realized this has been my first my best January for the last six years since in business. So, that was an interesting milestone that I registered for myself just before leaving the house and driving over but…

Nick Abregu: Congratulations.

Simao Lagoa: Thank you. But it is also almost a full year, five day short of a little cycle that was… that could be considered a fail and by fail I put a number of Cavetti’s. But a year ago, I had a motorcycle accident. I drive sports bikes and those are one of my passions and…

Nick Abregu: What bike do you have?

Simao Lagoa: I did have a Suzuki GSXR 750.

Nick Abregu: That’s a beautiful bike.

Simao Lagoa: Isn’t it?

Nick Abregu: That’s the perfect balance between torque and weight.

Simao Lagoa: Oh yes. Exactly.

Nick Abregu: Oh my God.

Simao Lagoa: I jumped on the bike… one day after coming home from work, I told my wife let’s go train, but I need to go get a haircut really quick. I jump on the bike, and I’ll meet you at the gym. We have a gym as a part of our amenities, I get on the bike in 300 meters down the road, some guy crosses me gets on the road on an intersection doesn’t even look. I hit the passenger door and literally flip over the car; I flip over the car and land on the other side into a squat.

Nick Abregu: Really?

Simao Lagoa: Yes.

Nick Abregu: No!

Simao Lagoa: Is it okay to say…

Nick Abregu: Say what you want.

Simao Lagoa: I shit you not. I fell on the other side. I have not seen a YouTube video like this. I’m a miracle and here’s why. I have a rule with motorcycles, I don’t get on the motorcycle with unless I have all my equipment. I enforced that rule with my wife, I’ve introduced her to riding motorcycles and she loves it and we have an awesome time. I broke my rule on that day and 300 meters down the road to my house, I have an accident and I would have never guessed it you would have seen something like this anywhere on the web as you can imagine, this is grave enough as it is. When I break my rule what I mean is I did not have more than shorts in a singlet that day. So, this whole thing ties into… it took me a couple of days to realize it, but when I got up and I realized that I was completely fine not one single scratch on my whole body, I started getting very thankful and I was not even mad. I wanted to kill the guy in a first instance but I kept myself really cool and I kept thinking that I had my whole body attached to itself, it was not dismembered, I did not slide into a curve, I was not run over by the other cars, I had nothing other than the experience of flipping over a car and trying to understand what had just happened and a lot of people looking at me. Because nobody could understand…

Nick Abregu: What the hell just happened.

Simao Lagoa: What the hell just happened. So, we have the conversation the police come over there, the firemen come over, the motorcycle is a write-off, the whole thing it… the summarized…

Nick Abregu: Just for perspective, how fast were you going?

Simao Lagoa: I was doing 50. So, that whole experience was also a reinforcement of keep your safety inside the scene, you don’t go crazy which was… obviously, the police they come over and they see a motorcycle involved and the default action is to believe somebody’s doing wrong here.

Nick Abregu: Someone’s doing… Especially a GXSR bike that’s a douchebags bike.

Simao Lagoa: Correct absolutely. Very easy to judge me on that, why? Buffed guy, on a singlet going on a GSXR. Yeah, no problem, he is the douche in this story. But, the s story and all the elements in it you just proved another thing altogether the door was punched in enough that it was it was not a huge crash the way that I flipped over the car instead of ramming into the window itself just explained how the speed was not a factor to the accident.

Nick Abregu: Yeah. Yeah.

Simao Lagoa: It also happened that the gentleman was very socially responsible and he completely put his hand up and said he was fully responsible for not looking for taking way too much time to cross the intersection and it played out really well so his insurance company took care of paying me out yeah this whole thing was they fail and in most evaluations but here’s where the intention comes in up until that point I had been manifesting what a new motorcycle I wanted a Ducati I wanted a red-hot fiery Beast yeah that was just about twice as powerful yes the GSXR Wow I had I had even looked at them so that whole process was in motion I have been looking at my vision board which I kept on my phone and every day I would do some manifestation around it I had also manifested my health to be a hundred percent all the time can you see how these two things tied together so high I was explaining how I have just been in the process of manifesting some new things and the accident was funny because it became the universe’s way of making it happen here’s why I have been manifesting a Ducati a beast which is just about twice as powerful as a GSXR geez and I had been asking and asking and asking for a new motorcycle to come in I failed to specify how the old one would go on my phone every single day three times a day during my manifesting I what did you motorcycle I what a new motorcycle what saved me this whole thing was also manifesting my health to be at a hundred percent to beat my body to be at a specific part of a physical state and what not so this whole having the accident and reprocessing it in my brain became okay it would have been a fail but it was cut halfway through and if in fact it didn’t get cut at all it would this is the universe working towards me right so I asked for a new motorcycle but I didn’t ask how to do that get rid of the old one here’s the funny part here’s another funny part about that whole thing it took me about 15 months to get the Gixxer approved into Australia to get it in the country shipped from Barcelona into Australia it took me 15 months it took a great amount of energy and belief that I could do it and when it did come in it ended up being in 2015 okay let’s keep a little pin on this date 2018 was when I had my accident so when the insurance looked at the registry date of the motorcycle to pay me out it ended up being that they paid me out the exact amount that I paid for it in Barcelona eight years earlier really it was that funny and that’s synchronistically that everything turned out in my favor so the motorcycle was put out of the picture so the new one could come in.

Nick Abregu: Wow! Plus, us this money.

Simao Lagoa: Plus, the money that… Yes, I have paid for it and…

Nick Abregu: Because if you would have sold the bike, you would have the got the value of that year.

Simao Lagoa: Correct.

Nick Abregu: Yeah.

Simao Lagoa: That was evaluated at two and a half thousand as per Suzuki. I had a conversation with Suzuki some time before. But look at the main elements in this whole manifestation process I want a new bike okay let’s get rid of the old one my body is a hundred percent I’m fully healthy okay check that spin over the car land on a squat get up and get paid out no problem.

Nick Abregu: Dude, that is a miracle story.

Simao Lagoa: Delivered to you on a plate.

Nick Abregu: Honey, that was over the cloud, right? That was amazing. And, you left everyone that watched that like what the F… what the hell happened?

Simao Lagoa: What the hell shit happened? Yeah. Absolutely

Nick Abregu: That’s incredible.

Simao Lagoa: And it everything turned out in my favor from the gentleman basically accounting himself is fully responsible for what had happened to the four witnesses that I had and came to me asking me if I wanted their detail so they could retell the story to the police everybody collaborated the exact same version everything went like smooth as butter

Nick Abregu: Wow! What a stand-up genuine that person was or woman, I don’t know.

Simao Lagoa: Yes! Exactly. Yes.

Nick Abregu: That’s amazing.

Simao Lagoa: Yes. He was too. He was not very mindful obviously jumping into the intersection and just taking forever to do the maneuver, but he did come through and any basically…

Nick Abregu: I know like people that ride by it’s like I’ve really used to ride bikes to where so much more alert on the road because you even hear a look at like a look at Holly or something coming you hear well oh well bang, it will make you alert.

Simao Lagoa: Absolutely.

Nick Abregu: And people that don’t ride that they’re a bit oblivious to this thing.

Simao Lagoa: I fully agree with you 300%. t’s very different to grow up on a bicycle and then on a motorcycle and then a car then growing up one day I get a driver’s license, sit in a car and protected environment I’ve got all these dead spots around me yeah has compared to having a visual awareness of the periphery and trying to keep all the senses alert to what’s coming what’s going what’s changing lines and in keeping obviously your physical integrity always on the where you needed to be.

Nick Abregu: Dude, that’s amazing that you’re today as well. It’s amazing that you survived that.

Simao Lagoa: I am amazingly grateful for being the miracle and being watched over that day because a lot of things could have changed my life could have been the ended right there or something much bigger than what it turned out to be could have happened.

Nick Abregu: Have you ever done a front flip in your life? And landed on your feet

Simao Lagoa: Like, I have done it in a few times, In a few times.

Nick Abregu: Okay. So, that would come into practice too for sure.

Simao Lagoa: Well, interestingly enough a lot of people when I told them the story just knowing me for being sort of the sports you guys that I am they said your muscle memory just kicked in  you know this stuff so yeah just sort of defaulted to that and made sure that you somehow lend it in a not very difficult situation because everything could have gone wrong I could have hidden the car on the side and wreck a shade and basically slid onto a curve but so many things could have happened and I’ve got all my skin nothing happened it was amazing.

Nick Abregu: Dude, when you landed, did you do like you know in the Olympics? Then you here, you bow there.

Simao Lagoa: I did not do that, but I did walk very calmly towards the car and I say this because I actually have footage of what happened.

Nick Abregu: No!

Simao Lagoa: Is the whole thing right, I got up and somebody from the building across the accident walked right over to me and they understood the whole situation if this guy tries to be a scumbag and deny that he did anything wrong we have video the building manager you need to get in touch with the building manager that is taking care of this building here because there’s a bunch of cameras pointing to the road and I did get in touch with the building manager and we did get some footage however destiny wanted that because everything was so well taken care of I actually did not need the footage to make proof anything. We… the cameras shot that happened right after I got up from the road they didn’t, because it was movement actions, movement set. So, it’s programmed to film the path the sidewalk not necessarily the road and by the time that something made it records activate the recording system I saw myself on camera basically walking with my helmet on taking my time very calm walking over to the car who had parked on the other side of the road but again it would have been it would have been useful to have that and it was very useful that somebody read the situation really quickly and came to my aid, help, while trying to build a case obviously because everybody noticed that the gentleman was not very conscious when he made the decision to cross the road. It’s really interesting how that whole thing played out.

Nick Abregu: What a story.

Simao Lagoa: It is a story. That whole week was a story. In fact, and this is where the pets stay in my wife’s long loved black lab 12 years we this whole week was a whole cycle clean up end beginning of the next one so, somebody in our circle friends died I had my accident my wife had a major disappointment at work but at the same time she bought a new Mercedes which was a reward to herself for doing so well in another business that she had she’s a very accomplished business person and to cap it all off Friday night we’re sitting on the couch and we’re having we’re having mussels of all things of all things we love seafood and we were having mussels we sat down to watch a video and the dog kept going back and forth with a very noticeable bloated stomach so we took the dog to an emergency the vet hospital the dog did not come back this is apparently a very recurring issue with labs there their guts get twisted and opening them up and untwisting the bowels is not necessarily a guarantee that one the dog will live into that the quality of life will be the same so we made the call that night that Oscar was going to rest and that was just another freaky thing that whole week the space of five days everything happened and it was like it depends on where you’re looking at if you’re looking from this side it’s a fail if you’re looking from this side it’s the cleanup and the start of something new and was definitely the case for some…

Nick Abregu: Some nice lessons that week.

Simao Lagoa: Oh yes!

Nick Abregu: Oh wow!

Simao Lagoa: So, that was the second fill that I wanted to share with you and everybody looking at this all right now never take the fails for granted just like you can’t take successes because successes are usually a result of something it’s the added compounded effect of a number of things that you’ve done and you’ve reached it but it doesn’t need to be the defining moment it doesn’t need to be your identity so don’t let it and always keep as much as possible ego out of the way keep yourself level both in failure and in success.

Nick Abregu: Dude, that was a beautiful way to warp…

Simao Lagoa: to wrap it up. Thank you very much.

Nick Abregu: That’s beautiful. I hope you’re not all crying at home.

Simao Lagoa: It’s been a huge pleasure. Thank you so much Nick.

Nick Abregu: The pleasure is all mine man. Thanks for coming man.

Simao Lagoa: It’s something that I want to do more often and I’m looking forward to an opportunity to retribute the favor.

Nick Abregu: Yeah dude lets do it again. I’d love to have you back on.

Simao Lagoa: Why not.

Nick Abregu: That’s awesome. Thank you everyone. Thank you to our camera officer, you are amazing. And thanks everyone for listening and watching. And… yeah, we will do this again.