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BEN Bradshaw is about to pull off his greatest magic trick yet.
Bradshaw will soon be going global with his business SponsoredLinX, taking on Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the US, while keeping not just profitable in the process but really profitable.
The former magician is the Digital category winner of Business News Australia's 2015 Brisbane Young Entrepreneur Awards.
Bradshaw has officially been in the business of digital search, development, and increasingly social, for almost a decade.
He may have first-mover advantage, but fast-mover might be a more apt description of Bradshaw. He intends to double staff in the next year from his existing headcount of 83.
"It's Moore's Law in this industry where every year is just exponential," says Bradshaw.
"The strategies from 2004 or even 2014 just won't work anymore. Our business is very fast-moving and we are growing at the moment on a 50 per cent growth trajectory for the next year.
"We act more like a startup than a corporation we make a decision and move on it very fast to roll it out across the country, and soon countries."
Bradshaw owns a proprietary software platform that he says facilitates a 'completely different approach to client management'.
"We are so big on transparency, and I know everyone says they are big on that, but we really don't keep anything from our clients they see everything we do and have their own Google accounts so they can check up whenever they want," says Bradshaw.
"Other agencies show clients a report at the end of the month but don't show them everything throughout the process."
Bradshaw says the US is big and bold on the to-do list at the moment, essentially embossed after taking out the Australian title in the Google Partners AllStars competition in Silicon Valley last year.
"I have learnt a lot through stories and culture about how Silicon Valley treats employees and I really want to bring this to Brisbane to do more with our staff," says Bradshaw, adding that food trucks and flexible working hours are methods he sees as boosting morale.
"We are really keen to set up something permanent in San Francisco, which is in the works as we plan Singapore and Malaysia and get New Zealand rolling."
Bradshaw is used to the travel from his days as a high-flying magician, when he says he would spend about $30,000 annually on interstate travel.
His head was in the sky when the seed sprung for SponsoredLinX.
"I had an epiphany where I realised the enormity of the gap in the market as soon as I began using Google AdWords to market my corporate magic business," says Bradshaw.
"I felt an obligation to tell all my friends and colleagues, and from there self-taught everything I could about digital marketing."
Bradshaw expects to double his turnover in the next three years.
He has one piece of advice for others who even just hope to stay in business.
"Not many businesses really understand 'micro moments' and some are dying because of it," says Bradshaw.
"People are starting and finishing transactions 90 per cent of the time across devices, starting on mobile and going home to desktop, to finally purchase something by the end of the week.
"Businesses need to be across all touch points and evolve, because at the moment it seems the digital space is moving faster than economies can adopt it. That's where we come in."
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