Welcome to episode 188 of the Business Development Podcast and on today's expert guest interview, we're chatting with Vladimir Botswadze, a world renowned marketing expert and an advisory board member at the United States Artificial Intelligence Institute.

We're chatting today about emotional connection and why it may be the only sustainable long term advantage.

Stick with us.

You are not going to want to miss this episode.

The great Mark Cuban once said, business happens over years and years.

Value is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal.

And we couldn't agree more.

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Let's do it.

Welcome to the Business Development Podcast.

And now your expert host, Kelly Kennedy.

Hello.

Welcome to episode 188 of the Business Development Podcast and on today's expert guest interview, I bring you Vladimir Botsey.

He stands as a towering figure in the dynamic realm of digital transformation and marketing, with an illustrious career spanning over 15 years.

Throughout his journey, he has consistently been at the vanguard of innovation, earning him recognition as one of the foremost thought leaders in the industry.

Whether he's captivating audiences as a keynote speaker, illuminating the path forward as a futurist, or nurturing the next generation of entrepreneurs as a startup mentor, Vladimir's multifaceted expertise shines through.

His remarkable track record includes being ranked as the number one global marketing thought leader by Thinkers360, a testament to his unparalleled insights and strategic acumen.

Beyond the accolades, Vladimir's impact reverberates across continents, shaping the future of technology and business on a global scale.

His insights have graced the pages of prestigious publications such as Forbes, Bloomberg and Business Insider, solidifying his status as a trusted authority in the field.

With a passion for crafting, game changing strategies and an unwavering commitment to excellence, Vladimir empowers individuals and organizations alike to navigate the complexities of the digital age.

In a world hungry for innovation, Vladimir Botswadze stands as a beacon of inspiration, armed with a wealth of experience and a relentless drive to shape the future of digital marketing.

Vladimir, it's an honor to have you on today.

Hi Kelly.

I truly appreciate the invitation and it is a delight to be here and I'm excited to share my Insights with your audience today.

It's, it's an absolute honor, dude.

And once again, let me apologize again.

For goodness sakes.

We've had multiple apologies trying to get the damn Internet connection to work properly for us.

This is our third try to do this show.

This is, I've never ever had that many tries to get a show right, Vladimir.

So first off, thank you so much for your patience.

My deepest apologies that we weren't able to get this done the first, second time.

But you know what they say, third time's the charm, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I hope so that now we are going to have a proper episode.

You know, well, that was it.

We could have kept going, but that's it.

It's like I want to make sure that we are getting the best possible representation through to our listeners because this is going to be an awesome, insightful, insightful episode.

And I, I've been excited to have you on, dude, and I really appreciate you reaching out to me.

But before we get into it, today, we're going to chat all about AI.

We're going to chat about marketing and technology and the future.

And you'd already told me some things that are a little bit scary.

So we're going to get into that.

But before we do, how did you end up on this path?

You know, 15 years down this journey for you and you've done some pretty incredible things.

But who is Vladimir Batsvetze?

How did you end up on this path?

Well, you know, I'm a long term thinker, Kelly.

You know, I'm a storyteller to the core.

I'm a practitioner as well and I love connecting with people, I love communicating with my audience.

And if you check out my career trajectory, I come from Georgia, but I moved to the United States when I was 18, I got my work permit, I started working.

It was my first experience in my life at the age of 18 in Washington, D.C.

area.

Remarkable start, you know, so after living in Virginia, I moved to New York City.

So I built everything, I built my entire career on my New York City experience because it has laid a strong foundation for my success, you know, so I started seeing the world faster, easier, clearer.

And I have, I started embracing self education.

I, you know, networking is everything these days, you know, because through networking you can become a keynote speaker.

Through networking you can become entrepreneur.

Through networking you can become influencer, you know, so in 20, I, of course, of course, New York City experience turned out to be instrumental in my career journey.

And in 2009 I moved to London because I was hungry for success, I was hungry for growth.

So I started business marketing, customer experience.

I started working in business development.

I used to work for 20 offices in downtown London.

I had a very dynamic, I had a very dynamic job and I was surrounded by very positive and hard working and enthusiastic people who were, I mean they were very contagious for me, infectious in many ways.

And so I think this experience that I built up my self esteem, I built up my confidence.

London is one of the best places nowadays in the world.

If you want to move up in the world, gain ground, go places in your early 20s, you need to be in London to grow, right, to surround yourself with right people.

So London is epicenter of innovation in the world and I'm very grateful to the uk.

I have many great friends in London who trust me and I consider London my home away from home.

And also in 2014 I attended some conference in Dubai and I understood how important it was to build a personal brand.

I instantly started hitting the ground running on Twitter.

I built up my following from zero followers to 57,000 followers in six years.

You know, in six years without advertising, without promoting my profiles.

So organic growth, content creation, communication, patience, patience, long term thinking, where I mean driver of my growth.

So in 2015 I built up my website@vladimir botswana.com and I started providing marketing and consulting services.

I won my first award in 2015 when Analytica in London recognized me among top hundred B2B marketing influencers.

I was ranked number 65 B2B marketing influencer.

In 2017 I was recognized among top hundred virtual reality influences by analytica.

And in 2018 I was among top hundred digital transformation influencers.

You know, so in 2020 I was recognized as number one global marketing, which is the first open platform for global soft leaders.

Because I was consistent, okay?

You know, I was consistent.

So as they say, consistent action creates consistent results.

So I was very consistent.

I was very disciplined.

I was working 16 hours a day, I was connecting with the world, I was building emotional connections with my followers and I turned a following into a strong community because we were exploring the future of marketing together, you know, so I think what is the difference between audience and community?

In audience people don't know each other, but in community people do know each other because they make stronger bonds.

So I brought people together while exploring the future of market together, you know, so I was show, I was sending video messages, text messages to my followers that I was grateful for, that they appreciated my hard work, they appreciated my content, they paid attention to my content.

They reached me, they liked, they left comments on my tweet.

So I was grateful, you know, someone from Berlin, London, Toronto, Vancouver, LA, Las Vegas, Chicago, NY paid attention to my content, you know.

So in 2021 I was invited to judging panel of the Digital Revolutionary Awards in the UK and I judged nominations such as outstanding contribution to my Microsoft ecosystem and techstar of the Year.

It was my first ever contribution as a judge, you know.

So in 2022 I was invited to judging panel of Stewie Awards, American Business Awards in the United States, you know.

So I judge amazing brands, I'm very grateful to steal awards.

So in 2022 as I was recognized among as an AI influencer in the world because in 2019 I was ranked number 6 global AI influencer by Syncax360.

In 2021 I was ranked number 14 global AI influencers.

In 2022 I was ranked number 16 global AI influencer.

In 2023 I was ranked number number 18.

But now in 2024 I'm now, I'm now number 11 global AI influencer.

But this consistency, this hunger, this determination, this exponential growth in AI world opened up so many doors that I became advisory board member of the United States AI Institute, United States Data Science Institute, United States Cybersecurity Institute.

Just imagine that.

I mean it was incredible, you know, because I'm a momentum oriented, I always look to my lawyers, I don't rest on my lawyers, I always look to my laurels and as you are, as you loved my LinkedIn profiles, that I have great work experience, many awards, interviews, everything.

It's because I'm a long term thinker, you know, I mean I invested, I invested my last dollar into my website a few years ago and now when you Google for example digital marketing keynote speaker, my website Vladimir Botswana.com is ranked number one speaker website in the world, you know.

So then in 2023 I became a mentor at Techstars Techstars Saudi Arabia, Techstars founder K Tales and Techstars Techstars Detroit powered by JP Morgan, you know.

So at the same time I became a judge at the Webby Awards and I became an associate member of International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences in New York City which belongs to Webby Awards.

And so at the same time I have been invited to summit conferences to share my insights.

I have been a guest on 50 podcasts.

In 2023 global gurus recognized me.

Number four Internet marketing guru.

So number one is James Clear, number two is Jay Byer, number three is Neil Patel.

Number four is Vladimir Botswas.

And number five, number five is Gary Vaynerchuk.

You know, just imagine, I mean, the league of elite marketing soft leaders, you know, I mean, James Clear, Neil Patel, Jay Bayer and Danny Vaynerchuk.

I was, I was ranked among top five in the world last year according to the global gurus.

You know, so in 2024, as I have a great track record in AI, I'm advised board in the United States and I'm a recognized AI thought leader.

AI Speakers agency in London recognize me among the world's top 21 AI keynote speakers.

And I'm alongside Sam Altman, who is the CEO of OpenAI.

I'm alongside Sam Altman as a worth among the world's top 21 keynote speakers.

I mean, incredible journey.

Isaac Kelly.

Incredible journey.

You know, let me just stop you there and just say, you know, congratulations on your success.

And you know, take it from me, I'm well aware of how hard it is to achieve the things that you have been able to achieve.

And you're right, it's consistency over time and there is no shortcuts.

Right?

Everyone wants the fast track.

How do I get, how do I get to, you know, a thousand followers?

It's like you work your ass off.

Yeah, I do.

I kept my nose to the greenstone.

I kept my nose to the greenstone.

You know, that's right.

You know, like it's so funny.

Everybody's looking for that fast track to success, right?

And I'm, you know, on this show, I'm always telling people, look, you know, you will achieve success, but it is not going to come just for free.

You're going to have to put the effort in, right?

Whether you're doing business development, whether you're doing marketing, whether you're doing, you know, influencing of any type, it is going to take time, but you have time.

So just get to it.

Yeah, Kelly, I'm now 36.

You know, I'm now 36.

Just imagine that today is 20th of July, June, and in 10 days I turn 37, you know, so.

But it has been a long journey.

I have come a long way for my success.

You know, nobody should say that my journey has been a walk in the park.

No, it has been a very demanding, strenuous taxing.

But when there is a way, there is a way.

You know, I have become a guest speaker, guest speaker at University of Edinburgh Business School.

I am also on the advisory council of Harvard Business Review.

So why?

Because I put my best foot forward.

You know, I put my best Foot forward.

And I maximize my success through my personal brand.

You know, one of the questions that I have for you after listening to that story and knowing about your background and like, you know, we, we didn't get into it on this show.

It's so funny because we've already recorded a couple times trying to get this right.

So we talked about it previously, we're going to talk about it again.

Like most people, when you go into people's LinkedIn experiences, most people have 10, 15 experiences, dude, you have 55 plus different experiences on your work experience.

And I was just like blown away.

I don't think I've ever seen somebody with as much experience as you.

The vast majority of those 55 global experiences in the last five last, in the last four years experience, you know, because I have become a keynote speaker, I have become a judge, advisory board member.

I mean, I guest speaker, you know, and I'm going to be a lecturer in the future, you know, but I'm very, I take pride in my journey because it's authentic, you know, I gained recommendation from top executives of the world, top Fortune 500 brands, you know, So I think that I have gone from the number 65 global B2B marketing influencer in 2015 to number one in 2020.

It shows my hunger determination drive, you know, that if you put in the work, results will come.

It's all about hard work, you know.

And so what separate.

The only things that can separate you from the crowd is hard work and passion.

You know, one of the things that kind of blew my mind is like you said, like you were way ahead of the curb, right?

Like people weren't thinking of business influence like they were, but not to the level they are now and definitely not in 2014.

Like, I don't think most people were even using LinkedIn properly, you know, just.

Imagine, Kelly, you know, just imagine that I was getting ready to do my master's in marketing in London, you know, because I had a few invitations, offers from the top universities from the UK to do my Masters in Marketing in 2013, but I didn't have enough money to fund my studies in the United States to the uk, you know, So I was very driven that of course I did not study marketing in the uk.

But at the same time, Twitter opened up so many avenues for me to explore great opportunities, you know, So I became a mentor, judge, recognized influencer, thought leader.

I invested my money in my website.

So many people recommended me, they endorsed my skills and I won more than 200 global award just because I was hungry, I was determined, you know, I was motivated, you know, and I don't believe that you can meet so many people in your life who, who are as motivated as I am because I love hunger.

You know, I want to capitalize on every opportunity to move forward, to be in the top 1%, you know, to become number one, to tell my story.

So every marketing is all about, I think, what is marketing?

Peter Drucker, Dr.

Peter Drucker said that marketing is all about creating customers and retaining customers.

Lifetime value and retention are everything, you know, that I have, I have, I'm all about retention, that I kept my followers and I was growing my followers.

I was showing gratitude, I was communicating with my followers, you know, and so many people nowadays, they are on their high horse.

They don't communicate with their followers when they, when someone pays attention to their content.

If someone leaves comments on their leave comments on their post, nobody responds to them, you know, so it is a big mistake.

We need to respond to our followers.

We need to interact with them, you know, so I'm very interactive.

I love communicating, I love that.

I now have 30 plus recommendations on LinkedIn, which means that I earned every recommendation by dint of my hard work.

Nothing has been given to me.

I have earned every podcast appearance, every magazine appearance.

You know, I was recognized.

Kelly, for example, I was recognized.

Excellent magazine, Excellent magazine recognized me as a transformative leader of the year, you know, amazing, amazing.

And another magazine, for example, Inside Success magazine, recognize me.

Top 10 inspiring business leaders making a difference in 2022.

You know, wow, that's so cool.

I never, you know, there are people who pay $50,000 to be on the magazine covers and to be interviewed in the magazines.

I never, honest to God, I never paid any amounts of dollars for interviews and for features, you know, because they interviewed my, they appreciated and rewarded my hard work, my devotion, my dedication, you know, that I'm all about passion and storytelling, you know.

Yeah, it's so funny, like for the most part.

And I'll be honest, I don't typically take reach outs.

So the fact that this happened, it kind of took a couple tries on your part and then for me to do a little bit of digging.

But we self invite everybody to the business development podcast.

So all of our guests are hand selected.

We don't typically take referrals.

But you reached out to me directly and that to me was one of the, was one of the catalysts that I was like, okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna reach back out to him and Chat, because it takes a lot of courage to reach out and say, hey, I think I make a great guest for your show, and here's why.

And by the way, this is me and not an agency.

Yeah.

So as they say.

So as they say, Kelly, Fortune.

Fortune favors a brave.

Right?

So we are, if we are not intrepid in our business, if we are not proactive, so many people are reactive.

We need to be proactive, you know, sometimes we need to be proactive and to put our best foot forward, you know.

Well, and that was one of the things that I wanted to chat with you about.

You, you know, your whole speech that you just had talks about your intrinsic motivation, how motivated and driven you are internally.

And I guess one of the questions that I had for you is there's a lot of people listening that are like, yeah, I have that drive sometimes, but how do I.

How do I keep that drive going?

Because you don't accomplish the things that you've accomplished if you take breaks.

And I think there's a lot of people listening who say, like, yeah, I have my spurts of motivation, but how do people really capitalize on that and keep that rolling?

Because it can be very challenging to stay motivated and hardworking all the time.

And, you know, I.

I bust my butt to keep my life going, right?

Like, the podcast doesn't produce itself.

My work doesn't complete itself.

And if I want this thing to keep going, if I want to reach, you know, number one on the podcast charts, I'm going to have to bust my ass to get there.

And there's no days off, right?

Like, I don't miss a day.

I don't miss a show.

We don't miss shows on the bdp.

We put out two shows a week, bar none, aside from me breaking my arm.

We're going to be there, but that's what it takes, right?

And I guess for you, what was it like?

What is that piece of motivation?

Do you have advice for people who need that internal drive?

How did you get your internal drive the way it is?

It's all about soft skills, Kelly.

Nowadays, I would say resilience, flexibility, then agility, motivation, self awareness, curiosity and lifelong learning.

Curiosity and lifelong learning.

Also empathy and active listening.

You know, we need to listen to our audience, you know, and whoever, whoever is closest, closest to the audience always wins.

I have never been competitor centric.

I don't even know who are my competitors, you know, but I'm very audience centric that I'm in the league of James Clear, Neil Patel, Jay Byer, Terry Vaynerchuk, you know, among top five in the world, which means that I am audience centric.

You know, I communicate with my audience.

I give away my best advice for free.

Whether it is media, interview, magazine, interview, podcast, interview, tweeting, or I mean, speaking at global events, I give away my best advice.

So I want to encourage people to move forward.

You know, I don't sell nonsense in the back of conference room because I'm transparent and I don't overcharge my clients.

But the only way that big organizations book me as a speaker is through speakers bureaus, because I work with speakers bureaus.

So, I mean, I have been building my personal brand in the last 18 years, since I moved to the United States when I was 18 and new kid on the block in 2006 when I was given a US visa, you know, so I think I have come a long way for my success.

Nothing has been given for me.

I have depended on motivation, soft skills, curiosity, lifelong learning.

I love reading 500 pages a day.

YouTube is my university.

So this embracing self education is one of the top drivers of success, you know?

Yes, yes.

But it's not.

It doesn't come easily to everybody.

I think that's the challenge, right, Is that you almost need something to help you to take that next step.

For me, it was starting my business, right?

And eventually starting the show and seeing the success of the show over time.

Obviously, though, when you start any new venture, you have no idea how it's going to go.

Like, dude, I started this show in my basement talking to the wall, thinking, who in the world is going to listen to a show on business development?

Turns out a lot of people, but I couldn't have known that at the time, right?

But it really was.

It was those little motivations along the way.

You talk about communicating with your audience, man.

The audience of the business development podcast has been so motivating.

They're amazing individuals.

We have a rockstar listenership to this show and they're so awesome.

And they'll reach out and they'll say, hey, we implemented the things you chatted about and we've experienced amazing success.

Thank you.

I just got into business development.

I heard this show, and my gosh, I got the job that I've been trying for, right?

And it's things like that really help me.

And Kelly, one thing, one thing that contributed to my success is that I'm a giver, not a taker.

You know, so many people nowadays are takers, not givers.

So we need to give Something before we take.

Right, we need to give.

So I expect.

I expect nothing in return.

You know, when I give, I give.

I don't expect anything in return, you.

Know, but it sure is nice when people reach out and let you know that the work you're doing is appreciated, isn't it?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

You know, I love when people connect with me and they email me that, they watch my keynotes, they watch my podcast appearances, they read my magazine interviews, and I mean, they started following me on Twitter and I made a difference in their lives.

You know, it is a big compliment.

It is my biggest success.

Of course, it is great to be a judge at the Webby Awards, to be a mentor at techstars, to be a guest speaker, and to be number one in the world.

But when I receive emails that I made a difference, that I create content consistently, Kelly, this is a bedrock of my growth because I blog, I have my medium, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, I have been a guest on podcast.

You know, so I never played for Real Madrid or I never been a celebrity or politician or.

I mean, but.

But I have told my stories through Twitter and social media channels, you know, and social media and Twitter is what has put me on the global map.

You know, well, you know, it's not too late to be a celebrity or a politician.

You can start anytime.

I don't know, though.

I don't know if it's what is cracked up to be.

You know, I have been featured.

I have been featured.

I have been featured in Forbes, Business Insider, Bloomberg, Yahoo.

Finance magazines, and I don't have a degree from Harvard University.

I never.

I have never played for.

For Chelsea or Barcelona or Bayern Munich.

I never played.

But I never been a politician or.

But.

But social media, I have been.

I have told my stories to social media and it has made all the difference, you know, amazing.

And yeah, you were so ahead of the curve.

And you're right.

You've had incredible success growing your following.

And I guess we're talking to a lot of entrepreneurs right now, Vladimir, who may or may not have started that journey, who may or may not understand the importance of personal branding as it applies in 2024 and beyond.

And me and you both know everything has changed, but let's chat with them today.

You've had incredible success creating a following, becoming an influencer, making a pretty damn big global impact.

What kind of advice would you give to people who haven't taken a single step on that direction yet, but, you know, are recognizing they may need to.

Well, you know, I think that it's all about consistency, curiosity, telling your story, providing value, giving first and expect nothing, expecting nothing in return.

Because, you know, every time now I meet new people, they all about taking, taking, taking, you know, I mean, they don't provide value and they are asking something in return, you know, So I think we need to create content.

So our content is supposed to provide value.

That opens up so many doors, you know, it builds great content, builds relationships, builds bridges.

You know, in my world, a great content creation has built bridges, you know, with entrepreneurs, keynote speakers, mentors.

I am followed, for example, by Grant Cardone.

I mean, incredible that I am followed by Grant because I created great content because I sent 130,000 tweets.

I have posted more than 60,000 times on Instagram, I have my medium, I documented my journey, I have had my active presence on medium, on Blogger, on WordPress, on Tumblr, you know, so I put my eggs into different baskets, you know, so nowadays when you do your mba, those marketing professors teach you to put all your eggs into one basket, which is a big mistake, I believe.

I believe putting my eggs into different baskets, you know, I think it is, it makes all the difference, you know, So I think also what has contributed to my success is that we need to start networking.

You know, we need to start networking.

We need to say hello.

I think when someone mentions you on Twitter, it means that, it means handshake for me.

You know, someone is shaking a hand also you have to shake your hand, shake their hand as well, you know.

So to me, social media is a reactionary business.

It is all about listening and responding, you know, listening and responding.

And as I say, it's like Twitter is like a cocktail party.

So you have to break the ice, mix with people, jump into conversations.

And I think no barriers on Twitter, for example, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, the rest of channels have barriers, you know, for example, if I don't know anybody, I can't send Facebook requests, right?

Because if I don't know them personally.

But on Twitter, no barriers, Kelly, no barriers.

You know, people realize nowadays, people complaining that like Twitter is a toxic social media network, you know, but Twitter is the only social media network left that prioritizes human connection.

You know, the rest of social media channels are, are content push out platforms, you know, but social, Twitter is the only channel for me that prioritizes human connection.

Human connection, you know, So I think that Twitter now has more than 600 million users and wow.

And 300 and 350,000 tweets sent per minute.

350,000 tweets sent per minute.

You know, so I think that what is happening nowadays.

Incredible, right?

I have witnessed that people, incredible open minded entrepreneurs build multibillion dollar startups, unicorns through Twitter, through communicating with their audience.

Glossier is a great example because Emily Weiss started as a blogger and she built a billion dollar cosmetic brand.

I think you can build a billion dollar business through blogging and connecting with consumers on social media.

Wow, wow, wow.

So what you're ultimately saying is that business has completely changed.

Completely changed.

52% of global organizations have disappeared on the Fortune 500 list since 2000.

52% of organizations disappeared, Kelly, you know, because they are boardroom centric, not consumer centric, you know, because they don't listen to their consumers.

You know, and this is a big mistake as big mistakes that Blockbuster made that they were boardroom centric and did not buy Netflix for $50 million and they were ignoring the fourth industrial revolution.

They went out of business.

You know, and we know that Nokia lost market share, BlackBerry lost market share, Kodak lost market share.

Why?

Because agility is everything.

Speaking speed, it's no longer about big or small.

It's all about fast versus slow, you know.

So our industry has many Davids that surpass Goliath because Goliath is slow, David's fast.

So speed is everything, you know, and.

Kind of what you're suggesting is that in order for companies to survive at this point, they really need to be able to pivot on a dime.

You can't be this billion dollar organization doing things the same way you always did.

You need to find ways to create efficiencies so that you can be more agile, quicker and frankly keep up with these smaller players who are able to spin on a dime.

Absolutely.

So they still depend on these tried and true strategies that worked in 1995, 2005, 2010, and top executives put their MBA degrees on a pedestal that no longer provide positive ROI.

And if I attended a business school in 2010, this knowledge no longer works in 2024.

You know, you have to, I mean you have to keep up with the latest trends in technology.

And I think what skills do businesses prioritize, Kelly, by 2027, you know, there are a few types of skills, Kelly.

Cognitive skills, self efficiency, technology and working with others.

You know, the first, according to the World Economic Forum, the first skill is analytical thinking, which is cognitive skill.

Second skill is creative thinking, which is a cognitive skill.

Third skill is AI and big data, which is technology skill.

The fourth skill is leadership and social influence, which is working with other skills.

Then fifth, resilience, flexibility and agility, which is self efficiency, you know, then six, curiosity and lifelong learning, which is self efficiency.

Seven, technological literacy, which is technology skill.

Eight, number eight, design and ux, which is a technology skill.

Number nine, motivation, self awareness, which is self efficiency.

And last but not least, empathy and active listening, which is working with others skill.

So just imagine that you need cognitive skills, you need technology skills, also self efficiency and also you need to be able to work with others in the digital age, you know, work with so these skills that leadership and social influence.

Then motivation, self awareness and empathy and active listening, you know.

So These are top 10 skills by 2027 that businesses prioritize according to the World Economic Forum, you know, and I would also, I would also add to this list long term thinking.

I would also add to this list if I, if I were a member of the World Economic Forum, I would, I would offer my insight that long term thinking should have been added to this skill because I think long term thinking is also very important because so many people think short term, medium term, but not only few tiny minority of people think in the long term like Jeff Bezos, because Jeff Bezos is a long term thinker and I think customer centricity, long term thinking, reinvention, constant reinvention, you know, because many people stand still, they don't reinvent themselves, but Amazon reinvents itself.

I think reinvention is very important, you.

Know, so when we're thinking long term thinking, I like that, I like that a lot.

I think some of the challenge in that though, Vladimir, is that most companies can't see what's coming.

So like, in my experience, some of the biggest things that have changed my world, I could have never seen them coming.

Like, you know, I didn't know three years ago that I was going to start a podcast.

And I couldn't have known when I started the podcast that it would be as successful as it is today.

I hoped it would be and it's great that it is.

And obviously I did a lot of work in the meantime to do as best as I could to make sure that I was consistent, that I was showing up, that I was providing value.

All the things you spoke about.

Yes, but I could, it still could have failed, right?

It still could have bombed.

There could have been, you know, 80 other podcasts that were better and whatever, that's what happens.

What I'm suggesting is I think companies want to be long term thinkers, but I think that it can be almost impossible to see the opportunities that are going to come their way.

So can you maybe like elaborate on how companies can get better at long term thinking and maybe create a more accurate future?

Well, I think if nowadays, from 2014, in the foreseeable future, if they want to become long term thinkers, they should become an AI company, you know, because I think the vast majority of executives believe that AI gives them a competitive advantage, you know, so AI can improve business efficiency by up to 40% and reduce operational costs by up to 30%, according to McKinsey.

You know, so I think global AI market value is expected to reach $267 billion by 2027.

And 28 of companies use AI for marketing purposes.

Only 12% of companies use AI for content creation.

Only 12%, 44% of organizations use AI to lower operational costs.

And I would say that AI is going to replace 30% of global workforce by 2030, which means that 375 million individuals will have to switch other carriers by 2030.

You know, so according to the World Economic Forum, 85 million jobs will be replaced by AI next year.

Next year, Wow.

I think that, I think total contribution of AI to the global economy is going to hit $50.7 trillion by 2030.

And nowadays 77 people use a service or device that is AI powered.

And I would say that what are the popular use cases for businesses in 2020 for conversational AI, which AI, chatbot, cobots, voice assistants, take over the global scenes and which expect IT to reach 7 billion by 2024.

And customer service, customer service AI replaces customer service representatives as 61%.

And customer service professionals expect that most representatives will use AI automation in their role in 2024.

You know, second is hyper personalization.

It is 92% of companies are using AI driven personalization to drive growth.

And last is automated processes.

You know, gartner expects that 69% of daily management tasks to be completely automated by 2024, you know, so I think that even recruiting and workforce optimization, 61% of plan, plan to invest in AI to streamline the processes in 2024, you know, so I think that AI AI reigns supreme.

And I believe that over 60% of business owners believe that AI will improve customer experience.

You know, of course AI is creating jobs and also replacing jobs, which is very important to understand that of course millions of jobs are going to replace, as I met, as I noticed Kelly, copywriters, bloggers, I mean marketers are losing their jobs.

You know, 41%, 41% of code on GitHub has been written by generative AI.

Just imagine that coders are losing their jobs, you know, because of generative AI.

Even influencers.

Influencers are going to lose their jobs in the future because generative AI is going to generate influencers.

Just imagine, you know.

Yeah, yeah.

They don't make mistakes.

Say they already.

They know what buttons to push.

So.

Kelly.

So I would say, to boil my point down, I would say that building emotional connection with the world is the only sustainable competitive advantage.

Emotional connection.

Because if I have an emotional connection with the world, my I will be still sought after.

And if I see that millions of people are losing their jobs, I will not be replaced by AI because I have this emotional attachment to the world because I will be still out after because this world loves picking my brain, you know?

Well, what if they make an AI bot of you and then they download your information?

Then you might be out of the job too.

Kelly, Kelly, AI's downside is emotional intelligence, you know.

Yeah, yeah.

It is our advantage.

It is our advantage.

Emotional intelligence, as I mentioned, that this curiosity, flexibility, motivation, lifelong.

It is our advantage.

So we need to capitalize on soft skills to surpass AI and to remain competitive and to stay ahead of the car, you know?

Yeah, yeah, No, I agree completely.

It's so funny because, you know, for years I've been talking about it's important to build real relationships, to be authentic, to be human.

And what you're saying is not only is it like, it's something you need to do, it's something that you are going to have to do to just exist and compete in the next phase of the business world.

Yes, of course.

Authenticity is very important because if I detect someone is not authentic, I dissociate myself with them because I want to be surrounded by authentic, real leaders.

So I think that I have gone from 0 followers to 57,000 followers on Twitter because of patience, because I was tracking my progress from month to month.

My cloud score was 58 in 2014, but my cloud score reached 80 in 2018.

But they put the kibosh on cloud in 2018.

But in four years, I was curious, driven, motivated to create content and to have my presence across several social media channels.

And cloud was measuring my influence on social media, you know.

Yeah, yeah, man.

Like, this really has me thinking, Vladimir, like, there's a lot of, like, people in VP positions that have just held that position forever.

That's where they've been.

They haven't focused much time on social media because they go to work every day.

You know, they might have very High level executive positions, but they haven't taken those steps to create an outward face of them.

You know, they're well known within their organizations, but to the world, to the social world, they might as well be invisible.

What you're kind of saying is like, man, they're going to be in some serious trouble if they don't make some changes asap.

Side building A side hustle Kelly building.

Because I was, I started working from 7pm to 2am you know, so I think when there, when there is a way, there is a way, right?

So let.

We need to fish where the fish are and respect the fish.

My gosh.

Yeah, it's a brave new world, man.

And I really appreciate you chatting about it.

I guess one of the questions that I have for you is if you had to go and do it over again, right?

If you had to go in and build your following all over again.

Because like, to me, that's what I think is the meat and potatoes of this conversation.

Yes, we have a bunch of people who are not building a personal brand.

Heck, we have CEOs who are not building a personal brand.

They haven't needed to.

But now you're saying, wake up, you need to build a personal brand.

And they're thinking crap like do I need to hire somebody to help me with this?

Like how do I do this?

If you had to do it from square one, step by step, what are the steps that you would take?

Well, I think start small, build gradually, show patience, never stop learning.

Active daily learning is everything.

Active daily learning then I mean build your authority.

Because I have gone from the ninth page to the first page when you Google Digital marketing keynote speaker.

Because why?

Because if I earn someone's trust on podcast or magazine or somewhere, somewhere else, I'm also earning Google's trust, right?

Yes.

Because I never worked on SEO, right?

I never worked.

But it is a very competitive world nowadays.

They are investing millions of dollars in building their personal brands.

But I was on a short string budget.

I only had $5,000, but I was building my personal brand from my heart.

It has made all the difference.

I was building my personal brand from my heart.

But so many people building their personal brands from their head.

I was building my personal brand from my heart because there are only a few people who build their personal brand from their heart because they love what they do, they are passionate, they tell their stories and they work 16 hours a day.

So I work 16 hours a day to drive such transformational results.

So I embrace self education and I'm all About momentum oriented.

Kelly and I believe that if I can do it, anybody can do it.

So you can turn all the tables.

And we need to move forward constantly.

We should never look back.

And looking back is a big mistake.

We should always move forward.

We should always choose optimism.

We should bear in mind that there is always light at the end of the tunnel and constant dropping wears away a stone.

So believe in persistence.

And nothing great comes easy, you know, I mean, you have to push yourself all the time and also be audio centric, listen to your consumers, you know, provide value, position your brand as a media company, you know, become the greatest publisher of information.

Become the greatest publisher of information.

Because I don't have much resources, I don't have audio engineer, I don't have video engineer, but I had my iPhone x.

I recorded 45 videos through my iPhone X for free.

I uploaded to YouTube for free.

Thousands of people watch my videos.

I told my story with passion, with drive, determination.

They believed in me.

Seeing is believing.

So when the world sees what I'm doing, they believe in me.

They work with me.

I build trust.

So building trust is one of the, the biggest achievements in business.

I want to build trust with my audience, you know, because I want to be authentic, you know, because I want to help them, you know, I want to retweet them, I want to support their journey, you know, I want to, I want to, I want to show them that anyone can achieve success, you know, Anyone can achieve success, you know, so it is all about playing.

Everyone should have the same chain.

Meritocracy, meritocracy.

Everyone should stand the same chain to succeed, you know?

Yes, yes.

But, but you and me both know, the people who get in first go the furthest, right?

And so I think one of the big takeaways today needs to be if you're hearing this show and you haven't taken any steps to create a personal brand.

And I'll tell you, I've had plenty of interviews at this point with incredibly successful people across the gamut through hr, marketing, sales, all, all arrows are pointing the same way.

All arrows are pointing in 20, 24 and beyond.

Personal brand is not no longer an option.

It is absolutely critical to your longtime success.

If you haven't taken, you have to, you have to start today.

And you know, like Vladimir saying, start small.

You, all of you have a cell phone in your pocket that takes video.

Start taking some video.

Put something out there.

Start putting a little bit of yourself into the world every day and watch it change.

Because mark my words, my Platform is this podcast.

Right.

But I could have never known how far this podcast would reach.

I think you will be surprised at how far your content will go.

Well, I hope so, because if content moves.

If content moves, it means that you are moving in the right direction.

So we need to move our content forward.

Right, Kelly?

We need to move our content forward.

And my tweets reached 40 million people on Twitter at no cost because I never spent on dollars.

But I think that nowadays Elon Musk is improving Twitter and I'm sure that it will move forward.

And I mean, Twitter was standing still for many years while Instagram was reaching new heights.

Right.

And Facebook and the rest of channels.

But I believe in Elon Musk's vision.

And I think Elon Musk personal brand is a brand, Right?

Yep.

Just imagine, Kelly, that Tesla does not have an advertising department, you know?

Well, that's it.

More people know Elon Musk than know Tesla.

So I think his personal branding has been on point.

Exactly, exactly.

And just imagine that Tesla brand value.

What is brand.

How much is a brand value of Tesla nowadays?

$71 billion.

$71 billion.

And how much those traditional automakers are worth, you know, like Mercedes Benz, BMW.

30 billion, 23 billion, you know.

Yeah, yeah.

Because they continue, those traditional automakers, Mercedes Benz, Mercedes Benz spends $945 per car on advertising.

Tesla spends $0.

Wow.

And you're saying it's all because the leader has built such an incredible personal brand, they don't even have to.

Yes, exactly.

Personal, personal brand is a brand nowadays.

And if people, if people want to live in their ivory towers, I'm seeing.

Because they are going out of business, you know.

Wow.

Wow.

Well, you know, it's a new world.

It's a new world.

And I think that this community, this community, Kelly, that Elon Musk, that every follower of Elon Musk is a brand advocate, brand ambassador.

They sharing Tesla's photos.

It spreads like wildfire.

And entire world knows about Tesla's products without the need of advertising, you know, so I think advertising is going away because we are in the streaming economy.

We watch Netflix and we watch no ads.

We listen to Spotify, we listen.

No ads.

Amazon prime, no ads.

Disney plus, no ads.

Audio books, no ads.

Podcast, no ads.

Just imagine that consumers are willing to pay extra not to consume ads, you know?

Yeah, yeah, no, they are.

They are.

Absolutely.

It's a new world and we're all having to learn how to play in it.

Vladimir, this has been absolutely amazing.

Thank you so much for joining me.

Today, you know, before we close out today's show.

I know you offer a lot of services including, including public speaking.

You do over a hundred global talks a year and you've done what, 50 different podcasts, but you offer other things as well.

Can you talk a little bit about the services that you offer and the areas you service?

I'm in white, Kelly.

If you check out my website, you will see so many.

I mean, because I deliver my workshops, trainings, I mean, seminars, corporate meetings, different kind of talks, you know, so during my year, I'm very busy because I work, I work 40 speakers bureaus throughout the world, you know, just imagine that, how, how busy my schedule is, you know, but I provide my speaking services, my consulting services, then coaching, mentoring, teaching, you know, I'm a guest speaker to several business course.

I'm a guest speaker and I think that I.

It is very exhausting, exhausting journey, Kelly.

Very exhausting, you know, because I sacrificed my life, I was screenplay saved to build my personal brand and I invested my last dollar into my website a few years ago.

Now my website is number one on Google.

I'm alongside James Collier, Jay Byer, Neil Patel among top five global gurus, and I'm also alongside Sam Altman among the world's top 21 AI speakers.

So I'm moving forward.

I'm very delighted, I'm very delighted that my sacrifices have started paying off, you know, amazing.

And I know exactly what you're talking about because we invest everything into our passion projects, right?

Like for me, it's this podcast and capital business development.

And yeah, like, I've given my heart and soul to both these things.

But just imagine that your podcast will have a huge return on investments which open up so many doors and you will have so many invitations, so.

So people will pick their brains, so the world will start beating your past because you have a strong personal brand and you are in a media business and you create content constantly.

This is a big difference, you know?

Yeah, yeah, I guess.

But it's still hard work, right?

Like, there's no, there's no easy button, guys.

Like, there's no easy button.

You have to show up, you have to, you have to do the work, you have to respond, you have to be a human.

But just start.

You got to start somewhere.

Yes, exactly.

And as they say, big oaks grow from smaller corns.

And if you start small, if you build gradually, I'm sure that you will build a bigger corn, you know?

Absolutely.

Vladimir, what's the best way for listeners to reach you?

If they're interested in booking some of your services.

Well, they can visit me@vladimir botswasi.com I'm also open to new connections on LinkedIn.

They can follow me on X formerly Twitter AdobeToSuase.

Also I'm available on Instagram is Vladimir Botswade.

So let's connect and build something great in the future, you know.

Amazing.

Thank you so much Vladimir for sticking with us here.

It's been a heck of a challenge getting this recording done, but it was well worth it.

This has been episode 188 of the Business Development Podcast and we will catch you on the flip side.

This has been the Business Development Podcast with Kelly Kennedy.

Kelly has 15 years in sales and business development experience within the Alberta oil and gas industry and founded his own business development firm in 2020.

His passion and his specialization is in customer relationship generation and business development.

The show is brought to you by Capital Business Development, your business development specialists.

For more we invite you to the website at www.capitalbd.ca.

see you next time on the Business Development Podcast.