Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Oliveira.
Alex, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My family immigrated from Brazil to the US in 1988. I arrived in Miami when I was just 10 years old. We didn’t speak English when we arrived so the first year was tough. As soon as I learned English I wanted to get a job. So there I was an 11 year old boy eager to work. A family friend named Tony was the owner of an Italian restaurant. I told him I wanted to get a job. At first, he laughed, but then my parents reiterated to Tony that I was ambitious and wanted to make money. Next thing you know my mom is taking me to Sears to buy a tuxedo shirt to start my first job as a bus boy at Lagrotta’s Italian Restaurant. I would work a few days after school and on the weekends. That experience opened up my mind to many possibilities. At an early age, I was hungry for success and that desire to grow has never left me. I would continue to work throughout my school years. I started my first side business in High School. I would buy shirts and sell them at the flea market on the weekends. It was an extraordinary feeling to sell directly to consumers and have a profit at the end of every day.
After that, I moved away to go to college in Orlando, but the entrepreneur bug had already gotten me. I remember sitting in class and making plans for my future businesses while the professor taught. I ended up dropping out in my senior year to take over a family business. I moved back to South Florida with my then girlfriend who is today my wife and the mother of our four beautiful children. After a short time with the family business, I decided to start a Construction company. I owned and operated that company for seven years before I sold it. I took a few years off to do consulting work. It wasn’t until 2011 that I decided to turn the consulting work into a Digital Marketing Agency. We grew very quickly. By the 2nd year, we were doing millions in revenue. We had about 40 employees and I was traveling quite a bit. Throughout those years I also invested in other startups and real estate. I’m very blessed to be in the position I’m in today. I’ve had a lot of great people in my life. While I’m still involved with the business I spend the majority of my time speaking, teaching and investing. I also sit on several nonprofit boards and other community associations. I also stepped away from my day to day operations last year so that I could help my wife home school our children. When I look back at the last 30 years I feel very lucky to have come to the US when we did. This is such a great country! I still go back to Brazil with my wife and kids to visit relatives.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There’s nothing smooth about choosing entrepreneurship as a path to success. I’ve started dozens of companies and it’s always hard. Along the way, I’ve had more failures than successes. Running a business involves a lot of risks. But the successes make it worthwhile both from a financial as well as the experience you get from the journey. The biggest struggles I have faced have usually been around finding the right people to put into a company and being well funded. Funding is crucial to the success and sustainability of a company. One of my ventures died on the vine because we underestimated the cost of the technology needed to grow the startup. We chose not to raise private capital and instead we self funded the start up. In retrospect, we should have raised the funds from VC’s.
Another obstacle I faced was the loss of our first child in 2009. Our little Kyle was stillborn. When that happens I was in no shape to run a company. I tried but I didn’t have the desire to go in every day. It felt like our world had stopped. My wife was part of our management team in that business. We decided to sell what we could and go on a long road trip across the US.
Please tell us about your business.
The Prediq collective is a diverse team of highly skilled marketers working collaboratively to transform your biggest marketing challenges into your biggest growth opportunities. We’ve created a better way to win leads/sales/customers.
We combine our extensive marketing expertise and proven business strategies with your team’s industry know-how to co-create and execute the most dynamic, engaging and profitable marketing campaigns.
We empower businesses to experience a total digital transformation. It means challenging the standards and making a commitment to the unique process that is business growth. We help align their mission with their messaging and their budget. We’re skilled at uncovering hidden growth opportunities and discovering what works for their industry.
We specialize in Lead Generation. Since 2011 we’ve generated over five million leads for clients across the globe. We are known for our Digital Marketing industry leadership. We’ve been involved with the industry associations, we’ve taught over 200 workshops and have hosted many conferences. What we’re most proud of is giving back to the community. We have worked with over 100 nonprofits. We’ve done more than $600k in probono work in the past five years.
What sets us apart from others is our team. We’re lifelong learners who are always interested in what’s best for the client. We invest a lot of time and money in upskills for our entire team. This ensures clients will always have the edge on their competition.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The proudest moment in my career was to have mastered enough of my craft to teach MBA students. I had the opportunity to lecture at FAU’s MBA program. I lectured at five MBA classes throughout each semester. These students were already involved in Digital Marketing. I knew I had to bring my “A” game to the class. I received positive feedback from the class. That gave me the sense that I had invested enough time in the field where I could teach experienced business people.
Contact Info:
- Website: prediqmedia.com
- Phone: (561) 402-7227
- Email: alex@prediqmedia.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prediq.io/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Prediq-Media/163377437141261
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/prediq_media
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