Welcome, Antoine Martin! First things first, please introduce yourself and your business!
Antoine Martin: I am a business coach and an entrepreneur myself.
As a performance coach, I challenge business owners on how their run and develop their business. We explore and revise their value proposition, their storytelling, their business model. We work on how they plan their development, and we push them to think about how their business can work for them rather than the other way around.
As an entrepreneur, I do the same but on a much larger scale. I co-founded Impactified as THE first self-coaching toolbox for entrepreneurs and business owners, and I’m on a mission to make entrepreneurship fun for those who can’t actually afford a coach but still want to coach themselves to give their business a major boost.
Please tell us more about Impactified. Where are you based? How do you operate? How about your team?
Antoine Martin: Impactified was founded in Hong Kong, with my partner and business mentor Philippe Bonnet. We run things using a small structure, and we rely on a team of external partners to get things done when they need to get done.
That’s the best way to stay agile and resilient these days. We also build a team of coaches dedicated to entrepreneurs, internationally.
Let’s talk big picture. What problem does Impactified solve out there?
Antoine Martin: The problem we solve is very straightforward. People see entrepreneurship as a sexy trend these days and decide to create their business to become free, make a living for themselves and get the lifestyle they want. Yet in practice things aren’t that easy and actually getting a business that runs itself is a big task.
Running a business is a marathon and most entrepreneurs are not equipped or trained for that marathon. They lose a lot of time, energy and money making typical mistakes they could avoid. And they have a hard time scaling their models and operations, which is too bad because having a business that works for you is a lot more fun.
The issue is that there are no degrees out there and no real education for small business owners and entrepreneurs, so how do you do?
What solution do you bring, then?
Antoine Martin: I wear two hats as I mentioned earlier. First hat – as a business coach, I challenge entrepreneurs on a personal basis, to make them progress with their journey. I provoke, I act as a sounding board.
Second hat, I co-founded Impactified to give business owners tools they can use to grow and scale their business the easy way. We provide modules, courses, tools they can use on their own to learn, boost their mindset, progress, write a business plan easy as 1, 2, 3, make a SWOT, improve their strategic positioning, so forth and so on.
Entrepreneurship should be fun. It’s just a question of making the basics available to people.
Market-wise, what makes Impactified different from the competition?
Antoine Martin: Well, historically we come from the coaching industry, which has always focused on charging significant amounts to the entrepreneurs who can pay.
Impactified is dedicated to self-coaching however, which means that we focus on providing entrepreneurs and small business owners the expertise and support of a coach, without a coach, at a no-brainer price. You can’t beat that, really…
Can you illustrate this with an example of how Impactified made an Impact on a client?
Antoine Martin: We make an impact on our entrepreneurs all the time. Some have changed their mindset to shift from being staff into their own business to being full-time entrepreneurs who plan, build and grow. We have helped an NGO scale from five to over thirty staff in over a year. We have also saved a few businesses from going down…
I strongly believe that when you know your client and are on a mission to really make a difference, the impact you can have is huge.
What stage of development have you reached? What can you tell us about the next steps? Anything exciting?
Antoine Martin: The self-coaching part of our business model was launched during the first quarter of 2021. We started with the release of our Entrepreneurship 101 Course and will release more content progressively.
The Business Plan Builder is another program designed for those who wonder how to write a business plan without spending ages on it, and the No-Sweat SWOT is the first tool out there that produces an automated SWOT analysis that makes you earn money.
There are lots of exciting tools coming as well!
Let’s talk about entrepreneurship. Looking back, what was the most obvious challenge you had to overcome when you started that business?
Antoine Martin: Building a robust value proposition and positioning was always the challenge. As I said before, business coaching is a very competitive industry and many coaches don’t live properly doing what they do. We never had that problem but still, the trend pushes prices down and that doesn’t help anyone.
So, well, like every other entrepreneur out there we had to work hard on differentiation. We regularly organize blue ocean strategy workshops for our clients so we went through that as well, and we came up with Impactified as our own differentiation opportunity.
And the least obvious?
Antoine Martin: The least obvious part of starting a business (to me anyway) is to figure out how to sell what you have to sell. Not everybody is comfortable with selling!
For me, selling became a question of storytelling and onboarding people in my own environment. I focus on creating value and helping whenever I can, and that leads rather naturally to new projects. Everyone has to find their own way…
What does it take to be a business owner or an entrepreneur these days?
Antoine Martin: I’d say it takes guts because the reality is not as easy as it seems, but more importantly, I think it takes a real mindset.
Everybody can be a business owner these days, it takes a few hours to create a company, and then you are officially a CEO. Still, the issue is to own a business that works for you, and that’s a very different story.
Getting there takes a mix of sales and organization, including very specific entrepreneurial skills you need to acquire. Being a slave to your business isn’t worth it if you ask me…
Would you share tips as to how you manage to deal with the hurdles of being an entrepreneur? Any routines or hacks worth sharing?
Antoine Martin: I always push business owners to stand on the table – which means taking some distance and looking at how the business evolves but from a different angle. If you can’t afford a coach or can’t find someone to coach you in your personal circles, then you can always coach yourself too – the Impactified toolbox is there to help you do just that.
Speaking of tips & hacks, have you read any good books on business recently? What were the main takeaways?
Antoine Martin: Apart from the Porter on Competitive Advantages (that one is a big chunk), I’m currently re-reading Give and Take by Adam Grant. That’s a very insightful and powerful book if you are interested in understanding how people think and act, and how you are doing that yourself. It gives you perspective and tips on how to handle people, I definitely recommend it.
Do you happen to listen to any podcasts you’d like to share?
Antoine Martin: I prefer podcasts that last for an hour or more, they’re perfect when you go for a walk or want to get some real insights from other people and experiences.
The Tim Ferriss Show is a classic, but it gives me some interesting food for thought every once in a while. The Rich Roll podcast is also interesting if you are interested in self-help and personal development.
Wrapping up – how can people reach you? Anything else you’d like to share?
Antoine Martin: I’m always happy to be in touch, so feel free to reach out from my personal page on Impactified!
I also write a free, 5min bi-weekly newsletter for those who want to give themselves a kick in the butt and give their business productivity a boost – It’s called ‘Up to You, by Antoine Martin‘, join the club!
