Fifteen years. That’s longer than most marriages last, longer than the lifespan of the majority of pets, and it’s a major milestone in the lives of humans who begin their smelly, hormonal journey into adulthood. It’s also longer than most businesses survive, with only 25% of businesses making it past fifteen years, and GoViral Digital is now one of them. To celebrate this major milestone, I sat down with GoViral Digital’s founder, Belinda Filippelli, to recap all that’s happened in the last decade and a half, and to discuss what’s in store for the digital marketing agency, including the launch of her new book.
A Funny Little Back Story Before We Get Down to Business
I knew Belinda long before I started working for her as a copywriter, and truth be told, I was intimidated at first (and still am, but don’t tell her I said that). She moved to Barcelona as a big shot comic from Prague, and her onstage persona was mesmerising; as a fellow comic myself, I watched in awe as she commanded the crowd with expert prowess and wit, a match for any male comedian on the same bill. It was soon after this first encounter that I realized Belinda wasn’t playing a part on stage; she was just being herself. She knew how to hone her power and make her presence known, so it was no surprise when I learned that, in addition to being a comedian at night, she was a businesswoman by day.
I knew I had to get close to her, to learn her secrets in life and business, and maybe just maybe, wiggle my way into getting some freelance work because you know, comedy doesn’t pay the bills. After a few years of sharing the stage with Belinda, I began doing some freelance copywriting for GoViral Digital, and I got to see Belinda in a whole new light. The same professionalism and passion she brings to comedy were applied in a new setting, helping brands hone their ability to scale sales and leads, and ultimately make more money.
The Birth of a Business
Fifteen years later, GoViral Digital is bigger and better than ever. As I got ready to interview Belinda in a small living room, it felt akin to talking shop in the green room at a comedy show. She’s my boss, yes. She’s accomplished a lot in business, yes. But she’s also human, and when I asked her, “So, Belinda. What does it feel like to have GoViral Digital turn fifteen years old?” she choked up a bit. She expressed her shock at having been able to keep something alive for so long despite having wanted to give up so many times.
GoViral Digital was born out of necessity. She had just finished her MBA in Prague, and she spoke little to no Czech, making it hard for her to obtain work at creative agencies in the city. “Starting an agency really came from 2 places. One is that I needed that accountability. I needed other people who counted on me. to really, like, get business and keep it flowing. But I also needed a team that spoke Czech. so that they could actually implement campaigns in the local language.”
GoViral Digital started as a local business supporting other local businesses that wanted to reach tourists and expats. Fifteen years later, it has become more globalized, with clients across continents, from places like the UK and Switzerland all the way to the United States. What started as a bit of social media and content has now expanded into other services with a focus on lead generation.
The Scandal That Started an Entrepreneurial Empire
It’s easy to see how much the business has grown in the last decade and a half, but true growth doesn’t come without challenges. I asked Belinda to give us some insight into what happens behind the scenes, about the challenges the agency has faced in recent years, and if there was a breaking point when it almost came to a head. What started as a predictable response about the lack of stability in agency work, such as struggling to find and keep clients and outstanding invoices, turned into an answer I didn’t see coming. “It was about 10 years ago, when I lost my visa. And I lost it because I got divorced from a man who was tied to my visa. He left on vacation and never came back.”
Now, this is not the typical origin story of an entrepreneur, or maybe it is, and they’re just secretive, but either way, I was intrigued. Belinda continued, “I hit a point where I actually, like, couldn’t run my own business because I lost my visa and was facing deportation.” Anyone in Belinda’s position, entrepreneur or not, would have probably waved the white flag, thrown in the towel, and just gone home. But if there’s one thing I know about Belinda, it’s that she is stubborn (sometimes, to a fault) and doesn’t go down without a fight.
How 90 Meetings in 90 Days Saved a Business
Belinda did go back to her home city of New York, but not without a plan. While waiting for her new visa to process, she hustled and set up 90 meetings in 90 days to talk about her business in the hopes of generating more business in the future. Belinda recalls how the experience was transformative for her as a business owner, “It just taught me a lot about why I do what I do. Why do people want to earn money? Why did they become a business owner? They want to add value to follow our passion. We as business owners don’t want to work for the man within a system, but create our own system.”
As Belinda was having daily meetings, her employees were somehow keeping GoViral Digital alive in Prague, invoicing clients and retaining a calm facade to mask the chaos behind the curtain. She recalled a GIF that a friend sent her around the same time with the exclamation, Belinda, this is you running a company. The GIF was of a man riding a bicycle with a refrigerator on his shoulder, starting off wobbly then eventually gaining stride, “I remember for me at that time, there was a lot of shame around the fact that I was running my company in such an unprofessional way to a certain degree, but on the other hand, now looking back on it, as a business owner it’s your baby and sometimes you do everything you can to keep it alive. Though, that Belinda riding the bicycle with the refrigerator on her shoulder was absolutely ridiculous, and I never want to revisit her.”
A Book to Add to Your Reading List
Faced with a situation that would have broken anyone, these meetings are what kept Belinda and her business going, serving as a constant reminder of what this was all for and why she was fighting so hard to keep her business in the first place. They were also her source of inspiration for writing her new book, I Said I Can’t Sell, which tells the story of how Belinda started her business and saved it by being authentic, building relationships, and leading with heart.
When asked why Belinda chose this moment in particular to launch her book, she explained that it was her coming-out story as a business person, “I’m just launching a book because I felt like it was time for me to really share who I am as a business person. And what I’ve been through, to let people know that businesses don’t always come from, oh, I’m this great business person, and I’m so money motivated. Mine came from a desire to do something I love. But then also, from a lot of fear and insecurity.”
The title of the book might seem deceiving, because how could the owner of a company that serves international clients like Jabra, Novartis, and Microsoft have such Imposter Syndrome around sales? Belinda says the title was basically her mantra in her coaching sessions. She’d tell her business coach that she’d acquired clients and work because she was likable or she’d made a connection with a friend of a friend of a friend, “I said, I’m not this hardcore seller when I was just looking at sales in a very typical way.” She made a point of saying that the concept of “sales” in a traditional sense is quite masculine, with the idea that the business owner holds the power and that they have to utilize it to win.
In her book, she hopes to turn the quintessential idea of sales on its head, tuning into a more feminine energy, especially in the advent of AI: “There are three things that AI can’t replicate. Humor. Imperfection. Vulnerability. My book is full of all three. It’s human-written and heart-led. So, I think that this is where the more feminine side of communication is really gonna win.” She goes on to say that you don’t have to separate your business from who you are, “It’s not about sales or negotiation. Leadership comes through being honest, being authentic, being collaborative, being open, being real, building relationships, building trust, and women are way better at that in business in general.”
You don’t have to have an MBA to get something from reading Belinda’s book, either. In fact, Belinda says that current business owners aren’t her target audience. It’s people who want to sell themselves but feel like the business world is inauthentic to who they are and what they bring to the table. In the words of Belinda, this book is for “…the people who are already passionate about something. There’s something they do. There’s something they make. There’s a service, there’s a value they have to offer the world.”
The whole concept of the book is about talking to people about what you believe in so that you can eventually make money from it. “It’s that education, connection, and a referral system that you build for yourself.”
The Future of GoViral Digital
If you’ve been following GoViral’s business trajectory over the last decade and a half, you’ll know that as it’s gone on the up-and-up, Belinda has taken a backseat, avoiding the spotlight, so she’s treating this anniversary as a moment to step out, “It’s to say, hey, world, I’ve learned a lot, and I want to share it with you. So you can also build something.” As someone who has built a business, a comedy career, and a brand, she strives to connect all facets of her life to make more of an impact both creatively and professionally.
Belinda wants GoViral Digital to continue to grow, to serve more clients, to give more work to the talented individuals who make the magic happen (cough, cough….like me), and to hire more talent. She wants to continue to mentor other women in business and aspiring artists such as herself, to become more autonomous in their work and be their own best advocates.
Even with all that she’s accomplished and the great things to come, Belinda is still in disbelief that GoViral Digital continues to thrive. “I can’t believe that I kept it alive for this long, because there were many times I wanted to give up. I’m running a business. An agency is notoriously hard to keep alive. So, yeah, I’m feeling good. I’m feeling proud of this baby I’ve created.”
And feeling proud, she should. Cheers to fifteen years of GoViral Digital, and cheers to fifteen more.
This blog is 100% human created with love, from GoViral.
