As time moves on and at the height of the global pandemic, it’s clear that our world has entered a very much fast-paced digital world. When it comes to expanding your network and solidifying a top spot in your industry, James Foo Torres has proven to help others find their own success with his business. We recently had the chance to sit down with him to discuss the details behind creating Imperium Authority, obtain his best advice to succeed in the digital world, and much more.
Tell us what inspired Imperium Authority?
I created Imperium Authority because I wanted to work on something that I was passionate about instead of working just for money. As long as I can remember, I wanted to have my own business. To tell you the backstory, when I started the company, I was in the Air Force. I had just returned from my second deployment which happened during the first COVID outbreak – so June of 2020 . I had time, money, and about six months left on my enlistment contract. Since I was getting out of the military, I didn’t have too many responsibilities, plus there wasn’t much I could do because of the global pandemic. Throughout my life, I have been passionate about expressing myself through clothes, so I decided to launch my own clothing brand. In collaboration with my girlfriend, I developed a logo and started designing hats and shirts. A few hats and shirts later, I realized it wasn’t the path to freedom I had been hoping for. Looking for other options, I stumbled upon an ad about digital marketing. That’s when I embarked on my journey of becoming an agency owner by investing in a mentorship program. Through that program, I gained experience with SEO, creating websites, lead generation, and public relations. When I conducted my outreach, PR was generating the most responses and I enjoyed talking about it the most. Knowing more about media placements, I realized that I wanted to use them to increase my authority. However, before I could start using them, I needed to get some clients. Having gained a few clients, I started doing my own PR and have never looked back.
Can you tell us how you believe your Puerto Rican culture plays a role in the success of your business?
As Puerto Ricans, our bloodlines and culture evolved through a mixing of the Spanish, African, and indigenous Taíno races that shared the island. That combination of culture mixed with opportunity, in my opinion, puts us at an advantage genetically. Our success in many areas is a testament to that. Due to our status as a territory of the United States, we’re born with U.S. citizenship and the rights to a U.S. passports, which allows us to travel and access more employment and educational opportunities.
Due to the colonization of Puerto Rico, I was exposed to English at an early age and it made learning English much easier. When I was I need of a full-time job, I was able to join the United States Air Force mainly because I knew enough English. Through it, I was able to become completely bilingual, build credit, buy my first house, and become the man I wanted to be. That experience put me on the path to where I am now. Being a territory has many advantages, and yes there are some disadvantages as well, but based on my experience, it has been great. I’m bilingual, I was in the Air Force, and I was given the necessary resources to own my business and now have a successful PR firm.
What advice would you offer to our readers when it comes to obtaining success in the digital world?
Instead of selling, focus on building strong connections and trust. It’s only through trust that business can happen. This isn’t always easy in the digital age. It is for that reason that PR is so important to me and many business owners – particularly those with high ticket offers. To gain trust at scale, you need to brand yourself and have reputable sources talk about you.
The next piece of advice that I would like to share is to focus on just one thing at a time. Focus on one niche, one client avatar, one offer, and be the best at it. It’s only after you’ve made six figures per month that you should consider more offers.
The last piece of advice I would like to give is to make building credit a priority and begin building it as soon as possible. When you have a good credit score, you can borrow a lot of money at the best interest rates and sometimes even 0% financing. Bad credit can cost you tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Depending on your credit score, either you can start your business now or you will have to work for someone else for years to fund your dream.
What can we look forward to seeing from you in the year 2022?
This year, I plan to integrate NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) into my business and my clients’ businesses. NFTs are unique cryptographic tokens that exist on a blockchain and cannot be replicated. I intend to use them for two main purposes: as receipts and as access tokens to special offers or benefits (also known as “utilities”). A receipt on the blockchain contains all the information needed to prove an individual input was indeed part of an approved block (in my case a service). This NFT receipts can become very valuable if the service provided has a great impact on the brand or the client because of what it represents (a pivotal point of an iconic brand). As access tokens, NFTs represent your key to accessing a community or experience. My plan is to have an NFT project for each of my 3 main communities. One for Media Legends for first access to the best offers, one for Puerto Rican Legends for access to a private chat and live events with leading authorities from Puerto Rico, and one for IC (Inner Circle) Legends for direct access to me and all my resources. Those are my big plans for 2022.
For more on James Foo Torres, follow him on Facebook and Instagram.
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