Danco Dimkov is a serial entrepreneur, founder, and CEO of BizzBee Solutions. But most of all, he is a growth enthusiast. He is simply inspired by growth. No matter if it comes to people, companies, relations, or businesses. And by sharing his knowledge, energy, and curiosity in everything he puts himself into, he has had the opportunity to do just that throughout his career – make things grow. Helping organizations to grow by finding their ideal clients, entrepreneurs to build attractive businesses, and employees to develop and improve their strengths. He’s always eager to see what’s around the next corner and believes it’s a sport to think and do things differently rather than a challenge.
As a certified management consultant and a serial entrepreneur, it’s his job to guide startups and businesses on the path to prosperity. But as the proud owner of BizzBee Solutions – a full-stack growth solution provider from concept to market, it is his duty. BizzBee combines multiple services into one robust solution, smoothing out the road to success.
BizzBee is Dancho’s passion, but there is so much more. He is also a family man – a proud father of a 3-year-old. What’s his picture-perfect day? Traveling with his family while enjoying a delicious meal. Ultimately, it’s all about growth, attaining balance, and being present, in all life areas.
What is BizzBee Solutions all about?
BizzBee is a 5-year-old consultancy with a simple goal. We help B2B consultants, agencies, and software companies proactively reach out to their ideal clients, build relationships, and close more clients. And I must say, we do that exceedingly well. So far, we’ve worked with more than 400 clients from all over the world. And seeing the results we make for them and how satisfied they are has been truly rewarding. We also take pride in being a bootstrapped company. That means that all our successes and failures are entirely our own.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you started your company?
Hmmm, I’ve spoken about this so many times, but still don’t know where to start. ☺
I had a decent job with a pretty good salary. I was a product owner at a UK software and hardware company. I was recently engaged, so things were going great. At least to the outside world, since in my home country, that is like hitting the jackpot.
But there was a problem. I was not fulfilled. I craved for more. That’s why I started doing some freelance gigs in my spare time, mostly regarding market research and business planning. And I loved it. Being able to help entrepreneurs and startups achieve their dreams. A bit ironic, since I was stuck as an employee.
But the time came when I’ve started earning more from my freelance gigs than from my full-time job. My turning point — deciding to do management consulting as a full-time job. The decision was pretty tough (some of my friends considered it mad even) leaving a stable job and pursuing the unknown. I always wanted to try as a digital nomad, and this was the perfect chance. It was an outstanding experience, working with my fiancée while traveling around the EU.
But then I got sick — thankfully, nothing serious, but enough to stir things up. We’ve realized that if stability is what we wanted (we even planned on starting a family), we couldn’t be digital nomads forever. We needed to start a business, where we can rely on our employees if we needed to take a temporary step back. And that is how the idea of BizzBee Solutions was born.
What are your plans, how do you plan to grow this company?
I have so many plans. But first things first. I feel like we are on a right, and steady track at the moment. So the logical thing is to continue doing what we already know that works. And that is BizzBee’s specialty – outreach. We’ve made some terrific clients and build some strong relationships that are the basis for solid growth.
The other thing that I’m focusing on, and I believe would help substantially with mine and BizzBee’s growth is my first book. I am so excited that I’m almost done, and negotiating with some publishers. I can almost feel it in my hands. Writing a book is a real personal growth journey, filled with all kinds of emotions. But I’m confident that having a book would take our company, and myself, to a whole new level. Just think about how much different people will perceive you if you say that you’re a published author.
And last but not least is growing my employees. And not just in number. Healthy and growing company means reliable and developing employees.
What was the biggest problem you encountered with your business and how did you overcome it?
As you can assume, being the CEO of a bootstrapped start-up is rarely a walk in the park. There are problems that I have to handle daily, some are small, but some are massive. The biggest one, however, was the picks and lows of clients we were experiencing. There were periods when we were swamped with work. During these periods we would need to hire new employees, onboard them, and train them, just so we can manage to keep up with all the work. And then a standstill. Not a single project on the horizon. A lot of employees with nothing to do.
Working like that was simply not sustainable. So, fortunately, I came up with a solution. We shifted our perspective and started looking for partners instead of clients. Instead of signing up short-term contracts, we figured that we need to make a longer commitment. We started signing contracts for a longer period. Not only to make sure that we’ll keep the project up and running but to make sure that we have enough time to make a real impact with our campaigns. To make sure that we will nail the goal and help our clients. With this shift, we are far more sustainable, and have the so much wanted stability and continuity.
What were the top mistakes you made starting your business and what did you learn from it?
It sounds super silly now, but in the beginning, I was relying entirely on freelancing platforms. We were looking for and closing all our clients on these platforms. No marketing in place, no networking of any kind. Just a couple of freelance profiles and a couple of salespeople. What a mistake. I can’t tell you the difference marketing made. Not only the outbound, outreach part, but the inbound, content marketing as well. And not to forget the networking and building relationships. Not only with your potential clients, but with the thought leaders in the field, and even with the competitors.
How do you separate yourself from your competitors?
Interestingly, our competition grew with the pandemic. But so did the demand. People weren’t able to sell at physical events anymore, so they turned to digital and social selling. But it feels like that the majority of our competition didn’t manage to pull that off. It’s a bit sad to me, but it feels like the outreach agencies nowadays are harassing people. They are aggressively sale-pitching without a care in the world. And here comes the part of how we are different.
We don’t spam prospects. We are trying to have meaningful conversations with them. We aim to build relationships, and then as the conversation progresses, scheduling a meeting comes as the best logical step. At the end of the day, we are mimicking high-ticket physical sales in an online environment. Building relationships, establishing authority, and only when we’ve established that the prospect has a problem and requires our solution, is when we start to sell.
What is one thing that you do daily to grow as an entrepreneur?
It might sound like a cliché, but I’m listening to podcasts daily. That way, I’m trying to keep up to date on the latest sales and marketing strategies. I’ve found Russell Brunson’s podcasts to be really resourceful and insightful. I’d recommend them to any aspiring entrepreneur. They are packed with value.
In the last year and a half, I’ve developed another habit that helps me grow as an entrepreneur. I’m writing a book based on BizzBee’s outreach methodology. And just the process itself is eye-opening. Just by writing down every tidbit, I get to reflect. I gain better insight into my company’s processes. I got to ask myself all types of weird questions. And since I prefer the agile approach, I get to make the changes that I feel are needed.
What are three books or courses you recommend for new entrepreneurs?
Here are the 3 books that I would sincerely recommend to new entrepreneurs:
- Predictable Revenue by Aaron Ross and Marylou
- The 5 am club by Robin Sharma
- and How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.
They feel like the perfect mix of knowledge, habits, and motivation. They are mostly focused on sales and offer some great tactics. But they also are focused on people, which I think should be a significant part of a new entrepreneur’s focus. Learning to understand people.
What is the one thing you wish you knew before starting your business?
Hmmm, very interesting question. I’d probably say that what I wished I knew when starting my business is to find a niche as soon as possible. Being a generalist rarely works. Especially when you’re in the early days. And what I’ve found that young companies need is to find their ideal clients. You can easily get lost trying to serve everyone. But often the budget and resources are limited. So you can’t simply shoot, and hope that you’ll hit the target. You need to aim in the right direction. And you can do that by figuring out who you want to work with, or even better who you could help the most. That is your ideal client. And once you know who your ideal clients are, you can work on specializing your service. That way, you’ll get unique positioning and an even more attractive offer.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
I’m partially biased because it is our specialty, but LinkedIn outreach has proven to be the most effective strategy for BizzBee. The first thing is that it brings us a stable flow of sales-ready qualified leads each month. And the other thing that I love about LinkedIn outreach is that it has zero additional ads spend. You are not paying for the traffic to come to you, but you are reaching out to your ideal clients. And that system works for me. I love to have conversations with my potential clients, to receive their direct feedback and honest opinions. I enjoy building relationships. LinkedIn is such a fantastic channel when it comes to B2B.
If you only had 1000 dollars to start a new business, knowing everything you know now, how would you spend it?
If I had a new business idea, my knowledge and experience, and 1000 dollars, I know just the two things that I’d invest that money in. LinkedIn outreach and building thought authority on social media. With no additional marketing budget, I’m confident these are the two things guaranteed to bring in my first clients. Then the cycle is well-known. Make revenues, keep on investing.
What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
Make sure you’re passionate about what you do. Being an entrepreneur may sound all flashy and flamboyant, but that’s only on the surface. I often say that being an entrepreneur is like riding a rollercoaster, but one without a final stop. The whole journey is full of ups and downs, rises and falls. And it could easily get you low. That’s why being passionate is crucial. It can get you through all the hard moments. It motivates you to take a step forward. To deal with all the obstacles. There’s nothing easier than quitting at the first one. But if you love what you do, then tackling the obstacle and learning the lessons can be your driving force.
What is your favorite quote?
If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.
– Jim Rohn
My all-time favorite quote that really reinforces the previous question. What a coincidence.
How can we get in touch with you?
You can always find me on LinkedIn – Dancho Dimkov. Or you can friend me on Facebook – Dancho Dimkov. If you want to get in touch with BizzBee, or simply want to learn more, feel free to check out our website – bizzbeesolutions.com. If you prefer to use email, you can reach me at danco@bizzbeesolutions.com, or contact BizzBee at contact@bizzbeesolutions.com.
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