Nathan Zale is the founder and President of Zale Media – a company focused on providing innovative marketing solutions for real estate professionals.
With extensive industry experience, Nathan understands the importance of multi-channel advertising and is committed to helping clients locate qualified buyers and sellers. Through ad automation and comprehensive marketing strategies, Nathan and his team of professionals have been recognized for their outstanding customer service.
What do you currently do at your company?
I deal with problems within the business, issues with the system and the team, and the organization of things. My day-to-day task is taking care of my team and making sure they’re taking care of customers, so I do whatever I can to help improve the quality of life for everyone. I talk to managers in different departments, see how things can be improved, and make sure the business is running smoothly. I also have a lot of meetings.
What was the inspiration behind your business?
I started this business because I was unhappy in life. I didn’t like my job at the time or the way I was being treated by my employer. I interviewed with an email marketing company and when I got back, I looked out my apartment window and figured I had three options. I could keep my current job and keep being unhappy and not living the quality of life I wanted and deserved. The second option was to get another job with an average salary, have an average life, and be unhappy again after six months. The third option was to take control of my life. I wanted to achieve financial freedom, be in charge, and run my own company. I wanted to treat people the way I wanted to be treated and let people know they’re valued, so I went with option three. I always had a passion for marketing and sales, so I decided that it made sense to start a marketing company and do advertising with real estate. I had done it on my own as an agent with success, so I quit my job and started Zale Media.
What defines your way of doing business?
I think what defines my way of doing business is the people I worked for in the past. I think there’s things I liked and truly aspired to be in my past employers and there are also things that I despised, so I was able to take that and let it define my leadership skills as well as the way I treat people at my company and run my business.
What keys to being productive can you share?
Consistency for sure. Being consistent and never giving up are extremely important. There were some nights I wanted to throw in the towel and when COVID started, I thought the business would be done. It’s really about pivoting, being innovative, constantly thinking of new ways to do things, and not being comfortable. Once you’re comfortable, you stop pushing, but when you’re uncomfortable in business, then you’re going to push and innovate. That’s when you start to see the growth. It’s also important to put in the work. A lot of people will buy a course to start a business and do it for a month, but that doesn’t work. There’s no instant gratification. It’s really not about the now, you have to have a vision of what you want your life to look like five years from now and hold on to that vision because the work you do now is what will get you to that goal.
Tell us one long-term goal in your career.
I want businesses across the US to use my marketing software, whatever business they’re in. I want to be a household brand for small businesses.
How do you measure success?
I think I measure success in happiness. That’s a goal that everyone wants in life and I think there’s a lot of lessons to that. So number one, are you happy? Number two, are you accomplishing the goals that you set out to do in life? This could be any goal, whether that’s starting a business or getting married, just are you able to achieve happiness? And if you’re able to checkmark that off your list and say yes, then you’ve achieved your goal
What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned through the course of your career?
Invest and partner with the right people, always follow your gut and your heart, and put your trust in people. A lot of business owners start out not wanting to hire anyone to help with their business because they don’t trust other people. For me, the hardest thing was trusting someone else to take the wheel. I realized that the people who work for me are in charge of the company, in a sense. Their decisions and attitudes could be catastrophic for the business, or it could create next-level expansion. I can only control so much, I can’t control all the tiny details. So it’s about putting faith in people and trusting the people that you hire to be able to think for themselves. Let them speak up if they’re uncomfortable or if they have an idea. Let them take the company where it needs to go.
What advice would you give to others aspiring to succeed in your field?
Just do it. There’s a lot of courses and information out there. Because we live in a digital age, there’s too much information and I see a lot of people getting what we like to call analysis paralysis. They’re analyzing so much data that they end up not doing anything. If you don’t take action and implement what you’re learning, then it’s pointless. If you have this information and you’re not using it to make an impact, you’re wasting time. So get the information, absorb it, then put it into action and implement it in real life.
What are some of your favorite things to do outside of work?
I love going outside. I love to go fishing, swimming, jet skiing, cruising on a boat and looking for dolphins, and anything that lets me be outside and near the water. I like to walk my dog and look around, see all the different birds and animals in Miami.
How do you maintain a solid work life balance?
That is difficult for me and it’s something I’m working on. I like to say that I work 24/7 for a few minutes at the time. I might have a phone call at 11 at night for 20 minutes and then I’m done for a few hours or I might have several hours of downtime and then a one hour phone call and that’s it. I’m very passionate about my work and I see it as a part of my life. Working for myself, I’m working much harder than I did for someone else.
What is one piece of technology that helps you the most in your daily routine?
Slack is vital for me because that’s the life of my business. That’s where my team collaborates and comes up with ideas and communicates. I can’t run a business and get things done without communication.
What is one piece of advice that you have never forgotten?
Invest in yourself. That doesn’t have to be financial, it can apply to many different aspects of your life. For me, there are three pillars- wealth, health, and mindset. I make sure that I’m talking to people who will enhance the way I think, and I make sure I’m dealing with stress and anxiety in a healthy and productive manner. I invest a lot in my physical health by working out and implementing a regular exercise regime. Professionally, I invest a lot into businesses, stock markets, and other venture capitalist opportunities. So the best advice was to invest in myself, but also invest in the three pillars of wealth, health, and business.
