IIAS wins 2020 Three Best Rated® Award for one of the top-rated Advertising agencies in Abbotsford

Entrepreneurship – about a decade ago, only a few people were brave enough to take up this path. But now there are about 582 million Entrepreneurs around the world, and there are about 3.5 million entrepreneurs in Canada alone. 

A recent survey has revealed that about 32% of Canadians wants to be an Entrepreneur. But is it that hard being an Entrepreneur? 

Mike Johnson is the founder of the International Internet Advertising Services Inc. In the past 25 years, he has helped a lot of businesses grow and proved to be a successful Entrepreneur. 

So, how did it all start? Mike himself answers this question, “I have always been pretty good with technology, and I have always known I wanted to run a business,” he says. When he was 17, he put together a stereo from parts he purchased at a garage sale for $300 and sold it for $3500. He used that money to buy his very first computer. 

The beginning:

“The problem was I had no idea how to use a computer. But I had a pretty smart uncle so I would call him and ask him how to use it,” Mike says. But it didn’t take him long to turn the situation upside down. After a couple of months, his uncle started calling him, asking questions about computers.

When he started the IIAS in 1995, he says that he didn’t put much effort into advertising his own business, “I was introverted and kind of shy, so we grew only by word of mouth.”

“Looking back at it, I should have put a lot more energy into it because I have helped so many companies make a lot of money through Internet Marketing,” he admits.

The Journey:

Mike has always viewed his client as someone under the care, protection, and guidance of his company, and goes out of his way to make a product that works for them. Mike and his team spend a considerable amount of time, thought, and effort in developing a digital marketing strategy that works the best for each of their clients.

Back then, he used to hear stories from clients about their previous experience with advertising agencies who did not produce any results. He was able to feel the pain and frustration behind their words, “Even worse than losing their money, they lost time, and momentum,” he says,

This incident opened up his eyes to a lot of things. He understood that he is fully responsible for creating the culture within his company. And when he asked himself that question, he came up with these answers:

1. We must always lookout for the best interest of our clients.

2. We must empower our team members to take pride and ownership in the work they do.

3. We must encourage and provide team members with opportunities for personal growth.

4. We must always strive to make a positive impact on everyone we interact with. 

A little lost in the sea:

“Ambassador Travel was one of the companies we worked with. We helped them grow their sales from 1.5 million to 50 million within four years,” Mike says as he recalls about the time he felt lost, “From the beginning, I knew I wanted to do business that would involve technology. But this company was doing so well I decided to take over as CEO. And this is where I lost my way.”

Mike experienced the Financial Criss of 2008 first hand. The airlines closed and stopped paying commissions. So, it didn’t matter how many tickets he sold because the commission checks stopped coming in. But he managed to overcome this challenge soon enough and kept moving forward.

Creating the perfect team:

Having a skilled team is the basis for any business. But Mike wasn’t satisfied with having merely any team. He wanted “The Team.”

“In a world where many people view a job as…well… just a job, we want to create a place where people are eager and excited to show. Where they find a calling for their skills and have a team to support them,” he explains.

And for this to happen, he made sure everyone in his team had these five traits:

1. Treats Team Members Like a Client – Team members should treat each other with the same respect and care they give to a client. 

2. Reciprocal Altruism – Team members will be more productive when they know they got each other’s back. 

3. Ownership & Autonomy – Taking ownership of the choices they made no matter the result was good or bad is an important trait. 

4. Innovation & Learning – Innovation and learning go hand in hand. IIAS values the team members who are innovative and are willing to learn something every day. 

5. Provable Results – At the end of the day, results are what the clients expect.

Top-rated Agency:

IIAS never compromises when it comes to customer satisfaction. If something isn’t working as it should, they would want to hear about it. They fix what they can fix right away, and analyze issues, that don’t have an immediate solution. These qualities are what got them a place in Three Best Rated® as one of the top-rated Advertising Agencies in Abbotsford, BC.

About ThreeBestRated®

ThreeBestRated® was created in 2014 with the simple goal of finding the top 3 local businesses, professionals, restaurants, health care providers, and everything in-between, in any city. Every business is meticulously handpicked by our employees. We check business’s reputation, history, complaints, ratings, proximity, satisfaction, trust, cost, general excellence, reviews, and more, using our 50-Point Inspection. We only display businesses that are verified by our employees. Other places will call this “hard work” and “unnecessary”. We call it “due diligence” and “the right thing to do”. Our website is updated on a regular basis for quality and the latest business information.

ThreeBestRated® has the honor of helping 4.5 million customers every month find the best businesses in any city – without any effort!