Just One Connection Away: Inside a Candid Mentor Conversation Between Aaron & Liam

What’s it really like to learn from a mentor? In this episode, we sit in on a real conversation between Aaron Goodman of OMADA Marketing and his mentee, Liam—a rising marketing talent finding his footing.

They talk through:

• Why GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is the future of SEO
• How to build confidence in your skills
• The power of simple marketing wins
• Why mentorship isn’t just professional—it’s personal

This one’s full of real talk, lightbulb moments, and the kind of advice you wish you had when starting out.

🎧 Ready to feel inspired, seen, and equipped? Let’s go.

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Ready to check out the space? Book a tour with Tiffany, our Community Coordinator!

Got a business idea? Apply for a mentorship session with one of our experienced mentors!

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Let’s turn your ideas into reality—together!

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Transcript

Aaron: 0:47

Sure. What's going on, Liam? How are you?

Liam: 0:50

I'm doing pretty good. I've been working on doing some SEO and some GEO. Are you familiar with, GEO? Yeah, so GEO is generative engine optimization. So unlike a normal search engine, it's for generative stuff, so like ai, so chat, GPT or Google AI or stuff like that. And so you want to use different strategies on your website if you're trying to show up highly on those, uh, as opposed to like if you were on a normal search engine. Makes sense. It searches differently. So

Aaron: 1:20

yeah, you've been able to look and see if you're able to do that on a Google business profiles as well.

Liam: 1:25

Yeah. I haven't actually thought about that. It might be something to check out. Yeah. Like optimize the words in the Google business profile. Yep. Okay.

Aaron: 1:33

Well, what are you trying, like, tell me about your passion. Like what are, what gets you excited? Yeah,

Liam: 1:37

so I like, the strategy of marketing. So I'm looking for something where I can apply that. So some way to take a business and kind of like how you've told me just say, Hey, what would it be worth to you if I could provide you this service and prove to you that I can give you, you know, this amount of money, whatever. Like, I would like to go do that and, go to businesses and do that.

Aaron: 1:57

That's awesome. No, I think as you, as you figure that out, like also think about like what you don't like to do.

Liam: 2:03

Mm-hmm.

Aaron: 2:04

So is there anything that you like just hate doing?

Liam: 2:07

Don't know, like,

Aaron: 2:08

like social media or, yeah like coding or

Liam: 2:11

I guess I'm not great at coding. I'd say the biggest thing is probably like stupid tiktoks maybe.

Aaron: 2:17

You don't wanna do your dancing videos.

Liam: 2:19

Well, like I don't want to choreograph it. I can do whatever you want, but I wouldn't, I don't want to be like go to a business and say, Hey, I can do your TikTok for you.

Aaron: 2:28

I got you. No, that's cool. No, I think there's, there's a ton of low hanging for, especially if you want help other small businesses because they don't have time to worry about dancing videos on TikTok or, you know, figuring out how to rank with GGEI or what was it, G-E-O-G-E-O. Yeah. They don't have time to think about all that. Right? Yeah. So you being, uh, young and also just focused on like, just truly trying to solve problems and help people out. I think there's a lot of opportunity to succeed there.

Liam: 2:54

Yeah. Is that what you've done with Amada?

Aaron: 2:57

Yeah. Just having a conversation like this?

Liam: 3:00

Yeah.

Aaron: 3:00

Talking about problems and, you know, understanding, like most, I would say most customers I talk to typically have two or three things that they're not optimizing, you know, simple, low hanging pieces of fruit that like I can find and identify and help'em win with.

Liam: 3:15

Yeah. What have you been working on this week?

Aaron: 3:18

Um, getting better at helping optimize Google business profiles.

Liam: 3:22

Really? Yeah. You've been researching it?

Aaron: 3:24

Yeah.

Liam: 3:25

Like how,

Aaron: 3:25

so A lot of times, like the descriptions that a business has aren't optimized for local ranking, they don't mention their, like, specific keywords. So usually you can, um, uh, Google my business everywhere. Is a plugin you can put on your chrome extension and it's gonna show you like what categories other businesses have. And so you can see what ones that are ranking, what they're using. And a lot of times the ones that aren't ranking well, like if I'm managing a business and they're not ranking well,'cause they're not using some of those key categories.

Liam: 3:56

Gotcha. So you can actually look up and see which ones are doing better than others. Yep. That's cool.

Aaron: 4:01

Yep. So Liam, how would you describe, like, how has this mentorship process been for you?

Liam: 4:07

Well, I mean it's been pretty cool. I know I've been seeing you in this space since I started working here in August, but then one day you just approached me'cause that's the type of person that you are where, you just come up to people and you say, Hey, I'm here. Like, nice to meet you. And so I guess we just kind of hit it off a little bit and I noticed that you've like really sought me out and that like. I could tell, like when we're talking and like when you're helping me, like whether it's setting me up with high level or just giving me advice and stuff, like, I've always been able to tell that you like really care about me and you're willing to take time outta your busy day for me, which I've, like I talked with Maggie about it, like, I think it's super sweet. Um, and then even recently, like, you know, you've been giving me life advice and you know, just I feel like you're somebody that. I can look up to it more than just like a professional sense. And so it's been really cool. Yeah,

Aaron: 5:01

man, that's awesome. I appreciate those words. Those are just amazing. Can you think of a time that any of the advice or like coaching was a breakthrough moment for you that allowed you to take the leap to the next step?

Liam: 5:13

Yeah, so I'd say it's a couple things. So like for one. Like all the meetings that you've had with, I guess you only hopped on one meeting with Dallas and I, but you've given me a lot of advice on how to help him and so it's been cool to see like he'll, like you'll give me advice and I'll implement it, and then Dallas will be like, oh my goodness, so cool. And I'll like, yeah, I'm really, you know, good at marketing or whatever. That's awesome, but you've helped me a lot with him. And then just kind of your overall, like the way that you see marketing and how you kind of stepped outta your job to, and I hope I'm not taking an answer from you, but like you kind of stepped outta your job and you wanted to buy back that time, and so you've walked me through what that looks like. That's cool. And so I think I've learned a lot from that perspective. Yeah.

Aaron: 6:01

That's cool. I, I think there's a moment in time where you have the epiphany of like, oh my gosh, this is gonna work. And so I my on mission to like help as many people see that as well.

Liam: 6:10

Yeah. So

Aaron: 6:11

that's cool that you were able to like take that and like help him and you probably had that same, you know Yeah. Occurrence of like, man, this is gonna work. Yeah.

Liam: 6:19

It's been easier for me with him because wI first met him and we just like really hit it off. I think there's somewhat of like a mental block for me, like with what we've talked about with these other people of, like what you do, you just go business to business and like, Hey, I can improve your marketing for you. Yeah, that's cool. It's made it easier.

Aaron: 6:37

Awesome.

Liam: 6:38

So Aaron, what's this mentorship been like for you?

Aaron: 6:42

Yeah, it's very unique. You know, it's, it's, it is one of those things of like, I think as a business owner, as a entrepreneur, a marketer, whatever, a professional it would be easy just to hold on to the cards and not want to showcase the learnings, but there's, there's something special about being able to take knowledge and learnings and see somebody else blossom. Because of learnings that we've had and I've had other people invest in me as well. And so it's just like giving back to you and other entrepreneurs and like how can we, um, truly succeed together is just truly powerful. Yeah. There's a saying, John F. Kennedy said a rising tide lifts all boats. And so if like we win together, like how much more amazing is that if than if we just try to succeed by ourself?

Liam: 7:28

Yeah. I think that's really cool. You have that mindset of like. I can tell because you have so much stuff to do, and yet you're still wanting to give back to the community. Like, is there a reason why you're so adamant about, wanting to help me and help others?

Aaron: 7:43

That's a good question. I, I think a lot of it stems from learnings I've had as growing through, my own professional career and being involved with corporate America and the traditional approach of, Hey, go to school, get a job, get paid hourly, get paid, you know, make incremental wages or raises throughout the year. And, that's kind of what school and education tells you, but I. I've kind of learned the epiphany of, it doesn't necessarily have to be that. And so if I can help somebody overcome mistakes and stress and burnout that I experienced, I would love to be able to help somebody else not go through the same struggle.

Liam: 8:18

Yeah. Awesome.

Aaron: 8:19

So what do you think one of the biggest learnings you've had throughout this mentorship?

Liam: 8:23

Yeah. I think one of the coolest things about it is I've gotten to see what it's like for someone that has been successful and it's almost like if you're on level a hundred or whatever, like I'm on level one of this of, not to put myself down, but it's like instead of going around trying to start at level one, it's like I can look to where you're at and you give me advice from someone that's actually done it. Then I can try to implement that into what I'm doing. So it feels like, I'm not alone. I'm not having to learn everything for myself. Whereas you're there to coach me through it, to help me through it and, you know, be there if I have questions. what do you think has really stood out to you? What's, what's been helpful to you?

Aaron: 9:01

Like I mentioned a little bit before, having that breakthrough of, Hey, this is gonna work, my own journey, like having that belief. I think I had a greater belief in the disbelief that it's not gonna work. So by being able to, work with you, and other folks of like instill that mindset of breaking that false belief and like, hey, you are actually way further ahead than you actually think, then your mind is allowing you to be so breaking that false belief of, Hey, I can do this being able to see that light bulb turn on, like when we're meeting and stuff, we're like, oh. This could work. You know what I'm saying? Yeah Like, man, that's so empowering. I know what that feels like. Yeah. It's so empowering.

Liam: 9:39

Yeah. Can you explain how racquetball and marketing are similar?

Aaron: 9:44

That's a really good question. Yeah. There's so many similarities to sports, but specifically racquetball. Like, have you ever played racketball before?

Liam: 9:51

I have before, yeah.

Aaron: 9:52

So there's so many different ways to win in racquetball to where you can play fast paced, like if you ever played, like there's. We play with, uh, a group of guys and we range from, you know, 30 years old to like 85. And so it doesn't matter, like if you're a power player or you just have a really, really good touch, like the, you're trying to get the ball to bounce twice before somebody else can hit it. So it's strategic. If you just do the same thing over and over again, like the, the other players are gonna start to learn and get educated on where you're gonna hit it. But. How that relates with business is like we can't continue to do, to do the same thing every other business does. Right. We've gotta be different and strategic to hit it in spots where nobody's at. Yeah. And so you have to use multiple approaches to that. Like you can, you can do a, a soft approach or a drive approach, you know, that could be, uh, organic marketing with a touch of, of paid ads. It could be flopped. You know, I think it's important to like, think differently. And be dynamic and not just do the same thing over and over again.

Liam: 10:53

Yeah. That's awesome Why do you think connections like this matter so much for entrepreneurs?

Aaron: 11:00

Connections are huge. I mean, they could be everything, you know, especially as you develop your professional career like. Especially in sales and marketing and business ownership, I truly believe like you're one connection away from the next step in your business, whether that's the next thing you need to learn, that you need to be connected to that person so they can teach you. Or maybe it's a connection to a potential business that you're gonna partner with or maybe that next customer. That connection may not result in anything tomorrow, but a year from now may. So I truly believe like you're one connection away from taking the next big leap in your business.

Liam: 11:32

Yeah. Well it's cool'cause you reached out to me. And made a connection with me and it has been super helpful for me and I know that there's certain ways where you would say it would be helpful for you too, but from a professional standpoint, the connection of me and you has helped me a lot. And it's cool to think that maybe one day that'll come back around and the connection will maybe help you professionally too.

Aaron: 11:52

Yeah, sure. Yeah. You never know you may be having a conversation a year from now and we're like, oh, I know a guy, and you introduce you to somebody else, or. Another connection that's like adjacent. Yeah So yeah. Truly profitable. Yeah.