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The New Face (and Faces!) of Mirasee

  • Danny InyDanny Iny

The times, they are a-changing.

Or so the song says… and it’s definitely true for us here at Mirasee.

This blog is almost exactly two years old, and we’ve come a long way since those early days of me and Peter working together on a fun little side project. A lot of things have changed since then, and I’d like to share some of the highlights of the biggest things that have happened, and are happening as we speak.

Now, I should be up-front and tell you that this post is different from the stuff that we usually publish; there’s no marketing advice here, and nothing that you can go and apply to get results in your business.

But we owe it to the people who’ve followed us for such a long time (and those of you who’ve joined us much more recently, too!) to share a bit of our journey with all of you.

Starting with the very beginning of Mirasee, before there was even a blog…

The Early Days of Danny & Peter (and Megan)

Mirasee actually began in July of 2009, almost a full year before the blog went live.

It started with me and Peter in a coffee shop in downtown Montreal. We had known each other for a while, and we knew that our values were aligned, and we were on the same wavelength in terms of what marketing is really about, and how to teach it to entrepreneurs and business owners.

So I pitched Peter on the idea of creating a training program. I told him that it would be simple – we’d throw something together and see if we got some traction, and it shouldn’t take more than a few weeks (I dug out my notes from that meeting, and I actually ball-parked 28 hours for the whole project).

Well, he agreed, but it didn’t pan out quite the way that I expected; about 2,500 hours and one year later, Peter, Megan and I finished the Mirasee Audio Coaching Program (which we’ve since rebranded as Marketing That Works, and which remains our flagship marketing training).

When the training program was done and ready, we realized that we needed a way to reach some customers, and launched the blog (and yes, in case you’re wondering, this is completely backwards, and not at all what I would recommend to anyone, or do myself if I had to start over!).

We soon learned, though, that a blog by itself doesn’t do all that much – you need to find a way to get in front of the right people.

Engagement from Scratch! and Write Like Freddy

That’s when I turned to Jon Morrow and his Guestblogging training program.

I started with a single guest post on Copyblogger, followed by a second on Problogger, and pretty soon I was on a roll, writing over 80 guest posts in less than a year.

Those guest posts turned into relationships, and as I started to build some momentum, I realized that a lot of people were struggling with this single question: how can I build an engaged audience from scratch?

I had part of the answer, but not the whole answer, so I reached out to all the big bloggers that I had connected with over the past months, and asked them to contribute a chapter about their answer to that question. One thing led to another, and Engagement from Scratch! was born.

At the same time, I was getting lots and lots of questions about how I manage to do so much writing. Eventually, the dots connected in my head that this is something I might be able to teach people, so a couple of months after the book launch, I enrolled the first class of students into Write Like Freddy.

Those were heady times – there was a lot going on, and not just for the business…

Things Change, and So Do Our Priorities (Goodbye, Peter)

Along the way, Peter and I both hit some very exciting personal milestones.

For me, the biggest milestone was my wedding, on September 10, 2011 (almost exactly a year ago – our first anniversary is in just a couple of weeks).

For Peter, it was the birth of his son Thomas, just over two years ago (around the same time that the blog went live).

Now, I’ve heard people say that when you have a child, your priorities change, and that was definitely the case for Peter (read this post for a very powerful account of everything that was happening for Peter). We tried to adjust schedules, and we tried to bring him back into Mirasee after having worked mostly “in the background”… but it never really stuck.

So a few months ago, we had “the talk” – we agreed that this just wasn’t working, and it was time to go our separate ways. It was really hard; I respect Peter’s priorities, and we left on good terms, but it still felt like losing a dear friend.

If circumstances change, I’ll welcome him with open arms.

I hope that day comes soon.

New Challenges, and New Faces (Meet Robyn and Amanda!)

Mirasee wasn’t standing still, though – between our content calendar here on the blog, all the excitement about Naked Marketing, and some of the other stuff that we’ve got coming in the next few months, it was very clear to me that even a superwoman like Megan has her limits, and we needed to get some extra help.

So in July, right after my birthday, I bit the bullet and posted an ad on Craigslist to hire a “Marketer’s Assistant.”

The hiring process was very thorough; several email screenings, a written exercise, a rigorous behavioral interview, three assessments, and conversations with three references. All told, it took me about three hours and fifty dollars for each candidate that made it through the process.

But it was absolutely worth it; less than a month after that ad went up on Craigslist, two new faces were added to the Mirasee team.

You’ll be hearing a lot more from Robyn and Amanda over the coming months, but in the meantime, let’s make some quick introductions:

Amanda Durepos is a Fine Arts graduate with a recently-discovered interest in software development. She found her passion for the internet and social media when reading about Google’s history and evolution, and is excited to bring her varied experiences as an artist, gallery curator, and freelance blogger to create something amazing for our readers and students. In her spare time, Amanda collects and dissects vintage textbooks for her collages, and she is a proud member of Montreal Girl Geeks – a place where she can express and continue to learn about her inner nerd.

Robyn Crump joins our team with a wealth of very diverse work experience that she accumulated while saving up for a year of travel (and study) in Europe. Originally from a small town outside of Toronto, Robyn is excited to be working with the small businesses and entrepreneurs that come to Mirasee for advice, training, and support. Robyn does freelance graphic design on the side, as well as reconstructing and redesigning used furniture, clothing and accessories.

You’ll be hearing a lot more from Robyn and Amanda over the coming weeks and months, but in the meantime, please join me in welcoming them to the team with a comment below!

I want to say “thank you” to everyone who’s been with us along this journey – whether the whole time, or just for a chapter or two.

It’s been a wild ride, and it’s about to get even better – and we’re so excited to share it with you!

33 thoughts on The New Face (and Faces!) of Mirasee

Discover Auctions

Hi Danny,
Congrats on the two great years and welcome Amanda and Robyn. I am sorry to hear of Peter, as it is hard to lose a faithful partner. I have enjoyed Megan’s posts since she has joined your team. Also, thanks to you, Danny, I was led to Jason “J-Ryze”, who has been a great inspiration and online friend.
Keep rockin’ it. and wishing you the best with the webinar on August 30!

Jason "J-Ryze" Fonceca

D! Soooooo awesome that you connect so well with this community. I gots mad love Danny, and have complete faith in Robyn + Amanda — pure ballers no doubt.

😀

Thanks for the mention here, I really appreciate it, and I’d like to say that your presence over at Ryze has made a big difference and impact. Your contribution encourages sharing, jumpstarts discussion, and brings interesting topics to the table.

I don’t wanna get too fan-boy-ish, but I gotta be honest — we have a truly fantastic community going on, and it’s far greater than the sum of it’s parts 😀

Sandy Sidhu

Congrats Danny! While I am new around here, I am loving your blog as well as the WLF course.
Welcome aboard, Robyn! And Amanda, I’m one of the Montreal Girl Geeks organizers so do come by and say hi at the next event!

Jason "J-Ryze" Fonceca

I love this, Sandy 🙂 The name alone makes me smile.

But that could just be cause I love women 😉

Jarom Adair

Hey Danny–how did you approach Problogger for a guest post? Darren doesn’t seem to interact with people on his blog much, so getting myself in front of him hasn’t been easy.

Random question, I know…

Jason "J-Ryze" Fonceca

Hi Jarom!

I’m sure Danny will answer you when he gets a chance – I’ve never seen someone receive and actually answer as much email as Danny Iny.

Short answer is e-mail Darren a pitch – but I have to say investing in his Write Like Freddy program will probably help you a ton with that, or Jon Morrow’s “Guestblogging” course. These are high standard-setting offers from amazing human beings.

Another way to get in front of him is to *participate* in his free webinars. He just had one recently on Finding More Readers, very informative and he interacted with many in the audience.

Jarom Adair

Good ideas Jason! Thanks!

Danny

Hey Jarom, you don’t need an intro to Problogger, just email through the contact form – Georgina will see it, and respond within a few days (that’s how I got in, back in the day). 🙂

Jarom Adair

Thanks for the link Danny! Sounds simple enough!

Sheyi | ivblogger.com

Danny, I think its not more than 5 months (or thereabout) that I heard about you on SPI (Pat Flynn’s blog) and my first visit here made me fall in love with your brand almost immediately. I knew following you will be great for me which you can testify to it – your advice and un-ending help plus great contributions are just lovely.

Thanks for writing for us and it’s always not good for me anytime you run a webinar cause i can’t attend (the internet here won’t allow) but i will always do my best to read much more online.

Peter, we want you back here. C’mon you not the one baby sitting the child (he’s old now i guess) so get back here!

Sheyi

Marie-Josée LeBlanc

Danny, I have been following you only for the last few weeks but I can feel that whatever you do, you do it genuinely, which is even more rare when it comes from marketing folks !This world is deeply in needs for more people like you. I will soon work (with your help) on marketing my new business well so I too, can be of service while creating wealth and pursue my dreams. Congratulations and welcome to the new team member!.

Kim

Congrats, Danny, on the terrific relationship centered business you’ve built here. Your heart is all about helping others get to where they want to be, and your information is solid, actionable, and it works.

Amanda and Robyn-Hello, hello! Your backgrounds are so interesting, and I look forward to chatting with you!

Coach Comeback

Engagement from Scratch. Write Like Freddy. The Naked Marketing Manifesto. Free Video Training. The one-on-one personal touch you give to your followers. The emails where you actually insist that your readers ask you personal questions that YOU respond to…………….

I can’t say enough about what you have built over here!

Robyn and Amanda…. I want you to know you are truly blessed to have been picked to be apart of this.

Feels like a second home over here.

To any new readers: LOOK NO FURTHER!

Whatever the reason you found this post… Firepole Marketing is your answer! Everything you need is here!!!!!!!!

Thank you Danny and team!

Jason "J-Ryze" Fonceca

I pretty much second this, enthusiasm and all 🙂

Rock the hell out, Firepole-style.

(And if you’re that big a fan, James, ask Danny about his firepole t-shirts 🙂 )

Coach Comeback

Hahaha I love it!

I just ordered myself an Extra Medium Tshirt!

I was seriously going to make a Danny Iny Fan Club page on facebook the other day. Then, as you mentioned in another comment, Danny’s course is right there with Jon Morrow’s. So I thought… I would create a “best of the web” fan page with Danny, Corbett, Jon, Danielle Laporte, Chris guillebeau, Seth Godin, Leo Babauta, J-RYZE … as well as a few other who I think are up there in the top tier right now…..

Jason "J-Ryze" Fonceca

Dude, it’s such a badass shirt 🙂

Haha… I’d join that club. Got a lot of respect for that Danny.

And yep, I even suggested Jon + Danny combo package their stuff 🙂

Best Of The Web — I think that’s a *great* idea, James, and it actually relates to another idea I’d like to talk to you about 🙂

As for those names – you’re definitely on to something, every single name there are people who’ve really made an impact, and I’m honored to be included 🙂

(I also like that I’m the only one with a sexy-ass nickname/alias :P)

Keep ryzin’!

Matt

I was just talking with a client in-depth less than 2 days ago about dropping that ad on Craigslist to
start bringing on some good, IT-friendly freelancer types. The farther along I evolve with my IT training and deliverables business, the more I realize that you must find that 1-2 extra members to your team that have a passion and work ethic that aligns with yours. Finding those members, and building that trust required in our virtual office age, that is the key to successful scaled growth.

Marlene McPherson

Welcome to you Amanda and Robyn. You will both experience growth. God bless you and with both of you at Danny’s side I know that great feats will be accomplished!

William Cowie

Welcome Amanda and Robyn! And congratulations, Danny – you’re doing great work! Look forward to sharing the future with ya!

David Tong

Danny, I can honestly say you were the one who opened my doors in terms of making my first 3-figure month online in our brief conversation a year ago when you gave me some optimization advice on my photography site at iphotocourse.com

Joining the FPM program was a big leap of faith to me as I’ve never paid for anything of that amount for an online course, heck, I don’t pay that much for an offline course! Yet you and Peter over-delivered in that audio coaching program.

Peter’s audio flamboyance and your confident speaking made the course very easy to digest and I never get tired of listening it to this day.

Remember in the first bonus audio set where you guys asked how many times do you go back and redoacourse? I’ve done it quite a number of times already and a lot of the concepts are well ingrained into my mind that helped me tremendously in all my current business endeavors, on or offline – especially offline.

I hope Peter is doing well and he should be proud of what he’s brought into FPM, Glad to see the new (and prettier haha ) faces as well.

Dave Tong.

More power to FPM…

Danny

David, I can’t tell you how much it means to me to hear you say that – and don’t worry, I’ll definitely pass the message along to Peter. Thank you! 🙂

Natalie Sisson

Go Danny Go – this is just awesome to see. You’re an inspiration. From Zero to EVERYTHING – you are leading the way

Vidya Sury

Loved this post. I’ve been following your posts and have enjoyed the learning, Danny!. Welcome Robyn and Amanda. Looking forward to good times!

Paul Wolfe

Hey Danny

Keep on keeping on as they say…..and welcome to Amanda and Robyn (did you tell them what a tyrant you are 😉 )

Paul

Jason "J-Ryze" Fonceca

Paul! You’re not exactly a “new face” but it’s great to see you here 🙂

(you get my emails? :P)

And yeah, hehe… Danny the tyrant lol – doesn’t really click, eh?

Ruth

Welcome Amanda and Robyn 🙂

As someone who has been following Danny from the early days, I’m sure it’s going to be a great experience for you as it has been for us…

Enjoy!! 🙂

Simon Duck

Always great to see a good resource of information expand. I’ve been more of a lurker around here in recent times, posted a few comments a while ago, but even without ‘joining in’ it has been great to read and watch each section on the website grow.

Thanks for the hard work!
Regards,
Simon Duck

Yvonne Root

Welcome Amanda and Robyn.
Congratulations Danny.
Let Peter know we will miss him.

Allan Ngo

Hey Danny!

Congrats for all the achievements! Man, in just 2 years?! Glad to part of the Write Like Freddy course during its launched! You’ve been one of the most personable, sincere and intelligent people I’ve met in the space. Keep it up!

A big welcome to Amanda and Robyn! Looking forward to more of you gals 🙂

Cheers!
Allan

Ruth Zive

Congratulations Danny! I can SOOOO relate to this evolution. My business is also evolving fast and furious – I have a new partner, 2 full time employees (including a graphic designer) and 2 part time employees. Craziness! Watch for my ‘official’ launch in about a week.

I have been entirely negligent in reaching out to you regarding our earlier conversation, but you are still on my radar. And especially now! As we both continue to grow (in a parallel sense) I still think that there will be a point of convergence that presents opportunity. I’d love to chat and maybe explore those opportunities. I’ll email you with some dates!

In the mean time – congrats! Mazel Tov! All the best! Sooooo exciting…

Danny

Hey Ruth, definitely – email me some dates, we should get on the phone and talk about where things are going for both of us! 🙂

Ahmed Safwan@ To Start Blogging

Your journey is amazing.

You had worked hard and now you are gaining.

We are behind you danny until you become the top blogger in the world “I am sure it will not take a lot of time with someone like you 🙂

Keep up the good work.

Regards,
Ahmed safwan
ToSartBlogging.Com

Jason "J-Ryze" Fonceca

Epic.

I love it.

Even though I wasn’t around for the whole 2 year journey, I feel like I was.

Everyone at Firepole is so kind, loving, and personal, you can’t go wrong. I imagine Amanda + Robyn will fit right in.

Thanks so much for the update, and looking forward to more.

P.S. As a recipient of the landing page critiques, I have to say, I was doing so much ‘wrong’ on my landing pages, I’m surprised ANYONE subscribed. I highly recommend people get Firepole’s expertise 🙂

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