Asian Businesses

Albin Lix – Founder & Managing Director at Digital Business Lab – Empirics Asia (Formerly ‘The Asian Entrepreneur’)

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This article was originally published here: Albin Lix – Founder & Managing Director at Digital Business Lab

Albin Lix

Albin Lix

Moving from provincial France to ultra-urban Hong Kong has given Albin Lix a diverse mindset which he has taken into his business.

What’s your story?

Growing up in France’s  St. Malo province, where all is about modesty, enthusiasm, and loyalty, the culture instilled with deep inspiring values naturally helped to craft entrepreneurial stories based on people. My ambition to start a business was eventually influenced by it.

I decided to unlock both dreams because I have always wanted to explore Asia, where creativity and innovative development emerge on top of a very vibrant diversity of culture. I finally landed in Hong Kong, marking the start of this adventurous and fruitful journey in entrepreneurship.

What excites you most about your industry?

Asia’s unique social media potential in the booming mobile economy, the rapid adoption of social media, and the introduction of new digital limits in Asia. Such evolving landscapes fascinated me most. I believed it was an excellent opportunity for Digital Business Lab to offer something different at the crossroads of East and West.

Our daily mission is to mix and match all the most effective social media innovations to bring social media experiences and performance to the next level. We synchronize meaningful partnerships with influencers, combining inspiring short videos, and ultra-targeted ad campaigns.

What drives you in business to push beyond what other people consider normal?

The core driver for the Digital Business Lab’s vision to be a prominent player in the social media sphere is fueled and inspired by diverse cultures. Our team has generously co-shared Social Media expertise across Western and Asian ecosystems, from valuable content & experience, compelling video productions to synchronization between creative and analytical minds.

Digital Business Lab is driven to provide valuable experiences to meet many of the most exciting business prospects in the area from a wide range of industries, from cultural activities, FMCG, luxury, art, to 2021-trending start-ups in blockchain, consumer electronics, education, etc.

What have been the most useful skills you have learnt and applied in your journey?

Curiosity and agility.

It takes a curious mind to succeed within the ever-changing landscape. My team and I are continually learning from each other, considering social media as a valuable exchange medium where we expect exposure to giveaway emotions, learning, inspirations, and entertainment.

To brace ourselves for the road of market recovery and the new age of social media protectionism, agility is necessary for us to move forward. We are continually evolving for more advanced expertise to support companies in meeting the right markets, resolving regional barriers, and effectively navigating political legislation, cultural and technical codes per region.

What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?

Do what you tell and tell what you do.

Synchronization is kind in a very fast-moving environment; the more we transparently communicate with talents, customers, and partners, the more fruitful the collaboration is. This piece of advice has never been more relevant than now within a sensitive pandemic context where everyone faces uncertainty. Being operationally pragmatic & communicating in a very humble, transparent, and frequent way definitely helps everyone move in this time of resilience.

Who inspires you?

Roland Beaumanoir (CEO & Founder, Beaumanoir Group) advised me to take the risk to start my own business and inspires me that there are two planets in the entrepreneurs’ worlds. Firstly, the fast-growing businesses that rely on fundraising and fictive valuation. Secondly, the “family business style” where people come first and ambitious long-term development is supported by organic growth.

Digital Business Lab definitely follows the second model. Not having to deal with the complex financial arrangements is a great opportunity for us to allocate 100% of our energy to our client production and talent development, which, ultimately, are most important.

What have you learnt recently that blew you away?

COVID context is obviously very isolating at the personal and the professional levels for everyone. I have paid extra attention to learning how to re-connect with any contacts that help to provide perspectives.

For example: being connected with French Tech Hong Kong & French founders helped me handle exceptional situations. Calling clients and partners also helped me to realize that we can sometimes find solutions altogether.

At my modest level, I would like to recommend to any entrepreneurs and decision-makers to pay extra attention to this self-isolation risk that most of us are facing during this very exceptional context.

If you had your time again, what would you do differently?

I usually never ask myself this kind of question as we are always focusing on the future, we also know that we are always running out of time. If  I absolutely have to answer this question, I would like to say that I would take the initiative to create my own business even earlier.

Mistakes are opportunities to capitalize, especially for entrepreneurs. I don’t regret it as these make most lessons out of business better to anticipate risks and potential threats in the future.

How do you unwind?

Evolving in a fast-moving environment and a growing organization, I am learning to accept that I can’t control and know everything. My role is not to hold the keys that open all doors. I am learning how to step back from this conservative perception of the founder role. All our talents have unique Social Media vision and input that contribute to offering an engaging experience to our clients’ audience.

Being able to chill out on that part is a continuous challenge for entrepreneurs.

What is a major mindset change, belief shift or ‘ah ha’ moment that you’ve experienced in relation to your business?

Businesses are accelerating on their post-Covid recovery plan to maximize opportunities and enhance cash flow quickly. Such change also pushed us to switch from conventional branding building to more on short-term tactical and ROI-oriented activation.

It includes adopting advanced tactical social media ad retargeting to drive sales from the audience with high interest, and cost-effective yet engaging social media formats, such as leveraging live streaming and live shopping.

“Social Media is about inspiring with an instant and targeted experience. We create meaningful content to share values that sync with our clients’ audiences, i.e. stories about Art, Sustainability, Education, Inclusivity.”

Everyone in business should read this book:

I would recommend this inspiring book for entrepreneurs – Delivering Happiness, written by Tony Hsieh, former CEO of Zappos, the world-renowned entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. They built Zappos into a $1 billion retailer of online shoes & apparel.

With Tony’s philosophy of growing and cultivating a company, customer loyalty, employee achievement, and risk management, the book is a must-read for entrepreneurs. After reading the book, I gained a lot of respect for him, who unfortunately recently died from a  accident.

DBL logo

Shameless plug for your business:

We specialize in Social Media Marketing and support our partners & clients to reach ambitious & long-lasting Social Media performances that serve businesses mixing the best ingredients that Social Media has to offer.

Under one roof, we combine and synchronize all the required expertise to perform: creative video production, influencer marketing, paid social media, performance monitoring…

Our HK & SG team of 20 international talents (14 different nationalities) masters all the key leading Social Media Asian ecosystems and understanding Asian culture diversities.

Check out some of our cultural social media insights!
Vietnam: https://bit.ly/2YyJgVm
Indonesia: https://bit.ly/3pBWVH5

How can people connect with you?

I am very reachable. I receive all the emails coming from our email contact visible on our website http://digitalbusinesslab.com: [email protected].

People can also connect with me on Linkedin and Facebook.

facebook.com/albin.lix
linkedin.com/in/albinlix
WeChat ID: Albin-lix

Social Media Links?

https://www.facebook.com/Digital.Business.Lab/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-business-lab/
https://www.instagram.com/digitalbusinesslab/

This interview is part of the CallumConnects series.

Albin Lix – Founder & Managing Director at Digital Business Lab
The EnterpriseZone Writing Team



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