Our Mission

🫳 Give business owners an unfair advantage—with the power of AI, automation, and proven marketing strategy.

Why We Exist

Most businesses aren’t struggling because they lack skill or passion.

They’re struggling because:

• They can’t keep up with the fast-changing online landscape

• They’re invisible online or hard to find

• They’re drowning in tools that don’t integrate or automate properly

• They’re losing leads because follow-ups are delayed or missed

• Their websites look good but don’t convert

• They’re wasting time on admin instead of growth

At Chess Club Media, we solve these challenges head-on.

We design full conversion systems that help you:

• Attract more qualified leads

• Respond faster than competitors

• Automate follow-ups, bookings, and nurturing

• Recover value from old, cold leads

• Turn your marketing into a predictable growth engine

Whether you’re a home service business, a professional practice, a solo consultant, or a funded startup—we help you stop missing opportunities and start closing them.

Our Approach

We don’t just “do marketing.”

We engineer unfair advantages using:

• AI-powered voice agents and chatbots

• Automation systems

• SEO

• Paid advertising

• Social media strategy

• Website design

• Database reactivation

• End-to-end lead conversion workflows

Think of us as the growth partner who connects all the pieces into a system you can actually trust—without hiring a bigger team or patching together endless tools.

Our work is always focused on what actually moves the needle:

• More leads

• Faster follow-up

• Higher conversions

• More revenue

• Less chaos

Since founding Chess Club Media in 2011, Mikel has:

🏆 Been Recognized & Featured by

• WeWork — Featured speaker and recognized as an official LinkedIn Community Advisor

• Nairobi Garage — Recognized as a “leading digital marketing agency” in East Africa and featured speaker

• The Nehemiah Project — Invited speaker for entrepreneurial training programs

• South Lake Chamber of Commerce — Awarded “Most Innovative Social Media Marketing” and featured speaker

• Lake Technical College, Lake-Sumter State College Entrepreneurial Institute, and Lake Union Key Club (Seattle) — Featured speaker and workshop leader

• Wits University (South Africa) — Hosted the Study Abroad MBA program at our former Nairobi satellite office for a live Q&A and marketing deep dive

• USF Alumni Magazine — Featured article highlighting Mikel’s contributions as a USF Honors College alumnus

• AppSumo — Published Mike’s LinkedIn Profile Workbook as an approved resource

• U.S. Chamber of Commerce — Recognized for the eBook “The Chamber Made Me Famous”

• “The Blueprint” by Brennan Dunn — Featured Chess Club Media and Mikel’s marketing insights

💼 Professional Experience & Leadership

• Over two decades of direct experience in marketing, sales, advertising, and growth strategy

• Successfully led campaigns across the USA, Dubai, Sweden, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Mexico, Ukraine, and Portugal

• Built a second office in Nairobi, Kenya, serving East African markets and facilitating cross-continental operations

Served on advisory boards for:

• Pig On The Pond Scholarship Fund & Community Festival

• Clermont Elementary School

• Lake Tech Digital Design College

• USA Memory Championship

• Mondo Ride

• Audidio

📚 Authorship & Thought Leadership

• Author of “Link in Bio: Three Words That Shook the Stormy Seas,” a guide to navigating today’s digital attention economy

• Author of “Mike’s LinkedIn Profile Workbook,” featured on AppSumo

🎓 Background & Personal Notes

• Cum Laude graduate from the University of South Florida Honors College with a B.A. in Public & Cultural Communication (Integrated Marketing Communications focus)

• Began designing websites and experimenting with online marketing at just 12 years old, building a foundation of nearly 30 years of hands-on experience

Started career in the trenches of:

• Yellow Pages and newspaper ad sales

• Direct mail campaigns

• SEO & PPC sales

• Call center and timeshare sales

• Studio management and media production

• Built Chess Club Media into a global growth partner, trusted across industries and regions

✅ Professional Training & Certifications (Current and Past)

• LinkedIn Certified: Marketing Insider, Content & Creative Design, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Solutions Fundamentals

• Google Certified (Past): AI-Powered Shopping Ads, Google Ads (Apps, Display, Search, Search Professional)

• Trained in Social Media Strategy, Paid Ads, Conversion Optimization, AI-Powered Automation, and Full Funnel Marketing