Maurilio Amorim brings a rather unique background to his role as President of The A Group, a Brentwood marketing company that focuses on mega-churches, Christian publishing and non-profits. He came to Nashville from Brazil to attend the Free Will Baptist College and spent time as a minister before founding his business nearly nine years ago. He spoke with David Green for this interview.

How did your business initially position itself in the marketplace?
From day one we focused on the Christian and non-profit markets mainly because of my experience and passion. I came out of a

Maurilio Amorim

Company data   The A Group  Business: Marketing and technology for churches, publishers and non-profits Founded: 2001 Headquarters: 112 Westwood Place, Suite 110, Brentwood 37027   Contact: 615-373-6990;  Maurilio@agroup.com Website: www.maurilioamorim.com

mega-church background where I was involved in both creative as well strategic leadership. That was a great training ground and provided experience to launch The A Group. Interestingly, making a non-profit successful is a lot more difficult than making a business work. Most agencies move from the private sector to the non-profit after a while. We have done it the other way.  

Was there a key change in positioning that led to your current success?
We haven't changed positioning as much as we have allowed our strategy to change with the demands of the times.  

We have always focused on solving problems and not on selling products. When you do that, your products will naturally evolve. We started as a traditional advertising agency that happened to design websites. A few years ago, we started a full technology division that today puts out high-end media-rich content for websites and mobile devices. This month we just launched a brand and development division to take advantage of the big shift I see happening in the publishing world.

What was the insight that led you to change direction
In order to be successful in my field, I have to identify and understand cultural trends as they develop. It wouldn't be wise for me not to implement these trends in my own business. As an example, we started creating social media-friendly tools in our websites because I started using Twitter a month after it launched in 2007 and saw the potential it had to connect people. It took a while for it to catch on, but now social media is a key component of every successful marketing plan.  

What is the best piece of business advice you ever received?
In the early days of The A Group I used to give away my consulting if my clients bought our design and production packages. A good friend and mentor told me I was working backwards. "Many people can make things look nice, but only a few people know what needs to be done and how to define a win." That changed the way I saw my services and the way my company operated.  

What would you do now if you had to start over in your business career? (Not including what you are now doing.)
That's hard for me to answer because I'm doing what I want to do and what I believe I'm designed to do. But I would work on a killer app idea and take it to market. If that didn't work, I'd become a critic since I seem to pick everything apart and tell people what works and what doesn't. Meanwhile, I'm working hard at becoming an International Man of Mystery.

What is the greatest business challenge you have faced? How did you handle it?

My greatest challenge came a few years back when I realized I had "the wrong people on the bus" to use a Jim Collins concept from Good to Great. I went through a major re-organization that was both painful but necessary.  Today I work with an amazing group of people that are way more talented than me and who do some of the best work out there. That was a turnaround point for both the organization as well as for me as a leader.

  What one business tip would you give to a Brentwood business entrepreneur? 

Every leader must, must figure out what he or she can do for the organization that only they can do. It's easy to get trapped in the immediacy of the urgent and neglect the important. Just because you can fix the copier or install software doesn't mean you should. The more you understand the answer to that question, the easier it is to focus on what's going to move the organization forward. Sometimes that's the difference between success and failure.