Erez Kalev from Acre was a yeshiva student who wanted to study Torah. In a surprising journey from the world of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva to the world of social media, he became a guru who guides businesses from all over the world to success in marketing on Facebook, Google, and even WAZE.
Kalev's specialty is guiding businesses to success and bringing them, he says, "a large number of customers in a short time." Kalev made a rather radical transition from the world of the Haredi yeshiva to the business world. He is still an observant Haredi, but starting a family and the economic situation in Israel made him realize that he had to make a change in his life in order to live comfortably.
""Until my wedding, I was a yeshiva student and quite disconnected from the 'normal' world," he explains. "I was mainly involved in Torah study and really enjoyed it. After that, I became a kollel abbot, but I slowly realized that the 1,500 NIS I received from the yeshiva would not be enough to support a family. I went to work in customer service as a service representative and discovered that I was working from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. to earn minimum wage. This was very disappointing, because in my naivety I believed that a person who goes to work should earn enough to support his family.".
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""The same innocence that remained with me from the yeshiva world is what also made me leave the workplace to succeed as a freelancer. Everyone around me said it was dangerous and that I was forbidden to leave my "safe" workplace, but I wanted to control my own destiny and not accept crumbs from this or that employer. I wanted to give my family financial freedom that would allow us to live comfortably and for me – free time to study Torah.".
Kalev is now the owner of 'Master Business' for online marketing. "My company provides online marketing services and social media and app management," explains Kalev. "I started as an independent business from my home in Acre, and today it is a company that provides services to small and medium-sized businesses that want to create broad exposure for themselves online in order to reach new customers.".
Master Business helps develop businesses mainly in the north of the country, where the use of social media is lower than among businesses in the center of the country. In fact, there are still businesses in the north that have not yet made the transition to the world of the Internet, and we assist with both technical support and the management of the entire online marketing system. We also assist in establishing advanced marketing mechanisms that include a mailing system, online coupons and management of advertising budgets on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google and also in applications such as WAZE.
How - how was the idea born and how did the idea phase lead to the establishment of the business?
""While I was looking for a way to create a new income as a freelancer, I was exposed to the world of social media, which fascinated me." Kalev says, "Because I am an ultra-Orthodox person, I installed a system to filter inappropriate content and began to explore this world. I really fell in love. I decided that I was going to specialize in this field and went to learn from the best in the world how to do online marketing. My mentor is Itay Paz, an international mentor who lectures all over the world on business success and creating income through the Internet.""
Kalev's breakthrough came with the publication of a series of online guides for business success via the Internet called: "3 Tools for Powerful Success" and "An Apartment for the Price of a Car." The guides took the Internet by storm and became popular, receiving tens of thousands of downloads. This is how Kalev branded himself as an expert in his field.
The move made Kalev understand the power of social media. "I received hundreds of inquiries from businesses who wanted me to advise them on how to be more successful." Kalev recalls the moment of his breakthrough, "I didn't know how to deal with this amount. I had to filter. Of all the offers that came in, I was attracted by an offer from a client in the real estate sector in Acre who said: 'If you're such a cannon at social media marketing - come sell me 5 real estate properties through the network.'.
I decided to take on the task and created a sophisticated marketing campaign on Facebook for real estate investors who live in the central region and who do not have easy access to properties in the north. To the client's surprise (and my surprise too), we sold all the apartments in a short time. What was most amazing was that everything was done through email correspondence. We just had to reach the right people. After they recognized that it was a good deal, they reached out to a lawyer in Acre and closed a deal.""
""That day I realized that I was going to establish 'Master Business' to share this knowledge with business owners in the north of the country who suffer from a business disadvantage compared to business owners in the center of the country and therefore need a boost from social media."'
