Blog Author Mellissah Smith - Page 38

What a huge week it's been in client acquisition. We are not sure whether summer is officially over and everyone is ready to capitalise on their businesses opportunities that lay in front of them for the rest of the year, or they simply know they need marketing, and are calling the first company that comes up on Google.

For those interested in becoming a fashion designer, an Australian iconic cottage industry fashion designer has one pearl of wisdom that will change your life  - know your numbers.

Having grown up in a family dedicated to retail and design in the furniture industry, well-known fashion designer Sophie Moran at first thought she might want to become an interior designer and pursued this passion straight from school to College. 

Only recently, I came back to manage the Marketing Eye business, something I haven't done in more than 6 or 7 years.

It's a daunting task because all of a sudden you have responsibility and there are new ways in which you need to navigate how you lead the team, and take them where you want to go, but also, where they want to go.

It's that time of year and we are featuring 10 companies to watch in Atlanta that are going to hit the big time. That means companies that are innovative, smart and have the capabilities to be large organizations or game-changes in their industry.

A first world problem for sure, but it is one I see regularly as an entrepreneur and one who travels widely around the world.

We all work hard. I don't have children, but I see a lot. I have opinions, just like most, but there is some substance in my opinions because I have been around for a long time.

Parents work hard to build their businesses and wealth. They do so because mostly, they didn't grow up with the wealth that they would have liked, or perhaps they just want to live a better life.

They accumulate wealth, and with that comes big houses, flash cars, holidays in the South of France and skiing in Aspen, and so on.

If you run a marketing team, you will realise a few things; firstly that no marketing team can be all the same, and secondly, a mixture of personalities and skills is required for optimum performance. When choosing a team, it's best to steer away from selecting people just like you, or like another person who you rate as being a good marketer on your team. The reason is simple; a strong, competent, successful marketing team has to have a mixture of personalities that collaborate, support, encourage, nurture and push each other to reach their full potential both individually and as a team.

While this may seem idealistic, it's a reality for any competent marketing manager who has the 'balls' to think outside the box when they are putting together a team of people to take a company to the next level.

Have you completed your businesses marketing strategy for 2017/18? If you want to hit and execute your sales goals for the coming year then you might want to get onto it. 

If you have left it until now to write your 2017/18 marketing strategy, then you are really hitting a fine line, because there is a lot to be done before executing a powerful, deliberate marketing campaign in July that will see your company hit sales targets, connect with customers and accelerate your potential in the marketing for the year to come.

My flight was delayed from Atlanta to Los Angeles and it didn't matter. I was in high spirits, drinking sparkling mineral water in the Amercian Airlines Lounge and writing down my ideas of how I would now change the company's business plan in highsight of the first quarter of this year.

I am inspired beyond belief and like many entrepreneurs, having the motivation to kick goals, climb any mountain and put on a brave face even though you may be scared shitless - is something that comes very naturally to me.

I found myself recently in a situation where in any normal situation, you would fire an employee who was responsible for a particular function in the business, and did not perform and was not achieving results. More than that, while their attitude was fine, they didn't put in extra effort nor did they 'think' about what they were doing on a day to day basis.

No matter how much coaching or development that took place, nothing changed.

They say that jealousy is a curse. I tend to agree. It hinders your judgement and affects your ability to see clearly - and that's just the start.

The green-eyed monster is a mental cancer (B.C. Forbes quote), and can be a huge culture killer, leaving employees that are affected by it disengaged and unproductive.