Blog Author Mellissah Smith - Page 95

"It's a lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believe in myself." Muhammed Ali

When you look at a top sportsmen or women, they have two things that resonate with entrepreneurs; the first is the desire to be the best, and the second is that they believe in themselves enough to win.

Smirking to myself, I typed onto twitter a response to a girlfriends tweet about whether or not I would be going on extended travel after a business conference in Instanbul, Turkey.

In no time, I responded. "Depends on whether I am married and have other plans" or something to this effect.

Have you read the book "Never Eat Alone"? It's a great read and I remember picking it up at a Vegas Airport Bookstore and not putting it down until I got to the last page.

Today, I had lunch with a girlfriend. She is super smart, entrepeneurial, full of life and just a wonderful person.

I met her in Houston at a business conference and got to know her over a week because she was good friends with a friend of mine. Actually, our mutual friend insisted that we meet and catch up. Which we did and have never looked back.

Her name is Michelle Carden and many people may remember her when she gained profile and respect for building a very big company in Australia and selling it off for millions.

She sent me a text this morning to see if I was available for lunch. I hate doing lunch during the work week because it takes me away from my beloved computer, but she said she had some feedback on my IM for me, so it really was in my best interests to go.

5 Minutes with Michelle is worth a fortune. If you don't become so inspired that you are literally jumping up and down on your chair, you are certainly getting insight into her brilliance as a business woman and as a human being.

She is dynamite. Her energy is completely contagious and she has so many business ideas up her sleeve, that I am surprised how she can possibly walk around.

What I learnt today was simple; A lunch date with someone can change your outcomes.

She gave me some advice that superceded that of everyone who has been speaking to me about my Information Memorandum to date. Now, I have taken that advice, raced back to the office and I am straight back to work.

Thanks Michelle. You rock!

Putting it out there again!

This blog is getting more and more personal, but through sharing real life experiences, entrepreneurs and business leaders are hopefully able to gain some insight into what makes an entrepreneur tick, mistakes that some of us make and some real life business goings-on that affect us in so many ways.

Last week, I sent my Information Memorandum out to a number of my friends. When I say friends, they are business leaders, and some of them are in the most successful 50 business people in Australia. The first lot of feedback was awesome. Immediately I was put on a high with positive comments and encouragement.

Yesterday, I received from 3 different parties some constructive feedback; Information Memorandum is too long, you need to have the financials in the IM, covering letter needs to say what the financial upside is and where's the Gantt Chart?

While the financial projections have been done for 5 years, I was told by a couple of parties that you only send this in the second contact after the person/company has read the IM. So, I have held off on this. I was also notified that I only need 3 years, but I am a bit confused because it is a 5 year plan. Not sure who to listen to here.

The Gantt Chart and manuals are all complete, but as with the financials, I was told not to send this through in the first instance.

There are so many differing opinions that it is hard to work out which direction to take. Perhaps a bit of everything is worthwhile taking into consideration afterall, these people do this everyday. Like most things, it is subjective to the person looking at the IM.

In any case, it was my first piece of constructive criticism which set me back momentarily and had me second guessing as to whether I should have sent it out without taking it to someone and going through it page by page.

Overall, I am happy with the result, but feedback should always be considered and if you put yourself out there, then you have to expect sometimes you won't like what you hear.

13 years as an entrepreneur has ensured that I have seen many things; the highs of business, the lows of business, the joy of winning a big account, the butterflies in your stomach when something goes wrong, staff come and go, lessons learnt and some that kept on repeating themselves until finally I woke up or didn't, business associations that excelled through a mutual sharing of trust, respect and benefits, business relationships that sour, bad debts, innovation, dreams that fall apart, pinching myself because I felt so lucky to have the life that I live, fatigue from working too hard, eye off the ball moments and so on.

We have all been through it in one way or another.

Needy is probably the wrong word. It's more like, are you an employer who knows how much you need your employees?

I am. My employees rock. They are the heart and soul of our business. They work darn hard and as a former employee and now editor of a top business magazine once said to me, "if you work for Marketing Eye, you really work".

It's certainly no holiday. Clients are everything. This is drilled into every single person who works for Marketing Eye over and over again.

Crapola. Something isn't working. Not sure what it is, but I have a fair idea. Bit busy to fix it though.

Sound familiar?

For months, I have sat in fear that my Information Memorandum to raise money for expansion into the US market would not be well received.

In fact, I have been incredibly reluctant to show anybody. I have held onto it tightly and when people have asked, I have said "I will get it over to you" and then it has taken weeks to attach it to an email and press "send".

Life is to be treasured. Every moment that we live and are surrounded by wonderful people who love and care about us, we should take time out to appreciate it.

My cousin's husband, a father of 3 beautiful children, decided to unexpectantly end his life today. As you can imagine, his family is devastated. We all are. He was such a wonderful man, who loved his family dearly and was full of spirit. Now, he is gone and only his memories remain.

Mental health is a real issue in our community. I started to think about the number of people, who I know who have chosen to take their own lives. Unfortunately, I can't count them on my hands as there have been too many. Yet, for some reason, we still are not doing enough. We should all do more to help those around us deal with depression.

If you have a family member or a friend who is down, be there for them. Support them even though you may feel there are other things you would prefer to do. Encourage them to seek help and give them an ear when they want it.

Life is precious, and suicide can happen to anyone.

Bill Gates dropped out of college to start Microsoft.

Jeff Bezos quit his lucrative job on Wall Street to drive to the other side of America to start Amazon.

Donald Trump faced personal bankrupcy at one stage taking risks.

So, is moving to the US and starting Marketing Eye, such a risk afterall?