Blog Author Mellissah Smith - Page 71

What started out as a dream became a reality, much faster than I anticipated.

Many entrepreneurs can attest to having a dream or maybe just something on their bucket list that needs to be crossed off. I am one of those people. I have a dream but most importantly for me, an item on my bucket list that needs to be crossed off by a given time frame. 

What once was a dirty word to me, the position of entrepreneur in a fast growing, dynamic company is the most exhilarating career choice I could have every made.

What other job has you jumping out of bed at 5am each morning, dressing in a matter of minutes and rushing off to the office to start your day? For that matter, what other job gives you the highs of an entrepreneur and the flexibility to be exactly who you are?

Last night in New York, I was sitting at a dinner party where everyone was animated with lively conversation.

In no time, the conversation turned to dating, and with two single women in the room everyone was eager to establish the latest on their dating scorecards.

A very confident business woman explained that she had trouble dating and that being in her early 40s, most men that asked her out were in their early 30s or late 50s - but no-one in between.

She went on and explained in detail just how frustrating it is to date. With her very successful high profile business, commitments to travel and the fact that because she is in the public eye, she struggles with being noticed, this dynamic woman was fascinating.

Driving back from Hilton Head in South Carolina on the weekend, #24yrold asked me what I thought of the new branding for Yahoo! I hadn't given it much thought and had mainly seen press around the rebrand that was negative - aimed directly at Marissa Mayer.

I was recently asked my opinion on what are my thoughts on the election and its effect on small business by veteran journalist Jonathan Jackson.

Here is what I had to say:

"Small businesses are the backbone of the Australian economy.

There are over two million small businesses in this country, which provide approximately seven million jobs and comprise up to 20 per cent of the national economy.

With a Federal election looming and a new Prime Minister to be appointed (or, in Kevin Rudd’s case, a returning Prime Minister), small business owners will be eagerly and nervously awaiting party platforms that impact them.

I understand the pressure and considerations of running a small business more than most. I founded my first business at age 25, and in 2004 established Marketing Eye, Australia’s leading marketing consultancy firm for small to medium businesses.

Late last night, I was watching some episodes of the television show Suits. It is my favourite show on television. I downloaded it from iTunes and watch 3 episodes each night that week and the week after. Unlike most people, I don't normally watch television. In fact, I don't even have one anymore. Instead, I rely on my ipad for entertainment and find that by downloading television shows every now and again it is as much television as I need.

#24yrold downloaded two television series for me. The first was Revenge, and I was so absorbed by it that I couldn't go out for an entire weekend, preferring to watch show after show with my dog by my side.

Then came Suits and I was mesmerized. You see, Harvey Spector and Mike Ross, are the lead characters and my own relationship with my number two in Atlanta is incredibly similar. It's really like looking in the mirror or watching a video of ones' self and seeing so many similarities that you actually learn a bit more about your #2 through a better understanding of the characters.

When evaluating the marketing budget of our company, it became apparent that printing was a significant cost. As such, when it came to printing our custom published marketing magazine, it was time to do things a little differently. 

At first, my design department sourced quotes. They ranged from $18,000 up to $33,000 for exactly the same product. I was fine with paying $18,000 but not so fine to find my normal printers quotation significantly higher at $33,000. It literally had me stopping in my tracks and evaluating what I was doing and whether it was worth it.

Then, as if someone was looking down on me, a company was referred to Marketing Eye to do some of their marketing. It was an online print automation company that specialises in reducing the cost of printing so that marketing departments can reinvest the savings back into their marketing campaigns. I personally worked on this account because I was interested in seeing what they did differently. In the end, I became as passionate about their business, as they became of ours. On top of that, they saved us 45% of our printing costs.

Today, I thought I would give the founder of this business, Mark Alioto a call to talk about what they do differently at ECM.

If I could have a dollar for every time I didn't trust my gut instinct, I would be a very rich woman.

Like most entrepreneurs, I have failed more times than I have succeeded and every single time I have failed I have thought back to how I could have done things differently. 9 times out of 10, it was because I didn't trust my gut instinct.

Trusting in yourself and your intuition is important, but if you are anything like me, you second guess what you think you should do and find reasons as to why you should do something a different way. It's not too indifferent from taking a risk. We are all reluctant to take risks but sometimes there is this thing inside us that tells us that we must do it - even though there a thousand reasons why we shouldn't.

Only in Australia for a few days and I have had the pleasure to sit in on a workshop with a company that started just 16 months ago and has had a phenomenal rate of growth.

The Bond Street Group is a company that provides private and public institutions advice and support in enhancing outcomes through leadership, strategy, people and equity effectiveness. Their team is made up of senior professionals that have excelled in their given fields.

A few weeks ago, we met with the delightful Jack Rehm and Karen Larkin of Midsouth Planning in Atlanta. The first thing that struck me about both Jack and Karen is how nice they are. Now, nice isn't a word that many people would like associated with themselves because of the connotations that it has, but its true. They are smart, thoughtful, considerate and nice.

It was a big step for both of them to take to hire a marketing company as it isn't something that they had done before. 

"Same bed, but it feels a bit bigger now" is the lyrics in the famous Bruno Mars song "When I was your man".  An apt description of Marketing Eye's business expansion into the US market. It's the same company, but its a bit bigger now. 

What started out as a step to expand the international footprint of our brand, has taken on a whole new dimension. Australian and America have long been tied and now more so than ever. The ebbs of the economy has led to an opportunity for Australian companies that are geared for expansion to leverage the strength of the Australian dollar, and affordable set up costs in the US market without breaking the bank. The downside, is US dollars are not worth as much, as the dollar loses its grip on parity.