Marketing Eye

Expert Marketing Blog - Mellissah Smith - Page 2

The Sunday Ramble - a life of an entrepreneur

The Sunday Ramble - a life of an entrepreneur

It's Sunday and I have been madly working away since 6am. That I suppose is the life of an entrepreneur.

Of late, it's been crazy. My 'to do list' seems endless and there really isn't enough hours in the day. On top of that, I only recently realized that I am not utilizing my time effectively enough and need to make some changes - except I feel like I need to catch up before making changes. It is 'the chicken and the egg' scenario all over again.

People can look at Sundays in a number of ways; For me, I look at the day as the first day of the week, as in Australia it is a Monday. I am of course sitting in my hotel room in Atlanta.
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5 Things Everyone Can Learn From Steven Jackson

By chance, I had an invitation to join Steven Jackson's box at Sunday's NFL Game with the Atlanta Falcons versus Chicago Bears. I had never seen an American football game, on television or live, and when the invitation came, I leapt on it like you wouldn't believe. It's an experience, and possibly a bucket list item that I should do while I have the chance and am staying in a city where everything seems accessible.

Through friends, I met Steven Jackson and the first thing that I learned about him was his ability to hold a conversation by asking the right questions. You would think that someone with his type of fame, the type that comes to very few people, would be so used to talking about themselves that they would be completely out of their comfort zone when roles are reversed. Wrong. This man not only has great range in conversation, he is incredibly well travelled and has had experiences that most of us just put on our bucket list, but never get around to doing.
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It's time to say goodbye, but I wish it was not

I remember our meeting fondly. He walked up to me, introduced himself, and said, "what do you do?"

I replied, "marketing."

"No, seriously, what do you do?" he said with a smirk. "Nobody really does marketing, they do sales or something else." 

It wasn't necessarily what he thought, just what he said. He wanted to provoke a reaction and he sure got one! Within minutes we were firm friends, and he was officially one of my first friends I had met since I had moved to Sydney, the big smoke. We both kind of got each other coming from small rural towns in Australia.

We were also part of an organization named Young Entrepreneurs Organization, which was renamed years later to EO. He became my go to person for advice on everything from business, living in Sydney, where to eat and men. I could rattle off a new business idea, only to find he shot it down in a matter of seconds with logic or because he had heard it all before. I kind of appreciated that or at least when I gave it some thought, I would see his reasoning.
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Flight MH17 - All lines have been crossed in this crime against humanity

I am mad. Very mad. In case anyone has forgotten, it is 2014 and people are still senselessly killing others. Terrorists not only exist, but take the lives of our loved one's who innocently fall victim just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Thursday 17th July, 2014, will go down as the day that it stopped being another terrorist attack and started being something that every person became responsible for. A human life is valuable whether they are young or old, man or child - it all means the same. That person deserves the right to live in a safe world, not scared to walk out on their doorstep, or take a flight.

The plane had not sent a distress signal. It reportedly came apart at a cruising altitude of 33,000 feet, with its wreckage landing in territory held by pro-Russian insurgents who have been fighting the central government in Kiev.
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Corporate social responsibility: using marketing for good

It’s no secret; marketers are driven by the satisfaction of when the product we are promoting sells.

But how often do we pause to consider the impact that product is having on the world - the people, the wildlife and the environment around us?

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Why married women are more successful

There are many advantages of being single; you can do what you want when you want, you will never wake to snoring, and you never need to get out of your pajama's if you don't feel like it.

You can kiss as many boys as you wish, decide on the spare of the moment to fly abroad, and eat baked beans on toast without having to consider another.

If you are married; you need to consider your other half, compromise often, and ensure that a hearty meal is on the table each night. And your holidays, well, it's a joint decision and more often than not, it really is one person pushing to go to a particular destination.

There may be socks and towels left on the floor, the disgusting smell of someone passing gas, but hey, you will have a diamond ring on your left finger and be entertained endlessly by your single girlfriends who secretly envy your married status.

But in business it's a clean cut story. Our married counterparts have the upperhand.
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Why patience is a virtue - how to implement more patience in life

Something was brought to my attention yesterday by two people; I am not patient. I want everything there and then, and in that lies what is possibly one of my biggest failures.

I admire people who 'wait it out' and watch, carefully understanding a situation in its entirety before making a decision. Having patience often means that you have the choice of a small reward in the short-term, or a more valuable reward in the long-term, with human nature being that most of us prefer a short-term reward over a long-term reward, despite the latter reaping greater benefits.
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Why good manners is a deal breaker

I am a stickler for good manners. Growing up in the country, you won't find too many men or women that don't have good basic manners. 

Men open the door for women, walk on the outside when walking a woman down the street, sit down at the table and eat only when the host and every other person has been seated, and mostly, without a pocket full of cash, they are the first to invite someone over for dinner or to try their fresh tomatoes that they planted early on in the season. It's these good country manners and hospitality that reminds us that it isn't too hard to be kind and display good manners.

There really is a lot to be learnt from country folk.

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The difference with having it all and wanting it all

The difference with having it all and wanting it all

As I sit typing on my keypad, I am thinking about whether or not it is at all possible to 'have it all'. 

When I look out at some of my friends, no matter how successful they are, they still have things in their lives that they want to improve or put more effort into. Relationships usually being the staple amongst those who realize that no amount of business success will ever supercede what you can achieve personally.

I have had an amazing month in so many ways and personally, I have grown more than I could ever imagine. 

I won't deny that I want it all, but I have become more realistic in realizing that that is not possible. You can't have it all - at the same time. It's impossible and those who say that you can, are either living a short-lived fantasy or are hiding what is really going on behind closed doors.

Business has always been a challenge for me. I am not a natural people person and stress overtakes me more times than I care to admit. I worry about and analyze things that don't deserve the effort that I put into it.

I procrastinate, often leave great ideas unfulfilled and sometimes need to have a better poker face. 

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Is Twitter to blame for cyber bullying?

On Saturday, I received a call from my friend Samantha, that her former colleague had just committed suicide. She was in shock and needed to take stock - and rightfully so. 

Charlotte Dawson's name only became known to me through the media about "trolls" bullying her on Twitter. At the time, the media was reasonably supportive of her plight, but columnists and bloggers including myself were on the fence. If you took time to read the dialogue well before it became public you may have an opinion that some of the things that she had openly said about other people were not so nice either, and as an adult, some of the insults that flew back to the "cyber bullies" were something that you would be horrified about in a school yard. 

Now, that doesn't mean that cyber bullying is acceptable - as it is not. I too have been prone to have a few trolls pass both of my Twitter accounts which combine amount to 41,000 followers, on some topics that I have chosen to write about on this blog, namely the one on how women can help their man be more successful. Apparently, I am stuck in the 50's but the trolls took it a little bit further and threw a few distasteful words my way. I politely replied to some (not all) with "Thank you so much for sharing your opinion. I respect everyone's point of view and perspectives." It stopped within 24 hours, only after my website had more than 100,000 visitors. 
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When love drives you crazy

We've all been in love at some stage in our lives and as St Valentine's Day approaches, it gives those with a romantic bone in their body, something to think about.

Over the years, I have been with some of the most romantic men imaginable. St Valentine's Day has been filled with surprises, flowers, love notes, jewellery, surprise holidays, art and above all - love.
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What happens when your dreams are not possible?

I sat in my office and looked up on the wall. 

As I read each of my team members three (3) goals that each of them wrote down for the next two (2) years - I felt proud. Of the three, each of them have one crossed off as of February 1, 2014. What an achievement! I feel blessed that as a team, we were able to achieve this for them and they did it all within 3 months.

Then I looked at mine.

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The things that I am thankful for...

The things that I am thankful for...

It's my second Thankgiving in America and I have to say, I am thrilled. Outside, snow is threatening to fall, with ice lining the pavement, and atmosphere is truly festive. Our team at Marketing Eye is taking the rest of the week off - my way of saying that I appreciate everything they do and the amazing culture that they together have endorsed and grown.

There is so much to be thankful for:

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Rules are Meant to be Broken: Entrepreneurs Take Note

A week of discovery in one of the most beautiful countries in the world, Argentina, has led to a new discovery of my own: that the world is full of surprises.

Caught up in the hustle and bustle of a city that boasts more than 14 million people, Buenos Aires is the hub for the world’s best polo players, Malbec wine, salsa dancers and beef.

You cannot live by normal rules if you travel to Buenos Aires, because the city simply won’t let you.

From the availability of buying the Argentine peso at a rate that is not less than half of what you would get buying it on the street, to the ability to eat at a reasonable hour – Buenos Aires asks you to take a risk, and that’s what the 400 entrepreneurs who graced an EO conference at Alvear Palace do every single day.

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Is Angelina Jolie the greatest role model of all time?


Before writing this, I thought long and hard. My first concern was the relevance of this to my journey that I share on this blog. The second is because you either love Angelina Jolie or you hate her. No one seems to be indifferent.

I don’t write about celebrity for the simple reason that I don’t think any celebrity, sports star, politician or business person is better than the person sitting next to them – they simply have chosen different jobs. I have never been in awe of anyone in particular, although there are quite a few people I respect immensely – but those people, I know well.

I never have my photograph taken with a person considered a “celebrity” at a party, event, dinner party or social gathering - I simply don’t see the point. I possibly will never see them again, so why would I want a reminder of someone I don’t know? Is it so I can show my children (if I ever have any) or friends that really matter, that I stood next to a celebrity for a photo?

So, to call one a role model feels kind of weird – but in this particular case it is justified – for me at least.

Angelina Jolie has it all. She was born into a pedigree Hollywood family, growing up in Hollywood with wealth and influence. She attended her first Oscars as her father’s date when she was just 13 – her first real taste of light bulbs flashing and photographers yelling “look here”, “look at me”, “Angelina”. It must have been daunting, but today, I am sure it is like water of a ducks back.

She started modeling and acting quite young starring alongside her father in Lookin’ to Get Out (1982), but it wasn’t until her first major film role in Hackers and television films George Wallace and Gia (both award winning roles for Jolie) that she started to become known.

By her Oscar winning performance in Girl, Interrupted in 1999, she had the public mesmerized.  This film was followed by Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, The Cradle of Life, Mr and Mrs Smith, Wanted, Salt, The Tourist, A Mighty Heart, Changeling and her directorial debut in In the Land of Blood and Honey.

Where I first noticed her is when she was publicized as having a vile around her neck with her then husband Billy Bob Thornton’s blood carefully safeguarded inside.

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