Tag: entrepreneur - Page 4

There are a lot things that entrepreneurs do right, and often they are done for the world to see. Yet there are still some things that we don't quite get right. 2016 is going to be a huge year. There is so much in store for us and while we all focus on business, the Government has a few headaches not just with stimulating economic growth, but ISIS and climate change. 

I absolutely love hanging around ATV listening to every single tech entrepreneurs story and dream. They all have "Big Dreams" and that is the mandate of being here at Atlanta Tech Village - but there is one problem. Can they make it commercial?

Often in public speeches I talk about how social media was Marketing Eye's game changer. It took us from doing the hard yards marketing with what dollars we had left to do so, to sitting back and taking orders - literally.

When we started out on social media, we were reluctant. What do we share? How do we share it? What would our target audience be interested in? We had so many questions, but due to the infancy of social media and blogging at the time, we were able to experiment. I would write one blog, and see the results. It may have been a pure marketing blog with really good content and would get a few hundred readers.


Then I would write a blog about being an entrepreneur, and it would get a few thousand readers.

I totally agree with this. When I first started Marketing Eye, I built it from a perspective that there was no global player in SMB marketing. While this makes perfect sense, it didn't reach the pit of what I really wanted to achieve as a business person, or a leader for that matter. I also had not thought it through.

"I was doing something from a very real, a very honest place, so I think that's why I was able to build an audience," said Gwyneth Paltrow to Fast Company in a recent interview posted on Facebook.

Please keep your pants on, and never give away everything, it's as simple as that.

Too many entrepreneurs get so desperate that they give away the kitchen sink when in fact all their prospect wanted to know was that they could do a good job.

As an entrepreneur, it's hard to start a business and to keep it going year-after-year profitability creating value and jobs. But many do so very successful, and yet those who fail seem to do so falling often on their own sword.

I had a humbling experience today and I want to share with you just what that meant to me as an entrepreneur and founder.

Marketing Eye has been around for more than 10 years. We were not an overnight success, but have steadily grown a very successful business in Australia and in the US (Atlanta, Dallas, Seattle, Denver).

Building a business has never been easy and every single time I think that its got its groove going, I am awakened with a rude shock. It seems that the business is always growing, changing, adapting and needing a new influx of ideas or improvements in the way we do business.

I will make myself feel old writing this blog. It is a reminder of how long I have been in this industry. But during this time there has remained a sense of achievement with each and every issue of the thousands I have helped put together, including the latest issue of Marketing Eye.

When I first started in this industry back in 1996, Tupac was still alive, Trainspotting was released into cinemas and the French halted nuclear testing in the Pacific. A lot has changed in magazine production in that time, but the principles have stayed the same.

The only thing more powerful than a big idea is the team that can see it through. 

Many of us have big, huge, gigantic ideas - but how many of these ideas actually see light of day. Statistics show that not many do. 

If you are anything like me, you live and breathe ideas and the very essence of your being is celebrating the fact that you are an "ideas person". But an idea is just that unless you do something about it.

The sharks' prey was emitting a nervousness thought impossible before they showed themselves. Beads of sweat popping and streaking. Hands raised to wipe their brow.  Vocal chords faltering. Knees buckling under pressure. That's when the sharks go in for the kill.

That’s the basic principle of a number of business-based television shows, Dragon's Den, Shark Tank and Next Den Gen. The Sharks comprise of four entrepreneurs, with a combined wealth of somewhere in the billions of dollars who must judge the business presentations of ‘wanna-be’ entrepreneurs.

As part of my new time management ritual, I am cutting back on my time surfing the net, checking for updates on social media and reading blogs.

When you run a business such as mine, it's hard to find time to do everything that you want to do, at the level you would like to do it at. So, I spent some time this morning reading over 50 marketing blogs and was amazed at the varying levels of quality content.