How to grow my small business?

Hi All

There has been one question that has been haunting me over the last couple of weeks… am I a “plumber with a leaky tap?” – and no… I am not actually a plumber – but the CEO of a marketing and advertising agency in Melbourne, Nexus CG.

do I let it continue to “leak” or should I do something about it?!

You see… what has prompted this question is a little bit of “self evaluation” – I am 31 years old… and am I where I thought I would be 3 and a half years ago when I started this business with my business partner… and mother… Sheila?

In order to answer this question I have to take you back to those days and what was happening, what is happening now – and try to figure out – have I reached my goals – or do I know theoretically what I “should” be doing and just not “getting around to it” – or is there a deeper problem?

Why am I doing this in a blog that is open for speculation, criticism and even cynicism? Simple… it is how I started this business – open and honest to the public in order to hold myself accountable – plain and simple – and if anyone can learn from my challenges then even better.

So what has led me to the “self evaluation”?

Well I have just come out of hospital for the same operation that I had 3 and a half years ago – that prompted me to start this business.  I wanted a fresh start – to be able to build something for myself and my family that we can have an element of freedom of choice and the ability to leave a legacy.  In order to do that I needed to rid myself of some very toxic things in my life…

• an ex-boyfriend, that I probably should never have been with in the first place
• living in Canberra in a role that I probably should never have accepted in the first place
• some friends that just wanted to go out and get drunk… who I probably should never have fallen in with in the first place
• A work situation - which I probably shouldn’t have let get as far as I did….. in the first place.

…. seeing a pattern here?  I was making some very bad decisions based on some very bad reasoning… I was unhappy.  It was time to create a life that made me innately happy being me.

So I did… the creation of “Nexus Coaching Group” – as it was known then was created – whilst lying in that hospital bed over three and a half years ago.  So no wonder I was starting to “evaluate” matters whilst lying in that very same bed for the very same operation all these years later…. here is what I have discovered so far:

• my love life is the best it has EVER been.  I have met the love of my life and I am “different” with him – I am kind, I am warm, I am open… and most importantly – I have found “that bliss” that people talked about, that I never understood.  It wasn’t always this way – we have had to work hard at our relationship, but everything we do we do as a team, and I am excited about what this team can and will create.  Mushy I know! (but notice… I am not apologising for it… more change)
• I am not living in Canberra… I am living in Melbourne.  Up until this operation I was living with the best gal pal ever… Kim… in Elwood – but since then we have both decided to move out.  She has moved in with her boyfriend who she met one week later than I met mine… after going online dating together – weird huh? I am living with mum, until mine and Krish’s place is ready to move into… exciting!
• friends…. hmmm… ok, not nailing this one so far… but working on it… will shed more light shortly.
• I love my work! BUT…. it isn’t growing in the fashion I thought it would.  Surprise, surprise… all of the “formulas” that I have followed have only gotten me so far…. herein, lies my challenge!

So the two things that are not working “as well as I would like” is the “friends” component and the growth of Nexus.  Maybe I can look at them both in the same light.

In one particular friendship I have… I am trying really hard.  I am doing everything a friend should do… I am texting, I am calling, I am Facebooking… and I am constantly getting the same responses… nothing, or one word short replies. As hurtful as this is, I thought… come on Naomi… make this work – don’t give up…. so I continued – I was doing the same thing over an over again and hoping for a new outcome?! definition of insanity right there. I then looked at one of my other friendships… Kim… we are always there for each other, there is no drama, we miss each other, and we genuinely want to hang out… but I don’t feel that I need to follow “certain rules” to have this friendship… it is easy and successful – I just went about it in my own unique way.

So how can this help the growth of Nexus?  Well no surprise here, but when I got into business I bought very heavily into “modelling others’ success” and I have to admit – it got me further than the average business starter…. but not as far as I want it to go.  So I kept doing the same thing over and over again – hoping and believing all would change… that was what the “formula” said… but it wasn’t… it’s NOT working.  I am working with the same sort of customers time and time again… but we want more… we want that freedom that we once dreamt about – and in order to achieve this I believe we need to look into a new pool of customers, look at a new way of doing things… and ultimately looking BIGGER at the things that we are doing.

I was told about a conversation recently about a new business starter that was speaking to a friend of mine… she told him that she has started a new business and instead of handing out business cards, she is going to hand out her own book.  Great! I thought… this is the start of a very well known formula…. when my friend asked this business starter to give him a 30 sec run down of why her business was better than others (as he doesn’t have time to read the book), she walked away… the formula is floored, as are so many others….

So… no more formulas for me… I am going to work with my business partner in a whole new way – we are going to look BIGGER than ever before, and there are going to be some massive changes, and some risks that we are going to go through together… that’s my promise to myself, my business partner and our employees… I am ditching the formulas that are holding us back and I am going to create our own unique way…

As for my friend… who knows… but that formula of doing all of the work is now ending as well.  It breaks my heart that this could be the end of “a beautiful friendship” that I held so dear to my heart – but I cannot and will not flog a dead horse for any longer… that’s my promise to me!

let’s hope this is the case….

I am not sure if this blog is going to be of any use to anyone…. but I hope it is… self evaluation will stop me being the plumber with a leaky tap – and ensure I know how to grow this small business… our way!

Cheers

N

 

 

Marketing and advertising agencies love internships, but are they a complete rort?

Afternoon gang…

I hope you are all well – getting ready for the lead up to Christmas and enjoying the party season… I certainly am

This time of year is also big for another reason. It is the time when new creatives are graduating from uni, or simply finishing up for the year and looking for some real life, hands on experience in the marketing and advertising industry… so they go out and search for internships.

Graduates keen for an internship… do they know what they are getting in to?

Internships are a great way for these new, fresh and excited minds to gain some much needed experience (if the program is run well), and it also allows them to get their foot in the door at some really great companies. Well that’s how the internships are sold to these young minds anyway…

In reality, most companies are using and abusing young interns for free labour, and the labour that they are doing won’t even be considered as real work experience to help them get a role in the future. Why? Because they spend their time making coffee, stuffing envelopes and running errands.

Don’t get me wrong, everyone needs to do these sorts of activities once in a while (they’re character building and all that jazz) but I don’t think it’s appropriate for an intern to do them. Why? Simple. Here in Australia we are currently experiencing a massive skills shortage and on top of that there are very few roles available in this industry. This means that only highly skilled people are getting the roles and these newly educated people are missing out due to “a lack of experience”. So isn’t it our duty as leaders in this industry to skill these people up and get them job ready? And not just use them as dogs bodies?!

I believe that there is so much talent out there going to waste. They are being put up on the shelf due to a lack of experience, but what people fail to recognise is that these are the people that are going to shape the future of this industry. They are the ones that are going to come up with the innovative ideas. They are going to keep our legacy going and take it to new lofty heights… but they won’t reach their full potential and industry standards here in Australia unless they are given the room to learn, work and develop.

Personally, I am so passionate about the internship program at Nexus CG- we have had graphic design interns, multimedia interns and marketing interns. Out of the recent eight internships we have offered, we have awarded five of them a role so far. That is because they never once made coffee, they never once stuffed envelopes (unless it was a marketing campaign) and never once were treated like dog bodies. I personally spend as much time with each of them as I possibly can, to mentor them and to ensure they are constantly learning. We train them to work in an agency – and preferably our own.

Over the last six months our interns have:

• created cartoons;
• written marketing strategies;
• developed launches for brands and businesses;
• built websites;
• designed building signage;
• created brochures for the likes of large multinational organisations;
• and have been fully integrated into the Nexus family.

We even run competitions that allow the interns to win some great prizes, and also give them an opportunity to showcase their work at the end of their internship. Our internships promote learning, real life experience and a sense of working in the real world. Without the internship program I am happy to say that Nexus would not be where we are today.

So folks… to put it bluntly, stop the free labour and treating your interns like crap! Give them some credit, trust them a little and they might just surprise you. You might discover the next leader in this industry – and you might even help this industry reach its full potential.

Say “NO” to douche-bag internships!

Cheers

N

Teleworking and creatives… do they mix?

Afternoon All.

It looks very appealing, but is “teleworking” really workable?

Is ‘teleworking’ the way of the world going forward? The lonely figure sitting in a cafe working remotely from her team, her office, her collaborative influence?

That’s what the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, is after.  She recently announced that she will commit 12% of Australian Public Servants to a teleworking arrangement… what does this mean?  They will basically have the flexibility of working remotely, from their homes, their favourite cafes, from the Great Ocean Road…. basically wherever they want.

The cynic inside me wonders is there a hidden agenda here for the Gillard Government, is it to justify the enormous cost of the NBN to the tax payers by giving them a new “shiny thing” and new “buzz word” to focus on?  ”Working from home”, as we all know it, is nothing new. Large and small companies alike have been doing it for years… so why the new name and the new focus on TELEWORKING?  I would hate to assume the worst but it is hard to ignore.

Teleworking has worked really well in a lot of organisations. In fact, I am doing it right now whilst writing this blog.  I am sitting in my local cafe sipping on lattes and getting my creative juices flowing.  But will this always work?

In the industry that Nexus CG and myself belongs to, Marketing and Advertising, it’s all about being creative. And whilst I can be creative by myself sitting in a cafe writing a blog, if I was to develop a new marketing launch for a new product for example, would I really do as good a job by myself as I would with my esteemed work mates?  I doubt it.

You see what I’ve noticed about running a team of creatives is that they quite literally feed off each other.  They get more and more creative based on the people, the environment, the mood, the activity and the conversation around them.  They will always create something quite magical with their teammates in comparison to creating something on their own.  So for Nexus CG, I can’t see teleworking being a workable system for the majority of time.

This isn’t to say I wouldn’t be open to it. On some occasions I totally get the need to get away from the office to get a whole load of work completed. I do that every Wednesday; it means an uninterrupted day of work. But can I trust my staff to do the same thing?  Absolutely.  For me, teleworking can only work if you trust your staff - and if you don’t need that collaboration time.

What a lot of people seem to forget is that most businesses are started from home, or “the coffice” (cafe office)- and Nexus CG was no different. I started it from my mother’s house and it was a great way to keep costs low.  One thing that many people don’t realise is that you can become very lonely working by yourself. And that loneliness is almost catastrophic to the creative juices because you start focusing on the loneliness and not the creativity.

So maybe teleworking is for some industries and not others…. maybe teleworking is for some people and not others… and maybe we as employers need to look at each person’s situation individually and create a teleworking policy for them… not the company.

For me I would need to work through many considerations in order to either agree or disagree to the individual teleworking policy. These are:

• How much work experience does the individual have? The less experience the more likely they are to feel lost in a teleworking scenario.
• What kind of work is the employee doing?  Do they need to be around peers to do the best job possible?
• Insurance, where will they be working and will I need to “sight the premises” in order for my insurance company not to “crack the sads”?
• What are the implications of taking customer’s IP out of the office? Will our customers be ok with this?
• Will our customers see this teleworking policy as almost like “outsourcing overseas” and therefore lose that element of control and human interaction?  The whole notion of outsourcing their marketing is challenging enough for most of our customers.
• What kind of person is the employee? Do they create better work surrounded by a team and in a positive environment?
• What kind of environment will they be working in and is it “workable”? For example, a busy pub in Richmond is probably not ideal to hold customer teleconferences re their branding.
• There is obviously a massive cost saving for teleworking but is the money a good enough reason to potentially sacrifice the quality of work through creative collaboration?  I think not.

Thank you Julia Gillard for the “Shiny new buzz word” and thank you for trying to deflect from the real issue of the cost of the NBN. However for me and for Nexus CG, we will work on an individual teleworking policy… and not offer a blanket “12% of workers will be teleworking” because of that 12% who knows if it will actually be the making or breaking of their careers?

I care about my staff and their development too much to just simply add a metric to their careers in order to hide an agenda… surely we should be focusing on developing these people for sustainable growth in a workforce that is seriously struggling with skill shortages.  How will these people learn from experienced peers I ask?

Here are a couple of pics of Team Nexus CG. I would hate to lose this kind of collaboration and integration:

Would love your opinion on this one….

Cheers

N

Small Business and Marketing

HI All

“If people don’t know you are in business… how can you expect to STAY in business?”

Little ole me

I am sitting in my office having an amazing realisation today… you see 3 years ago I started Nexus CG with the help of my Co-Director Sheila – and up until about 18 months ago, I worked out of Sheila’s house, never drew a wage and we were quite literally doing everything from stuffing envelopes, to finding new business and creating operations manuals…and everything in between.

However, today, we both sit on the second storey of our beautiful office, and we can hear the creative discussions going on downstairs between our staff members – today we have 5 others in – and they are creating some magical stuff.  So it is really a great opportunity for us to sit back and take stock of what we have achieved in such a short time.

It, obviously, hasn’t all been tea and biscuits… or champers and nachos… it has been 3 years of working out what works and what doesn’t work- and being flexible and honest enough with ourselves to make the necessary changes in order to be successful.

This isn’t the same story for a lot of my contemporaries.. did you know that there are 100,000 new businesses in Australia every year, and of that 100,000 80% of them won’t survive.  I could almost put money on the fact that those 80% of failed businesses never had or implemented a:

• Business plan
• Sales Strategy
• Marketing strategy
• Marketing calendar of activities

… and they simply lay all of their hopes, dreams, wishes and money on the belief that ‘If I build it, then they will come”.  I would like to say one thing to this attitude…”Grow the f*** up!”  Why should people help you in your business, if you are not willing to put in the effort to help yourself?

Marketing and sales are not the easiest of activities… granted… but you have to do it in order to stay in business – no matter if you are an online business, a coach, a printing company or even a football club… no matter what you do, or who you are marketing and selling needs to be core of what you do until you reach a point where you can hire people to do this.  Another thing I would like to add… a couple of facebook status updates, does not a marketing strategy make!

So folks – try something different, stand out from the crowd of new businesses out there – don’t be one of the 80% who fail simply because you can’t be bothered to create some marketing – or get advice as to how to go about it.

We don’t get it right all of the time… but we are always trying new things to be different… here is just one of the things that we are implementing to “get noticed” by some new people…

So go on… give it a go… after all:

“If people don’t know you are in business… how can you expect to STAY in business?”

Cheers

N

Has Google Made Us Arrogant In Business?

Afternoon All…

I am not sure if you are all aware, but some of the staff and clients from Nexus CG, my housemate Kim, and I are training for this year’s Run Melbourne Marathon… I am specifically running the half marathon – which is a bit of a challenging slog I can tell you!

Anyway – this challenge has me up and running about 3 times a week, and this morning was no different. I got up, got dressed and started my run. About 3kms into the run I started to notice a little niggle in my right calf muscle, but as I have loads of problems with my legs, I chose to ignore it – as “it will go away”… but it didn’t – in fact, I had to suddenly stop as I was in agony! I thought.. “oh crap – what do I do now? I know… I remember a search on Google recently told me to RICE – Rest Ice Compress and Elevate – that’s what i will do” – Google, and therefore I, know everything.

As the day has gone on – my predicament has got me thinking.. what has created this arrogance that I believe that I can self diagnose through a search engine rather than go and see a doctor and get a team of experts around me to aid me in my plight to be better by the weekend so I don’t miss any runs? This got me thinking even further….

This is what I see business owners do all of the time. Now I am still a new business owner, only 3 years young, but there is something that really bothers me… When someone suddenly becomes a business owner, it’s like they become an overnight expert in ALL things business. They are suddenly a marketing expert, a sales god, a CPA or even an IT wizz – they believe that because they have downloaded a few special reports or YouTube clips that they know how to do all of these aspects of business better than the “real experts”.

Now this is the part that confuses me… suddenly they realise that their “calf muscle” isn’t getting better as quickly as they thought, or their business isn’t generating as much revenue as quickly as they thought so they finally go and see a doctor.. or a “real expert”, but when they sit with that expert they start to tell them what’s what, and what they are not prepared to do and what they are to prepared to spend.

Reality is that in Australia there are over 100,000 new business each year, and of those 80% of them won’t last five years. The businesses that don’t survive fail for many reasons – one of them is not surrounding themselves with a support crew of experts that know their SME better than the business owner does. Being successful in business doesn’t have to be lonely – it can mean bringing in people who do it better than you do, that are smarter than you… and who understand elements of business better than you do.

How do stand out from the crowd of 100,000 new businesses every year – you try something different, you protect your investment dollars by spending money on the support crew that will create a return for you – one thing I say to my customers all of the time is “just because you build it, doesn’t mean they will come” – so creating a reason why they should come is important – and Google will only get you so far.

So gang… Google needs to be your back up – your disaster plan, not the support crew that is going to get you and your business raking in the cash, seen by thousands of potential customers, or the clever little bugger that will maximise your tax return. If you have already spent thousands of dollars starting up your business – don’t you think that you should find that little bit extra cask to secure your return – and not base your success on the whim of a search engine?

Oh… and one final thing… it’s all well and good going to the doctor, but listening to them and taking their advice is a whole new ball game. This is the same thing for when you start to pull together your support crew… listen to them, hear what they are saying, and most importantly… take their advice – they have done more than watched a YouTube clip or two ..

This approach may just make you turn from:

 

 

 

 

Into……………………………….

 

 

 

 

Just saying

Cheers

Naomi

American marketing will be the death of small business in OZ

Morning everyone…

I have just got into the office after a gruelling hour in the gym with my PT.  During my torture session he was quizzing me on sales copy and marketing techniques… the techniques he was specifically referring to were tear sheets, faxes, long form sales letters and sending random emails… also known as spam.  He was asking me if they work… here’s the thing… all marketing works, as long as you target it to the RIGHT market and not the wrong market.  Sounds simple right?  Wrong….

This is the 2nd out of 7 steps that I really wish mentors, business coaches and so-called “experts” understood…“Don’t give them a whole load of rehashed american concepts that have NOT been tried and tested in this market”

The amount of times I have been to a “business workshop”, a “mastermind class” or even had a conversation with an “expert” who has tried to resell me the concepts of some of the great Frank Kern’s or Ryan Deiss’ marketing techniques has been phenomenal… and the best part is – they never change.  There is always the same formula for sales copy, there is always the process of landing page with a special report followed by autoresponders then there is the free stuff you give away… then the social proof then finally you sell something… I have to say, I get this process… most of us do… then the question that begs to be asked is… why is it not as successful as when the Americans do they same thing?

This is something I have thought about, tried and tested, and watched others in the market place do… not very successfully I might add… and the answer was staring at me in the face… for the same reason that American Sales techniques don’t work here in Australia…. we are a completely different breed.

So if this is the case, surely I am not the only one to notice that these methods are having limited success here in Australia… then why do the people we go to for expert advice keep rolling out the same rehashed version of marketing techniques….  Why can’t they come up with an awesome and rocking Australian Sales Copy formula… keep the sequence… but “Aussie it up” a bit.  Why do these “so called” experts recommend sending tear sheets out… when the Aussie market are known sceptics and “why oh why” are there people out there suggesting to their clients to send faxes to cold leads?!?!?   Seriously guys… lift your game!

Marketing to the Aussie market can be an absolute blast… all you need to do is think outside the box… have a little fun and be really comfortable and most importantly proud of what you are sending out to your list… and remember – have an open mind with different forms of marketing online, offline and social media – you will always have the best outcome when you employ all three in your marketing strategies.

So… Aussie it up folks… be proud of our quirky sense of humour, our healthy scepticsm on overall our ability to laugh at ourselves.

Cheers

N

What business owners really want….

Afternoon folks…

My two last blogs around mastermind groups have certainly got people talking, people calling, people reblogging and most importanting people THINKING about what it is that they actually want as business owners.  There seems to be common themes running throughout, and that’s why it has baffled me somehwhat that there are still business coaches, mastermind groups and the likes there of… that still don’t get it!

I recently had a client come to me from a business coach, who was advised to change their whole branding to become a character that simply isn’t them…. they were advised to have the word “chick or gal” in their business name, even though this person is a mature woman who wants to approach corporates…. ummm mismatch much?  It seems that these coaches and mentors are forgetting the fundementals here… your clients wants you to understand them, work your magic around their businesses and not create a business or brand that fits your needs and agendas….

So lets take this a step further… what is it that business owners want from a business coach, a mastermind mentor or “an expert”?

Here is what I have found that they want….

1. Someone who is willing to understand them and their business – not create a business for them that they don’t actually feel connected to. For example…. instead of being dismissive and saying “NO…that’s not a niche”… work out how their passion could be a niche!  Sounds simple right?
2. Don’t give them a whole load of rehashed american concepts that have NOT been tried and tested in this market
3. Understand when online marketing works… and more importantly when it DOESNT!
4. They want the tools of HOW to do things… not just theory…
5. They want you!  That is why they signed to be with you, to learn from you, to find out the strategies that worked for you and most importantly they want the systems that you have… so give it to them…. That’s what you are being paid for!
6. They want you to deliver what you promise… if you promise small classroom sizes and access to you… then don’t put them in a room of 35 and give them a “bees dick” amount of time with you… they want someone who “means what they say, and says what they mean!”
7. Their business isn’t just about marketing…. they want your professional opinion on all areas of the business… this means they want you to get a little more in-depth than just “What is your ideal day”

I think these 7 items have been the most requested and complained about in regards to mastermind groups and business coaches… so what I thought I would do, is over the next week – is write a little bit of information on the importance of all these areas…

If you think I have left anything out, please let me know… dead keen to give as much info to you business owners out there… and who knows, maybe even some coaches and mentors!

Cheers

N