You're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So... get on your way!
For me, it's important to reflect in a space where I can allow my mind to wander.
No task list.
No time limit.
No mental boundaries.
No rules.
Like I said: just let my mind wander.
As I found a quiet place to reflect earlier this month, my mind thought of the famous Dr Seuss book Oh, The Places You'll Go.
But instead of "Oh, the places you'll go" my mind kept thinking:
Oh, the places we've been
And I was really thinking of the places that we as a company have been this year. Places that are points on a map such as:
- Denver
- Hoboken, New Jersey
- New York City
- the Bay Area
- Seattle
We also had the privilege of:
- Meeting new team members as they joined the team. They joined us from Fort Lauderdale, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Austin ... all new faces bringing their experience to the table
- Striking up relationships with new clients that wanted to learn from our talented team
- Investing more time in current client relationships to make sure we were doing everything that we could to help the client - the hero in our story - succeed
As my mind continued to wander about the places we've been this year, it me like a bolt of lightning: this post would not be a recap of all the things that happened in 2019.
Instead, this is an opportunity to share the things I personally benefited from in 2019 that I plan to bring into the new year with me.
Put your seatbelt on. Let's talk about things that helped me in 2019 that will benefit me in 2020 as well!
Know the Mission You Are On
Kerry and I decided to read and self-implement Traction (also known as EOS) this year.
One of the first exercises when implementing EOS is to outline your mission. They also refer to it as your ...
- Purpose
- Cause
- Passion
After much deliberation, we uncovered that our mission at MKG is to Help our clients grow big. We live for our clients - the hero - to grow big and land "whales".
That's right: Our clients are the hero in the story of MKG.
It's our responsibility to support the heroes so we can accomplish great things together.
This is a mission statement that we are just beginning to communicate internally as well as outside of the company.
Knowing our mission has helped us clarify who we want to work with as well as how we want to work together.
We aren't in the business of helping clients grow revenues by 1% every year.
We are working with high-growth businesses that are looking to grow by double (and sometimes even triple) digits every single year.
And while we aren't responsible for all of that growth ourselves, we have to come to the table with a growth mindset. And a mission. A mission that we want to help our heroes GROW BIG.
You'll be hearing more about this mission in the future. Get excited :)
An Attitude of Gratitude Will Take You a Long Way
It's really difficult for me to be grateful when things aren't going well.
Being grateful helps quiet all that noise in your head.
I don't mean to say that sometimes those feelings aren't valid (or even true!).
I'm just saying that noise can drown out all the good you have to bring to the world. To your kids or spouse. To the clients who depend on you. To your neighbor who is constantly parking in your parking spot on the street.
Practice being grateful. For me, it helps to drown out all the negative thoughts in my head so that I can actually do something productive.
Over the Thanksgiving holiday a few of our team members contributed videos talking about things they were grateful for. Give it a listen in the link below. Let us know if you felt strongly about anything that we expressed gratitude for.
View this post on InstagramBe Client Friendly
AnDrae and I spoke with a prospective client earlier this year.
This client was fairly marketing savvy.
He also knew what he didn't know. Which is what brought him to the table to discuss bringing our team onboard.
He had a terrible client experience with his previous PPC agency.
If you boiled it down to one key issue; the working experience was just not friendly for our client.
This agency had a process that was literally set in stone. There was no room for flexibility or discussion.
It was like my needs didn't matter. The process was incredibly un-friendly for me - the client - and I felt like nothing I said would change that. That's the point that I decided to leave them. Because the process worked great for them - but it was awful for me!
At MKG we are constantly trying to improve the way our Directors, Experts and Strategists work with clients.
It's critical to remember that what is good for us is not always good for our client. And like a financial planner who is a fiduciary, we should always do what is in the best interest of our clients.
Charging into 2020
There's a lot going on with our team as we charge into the 2020 calendar year.
We're going to need a few sharp, smiling faces to join the team. Check out our jobs page to see what's out there.
At the same time, we are looking to do more work with our current client portfolio. Also, we'd like to bring one or two new clients into the fold.
If you are in charge of marketing at a fast growing healthcare or technology business, we would love to listen to your goals for 2020 as well as any obstacles that are in your way. You can schedule time with AnDrae and myself by viewing our calendars.
