Knowing When ‘No’ is the Right Answer

While agility is key in this market, knowing when to say “no” is just as important. This week was an interesting one for Essential Marketing Group and a few of my colleagues who are branching out into new terrains. A new potential client got in touch, a project that was not a good fit was passed up, and the future is unfolding with a brighter outlook.

Sometimes, it’s not just getting any work that makes a business productive. You have to know when and where to invest your time versus just taking a job to stay busy, yet marginally profitable.We all know this — it’s just a question of whether we put it into practice.

One thing is for certain, in business — like in life — you should never stop learning. And you should never be afraid to try a new path, even if the one you’ve been on has produced results in the past. There’s always a better you lurking inside waiting to come out. Just take a deep breath and let it out.

Go forth and do, my friends. Be your best self!

From FTE to the World of Consulting: Happy Happy Joy Joy

When I made the leap from FTE (full-time employee) status to the world of consulting, I began to see why I’m better on the outside. There’s so much more that goes into being an FTE, and the majority of it is has nothing to do with being a hot-shot marketeer. Let me plan and execute 21 trade shows in a single year. Check. How about I also put together and manage a budget for my department. Got it. Need me to drop a million-piece mailing every month for 12 months? No problem. I’m great at selecting vendors, too, to keep it all going. And with my free hand I’ll direct the web site face lift. This is all do-able in the right circumstance: that circumstance being an organization where every contributor is empowered and equipped with authority equal to their responsibility. But, when staff must perform on “teams” of “peers” that are competitive and political, it can get hard to decipher the work from the personal agendas. Office politics can take down the best of teams. Probably because the energy it takes to navigate each other takes away from the time you could spend coming up with solution and putting them in place to achieve goals and objectives.

I’ve found my most productive environment is a clean, simple combo: me and the client. Their needs, my skills: a nice, straightforward union. All the better that I’m not vying for a VP spot or posturing for a raise, but instead focused, agenda-less (albeit the goal of a successful result), concentrating on the project. I excel in this type of relationship and I think having happy clients proves my point. Okay, back to work.

Hello Interweb Readers!

Hello folks. I’m Robin Hardy, and I am a marketing technology writer. If you’re in a busy marketing department and would like to get one or two of those writing projects off your desk, get in touch! I can help. You can check out my About page for a quick bio and links to work samples on my web site.  I’d love to help you develop a great white paper, product brochure, customer case study or press release — whatever you need to keep sales happy and equipped with compelling content!

More posts coming soon!