Growth Masters

Visit Al.ive body at: https://alivebody.com.au/

The post EP 67: FROM LAW ENFORCEMENT TO DESIGN ENTREPRENEURS: THE UNCONVENTIONAL JOURNEY OF ALISA AND LYSANDRA OF AL.IVE BODY appeared first on Impressive.

Visit Oz Hair & Beauty: https://www.ozhairandbeauty.com/

The post EP 66: OZ HAIR & BEAUTY – FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS TO A BEAUTY PRODUCTS EMPIRE appeared first on Impressive.

Visit WHO IS ELIJAH at https://whoiselijah.com.au/

The post EP 65: WHO IS ELIJAH – HOW RAQUEL & ADAM BOURIS BUILT A LUXURY, CRUELTY FREE FRAGRANCE BRAND appeared first on Impressive.

“When you’ve got a team who are also of the same mindset, who also want to work hard naturally, not by delegation and any other management tools, it really exacerbates growth… You’ve got multiple people that can turn a molehill into a mountain.” – Kajal Pala

Kajal Pala is the CEO and Co-Founder of Mindflight7 and Founder of DreamCity, Australia’s first career education city for children, and the first global VR education training for high schoolers. She has an extensive background in multiple industries, having worked in business administration, design and construction, research and project management, governance, and business development to name a few. Striving to innovate the education space with new learning platforms, Kajal created immersive and gamified experiential training programs to provide an alternative to real-world learning, which isn’t always possible. DreamCity and Mindflight 7 helps children and young adults make more informed career choices in their lives. 

 “That led me to start an assignment to simply bring a new children-focussed edutainment venue to Australia as a knowledge management project, and that was just an assignment in my MBA”. – Kajal Pala on how she got the idea to build her innovative edutainment platforms

“It’s always been“Projects are nothing without people, people make the project, not the other way around. When you’re hiring or trying to find a co-founder or business partner, go for the attitude, not just the skills…if you’ve got attitude issues and other conflict taking up your time, focus, and energy, that is going to affect the growth of your business, even though the skills might be there.” – Kajal Pala

In this episode of Growth Masters, Kajal talks about how primary school, high school, and university learning has been improved with her alternative approach to real-world learning. Despite starting off in chemical engineering, she has moved through various industries and found her passion in edutainment. Kajal also tells us about her struggles as a female founder – raising capital, handling bias, and finding the right team members. 

Did that podcast resonate with you? Head to DreamCity, Mindflight 7, LinkedIn, to follow and connect with Kajal Pala.

The post EP 64: KAJAL PALA – HOW ‘EDUTAINMENT’ HAS TRANSFORMED LEARNING AND THE CHALLENGES OF BEING A FOUNDER appeared first on Impressive.

“Last click attribution is the worst because you’re basically giving credit to the last person so someone is able to fully steal attribution…if there’s multiple steps along the journey, someone is coming to essentially hijack a piece of it, they’re cutting down on revenue as an influencer that is sending traffic to that brand.” – Geoff Stupay

At the start of his career, Geoff began in the ad tech industry, after monetising his music hosting website, where he learned to optimise ad placements for maximum revenue without harming the user experience. From there, he made his mark on the industry by starting Adiply.com, which helped publishers increase their overall yield through ad placement optimisation. And secondly, Lanista Concepts which offered a SaaS product to boost ad yield through header building. His most recent venture is clean.io which is a digital engagement platform that offers businesses the tools to protect their website from unwanted discount codes at checkout.

The conversation covers:

“It’s always been a struggle in terms of managing different personalities and how you get everyone growing the same way…creating a unified vision and repeating yourself to ad nauseam has been the key to success for me, and also transparency.” – Geoff Stupay on managing a successful business

Tune in as Geoff speaks about how coupon giants are impacting many businesses’ profit margins, stealing last click attribution, and how clean.io is providing the tools to protect them. He chats about the challenges in raising awareness about his niche business solution in the market, as well as how he manages his software company.

Did that podcast speak to you? Head to clean.io or LinkedIn to follow and connect with Geoff Stupay.

The post EP 63: GEOFF STUPAY – THE THREAT OF COUPON GIANTS IN E-COMMERCE AND THE CHALLENGES OF RUNNING A SOFTWARE BUSINESS appeared first on Impressive.

“People want to work for brands and companies that genuinely give a sh*t, that have a purpose that is bigger than selling stuff…” – Nathan Bush

Nathan Bush is the director of eSuite, an eCommerce talent agency that recruits the best talent for the fastest-growing retailers, as well as being the facilitator for training programs to teach eCommerce skills. Having led eCommerce businesses with revenues of over $100M+, and being recognised as one of Australia’s Top 50 People in Commerce, he’s your guy for all things eCommerce. Nathan also has his own podcast series where he features Australian founders, leaders, and experts on the weekly.

“You don’t have to put all your eggs in one basket and go if we never re-platform, then we’re never going to transform…while [you’re] waiting for that happen, do a bunch of other stuff as well” “[I want to] pave the path for entrepreneurs and founders to build a chill work business, and…help businesses and organisations of all kinds break the Google and Facebook duopoly chains on their marketing” – Nathan Bush on the best way to re-platform your business

“Invest in your people, keep the good people if you can…create an environment where if people want to stay, and they’re good, they stay…” – Nathan Bush

The latest episode is about today’s challenges of acquiring and retaining talent, what people value in their job, and how companies should be creating the ideal work environment. Nathan tells us how he got into the eCommerce space and became one of the top 50 eCommerce talents. And most importantly, Nathan gives us his best advice on how to adapt and re-platform your business without slowing down and falling behind the trends.

Did that podcast resonate with you? Head to esuitetalent.com.au, LinkedIn, or email [email protected] to connect with Nathan Bush. If you want to hear more from Nathan, you can also listen to his ‘Add To Cart’ podcast series.

The post EP 62: NATHAN BUSH – HOW TO RETAIN AND ACQUIRE GOOD TALENT, AND RE-PLATFORMING YOUR BUSINESS appeared first on Impressive.

“Our success rate is extremely low, however, when we do get success, it’s so wildly incredible…that we can invest in 1000 companies knowing that only 10 of them will make us any money…” – Rand Fishkin, Sparktoro co-founder

A tech entrepreneur, author, blogger, and leader in SEO, Rand Fishkin is well-versed in everything you would need to know in marketing and starting your own business. Having co-founded the world’s most popular resource for search marketers, Moz, and Sparktoro a few years ago, he’s experienced all the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. Sparktoro is the latest platform that collects data on a business’ target audience to inform all kinds of marketing strategies. He’s written a book, ‘Lost and Founder’, about his startup journey and all the struggles of entrepreneurship. Striving to inspire change in the business world, Sparktoro is his latest venture that he hopes will lead others to adopt a ‘chill’ work culture, and guide others on how to break out of the conventional marketing chains.

“[I want to] pave the path for entrepreneurs and founders to build a chill work business, and…help businesses and organisations of all kinds break the Google and Facebook duopoly chains on their marketing” – Rand Fishkin on Sparktoro’s purpose

• The start of Rand’s marketing journey in the early 2000s (2:03)
• His struggles for success and dealing with debt (2:50)
• Sparktoro’s inception (4:25)
• Rand’s tell-all book – Lost and Founder (5:35)
• The downside of being an entrepreneur (6:08)
• How society judges vulnerability in leaders (8:01)
• Venture Capitalism and pattern-matching (9:28)
• The growth over profit mindset (15:50)
• The Great Resignation (22:30)
• ‘Chill work’ at Sparktoro (25:50)
• The Sparktoro elevator pitch (27:13)
• What’s on the roadmap? (34:12)
• Rand’s special proposal (37:49)
• 3 top tips for marketers and entrepreneurs (40:57)

“You don’t need to be everywhere…you can do better marketing by picking channels, and tactics that you’re really good at, that really work for your audience, where you have personal passion and interest, and you can provide unique value”. – Rand Fishkin

Listen as Rand takes us through his entrepreneurial experience from Moz and Sparktoro – his struggles, what it’s taught him, and how you should approach starting your own business. Rand’s ‘chill’ work mindset is changing culture, helping people maintain high capacity brain work, and in turn making better decisions. We find out Rand’s predictions on the future of venture capitalism and his top marketing and entrepreneurial tips.

Did that podcast resonate with you? Get in touch with Rand by emailing [email protected], or head to his Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram to connect with him.

The post EP 61: RAND FISHKIN – REALITY OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND OPTIMISING YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY appeared first on Impressive.

“The aim of the game is to drive acquisition… everybody’s trying to get that first shot, and then you drive that retention through your own channels” – Cameron Lawson

A marketing professional with over a decade of experience across every channel, Cameron Lawson is the person you want to hear from for all things digital marketing. Having worked for several eCommerce giants such as Forever New, Cotton On Group, Nike, CHANEL and American Express, he has drawn on his wealth of expertise for his latest venture. As the General Manager of Marketing & Digital at Best Friend Pets, Cameron has skilfully brought together the power of technology, data and strategy, to adapt to the volatile digital marketing landscape.

“My experience has taught me that the most valuable resource that you can have in relation to how your business is performing, are your customers” – Cameron Lawson on having a successful business strategy

• Cameron’s elevator pitch (1:30)
• His wealth of experience (3:28)
• Nuances in marketing for various industries (3:58)
• Shift from bricks and mortar to online (5:38)
• Consumer consciousness and impact on behaviour (7:02)
• Improving the digital experience and strategy (11:02)
• Pivoting marketing channels in the online ecosystem (12:35)
• Growth in the pet industry (13:26)
• Customer acquisitions through playing to your strengths (17:15)
• Silver lining of COVID-19 and returning to normality (19:00)
• Fluctuating impacts of lockdowns (20:53)
• How to stay on top in the marketing landscape (24:20)
• Customers are your most valuable resource (26:32)
• Aligning multiple client-agency partnerships (27:14)
• Best Friends Pets’ agenda in the near future (35:35)
• What Cameron would spend a $1M budget on (38:08)
• Cameron’s top marketing tip (39:20)

“The better you understand your customers, the better you can do everything from an eComm perspective…but without understanding customers, everything is guesswork” – Cameron Lawson

Cameron gives us some insight into how he’s adapted his marketing strategy to suit the brands he’s worked for, and especially how the pandemic has affected consumer behaviour. We learn how important a customer focussed approach is in business; and the key to successful client-agency partnerships.

Did that podcast speak to you? Jump on LinkedIn to follow and connect with Cameron Lawson. You can also reach out to him via email at [email protected]

The post EP 60: CAMERON LAWSON – PANDEMIC MARKETING AND THE CUSTOMER-CENTRIC APPROACH appeared first on Impressive.

“Everything that I had gone through in my career, I’d learnt by doing – rejection, putting deals together that fell through, trying to chase enterprise sales…“ – Luigi Prestinenzi

With an impressive wrap sheet of appointments throughout his career, Luigi is now heading up his own company, SalesIQ. As CEO, Co-Founder and Head of Growth, Luigi has called on decades of experience in driving sales and developing strategies to enable his own business to excel. Adept at building strong relationships, he is driven to deliver first class results for his SalesIQ clients.

Empowering professionals from the world’s leading companies to be the best they can be, SalesIQ offers proven frameworks, methodologies, tools and courses. These effective solutions aim to elevate professional selling and improve sales culture and competence. Not only is Luigi the founder of SalesIQ, he’s a podcaster, public speaker and an absolute master of all things sales and business development.

“You can’t transform anything in a short period of time, you can’t rush through it” – Luigi on the reality of implementing change over time

• The two minute version of Luigi’s journey (2:42)
• Why Luigi’s started SalesIQ (4:21)
• Empowering others and himself (5:07)
• Reframing being a sales person (7:42)
• Learning tech and marketing for sales (9:49)
• Can you learn the art of selling? (10:15)
• Things that sales teams can adopt (13:50)
• Engaging emotional intelligence for sales (17:44)
• Outcomes that SalesIQ work towards (21:55)
• Remembering the old school ways (24:35)
• Your phone should be part of outreach (27:07)
• Difference in approach for varying markets (31:00)
• Taking time to transform your business (35:45)
• Luigi’s core role in the business (36:55)

“The learning that I have experienced so far in my career has been insane“ – Luigi Prestinenzi

Luigi talks about how he cut his teeth in a Telstra call centre and how he’s now leading some huge transformations through SalesIQ. He unpacks what it means to be emotionally intelligent in your sales pitches and how picking up the phone could change how quickly you get to your outcome.

Did that podcast resonate with you? Head to LinkedIn to connect with Luigi or learn more about SalesIQ.

The post EP 59: LUIGI PRESTINENZI – SALES TRAINING & CREATING CONFIDENCE IN YOUR APPROACH appeared first on Impressive.

“Understand your customer, it sounds so basic but most companies don’t do it” – Mark Baartse

Voted in as one of the Top 50 CMOs in Australia, Mark Baartse is an incredibly experienced outsourced Chief Marketing Officer who has led many well known companies to success. Catch.com, ShowPo, Big W, Salesforce and Microsoft are just a few of the brands that Mark has worked with throughout his career.

Mark’s expertise lies in creating strategies that accelerate growth and he pushes the boundaries of innovation through the use of AI and data driven branding. A self confessed risk taker, he has an intrinsic understanding of the  digital marketing practices required to gain great results for his clients.

“I’ve asked myself many times, ‘can my job be replaced?’ And I think parts of it can be, not all of it…” – Mark on the implementation of AI in marketing.

• How Mark got started in marketing (1:04)
• Being drawn to different niche industries (2:45)
• Performance marketing vs. brand marketing (3:55)
• Limitations of focussing only on ROAS (11:35)
• What’s happening in the AI space right now? (15:05)
• The ethics of AI and where it’s headed (18:17)
• Jobs that AI will ultimately be replacing (24:30)
• Challenges, learning and gaining experience (25:07)
• Mark’s predictions for the eCommerce space (28:33)
• The ultimate piece of advice for brands (31:03)
• Remember that execution should always follow strategy (33:44)
• Mark’s passion for CRO (37:09)

“It’s not that ROAS is bad, but it can only take you so far” – Mark Baartse

Mark speaks candidly about what propelled him into the world of marketing many years ago. He unpacks the differences and limitations when it comes to performance marketing and brand marketing, and how focussing just on ROAS isn’t everything. Mark also talks about the ethics behind AI and where he sees it heading in the future.

Did that podcast resonate with you? To learn more about Mark and his work, head to his website or connect with him on LinkedIn.

The post EP 58: MARK BAARTSE – PERFORMANCE MARKETING VS. BRAND MARKETING AND THE FUTURE OF AI appeared first on Impressive.