Biggest fuck up?

To be totally honest, the biggest fuck up of my career was giving too much to previous employers, caring too much about their business and not realising that no matter how much you are liked or what you do for a business—it is just business at the end of the day.

I was almost loyal to a fault and therefore didn’t realise my own potential.

My advice for anyone who is employed would be to remember it’s not your business. You shouldn’t be expected to care as much as the person who owns it. You certainly aren’t getting the same level of reward for it.

Know your worth and recognise your own potential. If it is recognised by the people you work for, mega. If it isn’t, take your worth elsewhere. 

Rant

The reputation that marketing professionals have is often one of in-action, and I think that comes from a lack of commercial awareness and understanding.

Every business is there to make money. I don’t care what you do—that is the aim of business; even if the end goal is to give all that cash to charity, the principle is the same, you need to make money. And to do that, you have to be commercially minded.

Marketing professionals that don’t have a good relationship with the sales or business development function within an organisation is a massive red flag. These are the guys who want to sit in their ivory towers and just make pretty pictures all day. That isn’t marketing.

Marketing is the intelligence and strategy behind a business. It’s what drives people to websites and customers to checkouts. I appreciate there are lots of different forms of marketing, but the tell me for me is if a marketing person can’t use Excel, chances are it means they have never had to do a budget or come up with a commercial plan to drive leads and revenue. Avoid those bad apples at all costs. 

Useful advice

It is better to have to ask for forgiveness than permission. So just do it. Whatever it is – don’t be scared to put your neck on the line for things you believe in or believe will work. 

Don’t say yes to everything. Be selfish with your time. Own it and be the master of it. This is relevant to both professional and personal lives.