From content to culture: Proven Media Solutions in the news
“Nothing is turnkey.”
That was the thesis of Proven Media Solutions Director of Accounts Robert Kuykendall’s recent essay on entering a new management role. From rising through the ranks to parachuting in from elsewhere, and from team lead to CEO, Robert laid out three principles of effective leadership:
- Get in the trenches.
- Develop well-articulated vision and direction.
- Everything is sales.
Robert’s essay was just one of several pieces our team has published on topics ranging from start-up strategies to right-sizing your life. We hope you enjoy reading them as much as we enjoyed writing them!
Make sure your business is an inch wide & a mile deep, and other leadership lessons I’ve learned — by Dustin Siggins
Team-building principles:
Find people with the right personalities, attitudes, and stages of life to fit the roles we’re filling.
Sometimes, I want someone with a high skill level, but as often, a modest level of skill is offset by everything else.
Our company philosophy surrounding motivation is more organic than anything else.
We pay well, we encourage people to live their lives: the entire team is remote.
We are focused on outcomes instead of punching the clock.
I also try to motivate through a genuine appreciation for the hard work and creativity people bring to the team.
Pay it forward, and other life lessons — by Kelly Ferguson
How one lifestyle change can improve everything:
We as a society have had the “lean in” conversation, the “lean out” conversation, the hustle culture and quiet quitting conversations.
But maybe it’s not about a binary “in or out”; sometimes it just helps to adjust one part of our life to make room for the others.
For example, I recently took a fully remote job that is still fairly fast-paced but gives me more flexibility in my schedule.
I am using that time to exercise and volunteer more at my kids’ school, and rediscover parts of my identity beyond my career.
It’s still hard but for the first time in years, I feel like I am choosing my hard.
Six foundational strategies for start-up entrepreneurs — by Dennis Siggins
Limit the owner’s financial demand on the startup:
One key contributor to new business failure is a high financial demand on the company by the ownership….
A new owner with the discipline to keep his salary low will have a higher percentage of revenue to reinvest in his company.
And an owner who sets legitimate metrics of success before taking a salary increase creates incentives to hit those points, thus driving sales.
Andy and I do not take salaries that reflect our value to the company. Rather, we take salaries that reflect our commitment to the company.
Right-size your life without losing your self-identity — by Kelly Ferguson
You can have it all, but maybe not all at once:
Recently, a working mother, whom I respect deeply, said to me: “Changing jobs is just a choice. If that choice doesn’t work out, you can make a different one.”
When your career is intense and all-consuming, the idea of stepping back may feel as though you’re jumping out of a moving car: once it’s gone, it’s gone, and you have the injuries to remind you what you’re missing.
But I dispute that. Think of these decisions more like an exit ramp to the rest stop: stretch your legs, fill your tank and get back on the road when you’re ready.
Or take a surprise stop to show the kids one of your bucket list mountain views.
5 ways to leverage media coverage to grow your business — by Dustin Siggins
Generate and protect profits:
National brands do have to be very conscious of risk mitigation in the social media era, so I encourage building a trust reservoir before the sharks attack.
This generates trust and business in the short term and reduces business loss during times of crisis.
How to repurpose your content to make a bigger impact — by Dustin Siggins
Same message, different delivery:
Successful 21st century marketing and branding campaigns repurpose high-quality content as often as possible.
Target audiences may miss the initial media article or the ad, but they’ll see your social media post and open your newsletter.
Or they may miss your newsletter but catch your thought leadership at a trusted media outlet.
This requires extra thinking, planning and execution for your content, but it may not require as much effort as it seems to secure multiples on the value of your original content.
The business journal article on your new company acquisition may not be completely the same as what that ends up in your newsletter or on your blog, but they will all be similar.
Your team is simply tweaking the original content for the appropriate mediums and message styles.