#awinewith Meredith Cranmer
MEET Meredith
Meredith is the Founder of Because ANZ.
Find Meredith here:
Because ANZ website or Instagram @becausexm.
Transcript
Danielle Lewis (00:10):
All right, Meredith, thank you so much for joining us here on Spark tv.
Meredith Cranmer (00:16):
Thanks so much for having me, Danielle.
Danielle Lewis (00:18):
I am so excited to chat with you. When we got connected and I looked at, because creative experiences online, I was like, holy crap, you have done some incredible work. So I'm just so interested to hear your backstory. Maybe let's start there and I'm super keen to know, did you always have a business? Was there a career? Tell us everything.
Meredith Cranmer (00:44):
Yeah, sure. I'm a Kiwi living in Aussie. I started my career in broadcasting and radio and I really enjoyed that for a lot of reasons, but lots of other Kiwis wanted to just leave New Zealand. That was my sort of thing. So I moved to Australia. I met my now husband who's English, I did quite a bit of traveling around Australia and then moved to the uk. Did a few different roles there, a lot of them sort of temping, but because of my background was sort of promotions and marketing and broadcasting, I fell into a position. When I say fell into, I interviewed for, I fell into experiential marketing because I worked for the London Agency for five years. I spent 10 years in London and I did five years of those at because doing all sorts of amazing campaigns for global brands and really had a taste for it because it sort of combined my love of event-based marketing events and marketing and I'd always wanted to get close to the southern hemisphere.
(01:53):
I work for, I'm my business partner is the original founder and CEO of because, and I think one night I've just sort of floated, I'd love to start the agency in the southern hemisphere and New Zealand felt too small for me to come back to after 10 years in London. That was probably wrong, but I think that there's a bit of reverse culture shock when you come from being there. I couldn't see myself there. So yeah, instead I moved to Sydney in 2011 and did a joint venture startup with the business. So the co-founder here. And I guess naivety is a wonderful thing because starting an agency in a market that you've never worked in before is
Danielle Lewis (02:38):
Crazy.
Meredith Cranmer (02:39):
Yeah, yeah, I guess ambitious, but you dunno what you don't know. So I always did. I always have this amazing entrepreneurial streak kind of thing. I think I've always been entrepreneurial, but I think it was more opportunity. I created an opportunity for myself and then suddenly one thing leads to another kind of thing. And here we are, we're in our 11th year of business here. We've got offices across Sydney, Melbourne, and Auckland, and we very much leverage off the UK and global business, but we run our own p and l, so we paddle our own canoe. So as much as we leverage skill sets and some of our marketing, it is very much its own entity, which is hugely rewarding because I think it just means that we can make our own decisions and set our own course of direction, but still be very outward looking, which I think is really important for businesses.
Danielle Lewis (03:38):
I think that's incredible because I feel like people get stuck on one way of doing business and I think a lot of people think, well, I need to have the one perfect business idea and that will be the thing I do. So I love that your story is actually, no, I took this opportunity, I made the next step. I fell into this, I did this, and then I saw something and then created that joint venture. So I absolutely love that story. Now I've not interviewed anyone on Spark TV who has taken that approach of there being that entity that already exists and then essentially doing the joint venture. What did that process look like?
Meredith Cranmer (04:20):
Well, it was a three year deal that myself and Sharon set up and I took a loan from the business and in return worked for a reduced salary in year one kind of thing. And then in year two, the business needed to stand on its own two feet, like no, be cash neutral and in year three profitable pay back the loans. And then I moved into a majority shareholding position kind of thing. So it was the right deal for me and for them because I think what I see when some people who have done similar things to me, sometimes the deals are not really favorable to the person who's actually starting the business in another market, like starting a business in another market where the brand isn't actually no, and there's no handouts from global, although there is lots of things that you can draw from them.
(05:18):
It's a completely different market kind of thing. So LinkedIn was an amazing thing for me that was really starting to kick off in 2011. And I was fortunate that I had some clients that I'd worked with who had immigrated over here. London has always tapped for its marketing talent in Australia, so there was some good connecting of the dots, but that's certainly what helped me. So the deal was structured in that way. It made it motivating for me because I think that I see a lot of people do a lot of work for a relatively small shareholding and that either needs to come from capital or it needs to come from suite equity. There needs to be some sort of value exchange there. And I think for me it really worked. And longer term for my business partner, I say my boss because I guess I still sometimes see her as my boss. I was an accountant, but really I'm a peer now. It was motivating.
Danielle Lewis (06:12):
Yeah, I could not agree with you more because I see that in, we have these typical startups who raise capital and these term sheets that really don't favor the founder. And I'm like, that person is just working 24 7 To make this a reality, you've got to structure a deal to make it, to incentivize them and make them motivated
Meredith Cranmer (06:35):
A hundred percent and look longer term people to have, it's better for whoever the original investor is to have a smaller piece of a bigger pie and keep that person. I think that otherwise anybody who does that job and if they end up having a bit of a crap deal, I think they could just turn around and they could just, I mean it depends on what your contract turns are. They're probably around and say, actually I don't want, I'm over this. I'll start again kind of thing. So there's the longevity piece and getting the deal structure to be motivational for both parties, it's in the investors interests as well because then they're going to be able to, the lifetime value of a smaller share of profits coming in over a decade is better than having that lion's share and then having somebody say, actually it's my gut's, your glory.
Danielle Lewis (07:26):
No, I totally agree. I mean in saying that though, so as I think about, you talk about the three year deal, so going from loan to then being cash neutral to then being profitable still pretty much, that's a lot of pressure in three years though as well. How did you go with that?
Meredith Cranmer (07:44):
Oh, look, I think again, you don't know what you don't know, but I think that is the right path. I think that that's what it has to be. Otherwise there's no light at the end of the tunnel kind of thing. And I think females sometimes can play things quite small kind of thing as well. And I'm a big fan of how Emma Isaacs talks about that females often have these small kitchen businesses kind of thing, when in reality those businesses are far harder than a bigger business to run kind of thing because playing small. So it definitely wasn't easy, particularly since I borrowed money at quite a good rate and then had to pay it back. So it was actually, I had some Forex issues that went against me, but I think just having those milestones set in place, it can become quite real and before it you're doing that kind of thing.
(08:42):
And I think that when I look at other people's businesses in different sectors, it's all very similar trajectories really kind of thing. There's all the smoke and mirrors of, oh, everybody else's business is so much more successful than mine. But often those ones which are outwardly successful, they're losing lots of money kind of thing. The founder isn't paying themselves, it's not really a proper business kind of thing. So I think yes, I just think that a three year structure that is realistic and really the business is viable then otherwise I would say if you're not hitting those milestones, and this is totally my opinion of it, I think it's probably time to rethink what the business is.
Danielle Lewis (09:22):
Yeah, absolutely. And look, I could not agree more. My philosophy is if you're not paying yourself, if you're not profitable, what are you doing? Who wants to work for free? That is not why we go into business.
Meredith Cranmer (09:36):
No, it's not motivating and I think that you won't be able to continue that without having some resent some. And I think also everybody's got bills to pay. You've got families. And I think that that's why I often say to friends who are like, I'm thinking of starting my own business. I'm like, why? You have an amazing job, really good salary. You could do something entrepreneurial within your own organization to itch that sort of scratch kind of thing as say, there doesn't have to be this entrepreneur thing where it's just this unique idea and nobody's ever thought there's more than one path to becoming a business owner.
Danielle Lewis (10:17):
Yeah, I love that so much. And I think part of the problem is we get a bit of shiny object syndrome, we see the headlines, we see the unicorns, and we kind of think, oh my God, my life would be amazing if I was just a startup unicorn. And they call them unicorns for that reason. They don't exist.
Meredith Cranmer (10:36):
Oh, a hundred percent. I know that. I was going to say, it's always so easy to compare yourself and compare other people's success. And of course people, that's the dream kind of thing, but there's nothing bad about having a successful, smaller, profitable business kind of thing. When you pay off a salary, you get some dividends. There's a lot of businesses out there, they're so obsessed with this cult of entrepreneurship and they're not actually profitable businesses. And for me, sometimes I look at that, I'm just like, wow. I'm like, why? You're not a charity.
Danielle Lewis (11:17):
And I think sometimes it is a little bit of headline grabbing it. It feels like people, and look, I am guilty of this. When we started scrunch my influencer marketing business a decade ago, it's like that was what the culture was. You have to go out and raise capital, you have to spend it all. You have to build these huge technology platforms. And we did all of that. And it wasn't until we kind of went, oh my God, this is a hamster wheel that we do not want to be on, that we went, we're getting out of this startup scene and just going to run a profitable bloody business. And it's so much more rewarding and fulfilling and less stressful as well.
Meredith Cranmer (11:53):
Yeah, totally. I think it's a real scene kind of thing. And I think that that would be something that I would say to people starting a business is just be careful. Be careful which communities you are really mixing in. If you are the sum of the five people you spend time with, make sure they're actually people that A inspire you, but B, have got profitable businesses themselves because some people on the speaker circuit and things like that, if you scratch beneath the surface, there's a lot of sizzle and not a lot of sausage.
Danielle Lewis (12:23):
Yeah. Oh my God, that's so true. So tell me then, you obviously had this massive challenge of coming into a new market and growing. How did you do it? What sort of strategies did you employ to actually get into and cut through the Australian market?
Meredith Cranmer (12:41):
I think leveraging the network, first of all, this sounds really stupid, but real active listening, listening to what clients were saying were their problems and really understanding that and then coming back with tailored solutions to them. This is relevant to a marketing consultancy sort of business.
Danielle Lewis (13:02):
Well, I think listening to your customers is pretty relevant to every business,
Meredith Cranmer (13:06):
But I think sometimes it's like you think what is going to be where you're going to fit in the market, but then when you start talking to people, you're like, actually, I can see a little bit of clear space in here. This is how we're going to sort of wiggle in kind of thing. Because a lot of the clients that we work with are top one. We only really work with top, I would say probably top 50 advertisers and they've got a lot of compliance and procurement and things like that. So it is quite difficult to work with them as a smaller business. So you really have to spot the opportunity, and you'll only do that by talking to a lot of people, getting in front of them, doing a lot of lead generation yourself as well. So I guess everybody does business development in different ways kind of thing.
(13:52):
And I don't mind talking to people kind of thing. I worked with various business development people who we would obviously form our list. We would look at what we thought would have a clear proposition. We continue to do this to day, we do masterclasses, which is a sort of product for prospects. So you're serving before you sell something. But I think that's what I've always taken the mentor, and it's actually my business partner, Gareth, who came into the business probably two years into three years, two to three years into the business' life, that always his mantra is that you've got to serve before you sell. And I think that sort of approach and look, honestly, I think persistence, persistence. There was obviously times where I cried, cried, and it was not good. And it felt like a lot of people are quite kind when you are first starting and generous with their time, they sort of give you false promises and false hope, and it's just so disappointing when they promise you a brief and they don't know that you're literally waiting for the phone to ring from them kind of thing sort of thing.
(15:02):
And they might pick up the phone six months later picking up the conversation. It was just yesterday and things move. So I think that that was definitely hard. So I think that persistence and I think you need to know when to give up, but I knew that we were a successful business. I knew that we had something to offer. And I guess hanging in there, really hanging in there and adapting and keeping listening and keeping adapting. Just keep iterating. And when I started the business, I'd left the business as a senior account director. I wasn't a business director. I didn't have really an understanding of the business. I knew how to run clients and I knew how to run teams. So there was a whole nother skillset that I was having to learn, but I didn't really need to learn that until I had business in. I think it's just, again, it's just sort of one step and one step after another after another. And seek guidance from from people around you who've done it before and identify those helpers because people are generous with their time. And just make sure that you're generous with your time and reciprocal too.
Danielle Lewis (16:15):
Yeah, no, I love that. And it's really interesting. I mean so many things to unpack there, but I love that you did say worry about the business when you've got business. I see a lot of people when they're just getting started kind of going, well, I need a fancy website, I need to have my business details, I need a PO box, I need this. I'm like, hang on a second, where are your customers?
Meredith Cranmer (16:37):
Yeah, totally. And all that sort of stuff that people get. So thing of setting up a business, I'm like, it's really not that hard to get an A, B, N. It's really not that hard to
Danielle Lewis (16:45):
Two minutes. Yeah,
Meredith Cranmer (16:46):
It's really not that hard to register trademarks, things like that. It's like there are certain things that you need to get your insurances in place, but yeah, focusing on getting out there and talking to people are going to build, make sure that people trust you, that you are credible and things like that. And that's
Danielle Lewis (17:03):
Adding value. Like you said, you're serving first
Meredith Cranmer (17:06):
And I think that that's more important than your website at that stage kind of thing. As I say, I think people get caught in the, I think some entrepreneurs are very, are more creators kind of thing. They love the creation of the product, so they've got to make sure that either they surround themselves as somebody who's going to help them sell it or what gaps do they need to plug kind of thing. But in reality, I think if you are starting a business, you need to be all things to all people whether you like it or not.
Danielle Lewis (17:36):
That is so true. And I do love that you've kind of touched on sales a couple of times because I know that you're spot on. A lot of founders and females especially don't always love sales or bd. They don't love being that person that's out there kind of pedaling their wares. But it's just so important. If you don't have customers, you don't have a business.
Meredith Cranmer (17:57):
No. And also if you've got something that you genuinely believe in, there's the whole thing. It is totally not dirty. But I do think that the persistence, and it is really important that I, there's those stats on how many times you actually have to have an interaction with a person. And this depends on whether you're selling a service or a product, but it in service space, businesses, our pipeline from when we meet someone to when we land a po, let alone get the cash, that could be well over two years that we're neutral in that relationship kind of thing. But when we win that client, if we won the right client, then it becomes valuable and they're the lifetime value kind of thing. So yeah, I think if you are not comfortable selling, honestly, I'm not quite sure how you're going to have a
Danielle Lewis (18:45):
Business. Yeah, oh totally. Yeah. So
Meredith Cranmer (18:50):
Unless you're going to recruit, unless you've got enough money in the bank and in your plan that you've got and you are co-founding it with somebody else and you've got different skill sets, but I think that if you are trying to go it alone and you don't want to do that, you're either going to have to recruit to that or you're going to have to get on with it.
Danielle Lewis (19:09):
Yeah, exactly. No, I completely agree. I think if you're uncomfortable selling, I always say to people who cares, just do it anyway. You don't have to feel good. I always say to people, you are not a conman that you have this amazing product and service. It solves a problem. If you are not out there telling people about it, you're actually doing them a disservice.
Meredith Cranmer (19:34):
And Nova's feedback too. It's understand sort of why, and some people are rude, but honestly those people that are rude, you never forget them. And what's interesting about those people who either ghost you who are rude to you or are just very unreceptive, sometimes years later they go and start their business. And what's interesting is they come and pitch to you, and obviously I'm not a bitch kind of thing, but that whole thing is you remember people, it's like you gave absolutely no time when you could have politely said, Hey Meredith, thanks so much. I'm really not the right person to speak to. It sounds really interesting. It takes two seconds to people have memories like elephants. It's a small market, it's a small world, you just never know. And you also that whole thing that you never know where you are going to be next kind of thing. So yeah, I find that absolutely wild that people are like that and they think that they're acting like they're your best friend and you're like, hang on a minute.
Danielle Lewis (20:39):
I don't think so. Yeah,
Meredith Cranmer (20:41):
No, no. And obviously I'll always be kind to them, but am I going to invest time in them? Probably not.
Danielle Lewis (20:48):
Yeah, exactly. Well, and it's even interesting as well, I think on the reverse side, if you are the founder, one thing I've found is we'll have people who don't go ahead with us who say no, and it might not be the right time, they might not have the right budget, but 12 months later they've changed jobs. We work in an industry where people, the turnover is incredible. And it's like if you are just nice to them and even if they say no to you, you still no worries, all good. Come to this next event. You come to this free masterclass and you nurture that relationship, they'll go somewhere else where it is the right time, they do have the budget and they know how much you respected them and were nice and nurtured that relationship and they'll walk you into that new business.
Meredith Cranmer (21:31):
Oh, totally. And I think that's your brand experience, isn't it? And it's like you've already put all this effort into nurturing. And I think also I really try to nurture relationships from a place of being genuine that I'm not false in my approach kind of thing. I think that relationships are important to everyone, but I think that if you don't gel with something, someone you can't force, that kind of thing. And maybe there's somebody else in your business who would be better off working with or approaching that person kind of thing.
Danielle Lewis (22:08):
Yeah, that's just great self-awareness, right? Just understanding what the larger goal is, understanding that relationships are all different and we all interact differently and making sure that we pick the right person or the right interaction.
Meredith Cranmer (22:23):
Yeah, totally. And that also comes right down to client fit as well. There's the relationship, but then there's also are they the right fit for your business kind of thing. Because a bad client, I think that's really hard when you're starting a business. And we are a project-based business, so every project and we have a lot of projects which are repeat projects, but nothing's ever a given kind of thing. So winning the right client and nurturing the right relationships is really important to us. If we have a client who doesn't invest in the relationship with us, we do this great work and then they had one or two things to do themselves and they don't do it well, then we are going to end up doing a bad job. It's going to reflect on us, reflect on them, that they're not really the right fit for us. They might be a nice person kind of thing. So I think that getting that fit is really important, which is hard when you're either a project-based business or you are just starting because you're like, I need money, I need money, but the wrong client is worse than no client.
Danielle Lewis (23:24):
Yeah, I know you are So right. That temptation to just take everything and just work yourself into the ground and not say no can be really detrimental to the longevity of a business
Meredith Cranmer (23:36):
And also the team around you. And I can't say that I've been perfect on all occasions and things like that, but I've definitely learned from mistakes that the impact isn't just to yourself, it's to the wider team as well. And it's incredibly motivating for them to know that you've got their back as well. If we just can't seem to turn things around with a client for whatever reason it might be.
Danielle Lewis (24:01):
And that's a great example of fantastic leadership. So obviously when you started the business, I'm assuming it was solo or just with the co-founder, how did you go about growing the team over time?
Meredith Cranmer (24:15):
Well, obviously as we won projects and clients we recruited there, but I think you've got to also take a bit of a bit on. So yeah, it was just me to start with and obviously I had my co-founder in the UK who I've sort of had weekly calls with at very late at night. She was based in the UK and running a business at quite a difficult time for the UK economy. Yeah, no, I obviously recruited, I used a recruiter in the first instance, which again, all of these things really feel like they're such hurt. You're like, oh my god, they paid $12,000 for this person. But when you need someone quick, you need someone who's got a good pipeline of people. They've done a lot of the pre-work, they've already know you. There's a reason why. And look, we don't use recruiters all the time.
(25:00):
I try to build a good network and pipeline of talent, but they have a role to play. If you've landed a project and you need someone fast that whatever the fee is inconsequential once you, because it allows you to focus on funding the business, the client kind of thing. So again, there's just some know what to spend money on. That's just the cost of business to be honest. So yeah, no, I used recruiters to start with and then obviously the people that came and joined us, they had people that they used to work with who obviously recruit from within their networks as well, and that's really how we've grown from there.
Danielle Lewis (25:41):
Awesome. And have you found, we often hear culture being the topic of the moment. How have you found building the culture within your team? Have you got any tips for people who might be just starting out with small teams and growing it and going, oh my god, what do I actually focus on?
Meredith Cranmer (25:59):
Yeah, I think being very clear on your values and behaviors and it all comes from the top, and I think that you have to be the champion of culture. Your business is always a mirror of how you are personally as well kind of thing. Being quite self-aware, as you've sort of said. I think there's different culture goes through. I think knowing that culture isn't just fun, free stuff kind of thing. Culture is how you treat people. Culture is what examples do you set for people kind of thing that just making sure that you've really thought about how you reflect and show up in the business because people will mirror you as well. And I think we know when you're small, I think it is easy to wrap your arms around the business. But I think some of the things that I did when we were at a smaller stage, we would team up with another friend of mine who'd founded a business at the same time, which is actually influence a marketing agency as well.
(26:56):
We shared similar office space, so we would sometimes do joint Christmas parties, joint Melbourne Cup because we know had four people in our team and it's like the same four people that you've been talking to all week and now we're having fun. We sort of did things like that to sort of bring a bit of freshness and a bit of a bigger group kind of together. So yeah, I think culture's, if it's strong, it shouldn't be fragile, which I know that that sounds really, again, really sort of obvious, but be very protective of it because one toxic person can have a real impact on your business quite quickly. It's amazing how the impact of it. And so nip the behaviors in the bud really quickly kind of thing and make sure that you are taking time to recruit against your values and behaviors and embed them in from the off because again, it's the same as the wrong client. The wrong hires can be very difficult for you to manage. Yeah,
Danielle Lewis (28:05):
Yeah, no, someone once said to me, culture is never finished. So something that you've got to focus on all of the time and you are spot on that I think no business is almost a little bit fragile. It is the wrong client, the wrong team member, the wrong strategy. It all can go awry very quickly. So it is sort of super important as the leader to make sure you do have your eye on everything
Meredith Cranmer (28:29):
And keep seeking feedback as well and take the feedback on when it is relevant, but also brush it off when you're like, okay, I can see that feedback, I'm hearing you, but actually I know where that's coming from kind of thing. So I think you have to have a little bit of a thick skin sometimes when it comes to feedback. Don't be because if you rolled over for every person's feedback, you'd end up just flipping and flopping. You wouldn't stay the course of what your vision for what your culture is going to be like kind of thing. So clearly it is a living and breathing thing and everybody's part of that, but you've got to know when this is just the way we do things or this is a deal breaker kind of thing, and know when it's also not a deal breaker I think, because I think often when you seek that feedback, people do have good ideas too, and you always have to be evolving as well.
(29:26):
And I'm 42 now and I can't pretend to have the same. I can remember what it's like to be 21, 22 in the workplace, but you easily also forget kind of thing. So just making sure that you do. For me, when we have new starters and more junior people, I have a calendar across the year where we just go and have a coffee with them and the agenda is not about me. It's literally just 45 minutes an hour for them to talk about themselves. I really don't care if we just talk about restaurants or what you're doing at the weekend or if you want to talk about the work or what's next for you kind of thing. I think all of that just shows people that you do care for them. I think as leaders there's an incredible pastoral care that you have to have for your workforce. You actually do have to care about people genuinely. Yeah, I think that business, that whole thing, business is personal kind of thing. And honestly, I genuinely like the people that I work with and I'm always amazed by the things they come up with talk about and just the energy that they bring and it comes from, I genuinely am impressed by that. I'm not making up of like, wow, that's great kind of thing. And then you can just do it exactly how I see it.
(30:56):
I think some people you've got to let some things go when it comes set what the culture vision is and then empower people to get on with it too.
Danielle Lewis (31:06):
Oh, absolutely. And I think if you are the only one coming up with the ideas, you're the only one implementing, you're the only one. You are limiting yourself and your business.
Meredith Cranmer (31:17):
And just also exhausting little things like we have champions across the business for different elements of culture and just things like making sure there's somebody who's mapped out all the birthdays and make sure that each team is responsible for organizing the cake for that person and their team. If it was left for me, it's just another thing that I'm probably going to forget kind of thing. And I do care when people's birthdays are, but again, it's impossible for you to carry all of those things when you've got so many other priorities too.
Danielle Lewis (31:54):
And I think as the founder or the leader of the business, it's really important to understand where you bring the most value. And whilst the cake is so important and someone has to remember the cake, if that's what you're spending your time on, the business growth might be suffering.
Meredith Cranmer (32:10):
And that's a constant check-in kind of thing. Like constant check-in to yourself of getting, is this the best bang for my bug on my time? Is there somebody else? And look, honestly, that's a work in progress all the time for me. And I think any founder that says otherwise, it's probably lying kind of thing. But you have to always keep checking and checking in, particularly when there's requests of your time, whether that's internal, external or are you the right person to be doing that. And I keep getting asked to be members of some paid networking groups and I just have to be honest. I'm like, I don't have the time. This sounds great, but I cannot commit to any more extracurricular activities. I've got children I need to do the things that I'm already doing. Well not pay a subscription join up to something. The joining up part of those things is easy seeing it through.
Danielle Lewis (33:07):
I love that too. I was having a chat to another founder the other day about the extracurricular and how easy it is to get swept up in speaking on a panel, attending a networking event, being asked to speak on a panel or whatever it might, or joining a membership or whatever it might be. All of those things just add up or even awards and those things, they all just add up and you've got to really sometimes take stock on if they're actually driving a return for the business or if you are willing to sacrifice something. So willing to sacrifice family time for that or willing to sacrifice whatever your hobby is if you're not actually taking regular check-ins to really think about what you're doing with your time, it can be really detrimental, I think.
Meredith Cranmer (33:57):
Yeah, and do you enjoy it as well? I think that enjoyment and fun. I am really fortunate at my business partner, Gareth, one of the first things when I interviewed him was I asked him what he wanted out of it and he was like, honestly, I want to have fun. And that's so refreshing because we work really hard sometimes being a founder of a business, running a business, whatever you're in, it's not very fun. So for these other things, which could be they need to really add value to your business and ideally something that gives you some energy where you can make impact because otherwise what's the point? You're not going to be able to keep going with those things as well. So I think that again, when you're looking at all the things that you spend energy on, it has to give you some return personally as well.
Danielle Lewis (34:48):
Yeah, absolutely. So obviously we've talked about a few different things and how rewarding it is and culture and all of those things. What about challenges? So have you had any problems since you started the business?
Meredith Cranmer (35:03):
Oh, I think obviously I've had issues with probably in the early days with suppliers letting you down. That's been it when it was business critical. I've had a company turn around and say, look, we no longer want to work on this contract, which I was just like,
Danielle Lewis (35:22):
Wow.
Meredith Cranmer (35:23):
For me, I hold very hold high standards and if I've committed to something and someone, even if I'm not enjoying it, unless it was that example of toxic to the team or something like that, I wouldn't pull the pin because I just know that that's going to ruin. That's not good for your reputation or your personal brand. So being leaked down by suppliers in the early days, now we're obviously further down the track. You have good relationships, approved supplier list, all that sort of stuff. I think probably our biggest challenge right now is we are in a period of growth and I think that being ready for growth as well, probably I think that when I say that I've had two kids, we've been through Covid being an event visit, all the things, and we've actually done really phenomenally well out of it and a set for a lot of success.
(36:18):
But I think that that next stage of growth, I think you sort of get to your business to a certain level kind of thing. You need to stick some more risk into it to get to that next level. And that's sort of what we are going through at the moment. So that's definitely a challenge. And the way that I've sort of tackled that is sought advice from other people. So put some figures around what would you be prepared to lose? And also knowing that if you are not trying things, things that don't work out are not, it sounds stupid, but they're not unsuccessful. You've tried something and you've got to park that to park it and then move it on kind of thing. So I think those navigating, trying to break through different levels, like billing your first million dollars of revenue is a magic number. You there, and then you talk about this three years, there's different milestones in business. And for us in our 11th year, for me personally, I've got a 7-year-old and a 5-year-old. There's been different stages, but now I think it's also, you have to be ready for what that next stage is too.
Danielle Lewis (37:40):
Yeah, I love that so much. I think mean there's so many nuggets of wisdom there in terms of being willing to take some level of risk and try new things. The world changes so quickly, especially in the marketing industry, and I just feel like if you're doing the same thing over and over, you are just not keeping up with the people that are coming through the new businesses, the new ideas. It is so easy to get left behind if you're not experimenting with new channels and ideas and products inside your business.
Meredith Cranmer (38:13):
And I think it keeps it fun as well. There's a level of interest as well, that's
Danielle Lewis (38:18):
All but fun.
Meredith Cranmer (38:19):
Yeah, it's like challenge. But I think that, again, stimulating yourself from a leadership perspective, because in some ways your role doesn't change a lot, but in other ways it does change and you can force the change too sort of thing. So if you're not enjoying things, know that. It's up to you to say, okay, well I need to make, and sometimes and unfortunate you're having my business partner, Sharon, she'll be like, let's revisit this in six months time. Sometimes you're in the eye of a storm and it's particularly tricky kind of thing. And I think that, again, I'm quite a resilient person. I can stick at things, not stick at things to the point where it's like, well, that was just a bad decision, but sometimes you are right in the thick of it and then before you know it, that issue is passed and actually you're like, oh, okay, I can get some perspective on that. That was just a temporary thing. So yeah, I think all of those are challenges,
Danielle Lewis (39:19):
But I love as well, you've mentioned it a couple of times, that seeking feedback from other people, so people like advisors or mentors or people in the industry, people that have done what you're trying to do or just somebody that can get you out of your own way is just so valuable in business.
Meredith Cranmer (39:35):
Totally. And I probably once a year look at Round at my network and about people who I think have done this before, and I'll be really honest when I say them, I'll be like, I literally probably have nothing to give you. I'm not going to ask you out for coffee too much of your time. I'll be like, I'm trying to do X, Y, Z. Could we have a quick phone call about it? I never request a Zoom link up or things like that because often it's just easier for people to just pick up the phone and have a quick conversation and I give them that specific question. And again, it comes down to advice. I might not agree with their advice. It might not be right for my business, but equally so there might be something that you're like, actually that's some really good perspective that you've given. And I'm very open to doing that to people as well. So I think what you put out, you receive kind of thing. And if you don't ask, you don't get. But that whole thing of, oh, could we go for a coffee? I'll shout you a coffee. It's like
Danielle Lewis (40:32):
Successful people. Yeah, I can buy my own coffee, they can
Meredith Cranmer (40:34):
Buy their own coffee kind of thing. I think you're just got to be really honest with your pitch on what you are really trying to achieve. And then sometimes people are like, look, I just don't have the time, or actually I'm not the right person to help you help but speak to blah blah blah, which is valuable.
Danielle Lewis (40:49):
Yeah, no, I love that so much. Meredith, you have been absolutely incredible. Thank you so much for investing your time, the smart community and sharing your insights. That was absolutely incredible and I know that everybody tuning in would've gotten immense value from that.
Meredith Cranmer (41:07):
Thanks so much for having me.
