A passionate advocate for small businesses. Simon has worked with small and medium sized businesses to help them grow their sales and their customer bases for over 15 years. Since founding Orbit Marketing in 2017 Simon and his team have been using effective online advertising campaigns to help business owners achieve the results, and the freedom, they’ve always wanted from their businesses. Starting out as a freelancer helping a small handful of local businesses, Orbit Marketing now has a team that works with multiple industries and social platforms across Australia and is expanding internationally.
Thank you for joining us here at The Corporate Escapists. Please introduce yourself to our reader. They love to know about you, your passion, and how you came to find and follow your passion.
I’ve always loved marketing. I’m a nerd and I love all the data that digital marketing gives us. It’s like solving a rubik’s cube and I’m totally addicted to it. I still get a massive buzz the first time we get a lead through a new client funnel.
Oprah once quoted ‘You are where you are in your life, based on what you believe. If you’re not looking at the shadows, what is subconsciously telling yourself you’re not good enough, not worthy enough, not smart enough…you’re not enough, you end up acting out of THAT belief system, and not of what you want to be the truest for yourself.””. How important is it to you to have the belief within ones self?
Self belief is critical to success. In business and in life there will be failures, challenges, setbacks and critics. It’s the belief in ourselves, and how we help others that allows us to learn from failures, push through challenges and ignore the critics and to keep following the dream.
Tell us what the word “Entrepreneur” means to you?
An entrepreneur is someone who is willing to be the first. To take risks, to see opportunity where others see hurdles and roadblocks and to genuinely find fulfillment in helping others achieve their goals too.
How has the life of being an entrepreneur, changed you?
I’m far more comfortable taking risks now. I’ve also come to appreciate how important it is to fail. That’s where learning and improvement come from and it’s actually really empowering to feel that. Being an entrepreneur has definitely given me more of an appreciation of the challenges facing small businesses.
Share you thoughts on the importance of business owners to be a leader in their own life and ensure they have a work/life balance?
We’re typically very passionate about our businesses and it’s easy to be consumed by them. It’s critical to show leadership in our own lives and ensure we create time for family and friends. Not everyone wants to hear about our businesses 24/7 and we risk doing real damage to those relationships.
What is your favourite quote about “following your dreams”?
Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
What advice would you give to anyone wanting to start their own business?
Stop waiting for the right moment, there isn’t one. Stop waiting for ‘a sign’, there won’t be one. Stop striving for perfection in your product or your plan before you start, it doesn’t exist. The best thing you can do is start, learn as you go and never give up.