Analyze what can go wrong instead of what can go right. Things constantly go wrong no matter how smart and hardworking you are. Make a list of how to fail, so that your failures are so crystal clear, that you never go there.
Alessia Jordan is the Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer at Textedly, a Mobile Messaging company that helps organizations and business deliver important text messages. Alessia’s primary focus is to continually increase global thought leadership eminence and brand awareness to help drive business results. She has daily oversight of the marketing programs, brand management, social media, and corporate sponsorships. An adept researcher, she also keeps abreast of industry trends and challenges and provides business intelligence to the company. Her career includes more than a decade of corporate communications, marketing and public relations experience. Alessia’s greatest strengths are her creativity, drive and leadership. She thrives on challenges, particularly those that expand the company’s reach. In her free time, Alessia likes to race sports cars and is aspiring to become a high-performance driving instructor.
Where did the idea for Textedly come from?
Textedly have been inspired for as long as I can remember. We wanted to bring an easy way to communicate to the masses.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
I try to start each week with an agenda. Most of the time, my weeks are the same consisting of KPI Reviews, Improvement of Data Systems, Lead Acquisition Management, Strategy Review, and Project Management. After I build my agenda for the week, I break down my to-do list on daily biases.
How do you bring ideas to life?
Good ideas are a result of a process driven organization. With collaboration, external influences, intuition, and commitment from people who are dedicated to solving a problem. We had a ten- step process for driving innovative ideas. But it was to complex. The entire team at Textedly sat down together, and narrowed our approach to four guidelines to building collaborative ideas. 1. Organize. 2. Brainstorm. 3. Look for patterns. 4. Sell your vision. In the final stage of developing a good idea, we submit to the advice from James Webb Young, author of A Technique for Producing Ideas, who advised creative thinkers, “Do not make the mistake of holding your idea close to your chest. Submit to the criticism of the judicious.”
What’s one trend that excites you?
The one trend that excites me the most is IoT, Internet of Things. Billions of physical devices around the world that are now connected to the Internet, collecting and sharing data. Adding a level of digital intelligence to devices that would be otherwise dumb, enabling them to communicate without a human being involved, and merging the digital and physical worlds. This is all just amazing to me.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
I don’t negotiate with my time for self-care. Time is my most precious commodity. I pre-plan all my vacations, and take days off when necessary. I take breaks to enjoy my life, which in turn makes me more successful.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Always give yourself a way out. And have the courage to take it.
Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
I think a new sport will be invented, that will be bigger than Major League Baseball, the NFL, and the NBA.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
Analyze what can go wrong instead of what can go right. Things constantly go wrong no matter how smart and hardworking you are. Make a list of how to fail, so that your failures are so crystal clear, that you never go there. Basically, think about what could go wrong and make plans to avoid it. Being both pessimistic and optimistic is better than just being optimistic. One of the best ways to win is not to lose.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?
Inbound Marketing has always been near and dear to my heart. It is so tempting to throw all your ad budget into online Outbound marketing and get that quick return. But the great thing about Inbound Marketing is that it pays off over time. There is longevity in Inbound efforts. It sets up our businesses to get found by your target customers more easily, and then helps them through every single stage of the on-boarding process — from stranger to brand advocates.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
It was what I call Pivot Standstill. When starting a business, entrepreneurs often face a standstill when it comes to having to pivot their business plan. Failure often comes from not being able to pivot, and not adapting t to events or conditions that they were not expecting in their paths. We did not want to pivot. We stayed the course if we could. Then we got smart. We were lucky to embrace pivoting and take Textedly from a “Social App” to focus on something that has stood the test of time. Text messaging. Through pivots, we can build companies where the failure of the initial idea isn’t the failure of the company. Once you realize a pivot isn’t the end for you or your business, you can successfully refocus and develop an idea that is much more successful
than the first.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
I think someone should create an ecosystem that large companies, organizations, and research laboratories can quickly and easily share genome sequencing results. A common place under the same roof, where we can privately and quickly share large amounts of data and sequencing results looking for solutions and analysis of genetic variation and function, in fields ranging from cancer research to agriculture. There is power in numbers. Call it the Genome Cloud Exchange.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
I spent $100 on new Amazon Echo. 2nd generation. I love it. Me and Alexa are becoming best friends.
What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
My hands down favorite is HubSpot. HubSpot is the tool we use for Inbound marketing. We use it for social media marketing, content management, web analytics and search engine optimization. It helps us attract visitors, convert leads, and close customers.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
“From Impossible To Inevitable: How Hyper-Growth Companies Create Predictable Revenue” by Aaron Ross. It details the hypergrowth playbook of companies like the record-breaking Zenefits, Salesforce.com, and EchoSign— aka Adobe Document Services. Whether you have a $1 billion or a $100,000 business, you can use the same insights as these notable companies to learn what it really takes to break your own revenue records.
What is your favorite quote?
“Never let the fear of striking out get in your way”. Babe Ruth.
Key Learnings:
- Never give up and look beyond the immediate moment.
- Think long term.
- Enjoy life, take time to laugh and smile. Be true to yourself.
Connect:
Textedly on Facebook –
Textedly on Twitter –
Textedly on LinkedIn –
Textedly on Instagram –
Carlyn runs the day-to-day publishing operation here at ideamensch and interacts with our awesome customers and entrepreneurs. She is likely editing this with a cat on her lap.