Stephanie Lomas

Stephanie Lomas’s degree in electronics and communications placed her with one of the leading technology companies right out of college. She has been a denizen of the startup ecosystem for almost a decade, with an immense experience in various fields and technologies. From artificial intelligence and machine learning to automation, analytics, and more, Stephanie has aligned herself with the best of startups across the globe in the capacity of a digital marketer. It eventually led to her founding Success Step to be able to give a 100% to each product that she was getting aligned with. Today, Stephanie is one of the industry’s top B2B inbound marketers with proven experience in the eCommerce and retail segments.

Instead of benchmarking Success Steps against other agencies or chasing revenue goals, Stephanie has always focused on the quality and authenticity of service. She didn’t strive to become the jack of all trades but decided to stick to the content marketing specialist. She nurtured Success Steps as a B2B inbound marketing agency. Her sheer focus on SAAS products enabled her company to earn a reputation as an authority in the B2B category.

She has recently started giving motivational speeches to budding entrepreneurs. Stephanie Lomas suggests not to let the success and pace of others define yours. She believes in doing what you do best and what you are comfortable with. According to her, one needs to decide the pace and scale you want to grow at.

Stephanie is a dedicated marketer who doesn’t stop with creating a campaign or writing a piece just to promote her clients’ products. She doesn’t work merely to please the search engines but uses her exceptional storytelling to help a business’s audience picture themselves using the product or service most enticingly.

Stephanie loves reading, working out, and indulging in home decor. Although she is of American origin, she is fond of South Indian and North Indian food, and her favorite travel destination is Bali, Indonesia.

Where did the idea for Success Step come from?

After completing my degree in electronics and communications, I got the opportunity to work with one of the leading technology companies. I have been a denizen of the startup ecosystem for almost a decade, gaining an immense experience in various fields and technologies. From artificial intelligence and machine learning to automation, analytics, and more, I have aligned myself with the best startups across the globe in the capacity of a digital marketer. It eventually led me to found Success Step to be able to give my 100% to each product that I was getting aligned with. Today, Success Steps is one of the industry’s top B2B inbound marketing agencies with proven credibility in the eCommerce and retail segments.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

My typical day is hectic! I’m still very much involved in the day-to-day tasks of my company. I make calls, answer tickets, visit clients, you name it. I do have an efficient and trustworthy team surrounding me, but I live and breathe marketing, so it’s hard for me to remove myself from each and every task.

Productivity hacks? Well, I don’t think of myself as a very organized and productive person. I always believe I could have done better. I haphazardly put things on my to-do list that have to get done. Then I prioritize them based on which one will bring in the most revenue (direct or indirect) and hyper-focus on getting it done.

I religiously work from 9 to 5 and don’t bring my work home. From 5 onwards I love spending time with my family.

How do you bring ideas to life?

I love to read. I challenge myself to master new things. I evaluate, form, and execute great ideas by using the knowledge I have acquired from tons of books over the years. I refuse to be intimidated — I believe not knowing everything is my power because if I knew everything, I wouldn’t be able to create anything spectacular.

When I have a new task at hand; first, I consult my library, then I talk to someone who might have some practical information on the project at hand.

Finally, I turn to the terrific colleagues I’ve cultivated over the years. They like to execute wild-haired ideas with me. This cadre of incredibly effective creators is generous with their time. They love to learn, just like me. I make sure we have a lot of fun working on something new.

What’s one trend that excites you?

The growing trend of world digitization excites me to the core. DVRs, computers, Kindles, Apple storage devices, portable hard drives, and all manner of technologies are designed to warehouse everything that can be converted to digital format. The urge to catalog all your old photos, music, and videos is strangely addictive. We digitize and save the stuff we will never listen to or look at but feel compelled to own.

But in the long run, it is incredible. Imagine right now if you could see your great-grandpa talking with your granddad when he was 21. The possibility of spreading information and educating the world promptly and cost-efficiently is tremendous. I love the idea of being able to access any information I want when I need it. Since I work in the digital marketing world, the implications of digitization on advertising are fascinating.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

Undivided focus. I am unsure if I should label it as a habit or just my brain condition, but I can fixate on one task at a time and pursue nothing else until it’s accomplished in the best possible way.

I work fast. I know a lot of entrepreneurs take considerable time perfecting a product before moving on to the next step. But for me, as soon as things start working and are semi-enjoyable, I release them and then work on them on the fly.

Getting to market fast with innovations and new features has been one of Success Steps’ most significant strengths over the years and has kept us competitive in an increasingly crowded space.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Charge reasonably and never underrate your services.
I lost a lot of money in year 1 of Success Steps because I didn’t charge for my services enough. The most common mistake for a beginner is trying to undercut the competition. They usually chase the economy of scale, and in my opinion, it’s a bad strategy.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

Never go for lifetime deals. Yes, you heard me right! Lifetime deals are a great way to ensure you can never sell your company. It also kills your future potential to make revenue.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

I always engage with my clients and do sales calls to build lasting relationships.

Always keep an eye on what people are asking for because when you lose sight of it, you lose sight of what makes your marketing agency different and unique.

By answering questions and engaging with your clients, you are leveraging the universal law of reciprocity. When you add value to your client’s business, the client adds value to you. It might come from new clients through word of mouth, revenue, portfolio, etc.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

I have recently started doing a podcast, and it has helped me a lot to grow my business! It has helped me spread my company’s name around and established myself as a “seasoned marketer” so that I could continue spreading the company’s name around.

When doing podcasts, my goal is never to promote myself or Success Steps but to add value to the audience through lessons learned.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

When I started Success Steps, I mistook my aggression and some good ideas for business savvy. I was oblivious to what I was doing. I was arrogant, leading to my tanking some unique ideas due to inexperience. Then I found a mentor, a person who worked with my ideas and understood all the things I didn’t at that time.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

No great business idea I care to spread comes to mind right now; however, I can give you a great perspective. Over the last couple of years, I have worked with dozens of clients that range from startups to a few Fortune 100 enterprises – and here is the key to success I have discovered that hardly anybody ever mentions: being NICE. You can be challenging and demanding, you can be arrogant with really high standards, and you can even be a little cutthroat and tough to work with, but you can do that all and still be a nice human being. Never be abusive. I am astonished at how small the business world is. You never know when your employee becomes your client or the guy you abused in some way now sits in the decision-making position of your biggest competitor. People remember the not-nice guy and they want to work with a nice person only.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

Beyond my family, my greatest extravagance is eating old-fashioned chocolate donuts, and most recently, I spent $100 on giving myself a little treat.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?

Workflowy is my go-to software for Project management.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

I recommend everyone to read Inside Advantage by Rob Bloom. It’s a unique and insightful book.

What is your favorite quote?

“If you help enough people get what they want, you will get what you want.” Zig Ziglar

Key Learnings:

• Read and keep yourself updated with innovation
• Charge reasonably and value your skills
• Connect with your customers, do pre-sales calls, build a relationship