Friday the 27th of June was a big day for all of those nominated for the Telstra Business Awards in South Australia. Everyone here at Digital Marketing AOK was nervous and excited to be involved in such an amazing event after being nominated in the start-up business category at the start of the year.
With a lot of preparation leading towards the night and the thought of winning an award for all their hard work, nominees were itching to find out the results.
Unfortunately Digital Marketing AOK did not win, but spirits are not dampened too much as it was still a great opportunity to gain connections and grow the business even further, plus it was a night to celebrate two years since the business kicked off.
Being one of five finalists, Simone and Justin Douglas are still more than happy to have made it so far in the awards. Having already done work with a few of the other businesses in the finalists’ stage they feel as though they are heading in the right direction. Raising a family and building a business isn’t easy work and it takes a lot of time and commitment to get to your name out there. They say it takes a village to raise a child, the same is also true of business; it takes a village, a community of support to help a new business to grow to survive and to thrive.
When you compare each of the finalists in the start-up category it is easy to see that there are a lot of hard working businesses out there. Digital Marketing AOK would like to congratulate the winners of the start-up category Zoi Kokoti and Stephen Lowery from Eire Café.
Having met Zoi previously to talk all things Social long before the awards, it is clear that they have put in a lot of effort to grow their business in such a short amount of time. Since the beginning of their business in March 2013, the business has successfully increased their revenue three- fold and grown their staff to six.
Just being involved in the Telstra Business Awards has been a massive advantage to Social Media AOK. The awards are well-known all over the world and it has allowed the business to gain connections and give them national exposure. All finalists and winners also join the Telstra Australian Business Awards Network, a massive bonus when trying to get your name out there to the rest of the world.
So for all those businesses just starting out, it does take a lot of hard work and a bit of juggling around, especially when looking after a family too but in continuing what Social Media AOK believes a little known proud SA tradition here are the top five things people have told us that have stuck with us.
1. Before signing anything or spending any money always ask ‘Is it Desirable or essential”
2. “Feed the FAMILY FIRST and the EGO second
3. When you are growing a successful business you can’t have work life balance but you can have work life Harmony.
4. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care
5. Being successful in business is a 3 stage process you have to start with Visibility move on to credibility before you will get profitability.
