Melonie Dodaro is an author, speaker and consultant to small business owners helping them mainly in the digital arena and specifically with getting more out of the appropriate social platforms to each business.
Ms. Dodaro is the author of the #1 international bestseller The LinkedIn Code. She’s also been dubbed by the media as Canada’s #1 LinkedIn expert.
In this episode, she shares her biggest mistake, the #1 path she’d take today if she had to start over with only her knowledge and experience but no business or capital savings, and the counterintuitive things that have led her to business success.
Melonie has a natural gift to see trends. She owned some locations of a franchise business in the health industry. At the corporate level, this company got complacent. They had been number one for a while and were not keeping up with what their main competitor was doing.
Ms. Dodaro saw the writing on the wall. She could see the main competitor was using technology and media positioning maneuvers to sprint past her franchise. Instead of riding it out to the bottom, she sold her locations near the top of their price.
It took a little longer than she suspected but that competitor did overtake the franchise she was part of. Those franchisees who stayed behind saw the value of their businesses go down significantly.
Dodaro took a little time off before venturing into uncharted digital waters. She admits, “Even though I now run a social media agency, technology and the social platforms didn’t come easy to me. I was a bit of a slow learner but persevered because I believed unlocking their power and reach would be critical to my business.”
But she was determined and persevered through the learning curve. She’s now one of the top social media trainers and consultants in the world, especially focusing on LinkedIn.
One big piece of advice she shares in the episode is, “For over a decade I owned a number of different franchised weight loss centers. I sold them years ago. Then I wrote a book. Over the years, I’d spent hundreds of thousands of dollars per year on traditional marketing through print, TV, and radio promoting my weight loss business. But I was smart enough to know I didn’t know how to promote a book.”
After doing more than 30 of these interview episodes, host Clint Evans agrees that the most successful business owners are able to set aside their ego for the good of the business. Emotional pettiness has damaged many businesses out there. Any business owner would be wise to prioritize profits and business growth over rivals or sleights (whether perceived or real).
Learn more about Melonie at http://TopDogSocialMedia.com/. Listen to this episode of Hidden Profit Path on Oct 28th here: http://StandOutAuthority.com/biz-rocket-fuel/