Q 1. Kindly give our readers an introduction to your business. Please include what your business is all about, in which city you are located and if you have offices in multiple locations/ cities.
Ans: Lemon Tree Marketing is not just another marketing agency. Our goals are not to create pretty pictures and win awards. To us, successful marketing is about effectively talking to your customers. We’re not “consultants” who advise on everything and do nothing. We don’t fluff around. With a spirited attitude we work with businesses to understand find the best way to communicate with their customers. We understand every project is different so we only involve the specialists required for the marketing needs specific to their business so the cost of communicating with customers is never more than it should be.
Q 2. Kindly give us a brief description about yourself (it should include your brief educational or entrepreneurial background and list some of your major achievements).
Ans: I have a degree in psychology and business administration.
I started my career working as a strategic planner and consumer psychologist at a global advertising agency working for brands like coca cola and Kraft.
After travelling for many years in various countries working and studying I decided to move to Australia to do my masters and settle. I completed a masters of Business Marketing and worked for different local companies and small advertising agencies.
I then decided it was time to go on my own and founded lemon tree in 2012.
Q 3. What inspired you to (start a new business venture) or (to make significant changes in an existing business)? How did the idea for your business come about?
Ans: I saw a gap in the market where SME’s where lacking good marketing strategy and planning because the either could not afford a full time marketing manager and team or where not ready yet for the big advertising agencies. Lemon Tree marketing was created to close that gap, to provide SME with affordable and flexible marketing and advertising services that will allow them to grow and step out of the SME category.
Q 4. What three pieces of advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs?
Ans: 1. Have a clear vision of what you want to achieve. It may change a little on the way but having set goal posts makes it clear where you are going and the best way to get there.
2. Have fun doing it. If it becomes more stress than fun reassess. Maybe the balance isn’t right, readjust. But not having fun is a sign something is not working.
3. Don’t do it solo. Surround yourself with awesome, talented people who complement your skills.
Q 5. What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
Ans: 1. Motivation is always going to be number one because that’s what drives entrepreneurs to achieve what other people don’t care to, or can’t.
2. People skills. If you can’t create a great culture and you can’t relate to people you can only achieve so much.
3. Humour. If you can’t laugh at the ridiculous situations that arise you’ll never make it.
Q 6. How many hours do you work a day on average?
Ans: About 8 to 10 hours a day 6 days per week. Owning your own business is not less work is more work but more rewarding.
Q 7. To what do you most attribute your success?
Ans: I think a huge part of our success is that we build solid relationships with our clients. We deliver great marketing solutions but I think our clients genuinely like us. That makes them more likely to recommend us to other businesses. We get so much of our work through word of mouth.
Q 8. How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?
Ans: As I mentioned before, we get so much of our work through referrals, which is fabulous as it directly indicates our customers are happy with their results. We also put a great deal of time into creating a website that really reflected our business and our offering so we get leads through that channel. We’re creating a greater social media presence and running workshops. Traditionally we’ve had organic growth which has allowed us to spend the right amount of time working with our clients and on our business.
Q 9. Where did your organisations funding/capital come from and how did you go about getting it? How did you obtain investors for your venture?
Ans: We started with virtually no overheads. We run our business in a very progressive and dynamic way.
Q 10. What is the best way to achieve long-term success?
Ans: Plan, review, revise, plan, review revise, plan review revise. You get it. You must have a plan of what success looks like and then constantly be revising and refining the best way to get there
Q 11. Where you see yourself and your business in 5 – 10 years?
Ans: Hopefully we continue to grow, have a larger portfolio of clients and contine to be passition about the work we do like I am now.
Q 12. Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most?
Ans: I really respect Lulu lemon. They have grown so rapidly internationally, but have remained true to their core vision. They have successfully created a local presence on an International level. They have a great product that delivers solutions to their consumers and they have a brilliant marketing strategy.
Q 13. How important have good employees been to your success?
Ans: The contribution of good employees is immeasurable. Having talented people to support you that you trust is a huge part of our success. It’s also essential for sanity having like-minded to have a laugh with throughout the day.
Q 14. How do you build a successful customer base?
Ans: Many of our clients we’ve been working with for extended periods of time. We build solid relationships with them so they continue to use our services and recommend us to their friends. We have communications strategies in place to ensure we stay in touch with our customers.
Q 15. What is your favourite aspect of being an entrepreneur?
Ans: Working my own hours, being my own boss, getting excited every morning to start working
Q 16. What do you feel is the major difference between entrepreneurs and those who work for someone else?
Ans: Many people don’t want to be an entrepreneur. There’s a certain amount of stress, risk taking and always uncertainty. So it’s definitely a certain type of person who thrives off these things that is the defining difference between someone who is an entrepreneur and someone who would prefer to work for someone. I would also say entrepreneurs are visionaries. They want to put their marl on the world in some way.
Q 17. In one word, characterise your life as an entrepreneur.
Ans: Passionate
Company Details :
Company name : Lemon Tree Marketing
Address : 37 Christine Avenue
City : Gold Coast
State : QLD
Zip Code : 4220
Tel No : 0424867866
