Wow.. it has been quite a journey.
I established Above Digital (formerly known as Salony Creations) as a web development agency in 2004.
I made the first website when I was 18 years old, in the year 1998!
Ok now, if you are calculating my age, let me make it easy for you… I turned 43 this year! ?
Back then I would make websites and try to rank them on Google, Ask Jeeves ( I wonder if any of you is from that ERA at all!), and not to forget Yahoo.
Fun times!
Rather I should say… easy days!
(For SEO!?)
I have always been passionate about the web and even though transitioning from a Web Development Agency to Digital Marketing has been a thorough and slow proces
s, I have enjoyed every bit of the journey.
In 2005 we introduced Google Ads and Email Marketing. Then came Facebook Ads in 2007-2008 and by then we had become a full-service digital agency.
In these 18 years, we have seen 3 recessions – 2008, 2014, and the most recent one 2020 and survived them all.
As I was waiting to renew my trade license at the Economics Department today, I started thinking of the most important lessons I have le
arned running my agency in the last 18 years and I would love to share them with you.
Lesson 1.
Never STOP learning
I truly believe the reason we have survived and grown is that I have never stopped learning.
I have never stopped investing in training and education of new tech, new software, writing effective copy, creating beautiful Ads for myself and my team.
Even today we spend more than USD 1000 a month in buying training, education, and coaching for myself and my team which helps us to stay on top of our game.
We need to constantly improve to become our best selves. Stephen Covey the author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People calls this “Sharpening the Saw”; it is his 7th habit. He says that sharpening the saw “means preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have which is – YOU!
Always invest time and resources in learning new skills in whatever you are doing. It will help you stay on top and be the best. Your clients (or customers) deserve nothing but your best efforts.
Lesson 2.
When my clients will win – I will win
I learned this very early from my sales coach Ramez Helou.
He would say, Namita the best way to survive and grow a company is by having repeat business. And why will customers come back to you? When you help them reach their goals with your services.
I took this advice of Ramez very seriously and made this our company philosophy.
We Grow When Our Clients Grow.
To prove this to our clients I started offering a 100% money-back guarantee, which means that if they don’t get results in what we are doing for them, we refund them their funds and part ways amicably with them.
Just the other day, my first-ever Spa client, Shahida – founder of Spa Dunya and owner of organic cosmetics brand Altearah, shared the conversation we had when we met for the first time, with her beautiful daughter while we were dining at a Greek restaurant at JLT.
Shahida started working with us in 2012 and what she told her daughter reinforced my belief that I grow when my clients grow.
She said:
Namita gave me a deal I couldn’t reject.! She said if you don’t see the results don’t pay us.
I thought to myself there is nothing to lose. Let’s give it a try!
And the rest is history. Our first-ever digital campaign for Spa Dunya was a huge success and we went on to do business together for years to come.
—
As a boutique agency, we have a certain limit on the number of accounts we can handle.
And you would be surprised to hear that 90% of our current clients have been with us for 5+ years, with our oldest client having been with us for about 8 years.
Always give your best effort and best service to every client of yours. Because if they are happy and they are seeing the results they will keep coming back to you. They will also pay a premium to be with you.
I always say this in my presentations and public speaking seminars – Be the Apple (the company Apple ?) of your industry.
Make your clients your loyal fans so they don’t see anything beyond you and nothing can stop you from being successful.
Lesson 3.
Have the right people by your side. Your team
I learned this the hard way.
I started as a freelancer back in the year 2000. I was amazing at delegating. I created an outsourced team on Elance (now it’s called Upwork) and had my designer in Venezuela, Google Ads executive in Pakistan, and my development team in Serbia. Yup… I had an international team!
I would sell during the day and in the evening I would delegate all the deliverables.
As my outsourced team was in different time zones, I was able to get more done as by the time they would wake up they would have the tasks on the table and within 24 – 48 hours I would get the first draft.
I was churning projects fast!
As I grew I realized I was working 18 hours a day. And it was becoming very difficult and affecting my personal life.
That’s when I decided to start having an in-house team.
I started hiring one at a time.
Having an outsourced team is very different than having an in-house team.
Then came new problems. The struggle of managing people.
As I was a perfectionist, I would expect my people to be perfectionists as well. This is where I was wrong.
An acquaintance once told me…
Namita, stop being the Sachin Tendulkar of your company. Become Dhoni and you will be able to manage your team better and WIN. (Under Dhoni, India won the World Cup! remember? ?)
This changed everything. I started learning how to manage people and there was a time we had more than 50 people employed between our 2 offices (Dubai and a branch office in India)
Choose your team wisely. Invest time in hiring. And be quick to let go of the wrong people. Wrong people on your team will cost you more and affect your profitability.
There are many other lessons I have learned along the way. As I get Consistent in writing these mailers I will be surely sharing many more in the coming months.
Meanwhile, I want to thank you for being part of this journey with me. For reading my emails. For doing business with us. For joining our training. (However, we have met!)
I welcome your wishes for Above Digital’s 18th birthday with a quick reply.?
Wishing you success as always,
Namita Ramani
Founder & CEO
Above Digital
P.S
I received a tonne of replies on the first newsletter I sent about a month back. If you have missed reading it, here is the link!
If you would like to get your website or your Facebook ad campaigns audited click here to request for the same.