Louisa O'Connor

Deadlines can feel overwhelming if they are all tacking up on top of each other. Break your deadlines down - within the main deadline are there smaller ones that can be spaced out.... Create a detailed to do list that relates to your deadlines - it will help you see the wood for the trees and prioritise

In all honesty you can’t fully prepare for the role of MD. Everyday will throw up a new challenge that you won’t have navigated before. You’ll swap day to day stress with a new stress - how am I going to make sure this business stays successful enough to keep everyone here. That’s a new responsibility you don’t really feel until you’re in it. Prepare to be patient, prepare that all your plans will need to change, prepare to be a chameleon and prepare for your time to be 80% people, 20% business. Prepare to be relentlessly resilient and to learn how to not take things personally

The main tool to use is something that allows you to list a goal, a deadline for that goal, an owner of that goal and feedback. Brand strategy is and should be collaborative - usually there are many stakeholders. You need to efficiently store and track feedback as often it will contradict. This may affect deadlines. When all parties - agency and stakeholders - see that collated feedback and how it affects deadlines it easier to manage. Monday.com can be good for this

Meet people. Talk to then and get their insight. But more than anything, get on site. You’ll learn so much just by absorbing everything around you. Degrees, books etc won’t get you very far as events are unpredictable. The more hands on you can be the more you’ll learn

Meet people. Talk to then and get their insight. But more than anything, get on site. You’ll learn so much just by absorbing everything around you. Degrees, books etc won’t get you very far as events are unpredictable. The more hands on you can be the more you’ll learn

Strategies can often be tactical without actually digging into what the market and consumer wants. If your strategy isn’t authentic, bedded in first hand insight then the marketing you deliver won’t resonate with your audience