Directing attention where it is most needed is a primal task of leadership. The ability to shift focus to the right place at the right time, sensing trends, emerging realities, and opportunities are some instigating characteristics of an influential leader. According to Jasmine Panayotov, Managing Partner at Proceed Innovative, the most important characteristic of a leader is the ability to stay focused and be effective in your work. In her opinion, this helps you keep the cost of your products or services competitive and provide high value to your clients. Challenges come from so many new shining opportunities that may appear to be the next best service/product, but a leader needs to be instinctive enough to recognize the most optimistic product.
Taking risks to Success
Being a computer science graduate, web development was a part of Jasmine’s work profile initially. Later on Jasmine developed an inclination towards entrepreneurship, as she wanted to have control over her work. It bothered her to see people working on projects that do not have any practical application and are just wasting a company’s time and money. The pivotal moment in Jasmine’s career came when the owner of the agency she worked for decided to retire. Being at the right place and with the right mind set at that time, Jasmine made an offer to buy the agency. It was a risky move for Jasmine, but it was also a once in a lifetime opportunity for her.
A Childhood Shaping an Eccentric Character
Jasmine was born and raised in Bulgaria. Even though her parents were well educated and were working mainly for the government, they would on many occasions pick up a second job which was usually hard labor seasonal work. This was her parent’s decision and a way to support her family. They relied on hard work and never complained or saw things as being unfair. Jasmine and her sister had to help her parents through all of this and support them, something she was not happy about back then. Many of her friends spent their summer days care-free and she had to work most days, sometimes from 6 in the morning until 7-8 at night. Back then Jasmine could never understand her mother, but now she understands it. She is glad to learn several lessons from her childhood that helped her become who she is today.
Proceed with Innovative Marketing Ideas
Proceed Innovative is a small but progressive digital marketing agency. They work with clients to help them design the right website and implement the right strategies to attract the relevant traffic. Proceed Innovative prioritize the effectiveness of the strategies as well as the website elements/areas. With an aim to become more than just a vendor, they help marketers /and business owners to understand, how to measure the two main elements of any Internet marketing project and stay competitive without wasting marketing dollars, and leading to becoming a partner for life.
Inspired by their Clients’ Success
The most important and challenging decisions for Jasmine are related to the company’s core focus; SEO and PPC. There are so many new products introduced to the market on a daily basis, and Jasmine and her team have to determine what would make a difference for their clients and help them to stay true to their values. The team at Proceed Innovative is truly inspired by their clients’ success. Jasmine says, “The best part of our weekly production meetings is, sharing clients’ successful stories and monthly sales revenue numbers that are direct results of our work and what our clients share with us.” According to her, everyone likes to be a winner and its her job to get them there.
Respect for other Business Leaders
Every leader is molded by someone they consider to be a role model. For Jasmine there have been few, as she says, “I can’t say I have only one role model.” Reading their books and somewhere connecting with them, Jasmine was inspired by lots of business leaders, including Tony Robbins, Joel Osteen, John Maxwell. Listening to others is another good trait of a business leader, as Jasmine says, “Everyone tells something important that I use on a daily basis.” Jasmine has always liked and respected business leaders who truly care about the people in their organizations. She has always understood that if the team knows you will do the very best for them, they will work very hard to do the very best for you and your company’s clients.
Passionate about Work
A team works well when everyone is enjoying what they do. Similarly, Jasmine has always wanted the people who work for her to feel passionate about their work and take joy in it. Recently, Jasmine asked one of the team members “what would you do if you win the lottery tomorrow, will you retire?” His answer was “No, I will be here next week. I love my work.” A team’s work culture also defines how every employee feels working there. Jasmine has always felt that the best results come when people love their work and are passionate about their clients’ success. And she feels very fortunate to have found such people.
Listen to your Team
To ensure her continued growth with respect to leading her company successfully, Jasmine reads business classics and listens to talks by successful business leaders. Jasmine pursues personal growth and learning every day, and she encourages her team to do the same.
Having learnt lots of lessons leading a company, Jasmine has some suggestions to the new leaders in an organization. She says, “Listen to your team. Don’t try to please everyone because you can’t. Identify the values of your organization and work with people who truly support them.”