Meet Dallas McLaughlin

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dallas McLaughlin. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dallas below.

Hi Dallas, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.
I haven’t. I don’t think I ever will. I own a successful business that generates incredible results for my clients, but that doesn’t mean I don’t wonder everyday if I belong in this position, running this business, winning these awards and being rewarded by my client’s continual investment in me and my ideas.

But for me, imposter syndrome is core to the success I’ve had. For me, this feeling of wondering if I deserve any of this or any other opportunities I had earlier in my career is what has kept me sharp. It has always been the motivator that has kept me striving for more. My imposter syndrome has pushed me to do more research, improve my craft, acquire new skills, refine my approach, hone my presentation, reach for better results. It’s why I’ve never been complacent or stagnant in my career, even though deep down I know there are very few questioning me or my capabilities. But accepting that doesn’t help me at all.

To me, the ones who don’t experience imposter syndrome, those overly confident entrepreneurs among us are the ones who are in the most danger. They’re the ones who think they deserve their success, like it’s owed to them. They are the ones who need to overcome their entitlement and maybe embrace some imposter syndrome, to reflect inwards and look for areas they can push themselves to find a bit more talent.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I own a business which offers direct-to-expert advertising services, working with fast-growing ambitious brands who demand outsized performance and measurable results from their advertising programs. This business model runs counter to slow, expensive legacy advertising agencies which are relics of the past, developed in a bygone era, ill-suited for today’s fast-paced digital landscape.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I think I understood early on that that while we all have equally opportunity, it is not distributed equally from the start. I couldn’t control what opportunities I was given, but I could control what opportunities I created.

For me this understanding meant that I had to play a lot of catch up. To do that I had to demonstrate a work ethic beyond what the people to my left and right were willing to do. I had to say yes to a lot of things, whether I knew I could do it or not.

This level of workload and ability to take anything on was short-term beneficial, but long term unsustainable so I learned that my work had to also produce demonstrably outsized results. So for me, putting in a huge amount of hours was one important element of my career, raising my hand to tackle internal roles when other people wouldn’t, and also focusing those hours and those projects on areas that had asymmetrical upside to me and the business.

Tell us what your ideal client would be like?
What I’ve learned in my career, and now owning my own business, is that I have a unique set of skills that aren’t compatible with all brands and businesses and it’s incredibly important for me to qualify my clients through this lens for long-term success of my business and the clients I partner with.

If you think about how most advertising agencies qualify their inbound sales opportunities it’s typically a mix of client budget, industry experience, team availability and cross-sell opportunities into other departments. It’s really not a matter of if the agency can be successful for the client. It’s more of a question of how much revenue can the agency extract before the performance of the advertising comes into question. This is why the average length of an agency client relationship is increasingly shrinking.

For me, the clients that are the best fit, who are best able to take advantage of my unique skillset, are businesses who already have a certain level of business acumen, who understand what we’re discussing, who are inspired to grow fast, take risks, challenge the status quo and reinvest in opportunities that are measurably outperforming expectations. The best clients view their marketing dollars as soldiers that they send out to battle each morning, knowing that they will return, having grown in numbers and ready to be sent out again to win more battles and conquer more marketshare.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Sydney Sherman Photography https://www.sydneyshermanphotography.com/

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