Monday, January 20, 2014

Richard Simmonds of NewBrandYOU

Name: Richard Simmonds                           
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa    
Company: NewBrandYOU
Favorite Tweeter: @AlphabetSuccess

1.    1. Please provide a 2 sentence biography for yourself and/or mission statement.
               
Strategic Communication Expert. My mission is to be and I am an Influential RuleBreaker & ChangeMaker, during the second half of 2013 I was listed amongst the top 10 social influencers in Africa.

2.   2. Describe your business and why you started it.  What is it that differentiates your business model from others?

I started my business so that I could help people solve their communication problems. I look for people with communications as a strength and not a qualification to work with me in my business. Our combined strengths help our clients become better communicators.

3.   3. What is one example of success you have experienced in your business and what characteristic helped you achieve it?

One of the biggest successes I have been involved in is the @N3Route project, they are the ‘Worlds Most Social Road’. The client gave me free reign to accomplish the goal of communicating with their users to the point that they were world class. I have trained the internal staff to think like we did and communicate to be social. Freeing up this time enables us to help other companies become better communicators.

4.    4. Which entrepreneur inspires you and why?  What industry do they work in and what accomplishment is unique to them?

Tim Fargo @AlphabetSuccess inspires me because I have not met a better nurturer of people in all my time. Tim is an entrepreneur and despite making his fortune already still nurtures people as if he was looking for business in a traditional sense, nut he is not and that’s what makes Tim unconventional.

5.    5. What is one development you foresee in your industry in the next 10 years?

We are yet to see what the power of true authentic influence can have on the world. This influence is one that is communicated and I will be there helping the top influencers in the world communicate more effectively.

6.   6. What trait is most important to succeeding in entrepreneurship?

The ability to solve peoples problems, you need to be able to identify and help people solve their problems. If you cannot solve problems, you are simply offering a service and no one will pay big money for a service.

      7. What is one piece of advice you would give to someone considering starting a business?

You need to be able to communicate and many people seem to think that is the ‘gift of the gab’ but in reality it is the ability to listen and listen beautifully to people. You will then find out what their problems are.

8.   8. What if your favorite book on entrepreneurship and one lesson you learned?

My favorite entrepreneurial book of all time is ‘Re-Imagine’ by Tom Peters. The book opens your mind to what was old and what is new. When you get the spirit of the book to always look what people did as to what they should be doing, you begin to align yourself to be able to solve people’s problems.


My lesson was “Don’t try convince clients they've got problems. Find clients who know they've got problems and solve those problems.”

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