"Whatever your goals, clear communication is the key to success".
Welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview with Melitta Campbell, a dynamic business coach making waves in the world of entrepreneurship. Melitta’s journey is one defined by resilience, innovation, and a passionate commitment to empowering women in business.
With over 15 years of experience, she has become a sought-after mentor for small business owners, particularly women looking to achieve flexibility and success in their professional lives.
Melitta’s story unfolds as she shares the evolution of her career, transitioning from consulting for large corporations to a more focused approach on small businesses. She recognized a common hurdle among these smaller enterprises – the struggle to articulate their true value, a challenge she resolved with her unique system, “The Dream Clients Blueprint.”
This blueprint not only helps businesses refine their communication but also enhances their business model and mindset, ultimately ensuring a compelling offering that resonates with clients and investors.
Join us as we delve into Melitta’s insights on effective communication, leadership, and the ever-evolving landscape of entrepreneurship. In this exclusive interview, you’ll discover the secrets behind her success and her vision for helping women believe in and communicate their true value in business.
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Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Melitta Campbell: I started my business 15-years ago. I wanted to have flexible, meaningful work and time to raise my family.
I started out consulting for large organisations on their communications. But, six years in I switched my focus to small businesses.
More small businesses fail in their first three years than succeed. For many, it’s because they can’t articulate the value their business offers. So they miss out on the clients, investment and opportunities they need to succeed. Having spent my early career working for smaller companies, I wanted to step in and help.
I created a system called: The Dream Clients Blueprint. It guides them in creating compelling communications. But also works on their business model and mindset. This ensures they have their value packaged into a compelling offer. And that they have the confidence to talk about their business in any situation. My work that has earned me, the title: The Value Whisperer.
Since pivoting, I’ve helped hundreds of small business owners. Many were women like me, who started their business for more flexibility.
In doing so, I found another problem.
Many women who start a business are isolated. Meaning, they don’t have easy access to business knowledge, networks or support.
Building a business is already hard. But this lack of resources, makes success even harder. So, three years ago, I started the Driven Female Entrepreneur podcast.
My goal is to provide them practical business guidance and mentorship. To do this, each week on the show I share my own expertise and interviewing a range of successful women.
I’m now on a mission is to help a million women believe in and communicate their true value. So they can run a successful business that supports a balanced life.
Quiet quitting, The Great Resignation, are an ongoing trend causing many businesses to struggle to keep talent engaged and motivated. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued, and misunderstood in the workplace. In your experience, what keeps employees happy? And how are you adapting to the current shift we see?
Melitta Campbell: In my corporate career, I specialised in internal communications. And I often coached leaders in effective communication. I saw how communication impacts culture. And how culture impacts employee satisfaction and high performance.
When an employee feels connected to the company’s mission, they willingly work towards its goals. Often ‘going the extra mile’ to do so.
But they need to feel the company mission throughout the organisation. This requires effective leadership communication at every level of the organisation. Sadly, few people are ever taught what effective communication is. Yet a few core skills go a very long way in this respect.
Here is a two-fold question: What is the book that influenced you the most and how? Please share some life lessons you learned. Now what book have you gifted the most and why?
Melitta Campbell: This is such a hard question to answer. I love books and I’m an avid reader. I like to read two or three books at a time. In doing so, I gain inspiration and spot patterns that give me new insights. And often these small insights lead to big breakthroughs.
So it’s hard to recommend just one book. I would recommend reading as widely as you can – and across a range of genres too. As to what book I gift most often. That’s easy. It’s my own book: A Shy Girl’s Guide to Networking.
Networking skills are all about clear communication, authenticity and relationship building. So you could also call it leadership, marketing or personal branding.
When you can network well, and with confidence, you start to achieve more in other areas of your life too. So I always love gifting a copy of my book.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as THE real challenge right now?
Melitta Campbell: I have a motto: “Whatever your goals, clear communication is the key to success”.
I see this as both an obstacle and opportunity for growth.
An obstacle, as few people are ever trained in effective communication. I have worked in this area for three decades. And even I sometimes struggle when it comes to communicating my own value. It’s very different to communicating on behalf of someone else, and hard to do alone.
But, it’s also a huge opportunity. Communication done well is highly cost effective. And, as so few people do it well, it’s an opportunity to stand out and attract the right people and opportunities. I’m excited to help business leaders capitalise on this opportunity, so they can have a bigger and more positive impact.
In your experience, what tends to be the most underestimated part of running a company? Can you share an example?
Melitta Campbell: I think one of the biggest challenges is keeping everything in balance. It’s easy to focus on the success of the company, and put your own needs last. But a healthy company needs healthy leadership.
Running a business around my family has forced me to put clear boundaries around my work time, family time and my own needs. And I’m grateful for that.
It’s taught me how to be my most productive. I rank my activities Gold, Silver or Bronze according to the standard to which they need to be completed. This helps me spend the appropriate amount of time and energy on different tasks. I used to treat everything as a gold standard task. In reality, most are Bronze level. Recognising this alone, as saved me a huge amount of time.
And it’s taught me that self-compassion is at the heart of success. I’m now much kinder to myself and that saves me time. I give myself space to learn and make mistakes. This has supported my professional and business growth. And I have given myself permission to trust my own instincts. This includes ignoring good advice that doesn’t feel right for me and my vision.
I don’t always it get right. But I’m now quicker to recognise when I need to work on my balance. And I have tools to help me.
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Melitta Campbell: What a great question! I think I’d like the ability to rewind time. While I’ve learned that mistakes are good, they teach us what it takes to get things right. It would be nice to be able to test things out first, and then if it doesn’t work rewind and try again.
I appreciate that success takes time. But I’m also impatient. At the end of the day, I just want to help people. So this superpower would help me serve more people faster.
Jerome Knyszewski, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Melitta Campbell for taking the time to do this interview and share her knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Melitta Campbell or her company, you can do it through her – Linkedin Page
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