Fleur Ottaway, Founder of Venture Digital, is our next amazing woman in business. She has tackled the IT domain. Tackled is the absolute best description, it's one of the most competitive markets out there (we should know :) ) What we love about what she's created is that she's not been swayed away from this great 'Venture' because it's a male dominated industry. On the contrary, she's met it head on.
Venture Digital provides ethical visibility and reputation marketing
services to local businesses in and around Barrie, Ontario. They utilize
public relations practices combined with today's technologies to bring
visibility to local businesses and build their reputation to make them the
business of choice for their target clients. Venture Digital also
provides reputation monitoring and public relations mitigation services. They have a branch of business for affordable web design, as well a
branch of business technology consulting & implementation coming
soon!
Here's how the story unfolded:
What made you pick your path as it is today? What about your chosen field drew you to it?
After dealing with some disabling health issues I found myself struggling in my general day-to-day
corporate job. I felt unfulfilled and unchallenged. Suddenly an opportunity came up where I was not
working for a company anymore and I was exploring having to work in Toronto to stay in an IT sector position. Between the commuting and the same stresses in the corporate IT world I realized that this isn’t the path for me, I need more freedom to push myself past my skills and more freedom of schedule to break away from the 9 to 5. This is when I decided to start my own business. In my spare time for the past 10 to 15 years I was volunteering for many organizations, helping them with their internet marketing, publicity, event planning, and business technologies. I found I always enjoyed digital marketing and publicity more than my daily IT job. I enjoy interacting with people and audiences more than working behind the scenes in IT. So I decided to start my business for marketing and PR in a digital world.
How did you decide or what made you decide that this passion for your chosen career could go from what you love to something others would value to?
It really was part of the realization that I was taking this on in my part-time volunteer roles and loving it so much more than the IT position I was doing full time. The organizations were in great need of these services and didn’t know enough about it to do it all themselves. As well it gave results; the organizations succeeded more when implementing these services as part of their overall activities.
Was there a time commitment to becoming an ‘expert’ in this field and what did you find challenging about this leg of the journey?
I did take a certificate program for digital marketing and certified in the Online Marketing Certified Practitioners (OMCP). For any of the technical aspects of my business, I attended Georgian College for 3 years. I took a diploma program in Computer Systems Technician and a post graduate studies in Cyberspace security. These courses set the groundwork but the hands on positions I did in my co-ops and after school is where I learned the most. I learn best by doing and that is probably why I have all this knowledge in internet marketing and public relations even though I never went to school for it. I also find marketing requires a lot of understanding of people, their personalities, habits, and beliefs. Having grown up in a household where my mother was running her own business in counseling and alternative healthcare I picked up many of these skills. They became ingrained into me.
Given where you are now, what do you find most challenging about getting your business going? How are you dealing with those concerns?
The thing I find most challenging is that I provide high quality work but in today’s economy people want to cut costs. I have been able to work with some of my services like my web design services to find a simple solution at an affordable rate however it is tougher when working with the subjective world of marketing. The things I am doing to work around this is, trying to find the best processes to deliver services to clients that are looking to cut costs as well as branching out into groups like BNI and soon heading south of Barrie for networking groups in Newmarket and Vaughan. To reach larger markets you have to be willing to spend extra time and money and that’s what I have come to realize and started to do.
Given your location how are you going to reach your customers? How do you plan your strategy for business direction or how would you once things get going?
In the Simcoe County region networking is key to building a business, as you move further South it
becomes more about visibility advertising and knowing the right people. As mentioned above I have
been branching into larger networking opportunities like BNI and groups south of Barrie. As I head
further south into the GTA I need to start looking at more paid advertising and making contacts in the
right places, which I usually am pretty good at.
My business direction is to grow, hire employees, and incorporate. All of this is in an effort to start
bidding on government and corporate contracts and eventually move into Asian markets. I want this
business to grow into a worldwide enterprise and support future employees and become a key player inthis industry.
Looking forward in time what is the one thing you hope your business brings to your customers?
I want my customers to feel appreciated and empowered with knowledge. I believe in great customer service and being transparent with my customers. Many of my clients appreciate that I keep them informed as well as teach them to understand the marketing and technical aspects of their business. They feel more at ease and confident and that’s what I want for my clients.
Fleur and her company Venture Digital can be found on:
All
to often I am around a gaggle of friends or in a group amongst women
and hear an amazing amount of creativity. They are batting around
ideas, knowledge and expertise in a multitude of areas and they do it
without breaking a sweat. I listen and think that idea / topic / skill
would be the start of a great business.
Something
strange happens though, when you suggest they pursue this idea further.
It's like watching a balloon deflate; like the world has just come in
on itself.
I'm met with many of these reasons, in no particular order...
- I'm not good enough at ______________ to be able to sell
- I wouldn't know how to get started
- I really don't have time
- I have no clue what I'm doing
- What I know people don't need
- No, no this is just my hobby
- I have to put my family first so can't
- I'm not organized enough to try
- I've never been good at following through so it would likely flop
- I'm so scared at the very thought I would rather bungee jump from a low hanging bridge
I was able to rhyme these off without batting an eyelash and
that's because sadly I hear it all too often. I feel strongly that for
many women who work from the home, and care for children and family, don't see their potential to take a piece of the pie in the business
world.
What I would love to see is more YES.
- YES. My idea has value and can make a difference
- YES. I can make the time to build something that is just for me,
even if it's during my children's nap time and I don't get the laundry
done
- YES. I can make a future for myself that involves me being financially independent
- YES. I can learn how to get things started, because I'm all kinds of brilliant
- YES. I have ENOUGH skills to make my idea a success.
Ladies of the world: Say YES! To your ideas, your dreams, YOUR SUCCESS, and to YOU!
"According to all known laws of aviation, there's no way a bee should be able to fly. It's wings are too small to lift its fat little body off the ground. The bee of course flies anyway - because bees don't care what humans think is impossible". ~ The Bee Movie
How many time have you told yourself you won't be able to do ABC? ABC being the plethora of new ideas you have for yourself or business. How many times have you been told an idea you've had for a new hobby or business was not likely to 'work' due to some kind of garbage input?
If the bee listened to any of our 'scientific' findings it would certainly take a hell of a lot longer for them to pollinate our crops and make our gardens lovely year after year. Not to mention HONEY! Not having that lovely bi-product of all their buzzing around would make my tea lifeless and boring.
So what ideas have you for a new business that you talk yourself out of? What new paths for your existing business are you shutting down because of this very same thinking? Do you realize by saying NO or being told no to these ideas that you are depriving a person of their honey?
Take Walt Disney for example he was fired by a newspaper editor because he "lacked imagination". Well we all know what he did with that input. Vera Wang is another interesting story, she failed to make the U.S. Skating Team so became an editor at Vogue but was passed over the Editor-In-Chief position. Having been passed over enough she started designing wedding dresses and has now amassed a business which boasts over 1 billion in earnings.
What business processes are not working for you but you're too scared to change them up? Perhaps you have an idea to increase profits by taking your business options online and into the hands of your customers. Are you overworked and in need of software for your business that would make your life easier? Whatever the scenario all of these ideas have value.
So be like a bee my friend; ignore the voices and FLY!
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Listen, very rarely will people be so willing to separate from their cash as they will this time of year. Nothing is higher on peoples list than making those people they love happy. It's a need that drives people to scour the internet looking for YOU. Last year in just the U.S. there was an estimated 191.1 million online shoppers, by 2018 they are projecting that number to be 215.1 million (http://www.statista.com/statistics/183755/number-of-us-internet-shoppers-since-2009/). Can your company afford to miss the opportunity of this growth? 
