Nailing It – Ashton Bishop

This weeks’ Nailing it is dedicated to predatory marketing guru: Ashton Bishop.

Ashton started Step Change Marketing 4-years ago and immediately went about creating the sort of work for his agency as he’d want to deliver for clients.

This sort of “Do as I do, (not just as I say)” attitude is noticeably absent from most marketing companies.

A funny and poignant advertisement they created called “no wankers” told job hopefuls what they were looking for in staffing. It remains one of the most viewed videos on Mumbrella.

ED: This made me laugh (I don’t LOL or ROFL)

To get clients for their startup agency they opted for a live event strategy, where Ash and his team could prove their worth.  Stump The Strategist was born on the premise – give us your juiciest marketing problems and we have 9 minutes to solve it.

The live audience determines if the problem is solved or if the strategists are stumped.

Both initiatives were effective, cheap and connected to their brand. This and hard work has meant the Agency has won the following accolades.

– Anthill – Top 100 Coolest Companies in Australia – 2013
– AdNews Awards – Finalist – Small Agency of the Year 2013
– AdNews Awards – Finalist – Specialist Agency of the Year 2013
– Mumbrella Awards – Finalist – Specialist Agency of the Year 2014

At the same time Ash won the following personal accolades.

– TEC Speaker of the Year 2013
– TEC Best New Speaker 2011-12

At the same time as running his business at 300%+ year-on-year, developing award-winning work and growing the team, Ash found time to create the worlds most prolific cartoon using crowd sourcing. – Eric the Circle.

But, to be ‘nailing it’, you have to do more than demonstrate business success.

His 2 adorable children were born at the same time as growing his startup.  In my experience a startup business is easier than a startup human.

It’s not all been beer and skittles, Ash’s dealt with the loss of his mentor RU OK Day founder Gavin Larkin.  He’s undergone multiple hospitalizations related to injuries and rehabilitation from a past life as a black belt martial artist.

Ashton maintains this amazing brain and work ethic under a simple, informal, funny and composed demeanor. He never complains about his full book and always returns calls. He gets my nomination this week because of his integrity.

He doesn’t talk about clients achieving massive improvements in theoretical terms, he embodies what it takes to achieve phenomenal business and personal growth.

To this end, I’m really excited to see how his next venture “Agent Yang” will go.  It’s related to Step Change Marketing and hopefully will have even great success.

Ash you are “nailing it” – no matter how the next venture goes. I salute you.  Thank you for your example