Member Since October 2020
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About
Vanessa Merit Nornberg is the owner of Metal Mafia, a jewelry manufacturer and distributor which has twice been named to the Inc 5000 list of America’s fastest growing privately-owned companies. Vanessa’s calling has always been selling—and she believes that every move an entrepreneur makes, from starting-up to exiting, should be about making the sale. She is the author of the weekly In the Trenches, column on Inc.com, and her writing has also been featured on the Huffington Post, Forbes.com, and others. Vanessa believes that entrepreneurship is the last avenue of class mobility, and thus, regularly speaks with high school students across the country.
Vanessa Nornberg
Published content
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Be yourself and be curious, and the right people will find you. In business, who you know is everything. That means building real connections — ones you can count on, that go beyond surface-level acquaintances — should be a high priority for professionals looking to advance in their careers or business. However, just networking likely won’t get you the kind of relationships you’ll need to succeed. To build real connections, follow the 16 tips outlined by the culture and business experts of Rolling Stone Culture Council and see why being intentional about your relationships can propel you forward far faster than just networking alone.
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Content is king — so why not use it to attract more customers? In today’s online, social-media-driven age, nothing attracts potential customers to a business quite like content marketing. Whether it’s a humorous video, an educational blog post or just consistent, engaging social media posts, content that grabs customers’ attention and keeps them coming back for more is the secret weapon of any successful business. But if you want to amass a large following, you have to get the content marketing right. It’s about creating it well — not just creating it at all. To ensure you’re on the right track, consider the advice of Rolling Stone Culture Council business leaders. Here, they offer their best tips on content marketing and how to make sure you see the benefits of your efforts.
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When making this decision, put your customers first and foremost. Trends come and pass, with customers eventually losing interest or forgetting why a particular thing was popular in the first place. Your business, however, should have true staying power. Regardless of the time or place, customers should want to continue buying your products or services because of the distinct value they provide — not because you participated in a trend. But trends can also have their place, providing business leaders with the opportunity to reach new audiences and freshen up their marketing. That said, how is a business leader to know when it’s appropriate to hop on a trend and when it’s not? To shed some light, top business leaders from Rolling Stone Culture Council offer their perspective on the issue, each discussing one tip they’d offer fellow business leaders for how to determine whether a trend will benefit your business or detract from it.
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Scaling sustainably is all about the right timing. Running a business is all about taking risks, and so it may not always be clear when or how you should make a move. However, that doesn’t mean business is a guessing game. With data, personal experience or the experience of others at your disposal, you can make smart, educated decisions about the steps your business should take next. When it comes to scaling your business, though, timing is everything. Thankfully, there are signs you can watch for that will help you determine the best time to expand and the right speed of growth. Below, the business leaders of Rolling Stone Culture Council offer their guidance as they discuss seven signs that it may in fact be time to scale your business and what a leader should do upon noticing any of these signs.
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Resolve customer problems any time of year with these expert-recommended tips. The holidays can be a busy, stressful time for companies and customers alike. An influx of orders, too few staff and emotions running high can mean an increase in mistakes and dissatisfied customers. But these situations aren’t unique to the holiday season, and now that the new year is in full swing, businesses can step back and reflect on customer service lessons they can take with them throughout the rest of the year. Below, the business leaders of Rolling Stone Culture Council discuss some of their top customer service lessons and the practices businesses can keep in mind when trying to find the best way to deal with an unhappy customer, no matter the season.
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Prime you and your business for a successful 2024 by taking these critical steps. The start of a new year can be the perfect time for business leaders to start fresh. Whether it’s reevaluating their processes, trying something new or finding ways to reengage their staff, employers can use this time to learn from any mistakes or successes of the previous year and set themselves up for a better year ahead. But to do so, they may want to consider the following advice from the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council first. Here, they each discuss one business goal they have for the new year and explain why other businesses might want to work toward the same goal if they want their business to succeed in 2024.
Company details
Metal Mafia
Company bio
Metal Mafia designs and sells body jewelry to 5000+ independent retailers around the country, and makes private label costume jewelry as well. We are the home of the hottest metals in the market.