#AskPeshev 46: Operation Secrets and Soft Skills for Success

#AskPeshev 46: Operation Secrets and Soft Skills for Success

June 24, 2020

“Management is impossible - and unpredictable - withoutthe right soft skills in place.”

— Mario Peshev

Most marketing collateral and advertisements have been put on hold due to COVID-19.You’re probably thinking: “Cutting marketing budgets is the first instance during a crisis”.While this is ONE of the valid reasons, this isn’t the only caveat. What worked previously doesn’t work now. And marketing copy/media often violate best practices during a rough period.Bottom line: it’s not just about money, it’s operations (and aligning to the new paradigms now).Which is why the focus of this weekly issue contains both operational challenges and best practices revealed by BlogVault and my breakdown of the most essential soft skills you need for management success.Let me know what you think - and here’s to a rocking July ahead.Mario

Regardless of the industry one is based in, every business has had to answer one question – Should we pull back and play to survive or race ahead and play to win? We were particularly curious to know what WordPress Businesses have chosen to do. And hence the idea for this roundup was born.

It's All About Reading...

From the time we wake up, until the time we sleep, we’re surrounded by people. Whether you’re an extrovert or an introvert, whether you like it or not, you have to interact with people. That’s when soft skills come into the picture. Soft skills are personal attributes that enable a person to interact effectively with others.I’ve worked under and together with managers over the past 20 years. While “hard skills” are crucial for execution, management is impossible - and unpredictable - without the right soft skills in place.

Have you been thinking about switching to a career in SEO? Your previous job profiles might have also required analytical thinking and understanding of human behavior which is great. But, the majority of the work conducted in SEO is more technical.  SEO tasks usually include activities such as: Link acquisition (research, outreach, placements). Reviewing raw…read more…

When working with an incoming lead, I qualify two things:1) Is it a pet project or a crucial business initiative?2) At what stage is the business at the moment?Even on an enterprise level, executives occasionally assign side projects to managers for low profile one-off campaigns or internal tools that get little to no attention.

Planning your time ahead as best as possible over the weekend is of great help to your weekly sprint.Scheduling meetings, prioritizing emergencies, blocking time for critical work, and defining “last-minute task” time blocks make daily planning a lot easier and manageable when you get to Monday.

Excellence in time management revolves around establishing a process.Break down the process into small, atomic operations that are easy to grasp.Such processes should not require too much effort to execute.Otherwise, time management will be the least of your concerns.

"Our budget is $40,000 and we don't expect maintenance afterward - probably call you in once a quarter for some updates."Now, I get it if you're working on a side project for a hobby (and a non-critical one). But I heard this statement three times this quarter alone - two out of them for eCommerce projects. Website maintenance is not optional.