Today we’d like to introduce you to Mickey Mellen.
Hi Mickey, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Ali, my business partner, and I worked together at a church here in Marietta for a few years in the 2006-2009 kind of area. In 2009 we both left the church separately to start our own independent businesses, but we quickly found that we needed each other’s help while we worked. Ali is a fantastic designer, and I was a developer, and neither of us had much skill in the other.
We technically started our company in 2009, but we didn’t realize it at the time; we were just two friends helping each other out with marketing projects and websites. A few years later, after we had hired a couple of folks and had an office we took note and said “look at that, we started a company”.
Since then we’ve intentionally grown slow and steady. These days we’re a team of nine, mostly in the metro Atlanta area but started to spread out a bit. Some of our team has moved back home (out of state) to be near their family, and our new amazing designer lives in Kentucky.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I hear horror stories about partnerships quite often, but that’s just never been a problem for us. We’ve had very few disagreements, and neither of us have ever even raised our voice at one another.
Part of that is due to our separate skill set; if there is a design concern, Ali has final say and if there is a technical concern, I have final say. Certainly there are gaps in the middle, particularly when it comes to overall business and team, but we have the same values and goals so it always works out well.
That said, our history together has led to most of our struggles, in that we went directly from working at the church to starting our own firm, so neither of us has any experience working inside of an agency. This is often a good thing, as we didn’t pick up any bad habits, but we also had some gaps in our company for a while that we slowly needed to resolve. Thankfully, most of our staff was worked for various agencies over the years, so they’re able to appreciate the things we do well and they’re able to help us fill any gaps that come up.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
At our core, we’re a digital marketing firm that serves service-based businesses and non-profits. However, we approach things differently than most.
We see the internet starting to spin out of control a bit. The web is chaos, brands are rogue, and websites are being created for algorithms instead of humans. Ultimately, we want to keep the web a platform for good and not a tool for chaos, which is easier said than done.
For us, it largely comes down to creating what we want to see. We don’t like cold emails and cold calls, and we’re frustrated by websites that are so algorithm-focused that they become difficult to use. We focus on building things for humans, and believe that all marketing should be responsive, ethical, and impossible to automate at scale.
We help our clients with powerful websites, valuable emails and engaging social media, but we do it in a way that contributes value instead of just trying to steal clicks. It can be a slower climb, but it’s beautiful when you reach the top.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Two of my favorite podcasts are “2Bobs” and “Founders”.
2Bobs is meant for creative businesses owners, and has done a lot to help fill the gaps in my knowledge from not having been in an agency before. Founders takes a deep look at famous founders from history (think Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, and hundreds of others) to learn the lessons from them. Both are fantastic shows.
I read quite a few books, and some of that have impacted me lately are Ryan Holiday’s “Wisdom Takes Work”, Geoff Woods’ “The AI-Driven Leader”, and Anne-Laure Le Cunff’s “Tiny Experiments”.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.greenmellenmedia.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greenmellen
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreenMellen
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickmel/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/mickmel
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/greenmellen-marietta
- Other: https://www.mickmel.com/
