38 Years in Business and Still Going, The 4 A's of Change with Melih Oztalay

Maile Arsenault founded SmartFinds Marketing in Detroit in 1986. She survived the 2009 financial crisis when the Big Three automakers filed for bankruptcy in her backyard. Then she survived COVID. Then she used the downtime to rebrand everything. That's not luck, that's a system. In this episode, Maile and co host Javanka McGee break down the Four A's of Change that have kept SmartFinds alive and thriving for nearly four decades, why accepting change is the hardest step most people skip, and what it really means to shift from building a business to becoming a leader.

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0:00 - Introduction & Maile's background

2:00 - Surviving the 2009 financial crisis in Detroit

5:00 - How COVID became an opportunity to rebrand

8:00 - CEO vs. Founder: how your title evolves with you

11:00 - What SmartFinds Marketing actually does

15:00 - B2B vs. B2C: why the switch changed everything

19:00 - From making money to becoming a leader

22:00 - The Four A's: Anticipate, Accept, Adapt, Adopt

27:00 - Why your competitors move while you're still fretting

30:00 - Maile's why: challenging outdated thinking

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