Stealth just received some exciting news to cap off 2020: We’re an IC100 winner!

So, what exactly is the IC100, and why should you care?

The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) 2020 Inner City 100 (IC100) award recognizes the 100 fastest-growing firms in under-resourced communities across America. The winners were picked based on revenue growth and job creation during the four-year period from 2015 to 2019.

Stealth ranked 64th out of 100, based on our four-year revenue growth rate of 113.26% and job creation of 9. Not too shabby!

This year’s IC100 list had the highest number of women-owned/led companies (which includes Stealth, as a certified Women Business Enterprise). It’s an increase of eight companies from 2019 and 17 since 2015.

And here's why you should care: shared optimism.

As a veteran entrepreneur myself, the stories I heard from some of the other selected firms were the most inspiring I’ve heard in a long time. These leaders have overcome many challenges, brought revolutionary ideas to the forefront of industry, and are proving every day that great things are happening in this country!

“IC100 companies are forces of economic opportunity, optimism and transformation in their communities, and it’s an honor to recognize Stealth Creative’s leadership,” said ICIC CEO Steve Grossman. “Especially during this incredibly challenging time, as small business owners reckon with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, these pioneering entrepreneurs have demonstrated a deep commitment to and passion for their local communities.”

Countless companies and business owners have had to pivot, re-think, transition and find creative ways to thrive in the ever-changing landscape of our modern world.

We’re so proud to be included on the IC100 list. It is incredibly rewarding to be recognized alongside leaders from so many industries across the country, particularly during this really challenging year.

Even as the majority of the Stealth team have been diligently working from their home offices this year, our sense of togetherness and our focus on continuing the positive trends of the past few years is stronger than ever.

As your marketing and advertising force, you can bet that we’ll continue to embrace every challenge that comes our way.

Take a minute to read more inspiring entrepreneurial stories from the list of IC100 recipients here.

The Future Has Never Looked Brighter!
Mindy Jeffries — President and CEO, Stealth Creative

Like most small businesses in the US, Stealth is adjusting to the new normal of social distancing. We’re working from home, taking guitar lessons on zoom and going to church on YouTube. We are finding it’s harder to decline a virtual happy hour. What can the excuse be? I am too busy. That doesn’t seem to work in times like these!

How We're Helping

As a company, we are helping our clients in different ways, depending on the category. We are reducing media for some and increasing for others. Some clients, we’re advising to keep a “heartbeat” of media going, so they can jump in faster once we are on the other side.

We are also looking at short term digital solutions and moving dollars between mediums. Social media is a good alternative! People are engaging more with family and friends and turning to social media for entertainment and news. Social allows us to stay light on our feet as messaging changes daily, sometimes hourly.

To help businesses in this time of need, we are offering a free 60-minute consultation to give you ideas and action plans for your business! Please email info@stealthcreative.com to sign up.

At Stealth, we are thankful for the internet! Right now, we are all one step from being Little House on the Prairie. We plan to take this one day at a time, but now with everyone being able to work remotely, we can take it one month at a time, which is comforting.

Take a Breather

Take a Breather

If you have anxious moments, designate 15-30 minutes each day to write down what you are worried about then cross off everything you can’t control. This exercise can be a great way to refocus on your day and enjoy time with family.

Remember the six basic emotions we all have:

  1. Mad
  2. Sad
  3. Scared
  4. Peace
  5. Joy
  6. Power

Let’s focus on Peace, Joy, Power.

Working Remotely

If you can work from home during these challenging times, remember it’s a luxury that some can’t enjoy. Embrace the back to basics shift!

We aren’t experts yet, but with a few weeks under our belts, we’ve decided to compile some tips from our employees about how they are making their home offices a productive workplace.

Here are our tips so far:

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Thank You!

We are sending gratitude, love, prayers and support to the essential workers who have been working around the clock to fight COVID-19.

Life is good; you are a blessing! THANK YOU to all the businesses that made the difficult decision to work from home while we fight this virus as a country. You are making a difference.

For me, it truly is the happiest time of the year! Why? I am in the midst of Stealth Creative’s planning cycle for 2020! Wow! New year, new decade, new moleskine! New clients with new needs! Our tried-and-true clients are looking for new ideas! The new year is invigorating. And oh, yes… I love the holidays, and how they give me energy to launch into the new year with vigor!

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Skateboarding, believe it or not, is one of my favorite pastimes. I’m known as the Tony Hawk of the office. In fact, when I’m not working, you can find me outside Stealth Creative gliding through the city streets on my board, the wind flowing through my hair, the adrenaline rushing through my bloodstream. Yes, I am that cool.

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You may think that grades don’t matter once you are out of school, but this is not true. Recently, Stealth had a 60-day client review with an esteemed client, and scored high marks (yes, they actually graded us). This post is our way of putting our report card on a metaphorical refrigerator. We are tickled pink and can’t wait to see what the future holds and how we can help our clients evolve.

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“Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else.” ~ Les Brown

You might be asking yourself, who is Les Brown? He is a successful motivational speaker, former Ohio politician, best-selling author, popular radio personality, former TV host, and was briefly married to Gladys Knight. Talk about a list of achievements. I love this quote because it encourages readers to accept responsibility for their own life, and to recognize that it is you who gets you where you want to go, no one else.

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It’s essential in business to relieve tension. Tension can crop up in many ways. It might show itself in the sales process, or in delivering a product or solution. It might even occur if you have not been paying attention to a valued client or customer.

Thankfully tension can be relieved quickly with one simple thing: Laughter.

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I love the St. Louis Cardinals, and they are going to the World Series, again! That’s great news for a lot of us in the Midwest, especially for our office just down the road from Busch Stadium.

All this World Series hype has me asking: Why am I such a fan?

I realized one of the major reasons is the Cardinals’ approach to teamwork. If you look up the definition of teamwork it’s this:

The combined action of a group of people, esp. when effective and efficient.

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In my last blog, I talked about branding things! Things with which your customers interact. “Things” is a little vague; so let’s clarify. Your branded assets include things like your office, trucks, people (uniforms), website.

What about branding your product? What are the stepping stones of branding your service that you’ll be delivering to your customers? This gets really complicated really quickly; so how can we simplify it?

While I’m using the telecommunications industry as the example, the same principles apply by and large to any service or industry. Let’s start with the strategic analysis of the brand.

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I’ve worked a wide range of jobs in my career as a member of the American workforce. From movie theaters to restaurants, colleges to ad agencies. I’ve seen even the best-intentioned part-time employee or intern get passed over for minor transgressions when it came time to hire full time. With this in mind, there are a few things that can be done to give yourself a better chance at nailing down the job that, as an intern, you’ve been craving.

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