All About Alain

Our team at TL Direct Acquisitions is as eclectic and unique as they come…and we wouldn’t have it any other way. A melting pot of athletes, academians, musicians, comedians, and entrepreneurs, we are united in our diversity and a stronger organization because of it!

Meet Alain Mignot, Corporate Trainer at TL Direct Acquisitions and this month’s featured team member! Due to Alain’s outstanding performance over the last 14 months in our Management Training Program, we wanted to interview him and learn more about what inspires and pushes him at work!

Alain, tell us about where you were born and your upbringing! 

I was born into a Panamanian/Jamaican/Chinese family and raised in Miami, FL as the youngest of three boys! My upbringing was filled with lots of cultures and great music, and I attribute my passion for audio engineering to growing up with 2 parents whose musical tastes varied from reggae, merengue, jazz, and salsa to opera! At 14, I started pursuing music more seriously, learning the ins and outs of editing and adjusting soundtracks from my bedroom.

Where did life bring you after graduation?

After graduation, I started a Pre-Medical program, with intentions of pursuing a career in pharmacy. A year of that helped me realize that I had to do work I was passionate about, not just “interested” in. I dropped everything and moved to Orlando to attend Full Sail University, a school tailored for the arts & entertainment industries. I participated in an accelerated program and received my Associates in Audio Engineering in a year. With that, I moved back home to Miami hungry and eager to work. I was placed, through the help of my University, at Circle House Studios, and fell in love with the opportunity to make music on a daily basis. I worked there for 2 years before moving into freelance work. I grew my own portfolio independently before my mom and I decided to relocate to Atlanta to be closer to one of my older brothers and his 4 daughters!

How did you hear about TL Direct? 

Being new to the city, I wanted to also try something different that would also support my music career. When I saw a job opening that offered hands-on management training, I knew that would be beneficial to me in more ways than one. I applied online, came in for my interview, and a year later I would say it worked out perfectly! The work challenges me, my coworkers entertain me, and I’m learning tangible business skills that benefit me as a music producer myself.

What has been your best memory with the company?

Any time I get to travel, that is a great memory! I’ve been to Los Angeles, New Orleans, Asheville, Columbus, Dallas, and soon to be Houston for a conference at the beginning of June!

What do you bring to TL Direct Acquisitions?

I truly care about people and believe everyone has an incredible opportunity to better their lives here in our Management Training Program. That sincerity and belief help me do well with any personality that steps foot in our company!

How would you describe the company culture in 3 words?

Professional, positive, and familial.

What advice do you have for someone starting in the company?

Give yourself time to see what you’re fully capable of. Trust the systems that the company has in place and the growth potential that’s available. Rome wasn’t built in a day; your career and development will take time but it will be well worth it!

What are you doing in your free time outside of work? 

I spend my weekends with family and enjoying my 4 nieces! I love sports, so if I’m not playing basketball, football, or bowling myself, I’m watching the Dallas Cowboys or Miami Heat!

Alain, you’re an inspiration to many here at TL Direct Acquisitions and we’re so glad to share your story with even more. Keep up the tremendous work and we can’t wait until we’re blogging about your promotion to Assistant Management this summer!

BEYONCE = INSPIRATION 😍

28 Powerful Beyoncé Knowles Quotes 
by Joel Brown

Beyoncé Knowles is a well known singer, song-writer, and actress better known from her collaborative group, Destiny’s Child in the late 1990s.

According to Forbes, Beyoncé’s networth is $265 million as of June 2016, although her celebrity networth is considered to be estimated at $450 million.

Here are some Inspirational Beyoncé Knowles Quotes:

1. “Power means happiness; power means hard work and sacrifice.” – Beyoncé Knowles

2. “I don’t have to prove anything to anyone, I only have to follow my heart and concentrate on what I want to say to the world. I run my world.” – Beyoncé Knowles

3. “Take all the rules away. How can we live if we don’t change?” – Beyoncé Knowles

4. “Your self-worth is determined by you. You don’t have to depend on someone telling you who you are.” – Beyoncé Knowles

5. “We all have our imperfections. But I’m human and you know, it’s important to concentrate on other qualities besides outer beauty.” – Beyoncé Knowles

6. “The reality is: sometimes you lose. And you’re never too good to lose. You’re never too big to lose. You’re never too smart to lose. It happens.” – Beyoncé Knowles

7. “I’m a workaholic and I don’t believe in ‘No.’ If I’m not sleeping, nobody’s sleeping.” – Beyoncé Knowles

8. “Do what you were born to do. You just have to trust yourself.” – Beyoncé Knowles

9. “When you love and accept yourself, when you know who really cares about you, and when you learn from your mistakes, then you stop caring about what people who don’t know you think.” – Beyoncé Knowles

10. “I don’t feel like I have to please anyone. I feel free. I feel like I’m an adult. I’m grown. I can do what I want. I can say what I want. I can retire if I want. That’s why I’ve worked hard.” – Beyoncé Knowles

11. “Women have to take the time to focus on our mental health — take time for self, for the spiritual, without feeling guilty or selfish.” – Beyoncé Knowles

12. “When I’m not feeling my best I ask myself, ‘What are you gonna do about it?’ I use the negativity to fuel the transformation into a better me.” – Beyoncé Knowles

13. “I felt like it was time to set up my future, so I set a goal. My goal was independence.” – Beyoncé Knowles

14. “I think it’s healthy for a person to be nervous. It means you care – that you work hard and want to give a great performance. You just have to channel that nervous energy into the show.” – Beyoncé Knowles

15. “It is so liberating to really know what I want, what truly makes me happy, what I will not tolerate. I have learned that it is no one else’s job to take care of me but me.” – Beyoncé Knowles

16. “I don’t like to gamble, but if there’s one thing I’m willing to bet on, it’s myself.” – Beyoncé Knowles

17. “My biggest thing is to teach not to focus on the aesthetic. It’s really about who you are, and the human being, that makes you beautiful.” – Beyoncé Knowles

18. “We all have our imperfections. But I’m human and you know, it’s important to concentrate on other qualities besides outer beauty.” – Beyoncé Knowles

19. “If you don’t take the time to think about and analyze your life, you’ll never realize all the dots that are all connected.” – Beyoncé Knowles

20. “The most alluring thing a woman can have is confidence.” – Beyoncé Knowles

21. “Power is not given yo you. You have to take it.” – Beyoncé Knowles

22. “My focus is my art, and that’s what I love to do. I have to be really passionate in order to do something. I’ve turned down many things that I just didn’t believe in.” – Beyoncé Knowles

23. “I love my job, but it’s more than that: I need it.” – Beyoncé Knowles

24. “I wanted to sell a million records, and I sold a million records. I wanted to go platinum; I went platinum. I’ve been working nonstop since I was 15. I don’t even know how to chill out.” – Beyoncé Knowles

25. “I always try to be myself. Ever since I was an introverted kid, I’d get on stage and be able to break out of my shell.” – Beyoncé Knowles

26. “I can never be safe; I always try and go against the grain. As soon as I accomplish one thing, I just set a higher goal. That’s how I’ve gotten to where I am.” – Beyoncé Knowles

27. “To be able to travel the world, especially to places I never thought I’d be… it’s really, you know, still fascinating for me.” – Beyoncé Knowles

28. “I don’t really like to call myself a brand, and I don’t like to think of myself as a brand. I’m a singer, a songwriter, a musician and a performer. And an actress, and all the other things that I do. When you add it all together, some might call it a brand, but that’s not my focus.” – Beyoncé Knowles

Meet Camille! 👋

Meet Camille: our newest HR Administrator! She's fun, outgoing, and hardworking - all qualities required for a successful Administrator! Welcome to the TL Direct Acquisitions team, Camille; we can't wait to see where you take us next!

#FridayReads

If you're like us, you love some light reading material on leadership, business, and motivation! Where does the team at TL Direct Acquisitions go to find such material? Check out our favorite sites below!

Addicted2Success

Inc.com

Entrepreneur.com

Forbes

ENJOY!

3 Ways to Decentralize Management and Boost Productivity

By DUSTY WUNDERLICH

Founder and CEO, Bristlecone Holdings

Facilitating collaboration between departments such as engineering and marketing helps employees understand how their work assignments fit together in service of their audiences. Startup leaders can use the following strategies to create decentralized businesses:

1. Rethink structure.

Forget about traditional hierarchies, especially in the early days. There may come a time when a more traditional approach works for an organization, but the startup stage is not it. Hierarchy-induced stress has long been linked to heart disease, among other health issues, and it increases voluntary turnover by 50 percent.

So, avoid these stress-related pitfalls; organize employees into autonomous squads that can work across disciplines.

Foster a sense of equality by encouraging conversations among staff members of all experience levels. My company practices department shadowing, in which founders and executives learn what people are doing throughout the organization.

When the concierge receives visits from the COO, and the VP of marketing sits in with accounting, employees understand that we’re all part of the same team, pursuing shared objectives.

2. Create a team of "intrapreneurs."

Startup employees make the best intrapreneurs. Because they’re involved in so many areas of the business, they have unique views on what types of products will resonate with their markets. Google’s intrapreneurship program, for example, empowers team members to pursue their ideas without getting approval from their bosses.

They can partner with colleagues to explore concepts and potentially create new products for the company.

Cultivate a similar mentality by inviting employees to build new solutions and collaborate with their co-workers on ideas. Trust them to take initiative; don’t require them to get a manager’s green light before acting. Not only will this spur innovation even as the company leaves the startup stage, it will also inspire employee loyalty and enthusiasm.

3. Rally around a common goal.

Shared goals are a great way to bring people together and drive results. And while 75 percent of employers in one survey by Queens University in Charlotte, N.C., rated collaboration as “very important,” 39 percent of employees reported that their organizations didn't collaborate enough.

My own company decided to emphasize sales volume one year, and every department worked toward specific origination goals. Not only did each team's members want to perform the best, they didn’t want to let one another down. No one wanted to be the reason we fell short, so everyone worked harder to ensure we hit the target.

We also created opportunities for cross-collaboration, so different departments could gain insights into one another’s processes as we pursued the goal. People work together best when they understand what’s happening within each department and empathize with the unique constraints and pressures their colleagues experience.

A shared goal helped us foster more empathy and camaraderie between and among groups. We enjoyed our best sales year ever and saw an increase in proactive behavior throughout the company.

In sum, the flattened structure approach enables startups to run on all cylinders at all times. Employees can burn out when working in silos because they feel that the success of a particular project falls on them alone. Alternately, flat teams share responsibilities and energize one another through collaboration. The personal, innovative nature of holacratic startups makes them more agile and better equipped to take on their markets.

TL Direct Acquisitions is Hiring!

TL Direct Acquisitions is currently hiring for an Entry Level Account Manager position. We’re looking for individuals to start in an entry level role with the opportunity to move up into management . We handle outside marketing and sales for a major client in the Atlanta area.

Minimum qualifications

• Degree or 0-5 years relevant work experience in a leadership role
• Ability to speak English fluently

Preferred qualifications

• Internship experience in sales, marketing and account management.
• Interest in developing customer partnerships.
• Detail oriented with the ability to prioritize, plan, and organize sales activity.
• Customer Service / Retail / Hospitality and/or Restaurant experience is a plus!
• Interest in advancement & the opportunity to make an impact!

*** Please Note: This is not a "work from home" position.

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Click HERE or search @tldirectatl on Twitter to follow us!

Be Stree Free in 2017

Stress can seriously draw you back from reaching your goals. Don't let that happen! It's important to not only set goals, but to achieve them as well. Read this article for 5 ways you can get rid of stress! It'll add more years to your life and who doesn't want that?!

Never Stop Learning!

If you're not learning, you're not growing. If you're not growing, your satisfaction level is probably low! Want to know the fix? Read more books!

Click HERE for 10 leadership lessons you can learn from 2016's bestselling nonfiction books!