Why We Went All-In on Marketing Retainers
I left my 9 to 5 in 2018 and never looked back.
Just kidding! I looked back a lot, especially once I got into the thick of entrepreneurship. The thing is, I loved my desk job. I loved the people I worked with, the industry I worked in, the brands I managed. They plucked me out of oblivion and gave me the space and tools to learn how to be a designer. I was so sad to leave, but it was the right thing to do at that point in my life.
I knew the kind of life I wanted wouldn't allow me to be tied to someone else's desk. I had entrepreneurship in my bones, in my blood. I had been dating the guy I knew I would eventually marry and build a family with, and we dreamt of a life of flexibility and freedom.
But guess what I figured out real quick? Being a successful entrepreneur requires heaps more discipline than any "regular" job I had ever worked before. What do you mean I can't wake up at 10 everyday and go out with friends whenever I'm invited and not bring my laptop with me on vacation? You're saying I actually have to work set hours, maintain a planner and work even when I don't feel like it?
What a reality check that was for me.
Sure, I had doubled my income by leaving my desk job. But I traded that in for countless late nights burning my retinas at my laptop, an unhealthy attachment to my email, and what felt like the weight of the entire world on my shoulders.
And then when my business started to grow, like really grow, I could never catch up. Even after we hired employees and delegated as much as we could, my to-do list was never-ending. And marketing? Pffft, it was nonexistent. Which was actually fine for a long time, because word-of-mouth worked really well for us.
Until it didn't.
The post-pandemic economy took its toll, more and more competition popped up in our area, and the business never really recovered.
What I was left with was a mountain of stress and anxiety, wondering if I was cut out for entrepreneurship after all.
The thing is, I couldn't give up working for myself because it had also given me everything I had hoped for — the freedom to stay home with my kids, travel as I please and set my work hours to the rhythm of my life. So much about it supports the life I so deeply desire.
When I started Kinroot, I knew I wanted to do things differently so I didn't end up in the same place of perpetual burnout and overwhelm that overshadowed all the goodness entrepreneurship had brought into my life.
So I (accompanied by the encouragement and brains of my business-major hubby) set out to set up systems in my business. For, like, everything. If you wanted to call what I was doing before "flying by the seat of my pants" then you could call this new thing "flying by an Airbus A350." We were organized as hell and we cut out anything that didn't serve our overarching goals.
I didn't know it at the time, but through this process I accidentally created my primary service offering — marketing retainers. Once I got rid of all the fluff and honed in on the marketing channels that packed the biggest punch, my path forward become crystal clear. My new system was fun, sustainable, and (most importantly) it was working.
People I hardly knew started telling me they loved what I was posting on social media. I got replies to my enewsletter from people who were genuinely interested in what I was saying. I had people calling me, ready to hire us exclusively from what they had seen online. I even had one person tell me they chose us above all their other options because the header of my website was so cheerful and fun.
At this point, I'm nearly a year into this new way of doing things and I've applied my new system to dozens of businesses across many industries. My clients tell me that working with me gives them a massive sense of relief, not only knowing that the bulk of their marketing is off their plate, but also that it's being handled with care by a real team of real people they can count on.
I share all of this with you so you know that we didn't just come up with our services by plugging some stuff into Chat or plucking things out of thin air. We offer what we do because we created it in a time of need for our own business, and I know from experience that it works.
I'm not going to sit here and tell you that we're the trendiest agency you'll find, or that I'll make you go viral in 3 months. The clients I serve are more interested in something sustainable/strategic/reliable that actually buys them some of their precious time back.
If you know marketing is necessary for keeping your business or nonprofit afloat but you no longer have the time or desire to keep up with it (or if you are keeping up with it and drowning because of it) I would love to have a conversation with you. Believe me when I say I've been where you're at more times than I can count, and the relief in the other side is just as sweet as you hope it is.
