#37: Kasey Sisson, Founder | Kasey S Consulting

In this episode of "In The Thick of It," Kasey Sisson discusses her journey from recent graduate to successful entrepreneur. After completing her Masters in Organizational Communication in 2019, Kasey leveraged her creative abilities and passion for teaching to establish her own marketing agency, Kasey S Consulting.

Kasey shares both the highs and lows of running her business. She recounts the exciting moments of unexpected growth and landing her first international client. However, she also addresses the challenges faced along the way, including cash flow management, talent acquisition, establishing core processes & values, and navigating client misalignments.

Throughout the conversation, Kasey emphasizes the importance of self-compassion and kindness towards others in the entrepreneurial journey. This episode offers valuable insights for both seasoned and aspiring business owners, highlighting how fostering a fun and collaborative work environment can contribute significantly to business success.

***

About Kasey & Kasey S Consulting
"Hi, I'm Kasey! Connection is my passion, storytelling is the conduit.

I graduated from the University of Arkansas with a Masters in Organizational Communication in 2019, however, I have always considered myself a creative way before my official title...even while working full time in Corporate America. After years of creating for myself, it was a natural fit to use my social media knowledge to help other businesses succeed. After a nudge from my mentor, I decided to take the leap and start a marketing agency in May of 2021. My passion for helping small/medium size businesses with their marketing without the hefty price tag honestly is how Kasey S Consulting began. Because after all, every business is so uniquely different with various marketing needs. After launching my business, then came my first hire, Erin, one of my best friends from middle school. She now leads our team as the account manager, supporting all things client relations. Fast forward to today, we are about to celebrate our second birthday! I could not be more thankful of how far KSC has come and all the team members who have played a part in its success thus far."

To learn more, visit www.kaseysconsulting.co

Creators & Guests

Host

Scott Hollrah

Founder & CEO of Venn Technology

Guest

Kasey Sisson

Founder of Kasey S Consulting

What is In The Thick of It?

Join Scott Hollrah, founder of Venn Technology, as he takes you "In the Thick of It" with the real stories of founders who are actively navigating the challenges and triumphs of running their businesses. This podcast goes beyond the typical entrepreneurial success stories and delves into the messy, gritty, and sometimes chaotic world of building and growing a company. Get inspired, learn from the experiences of others, and gain insights into what it truly means to be in the thick of the entrepreneurial journey.

We have sent over 150 proposals.

We have worked with over 50 companies.

I think that that's really something that I am proud of.

And a lot of it boils down to me growing up thinking that

the only way I was going to be successful was by working with my father.

And now being on the other side of that is really cool for me.

And it's healing to see that I can do things on my own.

I am smart, I'm really talented, and I'm successful.

So it's been really great.

Welcome to In The Thick of It, I'm your host, Scott Hollrah.

From college to consulting, Kasey Sisson joins in the thick

of it to share how she started her own marketing agency.

After receiving her master's in organizational communication in 2019,

Kasey turned her creative skills and love of teaching into a business.

Running Kasey S Consulting has come with both challenges and triumphs.

Kasey talks about the unexpected growth of her business

and the time she landed her first international client.

On the tough side of things, she touches on the struggles of managing cash flow,

hiring talent, identifying core processes, and dealing with misalignment with clients.

Kasey encourages other entrepreneurs to give themselves grace and extend kindness to others.

Old and new founders, take note.

This episode offers great takeaways on how fun

and synergized work environments lead to business success.

Joining us in the studio today, thank you for making the drive up to be with us.

Welcome, Kasey Sisson of Kasey S Consulting.

Thank you.

I'm excited to be here.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, like we always do, we start in the beginning.

So you grew up in good ol Bryan College station, is that right?

Well, I know right off the bat, scratch.

I grew up in Houston, so I landed in Bryan unexpectedly.

So I did not even go to school at A&M, grew up in Houston, went to a private school

inside the loop, and really just found myself there for most of my life until college.

Okay, and what was that like?

What were you into?

Well, I, since I went to a private school, I mean,

I had the opportunity to play every sport, be involved in everything that I wanted

to be involved in, and then whatever I didn't want be involved in.

So I really focused on a lot of soccer.

I was a big soccer player, and then I was really into musical theater.

So I was in all the musicals and sang and dance,

and that was really what consumed a lot of my time.

I mean, I played softball growing up and did other sports,

but I went on to play college soccer, so that took up a lot of my time, really.

We'll get to college in a minute.

But, I mean, you went to University of Arkansas.

Okay, well, I know we might as well, man, I'm way off here.

No, no, no, I did.

I did.

But I grew up in Houston.

I went to the King's College in New York City.

Really?

And that's where I got recruited to play soccer.

Okay.

And then I failed out of school, quite literally.

Wow.

Okay.

I lied to my parents, said that my GPA wasn't as bad as it was, but it was bad.

Eventually they got that letter that said, oh, it was bad.

Kasey is no longer enrolled here.

I literally, I think it was like a one three.

I mean, it was like really bad.

And I was a straight A student in high school, so it was.

It was quite shocking.

But honestly, when you're in New York, you are not focusing on school.

You are doing everything else.

It was the best.

I mean, I was.

I was getting into a lot of what I should not have been doing, but it was great.

But yes, I went to the King's College my freshman year and then

had to come home because my parents were not happy with my grades, understandably.

And they were paying for school, so they were not happy with my grades.

But then, you know, my dad had gone to Berlin.

I mean, he was a big aggie, and he was convinced that I was going to go to A&M.

And I was like, okay, I mean, again, you're paying for school.

But I had a one three.

There was no way I was getting into A&M.

And so I went to Blinn for a year.

So New York City, King's College, transferred to Blinn.

Hated that.

That was not my cup of tea.

For those that aren't familiar, Blinn is a kind of a theater school for A&M.

It's in the area.

And, you know, it's very common for people to start there and matriculate into A&M.

And it's a junior college.

So, I mean, while I was not getting good grades,

freshman year, my sophomore year, it was straight A's.

It was very easy for me, which was a blessing because I got my GPA up.

But I quickly realized that I was not keen on staying in the Bryan college station area.

I've always been a city girl, and then every good story involves a boy.

So I transferred to Arkansas because that's where my boyfriend at the time was going.

And honestly, that was the best decision.

I love Fayetteville.

I would go back in a heartbeat.

In fact, I'm actively trying to move my business up there.

Somehow so that I could go back.

But my junior year, I transferred to Arkansas and then ended

up staying for four years after that.

So I graduated with my undergrad and my masters.

So, okay, that was all the school.

So you went straight from undergrad into your masters?

I did.

So I graduated with a communication degree.

So I had studied business my freshman sophomore year, and I just.

I think it was a.

I was not introduced to the classes that I was really interested in at the beginning.

I mean, a lot of the classes in general are just ready to weed you out.

That was the case for me.

I was like, accounting, not my thing.

Finance, ditto on the accounting.

I mean.

And so I love the business relational aspects of a business degree.

But anyway, it was awful.

So I was like, well, maybe this is not the degree for me.

So I kind of pivoted and I studied communication and immediately was put

into classes that I loved because it was learning how people interact

with one another and how they are communicating with and among each other.

And that was amazing for me.

And to no one surprise, I mean, I'm a talker.

I love talking.

I haven't picked up on that yet.

I know, I know.

Sorry, you haven't gotten a word in.

But it made sense for me to have a communication degree.

So all that to say, unlike MBA programs or other master's programs, I mean, you don't have to

have a ton of experience to go right into getting your masters for the communication program.

So I did that.

How different was the graduate curriculum from the undergrad curriculum?

Well, specifically for this degree, it was pretty drastic.

You had three different categories that you could study underneath the communication program,

and I focused on organizational communication.

So I've always been a little bit of pioneerism.

Not the word.

I've been stubborn, and I like to do things a certain way,

and if someone tells me that I can't do it, I'm going to figure out a way to do it.

And so I studied organizational communication and really wanted to take some of the business

classes because I wanted to study the intersection of communication within the business lens.

But Arkansas was so segmented in, this is the communication

school or this is liberal arts and this is the business school.

And I was like, there's so much overlap.

I don't know why I can't do this.

And so I got special permission in my master's degree to take courses in the business school

under the communication degree, and I got to study what I wanted to study.

So that you kind of piece together your own.

Yeah.

So I ultimately ended up with an organizational communication degree from my master's,

but it was focused on the intersection between communication with, like, a resilience lens.

So understanding how people and businesses in crisis are communicating with each other.

Okay.

All right.

Public speaking is one of the top fears that around the country.

Is that something that you enjoy?

Is that exhilarating for you?

So funny you ask.

It's the number one fear.

Like, over dying over any animal phobia.

I mean, like, it's the number one fear.

And I actually teach public speaking,

so when I was getting my master's degree, I had the opportunity to have a full scholarship.

I got my grades back up, so that was the first thing I went from,

you know, that one three up to graduating with a 4.0.

So really proud about that.

But during my master's program, they offered to pay

for my school if I taught some of the undergrad classes.

So I taught public speaking at the University of Arkansas for freshmen, typically freshmen.

And it was wonderful.

I mean, I had the opportunity not only to teach, which I ended up loving, I didn't think I was

going to like it, but I continue to do that today at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

So it's been cool to now be able to have that skill that I

just thought that I had to do to get my master's degree.

But now, I mean, I'm still doing it to this day.

That's awesome.

So when you were going through school, did you have, like, a real clear

idea of what you wanted to do once you got on the other side of school?

Absolutely not.

I picked communication, too, because everyone told me they're like, well, you can do anything.

And it's very true.

Communication is very broad, which is a beautiful thing,

but it also has the connotation of having an Mrs.

Degree to it.

Have you heard of that?

Yeah.

Okay, so for those of you that don't know, I'm old, but I'm not that old.

But term's been around for a while.

I'm just saying.

But seriously, I mean, people would think that it was just an easy degree that

people would get if they just wanted to get married, and that was it.

But it was not that for me.

It really meant more.

And I think that that kind of.

Now it makes so much sense why I'm where I am today because.

Because of what I studied.

But no, I had no idea what I wanted to do.

I didn't even know that I wanted to be a business owner.

I just.

I kind of fell into that communication, thankfully.

And then I worked at Tyson Foods in my.

I guess.

I guess it was during my master's program, but I worked in their innovation department.

And so I was working on marketing materials and coming up with concepts for different brands,

like Taco Bell and KFC, and McDonald's was another team, but big, like, national food chains.

And our team was creating the food concept.

So we were working with chefs, and.

And I thought that that's what I wanted to do.

So I leaned in, and I was doing that while I was getting my masters as an internship.

And then once I graduated, I was like, well, now I have this skill in the food

service industry from a corporate side, and I have this communication degree.

And with my master's, I was like, where can I go?

And there was another boy.

I'm sensing a theme.

Here's another boy.

No longer have I moved for men, but I used to.

So there's another guy that I was dating.

Different person at different time, but he lived in Denver.

He was moving to Denver, and I was like, you know, it'd be pretty cool to live in Denver.

And so followed him there.

And for the young people listening to this, do not ever move

for someone unless you are committed to them, because it's just never a good.

It's never a good choice.

I would add that they are committed to you as well.

Oh, yes.

Oh, yeah.

Cause I thought I was committed.

That was not the case.

Anyway, so you live and you learn.

But I moved to Denver, and honestly, it was kind of hard

for me to find a job roughly like, what years was.

Was this?

Oh, yeah.

I'll tell you.

So, 2017, I graduated with my undergrad.

19 was my master's.

And then I moved to Denver right after.

So it was May of 2019.

I spent, like, from May to October looking for a job.

And, I mean, I was doing the most random things in between that.

But ultimately, I landed at Red Robin for their corporate headquarters

and was doing something very similar to what I was doing at Tyson.

So it was really great.

But then March 2020.

What happened in March of 2020?

I know, I know, I know, Covid.

But it was really, honestly, it was really poorly handled.

If I'm being transparent, and I want to give a lot of grace because

nobody knew what they were doing, but at the same time, I was let go.

My team was let go.

Like, I had to be the one to tell my team they were let go.

And then I was like.

I mean, it was just, like.

It was a lot.

And so I was no longer in the relationship that I moved there.

For then I got, you know, my job was uprooted and all of that,

and I just kept thinking, like, what am I going to do?

I was so naive.

I was like, there are no jobs.

Nobody's hiring right now.

Like, I've got to move home.

And by that time, my parents had moved from Houston to the Bryan college station area,

so their intent was to retire in BC's.

And so that's how I landed in Bryant College station.

So going back to your college days for a second, obviously, it sounds like New York was

a very different experience, and going to Blenn was a different experience from that.

But once you got settled in in Arkansas, what were those undergrad years like for you?

Were you involved in things on campus or was it just a heads down studying?

Were you, did you work?

No, I.

All three.

I am the type of person that has so much on my plate all the time.

I don't work well with just sitting idly.

And I had a job.

I also was involved in extracurriculars, and I also studied.

So I was a delta gamma, so I was in that fraternity,

not sorority, and really loved my time as a DG.

Wasn't super involved, because at that time, I was later in, like my.

You came in as a junior?

Yeah.

Well, I actually rushed as a senior, which was wildly abnormal.

But it was the first year that they were on campus at

Arkansas, so I had a unique opportunity to do that.

And I did, and I loved it.

But it was just different.

I mean, I was four years older than most of the women a part of it.

So, anyway, that was sidebar.

But yes, I was involved there.

I was a young life leader as well.

So I spent a lot of my time there and then just studied.

I was 1000% a teacher's pet, and that's kind of annoying for me to say,

but it is what it is, and you love teaching, so.

Well, you know what's so funny?

I just told my friend this story growing up.

You want to be XYZ when you grow up?

But my parents in middle school had me take this

assessment for what you were going to be, and it was.

I forget which one it was, but it was some expensive one.

And at the end of it, after all these questions,

they told me that I was going to be a teacher.

And I was like, I am not going to be a teacher.

I was like, I don't do kids.

I was like, I don't want to do that.

That's not me.

And literally, fast forward, I'm teaching at the collegiate level.

So I'm not teaching.

I mean, they're still kids, but I'm not teaching little babies.

And so it's just so funny.

Full circle.

I, like, rolled my eyes in middle school and was, like, so mad at my parents

for making me do this stupid test, and it was right, and I'm still doing it.

And at what point did you, like, make that connection of, oh,

this thing all these years back told me that this is what I should be doing.

Was there, like, an aha moment or.

It wasn't even an aha moment, but, okay, back to me, like, having a million jobs.

I was also a fitness instructor at one point.

I still am.

That's another job that I have.

But in Denver, I was teaching barre bar barre classes.

So, like, pilates, ballet kind of mix.

It was that moment where I was like, oh, my God,

I have not only been a teacher at Arkansas, I'm still teaching people.

It just doesn't look like I thought it was going to look like.

And then I'm still coaching.

Now I'm a row house coach, so I am a rowing instructor.

And then, yeah, I teach at Cu, so there's lots

of teaching happening that I did not anticipate.

So, no, not an aha moment.

Just like a o moment.

Yeah.

Well, hey, that's okay.

I actually, in my early adulthood, post college,

I was in a place in my career where I just didn't.

I didn't know what I was doing.

I didn't know what I wanted to do.

And I actually went through one of those aptitude kind of programs, and I got to the end

of it, and it basically told me that I should be doing exactly what I was doing at the time.

And so I guess in some sense, it was.

It was validating.

All right, you worked for Tyson Foods while you were going through your masters.

What was that like?

Were you working full time at Tyson, and how did you manage class and.

And work?

Good question.

So I have no idea.

I have no idea because, well, thankfully,

my boss at Tyson was incredibly supportive, and he also did not work at corporate.

He lived in Missouri.

So, Aaron, if you're listening, shout out to you for being wildly flexible,

because unlike other interns at Tyson at the time, my boss was not in the office.

And so I just got to come in when I could and then get my work done.

I've always worked really fast,

so it's been really difficult for me to gauge time on projects and then fast forward.

It's really hard for me to price projects now because I'm like, well, I could get that done

in five minutes, but it's like, I'm not going to charge them for five minutes of my time.

Like, I need to also charge for my expertise anyway.

And so it was really nice, but it was incredibly difficult.

I had several people in my program who

did not have a job and they were just teaching and studying.

But I've always been really motivated by, like,

what is coming next and preparing myself for the next step.

And so I think that for me to not work while I

was getting my masters was not really an option.

My dad used to say this all the time, if you need to get something done, ask a busy person.

And you seem like you are the epitome of that.

Like, you thrive on having a lot on your plate and that spurs you to get more done.

Is that a fair statement?

Oh, 1000%.

One of my employees, Logan, he today, he pulled up my calendar for something and he was like,

oh, my God.

And he, like, shivered, was terrified.

But if I don't plan out every minute, like, honestly,

then one things don't get done or they slip through the cracks.

So what's my alternative?

I forget things.

That doesn't seem right.

I totally get that.

When I was in college, my parents started buying investment properties in college station.

And as an aside, it's been one of the best investments our family's made.

My wife and I bought one years ago, and it's been a great thing.

And we've always had a property manager that's been a student we haven't gone through,

like a typical property management agency.

And one year the property manager that we had,

this was years and years after I'd graduated from college.

But our property manager was the student body president for Texas A and M,

which, when you're the student body president of a school that big,

like this isn't just like a little light kind of social activity.

This is a, like, it's at least a 50 hours a week job in and of itself on top of class.

And at the same time, anytime my dad needed something, he got it done.

And so, I mean, there's something, something to be said for that.

You've got to manage your time extremely well when you have that much on your plate.

And so I, I don't operate like that, but I totally get how,

how people like you can be wired like that and thrive in that.

And a lot of my friends, well, for a long time, they would always make fun of me.

Like, I'm like, you gotta get on my calendar.

You gotta get on my calendar.

And there's moments of spontaneity, which I don't want you to think I'm a robot,

but if I want to be intentional and like present with people, then I've got to plan it.

Because then my honestly, the way that I work is if there's

something lingering in the background, I can't fully focus.

And so even as much as me keeping a notes app on my phone of just random to dos that I need

to do either the next day or tell my operations manager that we need to do all of that,

it allows me to take it out of my brain because I know it's somewhere else.

I read the organized mind.

Have you ever read that book?

I haven't.

I forget the author.

But it was amazing talking about how the brain works.

And if you are, if you're the type of person that's confused on why you

operate a certain way, I would highly encourage you to read this book

because it honestly gave me the freedom to understand that, one, everyone's

brain works differently, and then two, allow me to not feel bad that I have

to write things down or that I'm just wired the way that I am, because now

it made sense.

So an organize mind, a great book, I will add that to my list and totally get that.

Everybody approaches things different.

We're definitely wired different, but I share that where, especially if I'm

feeling overwhelmed, the best thing that I can do is sit down for 1015 minutes

with a pen and my little notebook and just brain dump everything that I think

I need to do, literally, whether it's something really small or something

really big, and just getting it out of my head allows me to just do this

mental reset.

And so often I'll sit down and I'll fill pages and pages and pages,

and a week will go by and I'll go back and I'll look at it.

I'm like, oh, well, I didn't like,

sit down and intentionally get that thing done, but it got done.

And it just, that feeling of being overwhelmed can be, for me anyway, it can be paralyzing.

Clearing your mind by just getting it out and getting it on a paper,

getting it onto a screen is hugely, hugely helpful.

And it's been pretty pivotal.

So I've had an operations manager work for me for about a year now.

And then we just, we had to part ways.

She's moving on to bigger and better, wonderful things, but we have now hired someone else.

And our new operations manager, she suggested that we meet every morning,

and I don't know why that was so pivotal for me.

I was like, what do you mean?

We meet every morning, and she's like, well, it's just quick.

1530 minutes meeting, just so that you and I can chat.

And I'm like.

Like a brain dump.

And she goes.

She goes, yeah, we can do that.

She adds it to the calendar.

It says, emma and Casey, morning, dump.

All right, we have got to rebrand this.

Just make sure you're not sharing your calendar when you're

sharing your screen on that next zoom, and it'll be okay.

Yeah.

Anyway, I thought it was so funny, but it's been great because

now it allows me space to fully focus on the rest of my day.

I actually love little quirky things like that,

and it adds some levity and, uh, and, you know, fosters a fun environment.

So it is fun, for sure.

We have too much fun.

Well, that's a good thing.

All right, so just kind of moving back to the.

No pun intended.

Let's go back to the move.

So, you.

You find yourself in Denver, red robin pandemic hits, doesn't work out, and then you.

You wind up back in.

In Texas.

Sure.

What was that like for you?

Like you wanted to escape, maybe too strong of a word, but that clearly wasn't you.

And here.

Here you are.

You find yourself back there.

Yeah, it was really hard.

So, sophomore year, I went to blin.

I vowed to never step foot in Bryant college education ever again.

And I'm very dramatic, so I was hell bent on not doing that.

But honestly, during a pandemic, a global pandemic, you don't have a choice.

And so I have a brother who's three years younger

than me and a sister who's 15 years younger than me.

Same parents.

But when they retired, quote unquote retired, they moved to Bryant college Station, honestly,

to get her out of Houston, just because it was becoming a little bit too busy and big,

and she can get a little bit more focused attention and be a bigger fish in a smaller pond.

And so it was very interesting because my brother was not at home,

but I, a 25 year old adult, was back in my parents house.

I don't really get along with my dad.

My mom is my best friend, but then I'm, like, kind of parenting my little sister,

and then we're in this, like, house together, and it was definitely different.

It was weird, but everyone was doing it.

I mean, it was not abnormal for young adults to move back in with their parents.

I'm very grateful that I had that opportunity because I was collecting unemployment,

laying out by the pool every single day.

So I do not want to make light of the scenario, but, I mean, I was.

I was chillin'so.

How did you get back into the working world from there?

So I was laying out by the pool, living my best life,

and literally, I got a call from a place called Row House.

It's a fitness gym that I said earlier I now work at.

So I'll tell you how that happened.

But the owner, her name's Lindsey, she called me, and she was trying to book me into

a class because I must have clicked on some ad or something, and she sounded really busy.

You know when you get those calls and they're, like,

trying to get you to come in and, you know, normally they're really engaging and,

like, we would love to offer you the I can come straight to business.

No, not even that.

She was distracted.

There was, like, something going on in the background, and I.

At one point, I was like, you can call me back.

You don't have to do this right now.

And she was like, I'm so sorry.

Like, and now that I know her, it makes a lot of sense.

But she goes, we just finished having coaches audition.

I'm a little all over the place.

Like, I apologize.

And at that point, I was like, coaches.

I was like, I'm a coach.

I used to coach bar.

I'm like, what kind of coaches you need?

At that point, I was so.

I was bored.

And, I mean, I, again, kind of had this, like,

ignorant mindset of, like, well, no one's hiring, but rojas.

I'm like, Rojas says they need coaches,

and it was something that was familiar to me, so I thought, well, you know, I.

While I'm figuring out what I'm doing, maybe I can.

Maybe I can try this thing out, you know?

And she's like, well, have you ever rode before?

And I said, absolutely not.

I have never rode a day in my life.

And for those of you that don't know,

Row House is a boutique fitness concept that is similar to indoor cycling.

But it's with rowing machines, so there's a dark room, lights are low, music is high,

and there's 25 rowers, and we all row together to the beat of the music.

It is awesome.

Like, seriously, if you live by Rojas, please go try one out.

It's amazing.

So she's like, well, you know, we're about to send our coaches to training on Monday.

This was a Thursday.

She's like, we're about to send our coaches to training on Monday if,

if, you know, you want to come in and audition over the weekend.

I said, actually, I'm going out of town for the weekend, so that's not gonna work.

And she said, well, do you wanna come by, like, this afternoon?

I'm actively by the pool.

Had never rode a day in my life.

And I was like, sure, why not?

So I ran to the, like, nearby gym and they tried

to get me to buy a membership, like the big box gym.

They tried to get me to buy a membership and I was like, no, I'm telling you,

I just need to get on the rowing machine for like, five minutes and then I'll be out of here.

So I just, I just rode on the rower, the concept two erg for like five minutes.

I was like, yeah, I got this.

Oh, God.

And then I showed up and, I mean,

I must have done something right because she offered me a job.

So I don't know.

I went to my trip that weekend, training on Monday,

and ended up becoming the lead coach, the marketing director for them.

And, yeah, I'm still working with them to this day.

That's amazing.

Again, that teacher is clearly deeply embedded in who you are.

What about the fitness coaching appeals to you?

Like, how did you get into that in the first place when you started with teaching bar?

Well, I loved the fitness in general.

I still do.

I think it's not a linear journey for anybody.

I mean, you get to step into people's lives at different time and help them.

And I love helping people.

That's really something that motivates me.

And so the idea of helping people with something that I love to do, why would I not do that?

And so I think after being in the industry for so many years, I'm, like, a little jaded.

Now.

I'm like, well, I don't know how exciting it is anymore,

but I think that's just because I'm tired.

I would imagine so.

But there is still this, like, rush that I get on the podium when I'm coaching

and I get to motivate a group of people and push themselves harder to be better.

I mean, we do these different events at Roe House occasionally.

And literally yesterday I taught a class,

and it was a row for a cause that was benefiting the american cancer society.

So we did a really, like, impactful row.

And I found out that one of our members had a daughter that survived cancer.

So we rode for Allison, you know, we rode for my friend Drew,

who is dealing with cancer himself.

And then my dear friend Logan, his mom.

I mean, that is what means the most to me.

And so it's.

Yes, it's cool to get up there and row to the beat of the music

and tell people you're doing great, but sometimes it's just.

It's more.

Yeah, well, that's awesome.

Cancer is something that has touched just about everybody in some way,

if not directly, somebody in there, close in their life.

All right, you get into row house, and if I remember correctly,

this actually is part of what led you into doing what you're doing now.

Am I totally off on that?

No, you're correct.

Okay.

I finally got one.

Hell, yeah.

All right.

All right.

One for three.

So walk me through that, that transition.

Okay.

So 2020.

I am a coach at the end of 2020, beginning of 21,

the owner of Row house is telling me I need some help with marketing.

Can you help me out?

I'm like, yeah, I've done this for several small, small businesses over the years, of course.

And I have a communication degree.

So you had done some little marketing consulting here and there.

Marketing consulting is aggressive.

Working on social media for bars and Fayetteville.

Very accurate.

So I was a bartender once upon a time, and I was like, you know,

we could get more people here if we posted on social media.

So, anyway, I had that conversation with her and then just

immediately dove in and started taking over the marketing.

And Row House is a corporate entity, and so we had some corporate assets, but,

I mean, honestly, organic material from our actual studio

works so much better because you're connecting with the actual audience that it pertains to.

So I was getting a lot of content from there,

and then I think Lindsay just saw that I wanted to do more.

I had capacity to do more.

And so I think she saw that I was a good leader, and she offered me the lead coach position.

So at that point, I was handling all the marketing for our studio and

then also leading the coaches, so making sure they're onboarded,

training them to be amazing coaches to our crew, and then also making

sure that they're up to date on all their things they needed to do

coach wise.

So I did that for about a year,

and I sat there and I was just like, okay, I've got my master's degree.

I am not making any money.

And to no fault of the row house.

I just.

There was, like, no budget.

And so I was like, I've got to figure something else out.

So fast forward.

I had a friend who was working for a woman who

owned a marketing agency as well as a wedding venue in Indiana.

And she was about to open, and I just visited my friend to surprise her for her birthday,

and I was blown away at this wedding venue and this woman who was leading her company,

and I was like, what in the.

I have to be a part of this?

And so I finagled my way into that company and worked for this woman

alongside one of my best friends for the next year and a half.

So I learned photography and videography from a wedding perspective

and then also helped a bunch of different social media outlets for clients that she had.

So I was traveling all the time.

I no longer worked at row house.

I was traveling to Florida and Indiana all the time.

And at this point, it was just a lot.

I was.

I currently am in a relationship with someone who I love very much,

and it just put a strain on us.

Not.

Not in a negative way, but more of like, hey, I'm here for you, but this is not sustainable.

So what does this look like, practically, for us in our future,

if, you know, we want to continue down the road of having those conversations?

And I was like, you're right.

Traveling is so much fun, and it's so glamorous, but I'm exhausted.

And so I sat down with Lindsey.

This was two years ago now.

I sat down with Lindsey Rowe, house owner, and I was like, I can't do it anymore.

I can't travel.

I'm exhausted.

Like, what am I going to do?

And she goes, well, you can just come work for me again.

And I was like, lindsey, I am not doing that.

Like that.

I'm not going back.

Like, I love you, but I was like, I can't do that.

And she's like, no.

Like, I really think that you could come work for us at Rohouse, like, do our marketing.

And then this woman, there's a reason she's my mentor.

She's nuts in the best of ways.

She's the owner of Rojas, but she also is the executive

director of the sexual assault resource center.

So she's got her.

Oh, and she just had a baby.

Another one.

So she's got a lot going on.

But she was like, no, do the marketing for row house and Sarc.

She's like, start your own.

Start your own thing.

And it blew my mind.

I was like, whoa.

So up to that point, it had never crossed your mind.

No.

That you would be a business owner?

No.

Well, yes, I did.

I wanted to own a business.

I did not think it was gonna be marketing.

What'd you think it was going to be?

A spray tanning salon.

Okay.

I mean, seriously?

Like, to the point where not city center.

That's in Houston.

What's.

What's in Brighton?

College station.

It's the one that's with the George Hotel.

Anyway, there's this, like, green space.

It's beautiful.

It's like a mini city center, if you're familiar with Houston.

But I was going to put that.

Century square.

That's what it's called.

I was going to put my spray tanning salon in Century square,

and my dad was gonna financially back it, and it was gonna be so great.

And thank God that did not work out.

I would have hated it.

So anyway, no, I wanted to be a business owner.

I did not know what it was gonna look like.

Had that urge been there for a long time,

or did that urge come out when you had the idea for the spray tanning?

I think it kind of stemmed from COVID I hated sitting

at my desk working at red robin for 8 hours a day.

I mean, I was beating my head against a wall,

and I was like, there has to be something else that I can do.

Like, I can't do this.

And so I think it just kind of.

I was kind of toying around with the idea of what entrepreneurship looked like for me.

I was like, well, what do I know?

What am I good at?

Like, what do I.

What do I do?

Spray tans.

And so, thankfully, that didn't pan out.

But I mean, to the point where I was actively getting business proposals to my father,

and you're pricing out real estate, and you're figuring out

what the equipment costs and literally finish out going to be, and, wow.

And it didn't go through, thankfully, but it's just I went into my job with Lindsey

at Rojas originally, saying, I want to own a business one day, and she was like, great.

Well, I own, too, so I can help you and just be a mentor.

And she has done that and more.

Mentorship is a recurring theme on here,

and we'll probably get a little bit deeper into it, but I think you've probably got.

You've got a couple of mentors, at least in your life.

Is that a fair statement?

Yeah, I have a couple.

Formally, I only have two.

Like, that's it.

But I.

I have several people that I admire so much, and I look to for very specific things.

But as far as formal mentorship.

Yeah, I only have.

I only have two, and I don't think you need more.

I think as soon as you get too many opinions, you gotta kind of stay in your lane sometimes.

Sure.

All right.

Lindsey encourages you, hey, do the marketing for row house, do the marketing

for this nonprofit, and then go find other business to fill in the rest of your time.

Is that kind of how that played out?

Kind of.

I was not originally looking for other business because it was just me.

I was very keen on just relaxing and I took my time.

I wasn't actively telling people that I was working on this type of, you know, new projects,

but that's why I called it KCS consulting, because it was literally just me.

I had no idea.

All right, so when you started, did you anticipate that you would want

to grow it beyond yourself or did you think you were going to be a solopreneur?

I thought that there was going to be, like, one to two of us.

And, I mean, Casey s consulting is a play on my full name and my initials.

So if you're, like, looking at it, it's Casey.

K s is my last name.

Sisin and then consulting C is my middle name.

Kouvian.

So Casey Cuvion Sisson.

And so, no, I did not anticipate having eleven employees.

I mean, that was our, like, at our peak, we've, we've whittled it down a little bit.

But no, I had no idea.

And you know what?

I think that the thing that's the most surprising is how quickly we grew.

We just celebrated last, two weeks ago.

Last week, our two year anniversary.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Thank you.

It was really fun.

We had a way to hoe down.

It was a little, like, western party.

And the theme was this ain't our first rodeo, it's our second.

That's awesome.

It was really fun.

That's awesome.

Well, let's kind of dig in that journey.

So you have a good way to ease into your first couple of clients.

You got a very friendly relationship that sets you up for that.

How did you land that third client?

Yeah.

So that's the client that I consider as my first.

So by the grace of God, I, like, connected with Lindsey and she made it so easy

to start my company without making light of the situation.

I mean, it was not that it was handed to me, but it kind of was.

She was like, why don't you do this?

You've said you've been wanting to start a company.

Like this would be a great opportunity.

So, yeah, like you said, the third one was kind of, okay, now this is real.

But my third client was a real estate agent that I went to the gym with,

and she needed some help with social media.

And I was like, well, I kind of do that, like, do you want to work together?

And she signed on, and that was kind of when it was like, oh, okay, this is real.

And then I just kept using the verbiage,

like marketing agency, because that's what we were doing.

We were helping other people with their business, and it was just like every month we were

getting a new client, and then there were some months where we got two, and then it.

I mean, it just blew up.

And I was a little.

I was not a little overwhelmed.

I was just straight up overwhelmed.

So it was wild how quickly it grew.

Something that I think most businesses struggle with

is figuring out how to price what it is they do.

When you first jumped off,

how did you figure out how much to charge and what unit of measure to use?

How did you have those first couple of proposal conversations?

Scott, I still don't know how to do it.

So there's just cats out of the bag.

But, no, I.

I think that I just.

I said, okay, what is the least amount that I need to, like, pay my bills?

Seriously?

Because social media and content creation overall, it's not expensive.

We're utilizing content from things that we have taken on our phones or with a camera,

and then just putting it together with a nice, pretty bow.

It's not complicated now.

There is strategy behind it.

There is complicated pieces, but there's no overhead, honestly.

So I think that it just started off with, okay, well, how much can I afford?

Well, $500 sounds great.

I was charging people $500 for so much work.

For so much work.

And then I was shooting myself in the foot because then that first client,

I could never raise their rates.

And I'm like, I'm doing so much work for you now.

I charge so much for what you're getting.

And anyway, it was really difficult, and I.

And I have no advice.

No advice on how to do that.

So.

Well, I think it's natural that there's going to be evolutions.

And, like, I think about when I first started my business, the way that we structure

things is very different than, well, conceptually, it's the same, but some of the underlying

factors that go into how we price a deal, we've changed that quite a bit.

And you have to have some wins before you can charge that.

That premium.

And so I think that's a.

That's a pretty natural kind of a progression.

Well, and it's really.

I wouldn't say difficult, but every one of my clients has different needs, and so it's just.

I'm sure you can relate to this, but it's like,

okay, how am I supposed to just charge a flat rate when I'm doing video and photo

for you and we're doing social media and we're also building you a brand?

I mean, it is still very difficult for me to price because

I've got to have a custom proposal for every single client.

So that's something that I did not anticipate, but it is what it is.

So it sounds like your offering has expanded throughout time.

So walk me through that evolution 100%.

So I know myself.

I mean, I had experience in photography and videography,

specifically with weddings, which I then translated.

I mean, I can shoot, but I am not my best self when I am behind the camera.

I need to be directing.

Like, I know that about myself.

And so the second person that I hired was a photographer.

And so I had someone on my team that would just come with me to photoshoots for clients,

and we would shoot, and it was wonderful for this business.

I always like to have a photographer on my team.

That way, if I need to shoot, I will, and I can, but I prefer to be

in front of the camera, no, but alongside the camera and supporting my photographer.

So, really, my first hire was a woman named Erin.

She is a dear friend that I've known since middle school, and she's a phenomenal writer.

So I actually, I hired her to help me with copy, and, you know,

I would put together the strategy I would go through and create all the content pillars,

ideas, and then she would come in on the back end and just fill it out.

Erin did a really great job from the bat,

getting to know our client and being able to articulate their voice on social media.

So that's something that she has continued to do,

so much so that now she's our account manager for every single client.

So she was my first hire.

Second was a photographer.

So let's talk about that.

For me, hiring my first team member was one of the absolute

hardest things I've had to do in my whole entrepreneurial journey.

What was that pivotal moment?

What was that key indicator that told you, like, okay, hey, it's time?

Well, it was really easy for me because I didn't have time to do the work.

I was teaching at CU.

Well, at the time, I was teaching at CU, and then I was coaching at row house.

I had zero time to actually help my clients out.

So I was like, if I don't hire someone, then our clients are going to leave.

So Erin was such an easy hire for me because I knew her,

I think similar to my transition into entrepreneurship.

Just with my two first clients, it was so easy to hire.

Aaron, you touched on something that I think about the early days of my business.

And trap may not be the right word, but when you're in a professional services industry,

it's great when you're busy and you've got work, but that kind of prevents you

from going out and finding that next client, that next project, that next deal.

How did you kind of get out of that cycle of,

I've got too much to do with all these other things, but I need to go find that next.

How did you break out of that?

Good question.

I don't think that I was ever in it because I was in those other roles.

So I was coach at row house, teaching at CU.

I had to have other people actually working on my business,

so I don't think I was ever in that trap.

And then I was always out in the community.

I am a busy body.

I love networking.

I love talking to people.

I love connecting with others.

So I never had a lull of not being able to make those connections and get more people

to sign on.

I'm one of the few.

I feel like that that hasn't run into that, but it's just been interesting.

So has business just kind of come out,

come organically through your network and through relationships?

Like you haven't really had to go pound the pavement and really dig for client work?

Yeah, I've been really intentional from the beginning to go to one,

quote unquote, networking event every week.

Are you familiar with 1 million cups?

No, I'm not.

I don't really network.

It's an icky connotation for me, at least I don't.

It seems inauthentic.

So I literally stumbled upon this organization called 1 million cups,

and it's across the nation, but specifically with the Brian College Jason organization.

They focus on the first 30 minutes of every week, connecting with others.

So connection is one of their pillars.

And then the last 30 minutes is hearing from a local business owner.

So some different chapters, you know, hear two speakers in one week.

But the man that kind of brought it to Bryan College Station really values connection.

And the whole concept is, if we as a community had 1 million cups of coffee with one another,

like, how much better would we be as people and connecting with one another?

And honestly, connection is what drives me.

So it was so easy for me to just prioritize this single networking event

every week, and that has been the driver for nearly all of my business.

It's amazing, man.

If you can build a business around referrals and relationships.

I mean, that's huge.

It's way better than having to put out ads and cold call and do those kinds of things.

We have been very fortunate to not have to

have any sort of paid advertisements for our services.

Word of mouth.

Word of mouth.

And you know what's so funny?

I think that something that I'm really natural at is oversharing.

And I think that it has sometimes not served me.

But in the event of networking and connecting with others,

I mean, I tell everyone what I'm doing.

It is no secret what I got going on.

And so when I am at row house, if I'm tired,

I'm telling my crew, like, guys, I had the longest day.

I'm, we're, you know, our intention today is just showing

up because that's all I can give you right now.

And, you know, I had a couple members time after time,

ask me, what could I possibly be doing that's so exhausting?

And because they just think I coach, they don't,

they don't know about what else I do, and I got to share with them.

You know, I have a marketing agency and I teach at Cu,

and one of my members was like, oh, you have a marketing agency?

I have a person that I need to connect you with.

And that's how we got our first international client.

So, I mean, even me sharing what I'm doing in places that I don't think is necessarily

a networking environment, it's because I'm authentically being myself and just showing up.

Authenticity is huge, and people can spot a fake and people

don't want to buy from somebody who isn't genuine.

And I totally get that.

I see how that would work really well.

And the relationship between a company and the marketing agency,

that's a really important partnership.

And if you don't share values, if you don't really connect,

it's going to be really hard for that brand voice to come out.

And so that's fantastic.

You mentioned getting your first international client.

So I guess kind of talk to us about, like, what are the kinds of groups that you work with?

Is it mainly like you talked about the row house and the real estate agent,

like, is it a lot of b, two c, or do you do b, two b?

Is it really all over the place?

It is all over the place.

I founded the company because I saw such a disconnect from business owners that

needed marketing support, but they could not afford the big brands and price tag.

And so that kind of going back to how to price yourself.

Well, that was also difficult because I wanted to help.

My heart is to help and serve others.

So I'm like, how am I going to do that with an expensive price tag?

Like, that's not approachable for everyone.

So I've kind of had to.

I've had a little internal struggle with that, but it is based on our core values.

If you align with our core values, I'll work with you.

Honestly, it's not any more difficult than that.

Let's go back to your hiring journey.

So your first hire was one of your long time time best friends.

Next one was a photographer.

What did that look like from there, and how did you go about finding the talent?

Gosh, I've been immensely blessed with connections, so it's very similar to how I structure,

even making potential client connections, just word of mouth.

So our next hire was actually a real estate agent for one of my clients.

So we were representing a brokerage or.

No, they were just a real estate group at the time.

Now they're a brokerage anyway.

And she was a real estate agent for them,

and she had a desire for content creation, and she wanted to go off on her own one day.

And I was like, look, I would love to have you come on board.

Cause I don't know jack about real estate.

And we have this client that we're supporting, and I'm like,

googling jargon that is real estate related.

I'm like, can I just pay you to be on this account?

And that way I don't have to learn it, but I can trust that there's an expert.

Right?

And so she willingly came on as an intern.

Then we hired her on part time, and then inevitably,

it was time for her to move on and focus on her real estate career solely.

But that was kind of our next hire.

I may be overthinking this, but somebody that worked for one of your clients

came to work for you, and you're effectively selling their services back to your client.

Did that, like, again, I might be overthinking it,

but did that create any friction with you and that client?

There was friction with that client, but not because of that.

Again, back to the core values.

But no, originally that was not the case.

So it was actually encouraged from the owner of that company that her and I get coffee,

because the owner was like, hey, this woman has an interest.

Casey's a great resource.

And so I did communicate with our client, and I was like, hey, how would you feel about this?

And she was on board, so it wasn't strange.

It was actually really nice because I had someone on the inside

telling me what listings were live, what's going on, and I didn't have to pay for that.

So it was actually a blessing.

That's great.

Hiring from a customer, hiring from a referral source, or having one of them hire from you.

Like, that's a, that can be a really contentious thing,

and it's something that people have to go about the right way.

And I think, like you said, you had that conversation with them about it,

and that's going to go a long way.

That's when people kind of go the back door, and it's just kind of, you know, oh, gosh, no.

Well, one of our core values is let us know.

And so it's like, you gotta talk to us.

That's our transparent communication core value.

I'm like, whether you are mad at us, happy with us, like, just, you've got to let us know.

And even in the picture that we have associated with it, it's like a snapping finger.

Like, you gotta let us know.

So, yeah, transparent communication is the most important core value that we have.

Okay.

All right.

So all of your hiring, it sounds like it's just come very, very natural.

It sounds like you're not putting ads out there.

No.

When you bring people in, how are you vetting their abilities?

That is a great question.

I'm laughing because one of my content creators,

I brought him on as an intern, and I literally met him in my Bible study.

So he was a part of our community group and just asked really great questions.

I mean, I am, by the end of the day, by the time I get to community group, I am dog tired.

I am, like, over it.

And this man walks up and is like, oh, I saw you at Pov.

How are you at it?

What's your name?

And we start talking, and I am just like, I'm over it.

Not over him, but just like, I'm so tired.

You're dead.

But then he starts asking these questions, and I'm like, whoa.

He's asking really intentional questions.

I'm like, there might be something to this guy.

And then I just, I just started talking to him and getting to know him,

and I was like, this guy's really cool.

So I just wanted to help.

And so then by the end of our conversation, which was no more than ten minutes,

I was like, do you want to come in for an interview?

And he was like, I mean, I guess.

And so that is one example of vetting people.

I mean, I would much rather teach people everything they need

to know about graphic design and writing and whatever.

But if you have a desire to learn and just the right fit for the team,

then that's more important than anything else.

Yeah.

Hire for culture and train for the hard skills.

Well, that's a nicer way to put it.

So what is kind of like the breadth of the skill set that you need?

You talked about photography, videography, content design.

Is that kind of the general scope of the kind of people that you're looking for?

Yes, I'm looking for creatives.

If I want to do out of the box things and people that can get things done.

So, specifically in the scope of my business, I've got different personality types,

I've got helpers, I've got doers, I've got all these things.

But as long as at the end of the day, you can get it done,

get it done's another core value of ours.

That is the main priority because we have an obligation to our client.

So I don't think that personality wise, there's a particular mold.

I've got people who are very similar to each other in the office and then very different.

But I think as long as that willingness, like you said,

just to kind of learn, that's what I'm looking for.

There's nothing to it.

There's nothing to it.

Just be willing and show up.

Showing up is half of it right there.

You've talked a lot about core values.

Walk me through how you guys codified those core values.

Okay, this is awesome.

So I work with a business coach.

She's a life and leadership coach, but I call her my business coach because she is so good.

Her name's Beth medley, eth Medley, and she's incredible.

So I've worked with her for, I mean, almost two years now, and she has kind of walked

me through the stages of my business and helped me personally, but also with my team.

And she comes in every month and does workshops with us.

And, I mean, it's a wonderful resource.

If you are looking to grow your company, get with a business coach 1000%.

I wholeheartedly agree with that.

I've been working with mine for last seven or eight years, and it's been invaluable.

Even in the last week, just the number of conversations we've had and talking through things,

it's been huge.

Okay, well, that's encouraging to note.

Like, seven or eight years down the line, I'm like, what could I possibly.

What else can I learn?

And then inevitably, I'm like, how did I not know that about myself?

So, yeah, there's always something, but she was the one that really pushed me to do that.

So she has this method.

I have no idea, and I'm not even going to act like I know how it works.

But we sat down and she asked me about really pivotal times in my career and honestly,

my life.

So I sat down with Erin, now account manager slash best friend,

and she and I are really like, she's my person.

Like, she's the person that we're going to go to the moon together.

And so I included her in that conversation.

I often refer to her as my business partner as well.

And so we sat down with Beth, and she asked us all these questions about pivotal moments

and in the business, in our lives and whatever, and she's like, okay, now we're going

to talk about, like, why those things happened and what you learned from them.

And we ended up with this list of, like,

seven or eight things that are phrases not even, like, authenticity, like a single word.

Like, it's a phrase that allows us to speak to expectations for our team,

but also our clients.

So it just means a little bit more.

And kind of like you were saying earlier, those, like, little quirks,

those things that are just for the company kind of add to the value and the fun of it.

But it also is a really good boundary for us because, you know, now we're

to the point where people are misaligned and they don't align with our

core values, and we're, like, easily spotting them, like, oh, let us know

that they are not letting us know that's they're going against our core

values.

So it's been amazing.

So that's what that process looked like.

It was.

It was almost like a workshop.

As we hire people and as we periodically evaluate our team,

part of our process is how well do these people align with our core values?

And certainly, as we're interviewing people, if it doesn't seem like they fully align with.

They may not fully align 100% with everything, but they're close on a lot.

But, man, if they're really off on two and sometimes even one,

it's just not going to be a fit.

Well, I have a question for you.

Shoot.

I'm to the point, I mean, still very early, obviously, in my business, I'm finding now that

even when I share with them my core values and I am doing all these things, and I think that

they're aligned, then, like, a couple months down the road, I'm like, you are so not aligned.

Like what?

I thought we were on the same page.

So it's like, how has that looked like for you?

And what is that process?

I mean, I can't just cut the cord.

I guess I could.

Over time, I've become a better judge.

But at the same time, if somebody isn't genuine,

yeah, it's going to get figured out eventually.

And I think that being really, really upfront with somebody and telling them like,

hey, if this truly, it doesn't align with who you are and the kind

of environment that you want to be in, there's nothing wrong with that.

Yeah, but this is who we are.

And if that's not you, then I would rather save you the time and both

of us the heartache and you go find the place that really aligns with, with who you are.

And, and if you don't know who you are, take some time

to figure that out before you go look for that next thing.

That's good.

I'm sure that you've had some difficult hiring and people kinds of situations.

We've had some ourselves.

This was many years ago.

We brought in a guy that he was going to relocate to Dallas from Boston.

And we're very big on an office culture and he was set to move.

They wanted to get out of Boston, they were going to come to Texas.

And on his second day, he was still located up there.

On his second day, we get on a Zoom and I'm going to do some training

with him and he says, hey, I got to step away for a minute.

And he's got his personal email up on his computer.

And I'm not snooping, I'm not looking.

It's not like I'm moving the mouse and digging around.

It's there, but it is right in front of me as he walks away.

And I couldn't help but notice that one of the emails was

from what looked like a recruiter and the subject was job offer.

And so when he came back to the computer, I said, hey, real quick, before we get any further,

I noticed this, talked to me about that and he said, oh, yeah, yeah, no,

I've been looking for a job for a while and this is just residual from my job search.

They're just following up with me and I'm like, okay, that's plausible.

I get that.

Well, two days later we're getting on another zoom

and we're going to do some additional training.

And he says, hey, we can do the training if you want,

but you know, the other day I've actually accepted that other job.

Oh, my God.

And I said to him, I'm a pretty calm person,

and I wasn't screaming and yelling, but I was very animated.

And I said, you lied to me directly?

Yeah.

And he, I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry.

I'm like, man.

All right, well, good luck to you.

Thank God.

Honestly.

Well, and, yeah, I mean, and I'm glad that it happened on day

three or four and not six months in when he's loaded up with projects and with enough people,

eventually you're going to have situations like that.

I mean, law of large numbers, and we're not even really talking about

super large numbers here, but things are going to happen.

And over time, you just get a little bit better at kind of judging character.

And some people may disagree, but I actually think that it's healthy to have at least some

amount of skepticism as you're, you're going through the interview process with somebody.

Well, that literally happened to me.

So no matter how big you get, still happens.

I mean, this was probably my fourth or fifth hire, and I was so excited.

She was not even an intern.

I hired her because she had marketing experience.

So this was my, like, first hire as a marketing coordinator.

And literally she was there for a month and then not only quit,

started her own company, turned around, did the exact same thing.

And it, to this day, it pisses me off.

So I'm working with Beth on how to let it go, but it's such a slap in the face,

and with it being your company, you feel so vulnerable, so you're just like,

oh, everything we just did for the past month was a complete lie.

Even if that wasn't their intention, that's how it felt.

And I've had to since, like, block that person on social media.

It is unhealthy for me to see them.

And, I mean, it's just, I've got to put blinders

on and focus on myself and what my business is.

But I think there's a misconception, especially in this industry,

social media being it, that it's easy.

So, I mean, you know, if you, you grew up with social media,

like, I know how to post a TikTok, I know how to do a reel.

Like, there is so much more to it that people don't get.

So people think that they can just start these companies.

And if that is your focus, if you are just solely trying to

post cute reels and look good on social media, then you're in it for the wrong reason.

But having systems in place to help avoid these situations are wildly important.

Did they approach employees about joining them?

Did they approach customers about bringing their business over?

I'd like to think she was smart enough to not do the employees,

but she did go after some clients and some specific industries that we were adjacent to.

So it was very calculated, unfortunately.

But, you know, now we have a system in place that our employees sign a non compete.

And, I mean, that's just, you live and you learn.

Yeah.

For those people who are listening that may not have really good HR

policies and procedures in place, I would recommend you go back and listen

to our toolbox episode with Ben Hale from ethos HR talking about outsourced HR.

Whether you work with them or somebody else, I mean,

I can't tell you how much peace of mind I've got and sleep better

at night knowing that we've got these things pretty well buttoned up.

And if and when there's an issue,

we've got experts that we can call to help us through those situations.

But, yeah, making sure you've got that non compete, I think, is probably going by the wayside.

But non solicitation of customers and employees is still very, very much enforceable.

Making sure you've got that well documented and agreed to is really important.

All right, well, we've talked about some trials.

Let's talk about some of your triumphs.

What have been some of just the highlights, those mountaintop moments for you?

Yeah, I think a really big one was the international client.

And I mean, she's just in Canada, so she's not too far away, but I'm counting it.

I think that that alongside being nominated as one of the best marketing agencies

in Bryan College Station, we got nominated for that award

this past year and our second year coming up on second year of business.

And then I think that working alongside the Scout guide

in Houston and Nebraskas Valley is a really big one.

If you're not familiar with that brand, go check them out.

The Scout guide.

They're a phenomenal, beautiful local guide to everything

that is luxurious in the towns that they are in.

So it's everything that I love visually.

And so working with them has been great.

But honestly, I mean, we have sent over 150 proposals.

We have worked with over 50 companies.

I think that that's really something that I am proud of.

And a lot of it kind of boils down to me growing up thinking that

the only way I was going to be successful was by working with my father.

And we don't have the best relationship.

And so having that mindset growing up, the only way

thinking that I was going to be successful was through him.

And now being on the other side of that is really cool for me,

and it's healing to see that I can do things on my own.

I am smart, I'm really talented, and I'm successful.

So it's been really great.

Just making it past the two year mark is huge in and of itself, and there's all kinds

of statistics out there that'll tell you what the failure rate of businesses is.

To just get through two years in and of itself is quite the accomplishment.

So congrats on that.

Thank you.

I love what you talked about.

Having the hoedown to celebrate that second anniversary and that kind of fun spunkyness,

I'm sure is kind of pervasive to the culture and who y'all are talking about,

how you've built your culture and how you've maintain that as you've grown.

It's really hard to maintain it because we have to still provide a service for our client,

and at the end of the day, we got to get stuff done.

But I think integrating fun into our daily, every other day routine is really important.

So, Erin, who I've mentioned before, we did an assessment with our team

a year or so ago, and it was, I'm going to butcher this name, but it's your key motivators,

I think, and there's like five or six of them,

and mine is freedom and choice, and then hers is fun and pleasure.

So the way that Beth, our business coach, was describing this is like, whatever your.

Your motivator is, you will die if you do not have this integrated into your life.

And so if I feel like I don't have a choice or I don't have the freedom to do x,

y, z, then, like, I am going to die.

If Erin does not have some sort of fun and pleasure integrated in her life, she will die.

So it's been interesting because that's just not how I operate.

So I know that I have to integrate fun things into our work, not every day,

but whether it's us taking the afternoon at an all team meeting to go play pickleball

with one another, like, I think that was so much fun, and it was only an hour.

It was not too much time in the grand scheme of things, but, I mean, just to see my team

being goofy and us just, like, let the walls down a little bit is really important to

remind me, just me, it's good for everybody else, but that people are human and we've

got to integrate some sort of fun and pleasure, no matter if that's your motivator or

not.

So planning something like that, if that's not your nature, was that, like, hard for you

to do?

I literally, I turned to my business coach and I was like,

Beth, you mean I'm going to pay these people to have fun?

We're literally playing pickleball.

There have been other things in the past.

We had, prior to us hiring our first male on the team, we had a slumber party.

Nobody slept over, but they came to my house and we did a pajama party.

And, you know, it was, having an all female team is great and also not great.

So all that to say, we had these fun things that we did once a month,

it was hard for me to justify the cost.

And Beth was like, you have got to do this for company culture.

You have to.

And now I see the value in it.

It does not come naturally to me, but that's why I have Aaron on my team.

That's why I have our operations manager to help me

remember those things, because I don't think about it.

Our businesses do different things, but at the end of the day, we're both in professional

services, and there have been times where clients have come to us seeking our expertise,

and we've come to them with recommendations and as a consultant, who.

This is what we do.

It's really, really hard when the client doesn't go with what we are recommending.

Have you experienced any situations like that in your world?

Yes, absolutely.

It really is frustrating to me.

It's frustrating when clients get cheap at the last minute,

or they're willing to pay all this money, and then the add on that's

really just gonna honestly take their brand from here to here.

For some reason, they get cheap with it.

And I'm like, I don't get it.

For example, we have worked with people on their brands before,

so we have put together a brand kit, done market research,

created different logos and color schemes and typography, fonts, all the things.

And from there, we put together a strategy for their social media marketing content.

And sometimes they want to save a little bit of money,

and the option is for them to post themselves, because honestly,

it's a headache for my team to get access to the accounts and all of that.

We will do that, and ultimately, that is what's best for the client.

Like, just flat out, if you're going back and forth with your marketing team

to post for you, just let them do it.

Please let them do it.

So this client did not want to do that, which is fine.

But then they decided to post everything out of order.

And when I asked them about it, I was like, was this intentional?

And they're like, well, we're just kind of going

in a different direction with what I envisioned.

So I just, I needed to switch it up.

And I was like,

in my mind, I mean, you get to do whatever you want because you're the business owner.

But I have put so much time and effort into intentionally

putting one post after another to tell a story.

It's not just a pretty picture.

It's like, okay, this pretty picture tells the story of who you are.

So that when we introduce your services, it is very clear they know you,

they're building trust and all that to say there is strategy behind it.

So, yes, I get wildly frustrated and I don't know how to work through that.

Honestly.

I do not have a secret sauce.

I bring that up just because people that might be in professional services

or considering professional services,

businesses that haven't experienced that yet, it's going to happen at some point.

And at the end of the day, they pay you and it is their business and you have to accept it.

But, man, it's hard.

And if you're, if you haven't experienced that yet,

it's really frustrating when it happens the first time.

And specifically in this industry, people don't understand that

the more that you spend time in the apps, any app that it is, Facebook,

LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, that specific app wants you to engage with content.

So the more that you are spending time in that platform,

the more that your content itself is going to be pushed out.

So my team can schedule the posts all day long, but if you're not engaging with other people,

they're not going to push your content out.

And so then they wonder why their content isn't performing well.

Are you spending time in the app?

They're like, yeah, well, I scroll every morning.

No, it is not good enough.

You need to be intentionally sending your content to people, commenting on others,

making sure that people are seeing your things, but making those connections, it kills me.

But I also ultimately, it falls back on us and it makes us look bad,

even when it's not necessarily our fault.

That I totally get, I totally get that when you started the business,

you were led to hire your first employee pretty quickly because you had a very full plate.

You've grown the team considerably in a very short amount of time, by the way.

And that in and of itself is challenging.

How much different does your day to day look today?

Than it did two years ago today or yesterday specifically.

This week has been really hard.

Erin, who I've talked about, her grandfather passed away, and she is at home in Argentina

with her whole family, taking care of her family because her mom cannot emotionally.

And so Aaron is taking some time away.

Understandably, we communicated, and we thought that that was best for her and the team.

And so my day to day right now is pretty freaking busy.

And honestly, I'm having to relearn a lot of what Aaron does

because that woman does so much that I had no idea.

I had no idea.

Apart from this specific week,

my day to day really looks like managing the team and making sure that our clients are happy.

So making sure that, yes, things are getting done.

Content is being created, but ultimately putting together a strategy

for our clients so that our content creation team can execute.

So that's really what I thrive on.

That's what I am best at.

So that is the number one priority, which we do quarterly for our clients.

So we'll start to plan for q three here in the next month.

So we do that, or I do that with.

Alongside Erin, managing people, making sure that everybody's okay.

There are so many dynamics at play, specifically with our team,

and there's some people working remotely and some people in office.

I mean, we just started working with our new operations manager,

so making sure she's trained and then, yeah, connecting with potential clients.

I'm still doing disco calls.

Call them disco calls instead of discovery and then just being present in the community.

I think that this is something that I am.

I harp a lot on.

On social media.

You have to be top of mind.

You need to be posting regularly.

You need to be in stories even more regularly,

so that when your audience is seeing your content, if it's a real estate agent,

you're like, oh, I saw Tiffany showing a house yesterday.

She might be a good fit for us, or x, y, Z.

So, similarly, I need to be top of mind.

I need to be out in the community being present.

I need to be doing the things.

And that's what I love to do.

I love meeting with people.

I love talking to people.

And so the more that I can be making those connections and supporting my team do what they do,

the more well oiled of a machine we are.

You've been able to make that leap from being the one

doing the work to managing the people doing the work.

Correct.

Was that a hard transition for you?

Was it difficult for you to give up some

of those things that you were doing in the early days?

Absolutely not.

Oftentimes it is for people.

I don't know why I am like, here's how you do it.

Get it done.

I trust you to a fault.

I expect people to know how to do things, and oftentimes I'm not good at explaining them.

Or I'm like, my brain is working so quick, I can't articulate it well.

And so I have to give my team permission to literally ask me clarifying questions

and make sure that I'm explaining it well enough for them to execute.

But no, that was definitely not something that I had a hard time.

I was like, thank God, please take it off my plate.

Do you have a system or a process or something that helps you track all the work and make

sure that the deliverables are getting out on time and meeting those client expectations?

So glad you asked.

We are in the middle of figuring out what that looks like

because our current system is not serving us, and it's because we're growing.

I mean, specifically with website design, those are kind of one off projects.

Our monthly deliverable clients, we have a fantastic system that works really well for us.

But our web designer, she's amazing.

And I was thinking about her, and I was like,

I don't even know where you are on half of your projects.

And I trust her.

So it's not a matter of looking over her shoulder, making sure she's getting the things done.

I know she's getting them done, but if a client were to ask, like, how far along?

Or I'm like, I have no flipping clue.

So, yeah, we're.

If you have any suggestions, let me know.

You got to find what works for you.

Yeah.

What are the parts of the job today?

As you said, it has changed.

What are the parts that are life giving that you enjoy the most,

and what are the parts that you are still looking for forward to handing off?

Let's start with the latter.

Cause I want to end on a high note.

The things that I'm looking forward to handing off are physically taking photos right now.

Our photography intern left for the summer,

and I have not hired someone to fill that position.

So I'm.

I'm taking over all the photo and video, which is nice because creatively, I'm locked in.

I know what I want visually, so it is nice to kind of be in control of that.

So there's a benefit to me actually shooting, but I've told you, I'm better directing.

I'm better at leading.

So I think just really leaning into that instead of trying to fight it.

I need to be better about that, and I'm excited to offload that soon.

She's coming back this fall, so we'll be fine.

But that's the one thing that I'm looking forward to shifting.

But as far as what I'm enjoying, my gosh, I love meeting with clients.

We were at a photo shoot Monday, and we have a new client.

And mind you, I was shooting both of these.

Again, excited to offload those.

But my favorite parts of those two shoots were literally just talking to our clients and,

like, hearing about what they were doing and dreaming with them.

I think that that's something that oftentimes I don't get

to do because I'm busy fluttering about.

But what we do for them is so relational, and it's sharing their story on social media,

and I get to be a part of that, and my team gets to be a part of that.

And so hearing that one of my real estate agents in Houston

is winning an award for being one of the top real estate jargon, whatever.

She won an award.

I was like, hey, let me travel with you to help you receive this award

and photograph it because you're going to want these.

And so I think sharing those moments,

continuing to just celebrate them, oh, my God, it's my favorite thing.

I love it.

Think back to two years ago.

Were there any fears that you had going into this,

and did any of those fears come to fruition?

My only fear was that I was going to fail.

I know that that's common for entrepreneurship,

but I've alluded to this throughout the episode.

But my father was not a great man, and he was an entrepreneur, or he is.

And so we had a really, a really hard relationship growing up,

and then my parents got divorced, and it was even worse.

And with him being my literal only example as an entrepreneur,

and I thought that that's what it meant to be an entrepreneur.

And now knowing that it could be different is amazing.

But at the time, I was like, I don't want to be anything like my dad.

If that's what entrepreneurship looks like, I'm out.

And so even just realizing that it could look differently has been a huge blessing.

And everything that my dad stands for, I'm actively trying

to be against it, but he valued connection, but for the wrong reasons.

I was a little scared going into it.

I'm like, well, are my intentions good?

Are they pure?

Because I'm fearful that they aren't.

And so I've just got to remind myself that I'm not him.

And my intentions are pure.

And so, honestly, it's not something that I'm even over.

I think that that's something that I'm working on every day.

You said you had a fear of failure.

I think that failure is defined differently from person to person,

entrepreneur to entrepreneur.

What would that look like if the business looked like this?

It would mean that we failed.

I think that I don't really care what people think about me.

I think oftentimes people are like, well,

if I let someone down, I'm like, I constantly let people down.

I'm like, I just not like that.

But it's.

I kind of let that go.

But as far as what failure would look like to me is if I know that I didn't do a good job,

and then in turn, like, my team or my clients are suffering, and that's already happened,

and I've had to just kind of pivot and give myself grace because I'm not perfect.

I think as far as, like, failing, all of us are going to fail multiple times in our lives,

and it's a matter of, again, that pivot and what the next step is going to be.

And if you continue to wallow or if you continue to not push forward,

then that's what you should be disappointed in, not the fact that you failed.

What's next?

I would like to have a really good night's sleep sometime soon.

We are still very much in, like, the grind season.

It's so funny.

I was like, we're gonna have summer hours this summer, and we are gonna, like, chill.

We're gonna have fun, and that is not happening.

Maybe for my team, I'm not.

We onboarded five new clients in the past week and a half.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

So I think hiring someone is definitely on the radar.

I would love to work on a campaign and create something for a brand that's international,

not just Canada, but I would love to travel for that brand and shoot

and think full creative freedom on a project would be amazing.

That's kind of the dream.

I look back at January, my team, our leadership team.

So there's three of us.

We put together some goals, and one of them was to work with a latino client because Erin

is argentinian, and she was like, I have to have some client that I can connect with.

And within two months, we hired a spanish speaking client.

So it's cool to say those things out loud.

So now, even with you saying, like, I want to work on a campaign that takes us international,

I'm like, let's go.

Buckle up.

Is there anything that you had wanted to shared that we haven't got into.

Not really, other than just giving yourself grace as a person.

If you're an entrepreneur, if you're not

bringing the human side of things back into perspective.

I mean, even most recently this past week, I'm finding myself getting

easily frustrated of certain scenarios and I've got to kind of recenter.

And I'm like, I have got to check myself because we're all human

and we all make mistakes and we're just trying to figure this out.

And if you don't extend grace to others,

then how in the heck could you extend it to yourself and vice versa.

So I think that that's the only thing that I would

encourage others to do and practically just be kind.

Well said, Casey.

Thanks for joining us.

Thank you so much for having me.

That was Kasey Sisson, founder of Kasey S Consulting.

To learn more, visit kaseysconsulting.co

That's Kasey with a K.

If you or a founder you know, would like to be a guest on

In The Thick of It, email us at [e-mail]