Exhibit A: The job.
This whole thing started when I BS'd my way into a paid search job with NO experience. Just the paid search book I read cover to cover 3 days before my first-ever corporate interview. It worked, and I got the job. (Still a little impressed by myself TBH because I was so clueless.)
But the hard part was in front of me—I had to actually learn the job. It was do or die. So I did, and I thrived. I transferred to their state-of-the-art social media room 7 months later, managing ad campaigns with $100k+ budgets for recognizable brands. You probably have heard of some of them.
But something was... off. Doing things someone else's way didn't sit well with me. Sound familiar? Enter: entrepreneurship.
Exhibit B: The business(es).
I started my first company, sold it, and went to work for the tech company that bought it as their Marketing Director. Perfect setup, right? Until it wasn't. My heart, mind, and gut were pulling me back to brand-building and entrepreneurship. The fancy title wasn't gonna work out.
This was my moment to build the brand of my dreams. Thus, Brand Good Time® was born (ask me how we landed on that name, it’s a funny one). And so was someone else.
Exhibit C: The baby (and the near-breakdown that changed everything).
Fast forward to November 2023. Picture this: me, sitting in a Starbucks, spreadsheet open, seriously contemplating shutting down Brand Good Time®. Despite years of building the agency, Q4 felt uncertain and, honestly, scary. While pregnant with my second child.
Instead of giving up, I chose to innovate. I got on a co-work call that day and had a breakthrough: our most successful client relationships were with founder-led brands bringing entirely new concepts to market.
The ones who were told they were "too much" or "not corporate enough." The ones with ideas that made people say "that's not how it's done." The disruptors. The rule-breakers. The visionaries. AKA my kinda people.
Two strategic shifts changed everything: I leaned hard into founder-led content and refined our messaging to specifically target innovative, disruptive brands. The risk paid off beyond my expectations. We achieved 15% year-over-year growth in 2024, served 54 diverse clients across 12 industries, and achieved our highest revenue month in four years—all while I was preparing for and taking maternity leave.
Here's what I learned: the brands that felt like "misfits" in traditional marketing weren't the problem—they were the solution. These disruptors needed marketing that matched their brilliance, not cookie-cutter strategies that dimmed their light.
My greatest, most fulfilling challenge yet. And the reason I'm so passionate about customizing sustainable marketing strategies that honor your capacity as a person, a leader, and business owner.
Today, that Starbucks spreadsheet tells a very different story. We thrive by helping disruptor brands turn "too different" into their unfair advantage.