From Tackling Illness to Becoming a Digital Marketing Agency Owner

A career in digital marketing is not easy. Neither is being a business owner… But, I like a challenge, so I decided to become a digital marketing agency owner.

The journey

Upon finishing high school, I decided I wanted to go to university, not to study something that had a specific career path outlined once I’d finished my degree, but to study what I was interested in at the time. I loved reading, I loved pop culture, and I was obsessed with movies. There was no particular genre I was most interested in, I just loved to consume information and stories.

I had thought that I might want to be a film director or a screenwriter, but as you’ll likely know, the path you initially consider, isn’t always the one you take.

I completed my degree and came out with a 2:1, after which, I moved back home and worked two jobs. Or three if you count the voluntary work I also did. I worked as many hours as possible at Tesco, learning every skill in every department possible to enable me to get more overtime. I did day shifts and night shifts – Often these would overlap. I was also working at JJB Sports. I had a four-hour contract, yet I usually did triple that (and some), but that was when zero-hour contracts become a “thing” and so they would never commit to increasing my contracted hours. Along with these two jobs, I volunteered at the local theatre, helping organise sets and lighting during shows.

Why volunteer my time, I hear you ask. Well, I was applying for job upon job upon job and it was brutal. It was hard work, boring and disappointing. So, by volunteering, I got to do something different, meet new people and make friends, along with adding extra curriculars to my CV. It was something that brought me joy, which I really needed at that time in my life.

A writer’s lucky break

Having travelled up and down the country for interviews… That did not result in a job, nor any feedback to help me improve my position, I finally landed a job at a local magazine company. I was surprised as the interview had gone badly, so when they called to offer me the job, I was a little confused and taken aback.

The job was not anything writing related. I was hired as an appointment setter for the sales team. Basically, I was a telemarketer. But it was a foot in the door and I was determined to show my worth. So, what did I do? I beat everyone. I got more appointments set than anyone else. That in itself caused a little conflict, as those who were previously the top performers had new competition in town.

I maintained my performance, passed my probation and then asked the question to see whether I could write for one of the magazines or the wedding website they also owned, for free, in my own time. Of course, they said yes. Not many people will say no to free work. I wrote a few articles for the wedding website and then presented some ideas for features in the local magazines. They didn’t accept right away, instead they tasked me with writing features they already needed writing. One article was about the trusty ballpoint pen (exciting, I know!) and another about a local artist. It may not have been the work I really wanted to do, but I was happy with what I wrote. However, when they were printed the magazine, the editor had made some huge mistakes, my article literally made no sense, chunks of text had been removed, other parts had been moved about. I got a call from the artist who was raging! This was a new experience for me, but I handled it and explained that we’d do another write up.

Following this issue, I proposed a new proofing and editorial process which was soon implemented – To be fair, they didn’t have much choice, but at least I had a solution.

Shortly after this, the person in charge of the wedding website decided to move on and I was given their role, while also helping to support the local magazine. So, from appointment setter, I became the wedding website Editor and the Features Editor of the local magazine. Boom. My writing career had finally begun.

But… You know how life likes to throw a spanner in the works… Well, it did.

Tackling illness

I was diagnosed with hidradenitis suppurativa. This required me to have four operations in the space of a year. I should have stayed home, but I was conscious of the time I’d already taken off due to illness and it was obvious my boss wasn’t happy about it.

I’ve always been a hard worker, so I persevered, which meant I was in the office with a gaping wound (the first operation had gone wrong – leading to further complications), massive infection and a roaring temperature.

Anyway, they decided to give me more work. I was tasked with aftersales, and then I was given sales targets to hit too. I kept hitting those targets, so they kept increasing them. I knew what was happening and decided to get out of such a hostile working environment.

A whole new digital world

Digital is where it’s at, so I decided to look for roles within a digital marketing agency – somewhere I could learn and create a new career path. I landed a role that was about an hour’s drive from where I lived, and I was worth it. I was hired as a Content Marketing Executive and got off to a flying start. For one, my health improved. I was happy and healthy. I championed a new PR outreach system they were implementing. I spent time in my evenings learning the system and building it up, doing journalist outreach get content I’d written for clients published across various news outlets. Within a month, I’d been published on some great websites, including HuffPost!

After three months my manager decided to hand her notice in, leaving the Content Manager role open. I didn’t want this role, but I applied for it anyway. I wanted to get in front of the agency owner to propose that we split the content and the PR outreach teams up – Of course, I wanted to head up the Outreach department. I interviewed for the Content Manager role and pitched my idea to them. And… It worked. They split out the teams and I was given the role of Outreach Manager.

I continued to work in this role, training the team and landing great coverage for clients for about a year. During this time, I also took on the role of culture and events, whereby I’d organise team parties, get togethers and incentives, too. I loved to see the people around me thrive and enjoy the atmosphere I was helping to create.

The ever-revolving machine

After a while, like many things do, the job became monotonous. We got told to build links, we built links, but I wasn’t involved much in the client relationships and so the team and I never saw the fruits of our labour. We didn’t know whether the clients were happy, we didn’t know if there were other events that we could utilise to gain them further coverage in the media. Was what we were doing having a positive impact?

I asked to be more involved, to have more responsibility, but due to pressures elsewhere in the business, it wasn’t possible at that time. So, I decided to take a role in-house at a SAAS company. While here I worked with the marketing manager to implement a number of changes to the site and various other elements of marketing to support their growth. But, again, I grew restless. I knew I could achieve more. Help more people. And, develop my skillset even further.

Taking the jump

I had to wait for a period of time to get a mortgage (you can’t get a mortgage without having five year’s worth of books, but you can for just being employed – apparently it’s more secure), but once I had it and I was set with going it alone, I handed in my notice.

I had three months to figure out what I was actually going to do and to start getting some clients in. While I worked a full-time job, I worked in my lunch breaks, I worked evenings and I worked weekends to get my business off the ground. I networked and booked meetings, I reached out to local businesses, explaining that I was just down the road from them and that I was taking on copywriting work.

And, that’s how it all started. Once I’d finally finished working my notice period I ramped everything up. However, within the first three months of running my business fulltime, we had some news that rocked the family. It required me to take some time out to support the family and it was a huge emotional period of time. But, you have to look after yourself before you can take care of others, and so I picked myself up and set to growing my business once more.

The rest is history… So to speak. I officially launched Quibble in 2016 and two years later my husband joined the business. We both have agency experience and we have complimentary skills, so it was a good match. Shortly after we hired our first employee, it didn’t work out, but everyone was amicable. We later took someone else on and that person has been with us ever since.

We’ve built the business to be very stable financially. Cash is king in the world of business. You have to look later your cashflow and ensure there’s enough in the bank for a rainy day.

Quibble is now a small but mighty team of five people. We now cover a wide variety of marketing services, from Content Marketing and Digital PR, to SEO, PPC and website development. We are looking to grow, but we’re very pleased with the journey so far. It’s not been an easy one and we have made mistakes along the line, but we’ve learnt from them, dusted ourselves off and remained resilient.

Being a small business owner is so incredibly rewarding. It allows me to be flexible enough to support local causes and projects I’m passionate about, along with those the team want to get involved in too. Furthermore, I’ve been able to create a business with a culture that looks after the team and offers all the good stuff I experienced (and none of the bad stuff) while developing my career. From hybrid and flexible working, a relaxed working environment, the opportunity to move across departments, to learn, go to events, test ideas, network and just have fun along the way. We also have an extra two weeks holiday over the Christmas period.

I am an open book and encourage all those around me to be authentic and lift one another up. If you work hard, and stick at it, you can achieve anything you want, but know, that it isn’t an easy journey.

 

Anna Morrish

Managing Director & Founder of Quibble | Digital PR & Content Marketing Specialist | Brighton SEO Speaker

You can find out more and connect with Anna on LinkedIn.