S13 E22: Building a 7 Figure Creative Agency that Will Sell with Brooke Apffel

Speaker A: Hey guys. I'm Jen, owner of hello June Creative, a boutique brand and web design studio. Welcome to Better the Brand Designer Podcast. I'm here to help you learn uplevel and find community in your design business journey. Just remember, the only designer you need to be better than is the one you were yesterday. Hey everyone. Welcome back to Better the Brand Designer Podcast. Today I interviewed a little imperial um of mine. I told myself before I got on the recording with Brooke that I would not fangirl too hard and we just had the best conversation. I feel like we are just like kindred souls. She is just so cool and has built something that's just so incredible, kind of like on the social media side of things. She's the owner and founder of Coastal Collective Marketing, which is a full service digital marketing agency. So I'm going to go ahead and read her bio and then we'll get into the conversation. So Coastal Collective Marketing, also known as Coco, is a full service digital marketing agency known for its strategy. First Approach Founder Brooke Apfel built the agency up to seven figures before recently leading its acquisition by Stellar Agency, expanding its capabilities while keep its signature approach intact. Today she continues to lead the agency while mentoring other founders on building a scalable, high impact businesses. It was such an honor and pleasure to chat with Brooke. I feel like I got to have like a first row seat to what it was actually like to move through the acquisition process. And I see so much of my approach to business and life in general in the way that she runs her business, the way that she navigated that acquisition and the way that she operates still currently as the head of Coastal Collective Marketing. Before we get into today's uh, episode, I wanted to have a moment briefly for what the resource library looks like behind the Design Mini Mind. Doors are currently open for applications for the mini micro version of the Design Mini mine. It is a four month version of the full six month program and it is months one through four curriculum and it is two months cheaper as well. So that's a pretty steep discount on a program that I usually offer at a six month level instead of four months. So it is the cheapest the program is ever going to be. If you've been thinking about it, the resource library is truly like a labor of love. It is pretty much everything that I've ever created in my business. It is constantly being updated. I wanted to tell you guys all the different categories of things that are in the resource library so that you can, you know, see what you might get behind the so the first section is templates. Oh my gosh, so many different things. All my client portal templates, all of my questionnaire, uh, templates, proposal templates, contracts, all of my presentation templates and then questionnaires. So many questionnaires for web, for E Comm, for breeding, for creative direction, all those things. The third section is client presentations. Actual video footage of me presenting concepts to clients. What to say, how to present concepts, how to defend your work, et cetera. 4 is internal team creative direction presentation. So like when I'm giving feedback to a team member, what does that look like? How do you positively and directly and efficiently give feedback to team members if you are in a stage of business where you are scaling up into that kind of creative director role? 5 is watch it and work. So lots of little screen videos of me designing brands and building websites. This is actually very helpful if you are newer to Illustrator or to maybe building a website and showit or using Figma. Just kind of showing you what my workflow looks like. You can scrub through, you can look at different things. I think that it is very helpful to kind of have that mirror to be able to see what my actual process looks like when I am designing something. Six is guides and walkthroughs. Oh my gosh, this is the biggest one. There are so many just like tour my hello June notion backend tour my Gmail. This is how I organize my Gmail, how I organize my notion, how I organize my honey book. A full walkthrough of how I use notion calendar connected to notion team hiring guides, briefs, just everything that you could have a question about. It's probably in guides and walkthroughs. And then the last one is one of my favorites client call recordings, especially discovery calls. I record all my discovery calls and I put some of the ones that I think are going to be most helpful for people. In this section where you can actually watch me with a client on a discovery call, there are a bunch of those in there. There's kickoff calls, there's review calls, there's all of these different types of things. You can see the way that I manage and talk to clients can be very, very helpful when you are working on your own client, uh, process in the back end. So the resource library comes with all of our educational offers and it is, I mean my students have said like there is a resource for literally everything and if there's not, I have people request new resources all the time. It's growing, it's expanding. I'm working alongside one to one clients the same way that you guys are. And so this resource library truly is the answer to a lot of questions around. Hey, can I see your contract? What kind of questions do you put in your questionnaire? I actually just give you the template so that you can just use it word for word in your business as well. And without further ado, here is my incredible conversation with Brooke from Cocoa. Hey, Brooke, thanks so much for coming on the podcast today.

Speaker B: Yeah, so happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

Speaker A: Of course. I feel like I kind of just brain dumped you before we got on the recording of all the things that I'm so excited to chat with you about. But I think having someone come in from the social side of things and chat through what, scaling your business to the level that you have, all the way up to an acquisition, which is something that is just so cool from my perspective on, like, you think about that happening to people that build these huge brands. I listen to how I built this podcast and it's like Supergoop or these really big packaged brands, and it's. Oh, that's a reality. And that's a possibility for smaller studio owners like ours. And so I would love to just kind of kick off the conversation with maybe a little bit of a walkthrough of back in the very beginning of Coastal Collective, when it was just you. What did that look like? And then what did you think you were building? And kind of maybe take us through the little pathway. It's like where you are now. A little cliffsnote version.

Speaker B: Yeah. So when I first started, I was just freelancing, honestly. And really I had my youngest, I have three kids. My youngest when I started was 8 months old and my oldest was 4. And I was just blown away that I could make money from home. This is obviously pre Covid era when I had always grown up in the very much you go to college, if you want to make money, you go to a job. And my mom was a nurse and my dad built a business, but he was always gone building it. And so I feel like it never occurred to me that I could work and make money from home. So the fact that I was very, very small, but I was stoked. I was like, oh my gosh, you want to pay me $500 to basically play in Canva? Sign me up. And ah, that worked for a little bit. And then I started to realize the red flag clients I was getting and kind of the pain in the butt they were, it was just draining. And so I was like, okay, do I actually want to do this and build a business. I wasn't not even thinking agency, but really just for myself. And so then I just kind of was like, I want to do this and I want to do this well. So I did a rebrand. I really got it honed on brand strategy, which is so important. I'm such a fan of good. And so I started there, tweaked my messaging, really wanted to attract better clients. And I was in this good spot for, I would say, a year, working with slightly better clients. They were more respectful still not crazy rates, but higher than, you know, I was expecting, especially in the beginning. And then I feel like it was probably, I don't know, a year or two in that I made my first hire not even thinking of building an agency, but more so because I was like, I need help. My roster's full. I have never worked more than, you know, 20, 25 hours a week because of, uh, kids at this point were home. And at this point now we're in Covid, so they're all home. My oldest is in tk, so I'm doing like online school with him. I'm also trying to take care of my clients, doing discovery calls, hiding in the bathroom, nursing. It was a mess. So, um, I made my first hire. She took on a couple clients. And then once I realized her roster was full and my roster was full and it's time to make the next hire, it was when I was like, okay, I think I want to build an agent. Like, I want to build like a team, and I want to get out of the day to day client work. And I really fell in love with the leadership aspect and like, building a team culture. And I really wanted to build, like, I was like, really attracted to brands that I felt like they did branding well, they had cool team events. Like, they had a good culture. And I really wanted to cultivate that and I wanted to do it remote, which is hard because I was like, I don't want to go into an office. Not that I can't even, because I'm like, I'm stay. All my kids are home. Slash, I don't want to. And so that was when the kind of like, the idea of, like, agency was born. And so we slowly, I mean, I don't know slowly, but I think in 2020 is when I made my first hire. And then by 2023, we're a team of nine. Now we're a team of like 15 or 16. And so then I just figured out the structure. I didn't follow anybody else's blueprint, which means I made so many mistakes and I figured out, okay, how do I want. You know, I had always thought like agency structure of like you have a creative director and you have somebody doing a video edit, like all these different touch points. But that just didn't make sense for social. And there was not really a ton of blueprints for social, really, because it's not like social media management has been around for a hundred years. It's new, so it's kind of like whatever structure you want to do. I don't think there's a wrong way to do it. So yeah, I started building out the agency and then got to a point point where I, similar to you, like I had never seen, uh, an agency sell and we were hitting seven figures and I was at the point where I was like, I don't want the weight of owning this anymore. I don't want to do payroll, I don't want to do hr. I want like the heaviness of owning a business off my shoulders because it's a lot. And I just want to do my job that like I love. And I didn't even know if it was a possibility because I always thought if you sell, you exit. But I was like, I'm not like ready to exit. I also don't want them to take cocoa and just, just bring it under them and the brand goes away because it's something so special to me. And so that was kind of when the idea of acquisition came about. Beginning of 2025, pursued it all of 2025. It's a process. And then finally we signed the papers I think December 12th. So it was incredible.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: So it's kind of the Reader's digest version.

Speaker A: Yes. I mean, what strikes me most about this is just how short it was between your first hire and your acquisition. Like when you started that process in 2025, I mean, that was five years. I feel like that's incredibly quick. And I mean that's a testamen to the way that you've built your business. But also the social media marketing industry, obviously it's been shown over and over and over again that that is where brands are putting their money now. And I mean, of course it changes and shifts so quickly, but it's really encouraging to hear about that timeline. You know, if you hear actors talking about, well, you know, I was working at this for 30 years and then

Speaker B: I got my big break.

Speaker A: It's like this is a five year process. I'm sure so much work goes in to all of that and your team and finding the right people and hiring the wrong people and making mistakes like you said. But yeah, that's just really, really cool and encouraging. So I want to talk BR about Coco's positioning from the beginning because I think one of the biggest things that I learned from Yalls course, the Social Media Manager masterclass, is like really defining, like who you are and what that positioning looks like within your market. And that's something that a lot of brand designers come to me, like my students or even just podcast listeners, like, oh, should I even try? There's so many designers out there. There's so many people, like doing what I'm doing. What were those, like, foundational core, like tenant of Coco that you kind of held in the beginning that I feel like you have really held onto, even with six figure months and scaling to seven figures and having 15 people like on payroll, what do you think has really not changed that you really fought for throughout that scaling process?

Speaker B: Yeah, that's a good question. So I always visually our initial inspiration, which I still feel if you look back when we first did our branding, our first inspiration was Billy Razor. And that's something that I am super a big fan of, is getting inspiration from completely different industry. I think if you're just looking at your industry, it feels like everyone's doing the same thing. There's no space for me. It's all done, blah, blah, blah. But I looked at brands that I just really admired and Billy Razors was entering a market of razors, which have been around for a very long time. And there's a ton of different razor companies and how they go about it from just their funky visuals and their graphics and their colors. I loved that. So that was kind of like a visual inspiration as far as our positioning. My background is in bioinformatics and I have always had a very analytical number side to me. And so I knew that strategy. I really wanted that to be like a core of who we are. I wanted to provide good results. I wanted to provide solid strategy for our clients that built a brand that was lasting and not this fleeting. Let's go viral. Let's just hop on random trends. I really wanted to have a strategy be at the core of who we are. And then of course, just being very forward thinking, which I think I originally probably was like, let's be forward thinking because it sounds really cool. But then when you actually put it into practice, it's super hard because you're making decisions and you're moving forward. There's no One that's kind of like you're trying to lead the way, which means you're gonna have to make decisions in the market that maybe no one else has made. And so there's that. What if people disagree with me? What if people are. And, and so especially with the acquisition and with the AI and there's so many decisions that we've had to make along the way that have been like, oh, are we gonna get blah, blah, blah, and you kind of have to remember your core values. Well, this is who we are. Like, they can disagree. That is fine. They can disagree with how our agency does things, but that is how our agency, like, we want to be on the cusp, we want to be forward thinking. And that's going to take making those decisions that feel really scary because not a lot of people, if anyone, are making those decisions yet. And so I would say those are like the two kind of positioning pieces of being very strategic and very forward thinking.

Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. I mean, what comes to mind is the recent AI masterclass that you guys did. And I really love that so much because I feel like, like there's a point where it's like, you are the trendsetter. That's what forward thinking means to you guys. And so, like, I guess for anyone listening, thinking about like, how can I position myself or how can I set myself apart in this market, maybe it's like if you have a gut instinct to do something or to think a certain way or to give a piece of feedback or advice or make a post or whatever it is that's not being done is like to push in on that and to really listen to that. And I think trust in yourself as an entrepreneur is something that you, of course, course build over time. Obviously my newest students are like second guessing everything just the same way I was when I was first starting out. But like flexing and practicing that muscle of kind of going out on the ledge and being like, this is a risk, but we're willing to try. And I think in social media too, a lot of the discourse I've been having with clients around social media is this is about testing and iteration based off of data. This is not something where we know all the answers right now in this moment in the market, and we're gonna completely optimize you and it's gonna be like, perfect. It's like SEO, it's ever changing. It's not something that we could ever like, guarantee that you're gonna. Right. 100,000 followers or whatever. And so I think that there's a lot of parallel between the actual market that you guys are in, social media and that forward thinking aspect of things. So quick plug for anyone that's curious about the future of AI. I don't know if you're listening to this years past, I'm sure it's going to be outdated at that point, but we'll put a link to that in the description of this episode because I thought it was really insightful and I was out there looking for what is the discourse around this, what are people saying in this industry about AI? And obviously the. That's a whole other podcast episode. But like one thing that I'm implementing from that is putting together an AI manifesto of like how you use AI in your business for your team specifically, like how you expect them to be using it, like what tool to use to, to kind of demystify it a little bit. I love that you're like to make people feel good about using it because it's like they're gonna use it. So like you may as well tell them how to use it, right?

Speaker B: Why are we hiding it? When you're using it and you're not talking about it, then there's no guardrails around it. And uh, I really liked what you said about if you are having like a gut feeling about differently, like leaning into that because I think a lot of people get validation for their ideas on social media, which means their ideas are already being done. And so I think uh, when you have those ideas that maybe you're not seeing on social or not seeing in the market and you're kind of afraid to put them out there, it's like, why not you, like, your opinion is just as valid as somebody else's. And your, this like creative idea that hasn't been done is just as valid and cool as somebody else's. So I feel like we need more of that, especially in this AI kind of blandification of content that's going on. So.

Speaker A: Yes. Yeah, I was just interviewing Anthony Reeves, who's a brand strategist, used to work at Amazon and stuff. He just wrote a book called Eat the Donkey Plug. But he was talking about this convergence, this AI convergence into sameness. And I've like been reading his book and he's talking about like even these really big consulting firms like McKinsey and Stuff, they had massive layoffs and they are having all these AI agents come in. It's like all of the things that people are paying tens, hundreds of thousands of dollars for these huge companies is all gonna be the same advice. It's like we're optim. Maximizing ourselves out of humanity. And there's going to come a point where something that's a little off kilter, a little off center, maybe something that's. Oh, wow, that's actually interesting. That kind of looks weird. I don't know. Those are going to be the things that people remember about your brand. And so, yeah, absolutely love everything you said about that. I want to touch briefly on the transition in team structure when you went from solo to um. I am m maxed out. I need help and support. And I know we were talking a little bit about this before we got on recording around how the business model of a social media agenc agency is inherently very different from Brandon Web because you guys are on retainer. Yes, there is turn. There is turnover with clients, but like you have a little bit more of a predictable income and so hiring full time is more of a math problem than it is a risk on our end. And so I would love to hear what that was like for you when you hit that ceiling of, uh, I'm completely maxed out. What emotions were you feeling around making that first hire, making more hires after that? Did you feel the weight of your payroll? Did you lay in bed awake at night? Because that's always been a thing I've been very resistant to. And I don't know if it's just a fear of growth, which I know is a real thing and you have to exercise your mindset around that or. I operate as a micro agency with subcontractors only. I'm the only employee and that feels very safe to me. But I'm reaching a point where I'm like a full time project manager would be really nice.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: You know what I mean? So tell me a little bit more about what that was like for you.

Speaker B: Yeah, I think like having my first employee, I didn't really have time to think about it in the sense of like being afraid of it. I was just like, I need help. I know I'm getting client inquiries. I wasn't scared of hiring. Also, we weren't super used to my income yet. I was a stay at home mom before, so it's like anything I was bringing it like I was able to take risks because of my husband is just incredible. And he was always a fan of Coco and always is like, what? Like, yep, let's do it. Yep, whatever. So I was able to take these risks that I know that other business owners might not have that m freedom for the first, you know, Hire or two. And then it did get to a point where, you know, having even four hires on payroll, full time salary, it absolutely. I've laid awake at night terrified and like, the amount of tears because it's like you're afraid of what if client. What if five clients drop off? What am I, I can't afford payroll. What am I going to do? And thankfully, it never happened where I couldn't afford payroll. But there were multiple times I did not pay myself. And there was one time I pulled money out of our savings to cover part of payroll. And there was times where I had clients drop off and I had to trim down our team team. So all of that, I think that it kind of got me to the point where you kind of. It's like when I'm a believer and it's like when God will trust. You know, if you're trusting a little, he'll trust you with a lot. And so it's like, okay, at first I have, you know, one or two employees. And so it's like I learned how to kind of live with that amount of payroll. And so it's not like you're hit with a $70,000 payroll every month. Right off the bat. It starts, baby. And it grows from there. And I think every lesson along the way helped give me the mindset that I needed for the, the $70,000 payroll that was coming out. And I was able to mentally be okay with the math because it is a math problem. And then also that fear of, well, what if clients drop off? Well, then we have that. If that happens and we have to dip into business savings and if it goes on for too long and we have to let people go, like, that's running a business. That's the name of the game. And I thankfully have not had to do that often. But those fears are so real. And I can't even count the amount of times I've cried to my husband. And thankfully, he also runs like a side of a business. And he's very smart, but he's completely opposite of me. Like, I'm an anxious psycho. And he's very much like, what's the worst that happens? And I'm like, well, what if I have to let somebody on my team go like that? I'm such a people pleaser. So, like, that's horrible to me too. And he's like, then they'll find a new job. That's life. No one's dying. No one has cancer. Like, it's okay. Uh, yes, it would suck, but it's not the end of the world. So I think that having that voice too in my head of like that constant reminder has been great. And then also just you like baby steps, step. So it's okay. Let me just get used to one hire. Let me start there. And then it's the benefit of it is having this like long term team, this team culture that I would not trade for the world is everything. I love the work that I do, I love the people that I work with and I love what I get to do because I have a team. Because I'm like, I don't want to be in the day to day work. I don't want to make it real. I'm sorry, I just don't like I did it for so long. I don't want to be on a ton of client calls. I want to be as removed from the actual work as possible. So I think that the end goal was worth it for me. Even though, yes, there was many a nights I laid awake crying, scared. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker A: That's like entrepreneurship, you know, people are like, oh, it must be so great to have flexible schedule and have no income cab. I'm like, oh yeah, that stuff is great, but girl, yeah, it's not for the faint of heart. And that's the reality. There's a lot of people out there that they love their corporate jobs or corporate girlies. We love them. I would love to be one of those people, but I have tasted and I have seen what it is like to be the boss and to like just, I don't know, I'm ruined forever now. I feel like, uh, that's the only thing I'm going to be able to do. And I don't know if you watch the Office, but there's this scene, uh, where like Michael Scott's talking about his Michael Scott paper company is, you know, if this business fails, I'm just going to start another one and another one and another one and another one. I'm like, that's how I feel about my business too. And so I think it's kind of like this thing where it's. No one else can tell you the answer to that question. You kind of have to do some soul searching around what actually do I want out of this. And I coach my clients through that all the time around, like on discovery calls, which is very, very effective for sales. So anyone listening, take this and use it on your next discovery call. But it's like you come to a point where you're like, you have to ask yourself, do I Want this to be this little side hustle or I do want to stay on Etsy or do I want to, you know, keep my full time role or do I want to take that risk and go and jump off the cliff and build the airplane on the way down. And obviously there's a lot of things that go into that. Your partner, your savings, other sources of income too, which I think I was in a similar situation to you when I started. Hello, June. Because my husband was in the army and so he provided everything that we lived on and we just lived off of his salary and everything that I made was just a extra stuff or the car down payment or whatever it was. And it shifted over to where now he gets to stay home with our kids and we don't have that pressure of him having to have a full time role at another company where he has to leave. And now he's finding his passion in our property and gardening and riding his tractor and like all of these things as well. Uh, the traditional way of you said, oh, you go to college and you have this corporate job or whatever. It's so cool that we're raising our kids now to be like, actually you don't have to do that.

Speaker B: You can if there's option. You can if you want.

Speaker A: There's options like, uh, and there's pros to it.

Speaker B: I get the like, you know, you want to just clock in and have a stable income. And I think too, now that there's so much remote work out there, I feel like, yeah, I think that was a drive for the acquisition because it wasn't even a time thing, cuz I've always worked 25 hours a week. Yeah, it was more the mental and emotional capacity that I had for my family at the end of the day because I was pouring so much into my business just mentally and the drainage of the anxiousness and the payroll and the HR and the what if we get sued and what? Like, yeah, yeah, you know, all these things. And um, I'm like, I'm sure there are agencies, owners out there that are like, I want to build a, you know, $20 million agency and run it and then maybe sell. That sounds literally exhausting. I want to go to Legoland with my kids. I love my job, I love my work, but I'm like, I love my family so much and I love spending time with them. That's my focus and my prior right now. And so that was why the idea of acquisition was so appealing. Because I'm like, I could get the weight. It's like I gotta pick the aspects of my job that I love. I have a great salary, I work 20 hours a week. I have unlimited PTO. I have all these things that I wanted and I. And was part of my job that I really loved. But I got to like, give off the weight of ownership and still run my team, lead my team, which I love. So I feel like it's been such a massive, massive win for. Yeah, just a season of life I'm in for sure.

Speaker A: I relate to everything you're saying. I feel like we're very similar in our personal, personal values, being believers as well. I think is has an aspect to it where it's like we are operating under this just core value and belief that work isn't everything. You know, people who are non believers or people of other faiths can have that as well. But it's just almost like this healthy perspective of just how short life is and that we were created for eternity and not for like here, but still do your best and still have fun and make money and support people and empower other moms and stuff like that. But I think this is a good segue into just talking about the acquisition. And one thing that I think is interesting is that you guys weren't approached first. If I'm correct, you thought, I want to pursue acquisition and then you guys kind of spearheaded that process. Cause I have heard from other agencies and studios that might not have ended up with the sale, but had been approached and caught off guard around, oh, wow. I didn't even think that this was an opportunity for me. So tell me a little bit more about what the brass tacks look like of okay, you've made this decision. You want to become acquired in a very unique way without an exit, maintaining at least the majority of your team getting to still stay on. What did that look like, like in the very beginning? And like, how do you even go about that?

Speaker B: Yeah, so we. I mean, I got emails all the time, you know, and I just trash them, the spam for years. Like, are you considering an exit? We have a buyer, we blah, blah. And I was like, yeah. Ah. But then once I was like, the idea of acquisition started to kind of come about. My husband and I were talking about at the end of 2024, I started to do some research. I found an agency. They were amazing. They're called Merge and they specialize in acquisition for creative agencies, social media agencies, branding agencies. And I met with them, um, and they were just great because they could tell. I'm sure I was like, super nervous. I was like, I don't even know if this is something I want to pursue, because these are, like, my parameters. And I'm really going to be picky because I don't have to sell. I'm not, like, in no rush. There's no, like, pushing thing, you know, thing anything pushing me to sell. And so they were like, this is what it could be like. This is what the process is like. We're here when you're ready. They were very much like a. No pressure. It was a great sales call. So then I reached out again probably a month later, and I was like, all right, I want to list. So kind of the first steps is you list your agency, and they have basically a network of bigger other companies, other agencies that are interested in acquiring. And so they put together all of the documents needed. They put together the marketing promo materials, basically, and they send it out. Everything is very anonymous until the potential buyer sign an NDA. Then they can kind of see the business, the brand. Then you have discovery calls, basically, is what I would call them, intro meeting calls. So I would say after my business was listed for, like, two weeks, weeks, and I had already had, you know, maybe four or five calls with potential people interested in acquiring us. And there was two that stood out. And one of the offers, I actually liked the agency that I ended up going with eventually more. I liked the owner more, but the other company, their offer was structured a little bit better. And so I started the process with them. So then they send you a letter of intent of, hey, here's our offer, here's what we'll buy it for, here's the payout, here's the structure, and whatever. You sign that and then you move into a due diligence phase, which is usually about 90 days with that. Them. It was kind of a nightmare, if I'm being honest. It never felt easy. It just felt like I was trying to. It was almost like they wanted to buy this big corporate agency that had a corporate board. And I was like, that's just not. I feel like you're not understanding who we are. And so we ended up going our separate ways in September timeframe. And that was like four months into due diligence. So it was already way longer than it was supposed to be. I was so freaking burnt out. And it's really. It's an expensive. Obviously, merge is not free, so you're paying them a monthly fee. It's. It was an expensive process to be a part of. My lawyer's a part of it it was just a lot. So I'm like a mentally emotionally drained. And then financially I'm like, this is cost me 40 grand and I have nothing to show for it. And I'm freaking tired. And so I decided to. I actually had 28 more days left on my contract with Merge. This is a monthly payment or whatever. So I had like 28 days left because my payment just went out. And so I was like, all right, I'll list one more time, whatever. So we listed one more time. And I was like, if I don't get any interest after the 28 days, I'm just going to pull out. I'm going to focus on my business and. And I'll try this again maybe in a year or two. And then that original company, that other company reached out and they were like, hey, we're still interested. And so I was super stoked. We met. It was a great call. He's phenomenal. Martin's just great. And he was like, why did you go with the other company? And so I explained, I was like, their offer was just structured better, so they restructured their offer to be more like theirs. And so then we moved into due diligence and it was just a breeze. Everything felt easy. It's still a process. You're basically. It feels like you're going through an audit and of the past, you know, five years of like the business books. And thankfully, Merge is amazing. They have somebody that's like putting all this, you know, these random documents together that were just so in depth. But he really wanted to meet my lead team before like signing the papers. So he flew my lead team out. We went to la, they're based in LA in November. And it was like a dream. It was like, we've always worked together. We met with his lead team and we were already like brainstorming on like client collaborations. And they're more of like an app, uh, website, very forward thinking, like kind of digital ecosystem agency. They didn't have a social side, but they wanted a social side. And so he was very much, I don't want to like, mess up what you're doing. Basically keep doing what you're doing. I don't want to take Coco away. I don't want to take like the Coco name away. And it was very much, why would I like, I feel like that would be so dumb because you guys have built such a brand presence and community. It would be crazy. That's like a reason to buy. And so just like his look on it is exactly what I wanted. From somebody who was acquiring us. And my whole team, he kept my whole team on. Everything is very much the same. It's very much like the Coco side and the stellar side. And there's some, like, cross collaborations going on. There's some clients that we've gotten to work on together. But, like, we still have our weekly COCO meetings and I'm still leading the team and I'm still in charge of hiring and letting people go. But I obviously have to be aware of the revenue and the finances. And I can't just like, obviously hire a hundred people for the fun of it. But it's not like I don't do payroll. I don't do. I don't have a business bank account anymore. And I'm like, that's so great.

Speaker A: Wow, you're living the life. Yeah.

Speaker B: So I. It just is, like, so nice to. And I was joking with my husband because his birthday is in July, and I used to have this, like, secret money because it was like my business bank accounts. Like, I could easily, you know, with our core side, like, I could easily save random money for things to buy him for his birthday. M. And so I was asking him what he wants for his birthday and I was like, just so you know, like, I don't have like, my own money any. Like, I have my own. Obviously I'm on salary, I have my own income, but it just goes to our joint account. And so I'm like, I don't have like, my secret stash anymore. Yeah. So that's kind of like the overall process was, I would say about a year.

Speaker A: Yeah. Um.

Speaker B: Wow. Going about four or five months with it basically going in the wrong direction. But I think that was part of the process. Like, when I talked to people, they were like, oh, my gosh, that seems like kind of fast go through it. And I was like, it does. I was like, I've never gone through an acquisition or like, that's. It was like so long to me. Because it's also like, you have this, like, secret life.

Speaker A: You're trying to prove to someone that you're worthy of being bought too.

Speaker B: So it's.

Speaker A: I feel like everything that you do would be, like, under a microscope. And yeah, like, our clients care, but they don't care.

Speaker B: Care that much.

Speaker A: They just care about getting their assets that we make for them.

Speaker B: Ah.

Speaker A: So it's. I feel like a different type of pressure. And the whole reason you're kind of go through it is to relieve that pressure. So it's almost like you kind of have to Jump further into the fire in order to make your way out.

Speaker B: Absolutely. Yeah. It was like, I was put through, like, a pressure. I was, like, losing my hair. I was. It was like a really rough, like, stressful year. And not, like, I just remember being, like, super stressed. And it was like, September, and I had just stopped with that other company, and I was at, like, the peak stress because I was like, I'm going nowhere at this and, like, my team doesn't know, and I'm living this secret life and I share everything with my team, and it was so hard. I remember I had a hair appointment. She was like, it looks like you're, like, losing some hair. Are you stressed? And I was like.

Speaker A: Started crying.

Speaker B: I was like, I can't, uh. I'm like, this is the cherry on top. I was like, I am going to just die now.

Speaker A: Like, I'm ugly. So. Yes. Yeah. Even now.

Speaker B: Now I get to be ugly.

Speaker A: Great.

Speaker B: I have nothing. M going for me. I know. But it was, like, speaking of, like, the believer aspect, like, it has never been so evident to me. God telling me to continue. And so I think that was, like. It was almost this, like, tug of work. So I was like, what are you doing? Like, I felt so strong in my belief that this was the right direction, but especially when it didn't work out with that other company, I was literally like. And thankfully, actually, my main advisor at Merge, she was a believer, and she would, like, pray with me before every call. Like, she was, uh, phenomenal. And it was just such a testament to, like, God's faithfulness in that season and the fact that he, like, I'm so glad, uh, it didn't work out that other company. And it was like, he was very much, I have something better. Like, just keep going. And so it's so hard to be in that season where I'm like, I know I'm on the right path. Like, I know God is calling me to this, but nothing in my life is feeling like, this is working out. I'm losing my hair. Like, I need some miracle to happen. So, um. But thankfully, obviously, it all worked out.

Speaker A: It all worked out.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: You're living the life. Yes. This is great. It's like, all the benefits I feel of owning your own company with none of the drawbacks. It sounds like the actual ideal situation. And if I could, you know, write out a vision board for what I want for the next, I don't know, 10 years, 20 years, like, when I'm 50 years old, am I going to be still answering to Clients and I don't want that. I don't know. I mean, I don't even. I mean, I think especially with AI and everything, like, I'm not worried about my job going away. It's become ever more apparent that people need things that are crafted by human beings in the rise of AI and everything. So I'm not scared about that. But it is just so interesting to think about and to hear your story and to see someone that built your agency from the ground up from being a freelancer, just like ida, just so many of our listeners do. It's wow, this is a real possibility for me. And so a question kind of like follow up that I have is, what's something that surprised you a lot about going through the acquisition process? I mean, it might have been that 90 day period or working with that crazy. Not crazy, but like working with the business that just wasn't the right fit. What's something where you were like, wow, this like, really took me off guard.

Speaker B: Probably like just like logistically, how much they need, which I get. They're buying a company for a lot of money. They're going to want to, uh, do due diligence and see, you know, every detail and whatever. Yeah, so I understood that. But I think that I was like, holy crap. Like, I don't. They would ask me for things that I was like, I've been running a business for five years, I don't even know what that is. And I feel. It made me feel so dumb.

Speaker A: Thankfully, Merge is great too.

Speaker B: Oh yeah, Thankfully, Merge was great because she was like, okay, give me, you know, give me your agency budget and I'll make this document. Because there were so many things I was like, I don't know what that is.

Speaker A: You're probably trying to seem like, you know, you're talking about and you're like this smart person. Then you're like, eat slacking someone. Like, what are they talking about?

Speaker B: Yeah, the amount of acronyms that I was like googling and on the side and. But I think what surprised me overall was probably the mental battle. And I think that the reason it has to take that long or the reason that it was probably good for me at least to take that long is because I had to really be solid in my decision. There was a lot of, is this the right thing? What's my team going to think? What's clients going to think? What's our brand community going to think? Are they going to think that I'm like giving up? Are they going to think that I'm Just, like, selling out. Is my team going to feel like I don't care about them and is like, I'm not building this $20 million agency and being this crazy successful CEO, like, what are people going to think of that and all that? So I think that because it was very much behind the scenes, and I really couldn't tell anybody. I mean, I told people in my personal life, but I had to become so solid that this is exactly what God's calling me to, and this is exactly what success looks like to me, and I have to be confident in that. Uh, I think that time period, that mental battle and, like, working through that and was really surprising to me because then when it became time to actually sign the paperwork and announce it, there was some, like, I was a little nervous to tell my team, of course, and they're nervous to announce it, but it was more like, nervous excitement because I was so confident in my decision and knowing that, like, this was the right move for Coco in general. More stability, more revenue, more opportunities for, like, my team, but also for me and, like, knowing that, like, this is probably not what success looks like to another agency owner. And I am, um, totally okay with that. Like, I fully understand that there are some agency owners that want to go, like, balls to the wall and be this, like, you crazy baddie with working a bazillion hours and whatnot. That was just not me. I'm like, I don't have that. I have the drive to do really good work and hire people. Like you said, I hire team that's just way better than me. But I don't have the drive to give up the time and, like, the mental and emotional parenting of my kids. And at the end of the day, I think that there's this, like, culture that we have where it's like, women can do both. And it's like, absolutely, if you, like, I work and I have kids, like, women can. Can do both. But at the end of the day, one is going to take preference over the other, and there's probably different days for that. But I think if you're working 40, 50 hours a week, running an agency, scaling this agency up, like, you only have so much mental and emotional capacity as a human, and I think everyone's capacity is a little bit different, which is great. But I was like, my capacity, I am maxed out, and I feel like my time with the kids is slipping, and that is not something that I'm willing to give up. And so I think that kind of just, like, the mental battle of it all was very surprising.

Speaker A: Yeah, I relate to the mental battle battle so much. I have been focusing a lot on growing the educational side of my company and being a mentor to other people, being a mentor to my team, being a creative director day to day, being really solid in my decision making when I am giving feedback so that I'm like respectful of my team's time and I'm not giving wishy washy feedback and I want to help them do their best. And so for a long time I have not had a consistent mentor or coach that I've been going to help take the weight of some of that decision making off my shoulders. And I really feel like it's made me so decisive and so this is what I want, this is what I don't want. And of course I should spend more time in vision casting and writing out my 10 year plan. And there's all these things like should, should, should, you know, But I feel I relate to that a lot where there is a lot of this mental turmoil and like when I do break down and have times where I cry to my husband or whatever, it's because I feel like there's no one else out there to tell me what to do and I don't want that. But it's almost just exhausting having to have the answers like all the time. And so I relate to that so much. Especially being the parent of your first child where you're like uncharted territory. Am I parenting properly? Do I, am I doing the right, right thing? Am I disciplining him in the right way? I don't know. It's like my first and second comes along. You're like, oh yeah, like I've got this. This is the breeze.

Speaker B: This is so easy.

Speaker A: You know, it's like, where's my mom? I'm the mom now. It's like I have a mom and she's great. But it can be exhausting being that person like all the time being I

Speaker B: it like a business mom. Like, like I'm. What ah, did you do? What should I do, mom?

Speaker A: Yeah, ah, I know it's like, can I have a business mom? But I just really, really love you taking us through this story. And what I'm hopeful for, everyone listening and also for myself is that this is just so inspiring for, you know, like I interview people on this podcast that have these huge agencies or they these big brand people that have worked at these huge companies. And I feel sometimes like such a small fish in this world of like, oh well, that person runs A big agency. So it's.

Speaker B: Oh.

Speaker A: So everything they say is better and smarter than what I do. And I try not to sell myself short and I try to have confidence and I know that the Lord has put me in charge of this company and given this to me because this is what he wants from me. And I like feel such a soul alignment in that. But it's kind of like, wow, like what you built was so valuable to one of these big fish that it was like you made something that helped them.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: You made something that was like valuable and you made it out of thin air. Obviously a lot of hard work, a lot of late night for sure, Team M support, but it's like something that did not exist before, that you created out of your own brain and your own values and your commitment to those foundational elements of your brand, like you're talking about with strategy and then you know, like all those other things.

Speaker B: It's.

Speaker A: That's something that is just so inspiring. And I'm hopeful that people listening will think, oh wow, what I'm building has value. It can have value whether you sell or not. It is valuable now, it can be valuable in the future. If you want to sell, great. If you don't, that's your version of success. And the whole Mel Robbins. Let them, it's. Let them think that, like whatever, you know. And when I saw that you guys got a cool acquired, I was like, my mind just exploded. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I was like, wow, that is like. And maybe that's because that's my version of success and I didn't even know it. And so I, yeah, I just hope that people feel really, really inspired by this. And I want to make sure that we have some time to chat about the social media manager masterclass too. Because that is something that I don't know about you guys listening, but I get asked all the time, hey, do you do social? Do you do social? Obviously a lot of people inquiring about Brandon Web don't really understand how, how much it costs. And so that's one of the biggest hurdles to get over. But I feel like recently as I've been working with clients where budget is really not the main deciding factor. Like I quoted a client like 8k the other day cause she was looking for branding. She's like, well what uh, could you do with 25? And I was like, no, let me a lot more, you know, let me show you, let me show you. We could do. And so it's like those Situations are kind of coming up for me a little bit more often. And so whether or not you listening are like there right now, your business having people come and say oh what could you do with 25k? Maybe social media, something that you've been interested in for a while. And so I took Coastal Collective course and I think it was like when you guys were doing it was like back to school and it was like 20, 23 or something like that. And I have the hat and the sticker uh pack and like a little spiral bound notebook and I love it. But I feel like it was such a interesting perspective on social because I'd taken social courses before but it was like this is how to market your own business and it's just different versus teaching someone how the business back into things. And that's what my program for designers is for. I don't really teach people how to use Illustrator but I'm teach people how to run discovery calls and like how to send proposals and things like that. So for our brand designer listeners, do you want to just go quickly with our last minute over what the benefit would be to them for kind of into that course?

Speaker B: Yeah, we actually have quite a few designers that have taken the course because I think similar like they're asked like do you do social? Because naturally if they're starting a brand they're going to need social media management. And a lot of designers, you know, I think they outsource it or refer them to another agency and I think they do that so much and they're like why wouldn't we just start our own social branch? Because it is the benefit because you get retainer clients so you have much more predictable income which is very nice and it helps you to be able to like plan for your business in a just a different way. I designer work, you know, that's hard. You're like constantly you know chasing kind of the next client where social it's more there's obviously turn but I feel like we the client, you know our minimum contract is six months. So when we sign a client, you know we can count on that income for six months. And you know most clients resign but I feel like if you're wanting to learn how to actually build social media strategy and run like a social media agency or side to your business. That's what the course was designed for. It's very in depth. We just launched their latest version and it's about 10 hours I think and it's broken down into modules and bite sized lectures. You know, you can Listen anytime you want. But it really goes through, like, the ins and outs of day one of starting. What do you need to. All the way to, like, building out a social media department, team strategists, social media. Like, what does it take? Who do you need to hire? When do you need to hire for, like, agency budgeting and all of that. So we've had 750 students dive in, and it is something that I love to teach. It's a huge passion of mine, just because I feel like I built this business without a degree in marketing and made every mistake in the book. And so if I can help somebody else build a business that they love with learning from my mistakes, like, with the templates that we've built out for social media strategies and reporting and all of that, and help them kind of fast track what they're building, then that's a huge win to me. So it's a great course. It's very well loved. We have lots of great reviews. I'm a huge fan of it. I'm very biased, but I think it's the best social media manager master out there.

Speaker A: I also think it's the best. And so all the links to that are going to be in the description of this episode, if you guys are curious about that. And also all of Brooks links, all of Coco's links. You guys will be able to go and take a peek at the amazing things that you're doing. One thing as we wrap up that, like, really stood out to me is, like, y', alls, you did an April. April Fools like, thing with your team, where it was, like, a recorded reel on, like, your Instagram of. I think it was like someone saying that they had spent the company's, like, money or something to go to St. Lucia. Yes.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: It just went totally viral. And I was watching, I was like, this is hilarious. I just love the, like, irreverence. Like, it's, like, professional irreverence that you guys have. It just feels like such a fun brand, and it seems like a great place to work as well. So I love.

Speaker B: Yeah, the team is amazing. That reel, it was, like, the beginning of December. We were not expecting. We were like, let's just like, no, uh, one pays attention to content in December. Anyways. We're like, let's just. We were like, on a team meeting. We're like, let's just do a funny, you know, prank reel.

Speaker A: Oh, it wasn't even in April. It's so funny.

Speaker B: No, yeah, it was in December, and it literally went. I think there's like 22 million views and we it was like featured on like a news channel and because people thought it was real. So they were talking, they were using it as an example to talk about, like, why Gen Z sucks. And I was like, first of all, the person who was doing the prank, she was not Gen Z. And like it even says in the caption that it's a joke. Like it was like nobody, half the people got it and then half the people thought it was real.

Speaker A: But yeah, that's so funny. But anyways, thank you so much for coming on. I'll get you to your next call, but I just really appreciate your time and love the conversation.

Speaker B: Yes, it was great chatting. Thanks for having me.

Speaker A: Of course. Bye everyone. I'll see you guys in next week's episode. Thanks for listening. Hit subscribe so you don't miss an episode. Leave a Review Join our free Facebook community and share the pop with your your designer friends so they can join the fun. Give me a shout out on Instagram at Better Podcast if you want to submit an inbox question and visit the pod@betterbranddesigner.com to learn more and snag discounts on my favorite resources. See you next week.