Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Gabrielle Mackie. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Gabrielle, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Looking back, do you think you started your business at the right time? Do you wish you had started sooner or later

I actually first started my business in 2020- I know. My husband and I had just moved to the small town we live in and I knew nobody. I was also writing content as a freelancer for another small marketing company while bartending at a little bar. My idea was to chat up the local patrons and pitch my social media services. It was destined to fail, as every business owner was struggling and marketing budgets get cut very quickly at a time like that.

I was growing tired of working the late nights and my search for clients in that environment was proving fruitless. So I used my marketing degree to get a job with Habitat for Humanity and I let my LLC lapse. I learned so so much in that job. I wore many hats in the marketing department and grew tremendously in a short time. At some point I had moved away from freelance and was focused on my full-time job with the nonprofit.

Then I had a baby! This really brought me to a crossroads. I loved my job with Habitat but the commute was quite far and I needed something more adaptive to motherhood.

Working with so many of the amazing people in the Habitat program and watching their dream of homeownership come to life was so inspiring to me that I decided to leave my position and pursue real estate. Many entrepreneurs take that path, not many find the success they’re looking for.

I’d go to networking events in my area as a REALTOR®️ and get to chatting with local business owners. When I mentioned my background in marketing, several of them lit up and excitedly asked me to help them with their social media. It was 2023 by this time and small businesses had recovered for the most part, enabling them to invest in marketing again.

The thing about real estate is that if you don’t sell a house, you don’t get paid. So even though I previously thought my content creating days were more or less over, freelancing once again seemed like a flexible way to make some money between sales.

It quickly snowballed and I was regularly being approached by potential clients looking for help with marketing.

I look back on the last year feeling like I was going in one direction with real estate until something swiftly spun me around and shoved me in the opposite and I couldn’t be more grateful for that.

Being an entrepreneur is very much a life goal of mine and so I kind of got to form my own business model reflecting all the roles I’ve been in as well as tweaking what I would do differently.

With that, Insight Media Management was reborn!

Moral of the story, I think it’s vital for entrepreneurs to try and fail because that’s the only way you’ll be ready when the time is right. Sometimes it’s when you least expect it.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and what makes your business unique?

I like to call Insight Media Management a boutique marketing agency. It’s a small business focused on helping small businesses. I like to keep things personal with my clients and I like to work with people who feel the same way about their business.

That’s kind of my philosophy behind marketing, focus on the audience you currently have and it will grow- rather than chasing viral exposure.

I help my clients find a strategy that works for them and their unique needs and I offer my services at whatever level feels right for them. If they want nothing to do with their social media’s content creation, I develop a system that completely takes that headache away for them. They hire me and consider it done. Oppositely, if they prefer a more collaborative approach, we work closely together to create content and they use me as a guide to keep them consistent with their digital presence. Either way and everything in between, the most important thing is that the work I produce feels genuine to the business.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Referrals!! Referrals are the best because 1. It means your client is happy with the service you’re providing enough to recommend you.

2. I genuinely like my clients and if they’re referring someone to me, I’ll probably like that person too! A friend of my friend is also my friend.

I feel like I should also include social media as a good source of new clients as well haha

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

As a generation we’re all beginning to unlearn hustle culture. Learning to clock out and take time for yourself and your loved ones in order to avoid burn out. I’m a big believer in putting in the work and doing something – even something small- every day for your business is the best way to nourish it but nourishing yourself is really playing the long game. Take time to rest and recharge. You’ll produce better work if you do.

2023 was that sink-or-swim mindset I had. Now I’m in a place where I want to do right by the clients that I currently have, focusing on them and maintaining more of an abundance mindset. There’s plenty of business to win out there and those opportunities will come. If you have to force it, it won’t be right and your gut’s going to let you know. Trust that.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @insightmediamgmt
• Facebook: Insight Media Management

Image Credits
Lenay Cash Photography