We were lucky to catch up with Rebecca Pixley recently and have shared our conversation below.

REBECCA, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Day to day the world can seem like a tough place, but there’s also so much kindness in the world and we think talking about that kindness helps spread it and make the world a nicer, kinder place. Can you share a story of a time when someone did something really kind for you?

When I launched the business pricing was a real challenge. In digital marketing anyone can hang out a shingle and offer services. Which is one of the great things about it, the low barrier to entry of starting your own business. The downside is there is no governing body or set pricing structure. As a result, I ended up trying to research the range of prices based on what is being offered, the provider’s level of experience, etc. but I knew my pricing still wasn’t right. I mean for the “same service” you can be charged $100 to several thousand dollars a month. My first attempt to find a business mentor was an awful experience, I was introduced via email to a woman running a digital marketing agency here locally. She wrote back to me and asked why she would ever help create her own competition. It was really discouraging. Just a few weeks later I was at a networking event where I met Erin Alexander, another local digital marketer who specializes in real estate. I shared with her what happened and she gave me her price list and said “it’s not a secret, for heaven’s sake!” That was my first level up on my packages and pricing. The second level up was working with a business strategist to standardize my offerings and my final level up was working with a CPA who helped me with a calculation that showed me exactly how much I would pay in overhead (vendors, cc fees, taxes) so that I can use it going forward to make sure I’m priced to make money not break even.

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 how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Who I Am & How I Got Started
I’m Rebecca, founder of Sisu Social Media, a boutique digital marketing agency based in Seattle. My career has included on-air radio, pioneering digital projects for major media companies, and experimenting with early social selling platforms—all of which eventually inspired me to start my own agency. Here’s a look at the path that brought me here.

Early Radio Days: KEZO Z92 (Omaha)
My love for media began at KEZO Z92 in Omaha in the late ’80s and early ’90s, where I served as Music Director. I oversaw relationships with record companies and independent promoters and managed to bring in more than $20,000 in promotional dollars for a station with a very tight marketing budget. This experience taught me the importance of innovative thinking, strategic partnerships, and compelling storytelling to reach and retain audiences.

Digital Leap: Scholastic New Media (New York)
After relocating to New York, I joined Scholastic New Media—initially creating educational CD-ROMs for kids. We soon expanded into building the Scholastic Network, an online platform for teachers, students, and parents. As Project Manager, I led the entire shift from hosting the network on AOL to our own stand-alone website. This was my first major foray into digital development, and it showed me just how transformative online communities and accessible educational tools could be.

MJI Broadcasting: Project & Operations Management
Next, I joined MJI Broadcasting, where I spent two years as the Project Manager for New Business. In that role, I helped develop early online innovations for radio stations:

Webmaster: A templated website program that let individual stations customize and maintain their own sites.
Email Director: One of the first email marketing platforms built specifically for radio stations.

I was later promoted to Operations Manager of a 30-person, nationwide sales department. One of my key achievements was transitioning our entire sales team onto a computer-based CRM—centralizing contracts, contacts, communication, and sales funnel data in one place. This modernized how we operated and laid the groundwork for the data-driven marketing strategies I’d later implement for my own clients.

Building a New Company: Envision Radio Networks
Following MJI, I joined my mentor as he launched Envision Radio Networks in Cleveland—a company modeled similarly to MJI. As Vice President of Sales, I drove all sales with my team and took responsibility for the top 20 radio markets in the U.S. Under our leadership, Envision became the largest independently owned radio syndication company in the country. This high-level role reinforced the importance of strong leadership, scalable systems, and forging genuine industry relationships to drive growth.

Immersion in Social Selling: LivingSocial
The next chapter of my career took me to LivingSocial, where I was among the first 100 employees to be hired for Groupon’s only serious competitor. Working directly with local, small business owners, I witnessed how social media and accessible digital platforms could revolutionize their business—especially for companies that couldn’t afford traditional channels like radio, TV, or newspaper ads. The data-driven model at LivingSocial (collecting buyer info, mapping sales by zip codes, and providing lead lists) showed me how truly transformative social selling could be for these people.

Moving to Seattle & Founding Sisu Social Media
Eventually, I moved to Seattle, spent a short time at a large nationwide digital advertising company, and then officially launched Sisu Social Media in February 2018 (though I had been offering social media services on a freelance basis before that). We rebranded in 2021, refining our identity and service offerings to better serve small to medium-sized businesses.

What We Do & Problems We Solve
Sisu Social Media is designed to be a one-stop shop for business owners who want to optimize their online presence without getting bogged down in the day-to-day. We combine a deep understanding of audience engagement (honed from my radio days) with advanced digital strategies (cultivated through my project management and social selling experiences).

Our core services include:
*Social Media Management – Creating, scheduling, and optimizing posts that resonate with your audience.
*Content & SEO – Writing blogs and optimizing web content so you rank higher on search engines and attract the right users.
*Email Marketing – Crafting campaigns that nurture leads and encourage conversions.
*Digital Advertising (Google, Meta, etc.) – Strategically targeting the right audiences to maximize your ad spend.
*Website Development – Designing or revamping sites for enhanced user experience and clear conversion paths.

We step in to solve the “time and expertise” problem many small to medium-sized businesses face. Rather than juggling endless marketing tasks, our clients can focus on what they do best while we handle everything from high-level strategy to day-to-day implementation.

What Sets Us Apart
1. Broad Media Background: From radio promotions to digital syndication, I’ve seen how audience engagement works across diverse platforms.
2. Data-Driven Mindset: Inspired by my time at LivingSocial and building CRMs, we analyze metrics to tailor each campaign to the unique needs of our clients.
3. Tailored Partnership Approach: As a boutique agency, we give each client personalized attention, functioning as an extension of their own team.
4. The Spirit of “Sisu”: The Finnish concept of “sisu” embodies grit and perseverance—attributes at the heart of our approach to marketing. We don’t give up when things get tough; we iterate, test, and refine until we find what works.

What We’re Most Proud Of
1. Client Success Stories: Seeing a local business go from under-the-radar to making a significant impact online.
2. Long-Standing Relationships: Many of our clients return to us for multiple projects or refer us to colleagues, which is the biggest compliment we can receive.
3. Constant Innovation: Marketing is ever-evolving, and I’m proud of how our team keeps learning and adapting—so clients always benefit from the latest strategies.
4 Key Takeaways for Potential Clients & Followers
5. We Care About Your Story: We believe every brand has a unique narrative, and our job is to help you tell it compellingly.
6. We Speak Your Language: You’ll never feel left in the dark about marketing jargon or data. We break down strategies and results in clear, approachable terms.
7. We’re Here to Grow With You: Whether you’re just starting out or looking to scale, we create flexible strategies that evolve alongside your business.

In sum, Sisu Social Media exists to make digital marketing both accessible and effective for the businesses that need it most. If you’re looking for a partner who combines old-school relationship-building with modern online marketing techniques—and who truly understands the grit and perseverance it takes to succeed—you’ve come to the right place. I’m excited to learn more about your goals and help tell your story to the world.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

One of my favorite examples of resilience from my journey comes from my time at MJI Broadcasting. I had just been promoted to Operations Manager, overseeing a nationwide sales team of about 15 people. One of the first challenges I tackled was modernizing how we tracked our leads, contracts, and communications. At the time, everything was scattered—some folks still had hand-written notes in file folders—and moving everyone to a computer-based CRM system felt like climbing a mountain in a blizzard.

Initially, there was a lot of pushback. Many team members worried a digital platform would slow them down or add unnecessary admin tasks to their already busy schedules. But I believed a centralized system would bring real-time data, transparency, and efficiency to our workflow. So, I rolled up my sleeves and spent countless hours training each person, explaining not just how to use the system but why it mattered. I customized the CRM so it aligned more closely with how the team actually worked, which made adoption less intimidating.

It wasn’t an overnight success—there were plenty of hurdles and frustrated colleagues along the way—but I learned how to listen deeply, refine processes to meet real-world needs, and stay persistent in the face of skepticism. Ultimately, the team realized the new system helped them close more deals faster, and they never wanted to go back to the “old way” of doing things.

This experience also sharpened my account management skills, showing me how to meet people where they are, help them embrace new strategies, and bridge the gap between the old and the new. It’s a skill set that’s been invaluable to me at Sisu Social Media—especially when working with entrepreneurs who are 40 to 70 years old. Many of them have a wealth of business know-how and may have experimented with digital marketing in bits and pieces—SEO, social media, email campaigns—but have yet to see what’s possible when a cohesive, multi-platform strategy is in place.

That’s where I come in. Because I’ve tackled massive transitions before, I know how to develop a unified plan that brings all the “pillars” of digital marketing together so clients aren’t leaving money on the table (or forfeiting the game) by not showing up where their customers spend time. My resilience in the CRM transition taught me the value of persistence, customization, and clear communication—principles I bring to every client relationship at Sisu Social Media.

Have you ever had to pivot?

One pivot that really stands out for me began when I was running my former brand, Trustworthy Marketing. At the time, I was focused almost exclusively on building websites because, let’s face it, every business owner knows they need a website these days. That made it feel like a reliable and straightforward service to offer.

However, I soon realized that just focusing on websites wasn’t really solving the bigger problems my clients were facing. Sure, they had a fresh new site, but they still weren’t seeing the growth and exposure they needed. So, I pivoted to strictly social media—another area where I saw incredible opportunities for small businesses. While it was exciting and definitely helped some clients boost their online presence, I discovered again that social media alone wasn’t enough for lasting success. Business owners need cohesive strategies that tie all their marketing pillars together, from online content to email campaigns to, yes, direct mail.

That’s why I made my next big pivot: offering comprehensive marketing support, no longer limiting myself to just one platform or tactic. I added direct mail back into the mix and started looking at every tool in the marketing toolbox, including paid ads, blogging, and SEO. Small businesses often don’t have the time or expertise to juggle all these elements themselves, and they shouldn’t have to. A good marketer looks at the bigger picture—how the website integrates with social campaigns, how email flows feed into direct mail lists, and how every channel works together to attract and retain customers.

The key lesson? Offering just one service might seem easy and manageable, but it often leaves clients without the full support they need. After trying it both ways, I came to believe small businesses benefit most from a trusted partner who can handle all their marketing needs. It allows the business owner to focus on what they do best while knowing their overall marketing strategy is in good hands. That realization led me to rebrand as Sisu Social Media and then broaden into a full-suite agency—truly a turning point in the way I serve my clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sisusocialmedia.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sisusocialmedia/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sisusocialmedia
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sisusocialmedia/
• Other: Threads – https://www.threads.net/@sisusocialmedia
  TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@sisu_socialmedia

Image Credits

Lyrik Fryer, WorkPlay Branding