We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lauren Baughman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Lauren, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

When I was laid off from my full-time job in 2020, I knew I needed to get creative. I had a few freelance social media clients who had made it known that they would be happy to refer me to other business owners that they knew also needed social media help.

I had always known I wanted to start my own business, but until that time, I wasn’t sure what the business would be, or how I would balance it while working full time. Since all of a sudden every business in the world needed an increased virtual presence, and I was suddenly unemployed, it felt very serendipitous.

Roots and Wings Co. was founded in May 2020, and grew quickly, but not without challenges. Since social media was still newly being understood as a “need” for businesses, many businesses did not have it in their budget — especially during the pandemic.

I was able to reassure prospective clients that investing in an online presence was worth it, by providing an example of my success online by showing them my travel Instagram account, The To Go List — www.instagram.com/thetogolist. I believe that this set me apart, and showed them that they could trust in my knowledge.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I founded my travel blog, The To Go List, in 2017 after getting tons of questions from family and friends about my trips. I’ve always loved to write, and it was the perfect outlet to share my travel information.

Through growing my blog, I learned a lot about the online space, and began to apply this knowledge to my professional career. I was working as an event planner at the time, and the venue I was working for desperately needed a consistent social media presence and a new website. After many conversations, the owners took a chance and allowed me to build a new website and take over the social media accounts. I fell in love with the process of growing the accounts and designing the website, and knew then and there that I belonged in marketing.

Now I provide these services — social media management, content creation, virtual assistance and email and website design — for my own clients. Every client receives a customized experience based on what their business needs, which I believe is what sets me apart from other social media managers.

Since I’m still blogging and growing my own social media presence too, I have a lot of knowledge and hear about a lot of new social media features before others might, as well, which gives me kind of a jump start on implementing these things for my clients.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Word of mouth! I do get a lot of website traffic, but 80% of my prospective clients are referrals.

Does your business have multiple or supplementary revenue streams (like a ATM machine at a barbershop, etc)?

Roots & Wings Co. offers social media management/content creation, virtual assistance, consulting, copywriting, email and website design.

In 2022, I also started offering travel planning through my blog, The To Go List.

Contact Info:

• Website: Social Media Management: www.rootswingsco.com | Travel Blog: www.thetogolist.com
• Instagram: Social Media Management: www.instagram.com/rootswingsco | Travel Blog: www.instagram.com/thetogolist
• Facebook: Social Media Management: www.facebook.com/rootswingsco | Travel Blog: www.facebook.com/thetogolist