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

Samantha, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

This is a complex question to answer. Most days, I love being a business owner and am very happy. Still, on other days, I’m stressed and concerned I made the wrong decision to work for myself without stability rather than having a stable full-time job with a salary.
Managing a staff, being an expert in my field, and maintaining client satisfaction all at once is HARD. Managing the business finances, HR, and sales is another business complexity. While I have a staff, they can only do so much during their work hours.

As a business owner, I gave up a 40hr/week Monday throufh Friday job to work 60+ hours a week Monday through Sunday, no breaks, no paid time off, no time off at all, and if I do want to travel, no vacations without my computer. Being a business owner is not easy; it is downright brutal and definitely not for everyone. You need extreme confidence, self-discipline, and resilience. It’s so easy to want to throw in the towel, but when you step back and think about it, you realize that there is nothing you’d rather be doing…at least, that’s how I feel.

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?

I fell into my business, to be truthful. I started my company to legitimize my freelance services so businesses would take me seriously and pay their invoices. However, within eight months, I had replaced my full-time salary with my “side hustle” of this business and decided to pursue it full-time.
While I have waivered on this decision many times, again, the debate of whether giving up a stable full-time job was worth it, for the most part, I love it and wouldn’t change a thing.

What sets my business apart is that I am hands-on with every account and client and am the main point of contact for everyone. While I have account managers, I oversee everything, which is uncommon in most agencies for the CEO to have their hand on the pulse of everything. I also make all my sales; this is unique too. However, what sets me apart is the fact that I am a professional problem solver for small and medium businesses. Regardless of their issues or struggles, I have a solution for everything or a resource with a solution, hence the name of the company, Strazanac Solutions.

I am most proud of my growth over the last three years. For the first five years of my business, I ran it solo with a few contractors doing random projects. However, in the past three years, I have tripled my staff and increased my revenue by 250%. It’s crazy to think that my little side hustle turned into something of this magnitude. Honestly, some days I’m still shocked I made this business successful.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

Strazanac Solutions technically started a year and a half before I filed my LLC. It started when I was laid off from a marketing management role with only 2 years of experience in the marketing industry, and I, unfortunately (for me) had been overpaid for my experience level. This made finding a job at my salary level with the minimal experience level I had nearly impossible. The first role I took after the layoff had me take an almost $20,000 pay cut, I had no choice as I had bills to pay, and I needed a job to make ends meet. While I had been looking for a job (which took 9 months), I started doing freelance marketing for small bars and restaurants in my community. This is when my “side hustle” of Strazanac Solutions started but it was not without struggle. The struggle was not that people would not hire me or that I couldn’t find clients. It was that they would not take me seriously when I sent them an invoice for services rendered. The business owners thought I had been doing it a favor and laughed when I asked for compensation for my time and expertise.

My father suggested I file for an LLC so businesses would take me seriously when I sent them an invoice, as this would show and prove that I was a legitimate business. My father was my first investor (and my biggest supporter), as he paid the initial fee for me to file my business with the Secretary of State. He was also the one who came up with the name of my company: Strazanac Solutions. Within eight months of my business being established by the North Caroline Secretary of State, I had surpassed my full-time income with my side hustle. I made the difficult but logical decision to quit my full-time job and pursue my business as my new career path.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Running a service-based business where your clients are contracted on a 3-12 month contract is onerous. You rarely know when they will end or continue their contracts, and when I started my business, I didn’t have a cancellation policy and let all clients go month to month with no notice of cancellation. This made managing finances very difficult and unreliable. I have often lost confidence in myself and considered returning to a full-time job, but I took part-time jobs, executed small side hustles, and made it through with my head above water.

I wish I could say I have had an easy time with my business, but I’d be lying. It’s been stressful and challenging, and many tears have been shed with countless hours of lost sleep and long hours exceeding 12-hour days. However, I always came out on the other side wiser and with a new, more effective, and strategic plan of action to succeed.

After all, I’m a professional problem solver for my client’s businesses, so why not be one for my own business too?

Contact Info:

• Website: www.strazanacsolutions.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/strazsolutions
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/strazanacsolutions
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/strazanac-solutions-llc/
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/strazsolutions

Image Credits
Veritas Digital Photography, Amy Crosby Photography, and Fire & Ice Photography