We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Aaron Rose. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Aaron below.

Hi Aaron, thanks for joining us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.

At Sound of A Rose, we are a podcast-first agency. There are lots of marketing companies that do podcasts as an add-on. We are obsessed with podcasts, and that allows us to have insights and solutions that few other partners have.

One example is a client who wanted to switch up his podcast in several different ways. One week, he wanted an NPR-style story-driven podcast with interviews that cut in and out with a single voice being the driving storyteller.

For this, we focused on emulating high-end large condenser microphones, using journalistic and documentary-style music editing, and had significant back-and-forth revisions to shave down the dialogue and eliminate any fat.

Another time, he wanted to make it more raw and flexible, so we armed him with some high-quality wireless mics so he could talk with his guest while walking around.

We aim for the highest quality product and are uniquely qualified to deliver with our singular podcast focus.

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

My career path started in post-production audio for films and commercials. This gave me the basic, hard skills needed for podcasting, along with an understanding of storytelling and skill for sound design and music selection.

During this time, I also started voice acting, since I was aware of how many opportunities there were after being around film and commercial clients. This furthered my experience in understanding microphones from another perspective. It helped me develop and coach others towards the best performances possible in both music and voiceover.

I then switched to high-end live audio for large events, where I learned how to quickly and creatively problem-solve in countless ways.

I am most proud of the relationships I have built with my clients. I don’t want to just do a job. I want to further the vision my clients have. I take pride in what I do, but even more so in the ability to listen and understand a client.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I am a believer in the very unsexy reality of slow growth. Because I am married with two young kids, I do not believe high financial risk was a wise move for us, so I built capital for myself over the course of eighteen months, while also working a full-time job. 80% of what I made from the business went back into the business.

I am currently saving up the cash flow needed for my first employee. I obviously draw much more (60-70%) from what is netted. However, I keep the discipline of not paying myself all that is earned.

Any advice for managing a team?

Books have been written, and classes have been taught on this topic. I don’t have anything you haven’t already heard, but here are my big five:

-Hire the best, and hire specifically. Not everyone is a fit.

-Spend time understanding each team member. The right person is often in the wrong position.

-Always have hard conversations. Avoiding or waiting hurts everyone.

-Highest levels of productivity come from feeling safe and known.

-You can’t fake care. Learn how to love each individual.

Contact Info:

• Website: soundofarose.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soundofarose/