We recently connected with Allison Robbins and have shared our conversation below.

Allison, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What do you think it takes to be successful?

Success can be summed up quickly as initiative, relationships, and work ethic. That is the shortlist. I was very lucky in my young career to have role models who taught me how to manage people. This played out with my first management job at 19 years old.

Surrounding myself with mentors who taught me what it takes to run a business, from being a buyer, managing inventory, hiring the right people, and managing the profitability of a business,

I was a partner in my first business at the age of 22. This experience further shaped my love for the customer experience and how to treat people so they would become brand advocates.

Relationship selling involves listening to the customer’s needs. I was always told you have two ears and one mouth for a reason. If you listen and are able to find the need (without your own agenda), you can fulfill that customer need, which builds trust and repeat business.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

This may be a lot more than you want or need

My condensed history,

I started my career in the jewelry industry at a very young age. I loved designing jewelry and managing a store. It fed my creativity, and I loved the customers; you could be there for the most significant moments in their lives: Weddings, birthdays, and anniversaries. I started doing advertising for a small chain of jewelry stores. That’s where I learned that advertising was a creative business as well. I did that for eighteen years.

I had a mid-life career change after doing what I loved for many years.
I decided to work in advertising full-time and worked for a National Television Rep firm. We sold local TV advertising on national networks and produced full commercial videos.
Within the first year, I became the General Manager of one of the sixteen offices they had around the country. I was the first female to hold a management position. This was not the first time I was the only female manager; it was the third time it had happened in my career.

Working in television was an exciting job. I got to go out and learn about people’s businesses and what their advertising and marketing plans were. I often found that they had no plan; they spent money and did not know if they received any ROI. They did not have the time and knowledge to understand what they were spending money on. A salesperson would come through the door and show them the “package of the month,” they would buy it, and it would repeat the next month. At the end of the year, they had spent a lot of money and had nothing to show for it.

That’s when consultancy selling became something I latched onto. Yes, I sold television advertising, but they needed a media mix in most cases. So, I had to learn about all the options for advertising, TV, radio, print, direct mail, and digital so that I could advise them holistically. That way, they would know their budget and could make sound financial decisions for their business. I did not sell those other products; it was in the client’s best interest. It served me well in my career. I built relationships with these business owners and I learned about their businesses.  I consulted on things beyond just advertising and marketing. I recommended customer path studies so we could find out how their customers interacted with their brand so we could make smarter advertising decisions.

I worked in television for ten years. The people I worked for spun off a video production company specializing in long-form corporate video production. One of the things I loved about working in television was creating a story that helped build a business visually. This again fed the creative side of my brain, and I fell in love with video production. From strategy, scripting, on-location shooting, and editing the final product. I had crews I worked with to help accomplish the client’s goals, and I work with some of those same people today.

From there, this same company spun off a full-service advertising agency, and I went there to manage the Indiana office. I was able to put into practice a lot of what I had learned to this point. I worked there until March 2020.

Covid hits, and the whole world stops.

Many people can put a bookmark in that time period as to what happened in their lives. For me, it was a time of reflection; I had managed an advertising agency for ten years for an absentee owner. Things happened to make him question the future of the business. I was put into a position where I had to decide what I wanted to do and how I wanted to run the business. At this point, I had been in the advertising industry for thirty years. We still had to figure out how to do business in a lockdown situation. I also decided I wanted to be in control of my own destiny. I had the privilege of working for great people over the years. Now, I wanted to do it for myself.

What I am most proud of:

In April 2020, Aspect 6 Creative was born. I decided to open my advertising agency as the world came to a screeching halt. No one knew what was about to happen, including me. But one thing I did know is that businesses still had to run. They had to figure out a new way. Remote working was familiar to the advertising industry. So, that was not a hurdle for me, but it was for clients. I had to quickly adapt to a “new way” of doing business and help clients figure out how they could still run their businesses.
I opened Aspect 6 Creative, specializing in 6 aspects: Advertising, Branding, Creative, Strategy, Media Buying, and Video Production.

I walked into a book of business when I opened the doors of Aspect 6 Creative because people came with me. Clients I helped years ago at the TV rep firm still do business with me today. It goes back to the relationships you build, integrity, honesty, and a desire to make something different. It’s not that any of these things are particularly unique. They need to be packaged all together. Agencies now have separate departments for production, copywriting, account management, strategy, and so on. Silos don’t work, in my opinion; you have to know the whole story from start to finish to create something great. And it all goes back to really dinging in with a client. If a client shares all the warts, scars, and obstacles as to why they can’t communicate their story, you can find that one golden nugget you can build a whole campaign on.
And that is why I do what I do.
I believe great creativity is rooted in a great strategy.

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

When I decided to open my own business, there were many obstacles I had to overcome. Being a women-owned business. At my age, “people” thought I should be thinking about retirement, not starting over. That never occurred to me. If you love what you do, you want to do it. That’s how I felt. I had devoted most of my adult life to these clients and thought I could help them.

Although I knew this business well, I still had doubts—a feeling I was unfamiliar with, quite frankly. The global pandemic created a panic in the business world, and rightfully so. I had to go back to what I knew. I knew if my clients did not pick a strategy, they could very well lose their business. I had to figure out some things that would help them. I started my business in my home office, and in a few weeks, I realized I needed an office. Renting office space having overhead and utilities, employees, and all of the other things that go into opening a business,
I took a leap of faith, and it paid off.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

I started my business doing consulting work. I have mentioned the pandemic. Those conversations about what they needed to do to pivot from the past and how to reach customers digitally paid off for future work. I had just rented an office, furnished it with furniture from my house, and started on a shoestring; I had a past coworker reach out to help with staffing, which was a huge help. Within a few months, I had a client list and hired my first employee. This April, we celebrate our fourth anniversary. We have grown our client list, and I have been able to donate to local community causes that I am passionate about.

Contact Info:

• Website: aspect6creative.com
• Instagram: Aspect 6 Creative
• Facebook: Aspect 6 Creative
• Linkedin: Allison Robbins – Aspect 6 Creative
• Twitter: Twitter is a cess-pool I am not on it :)

Image Credits
Rigel Jackson Photography