We were lucky to catch up with Amanda Akers recently and have shared our conversation below.

Amanda, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

I quit my job.

After being in a position that made me very unhappy for a year, I was sitting at dinner with a friend, something I didn’t often have the time to do, and I got pinged on our messaging app for something related to an upcoming event. I didn’t respond. Five minutes later, I get a text message, I didn’t respond. Another 10 minutes and a few more texts later, I received a phone call. I didn’t answer.

I cried.

Sitting at dinner with my friend, I cried. The stress hit an all time high and I broke. After the waiter brought me a free margarita because he saw I was upset and I stopped crying, I looked at my friend and I told her I was quitting and I would make it work somehow.

Two days later, I put in a 6 week notice. Yes, 6 weeks, because I had projects I didn’t want to see fall and I knew how strapped the team was and knew that me leaving would require others to become even more stressed, so I wanted to do right by my team members. I worked an awkward 6-week notice and went out on my own.

I had been doing side freelance work for about 6 years and always thought “Maybe I could do this”, but I never really thought it would be a reality. Until I had to make it a reality. I put my head down, reached out to my network, signed up for every gig platform I could, expanded my LinkedIn network and one and half years later, I’m still on my own and doing it!

I needed a push. The stress at that dinner was the push I needed to take the biggest risk of all, and quit a job with absolutely no clue how’d I pay bills in 6 months.

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

I’ve always been a creative kid. In 4th grade, I set up a bracelet “store” out of my second-floor bedroom window, selling simple braided bracelets to whoever happened to walk by the house. I knew nothing about business, foot traffic, or conversion rates—I just knew I loved making things and sharing them.

I was also stubborn in the best way and had an ‘I’ll figure it out’ mindset. In high school, I saved all my babysitting money to buy one of those long, flat wallets. When I finally bought one, I realized the length was too tight and my cash wouldn’t lay flat. Instead of returning it, I decided to make my own. I dragged my grandma’s sewing machine up from the basement, bought fabric from Hobby Lobby, grabbed an old shoebox for structure, and taught myself to sew through a lot of trial and error. I ended up with a wallet that even had card slots for my two “very important” cards (one was a grocery store loyalty card). I still have that wallet because it reminds me there is always a way.

In college, after my first business class, I knew I wanted to be in marketing. I sometimes joke that I’m a unicorn because I actually work in what I got my degree in. My dream back then was sports marketing. A few years after graduation, I transferred my retail job and moved to Charlotte, NC knowing that if I didn’t land a sports marketing role, the city was still full of opportunities.

I landed something better for who I was becoming: an internship with two incredible women at a healthcare startup. Heather and Becky taught me a ton about marketing, but even more about the kind of professional woman I wanted to be, and how I wanted to treat others as a future female leader. I soaked up everything I could from the role – campaigns, branding, automation, account management, product development, events and so much more. I started there as an intern and grew into a Coordinator. From there, I took a lateral move to another healthcare startup and worked my way up to Manager. After a few years of growth, I was offered a Director role heading up marketing at a PropTech startup. For a marketer, it was the dream: building the marketing function from the ground up for a new service. I helped them raise a Series A, launch multiple markets, develop a new product, and build a lead generation engine that actually fed sales. After that, I joined a fractional CMO agency, partnering with a wide range of clients across industries and projects.

Most of my background is in-house marketing, which means I’ve spent years growing single brands and navigating the red tape that comes with internal roles. I’ve also lived the agency life, which sharpened my multitasking, organization, and communication skills. For most of my career, I’ve been a “one-person marketing team” with occasional support. That experience made me a true Swiss Army knife. Some people see that as being a generalist; I see it as a strategic advantage. Wherever there’s a marketing gap, I can step in and build what’s missing.

Since July 2024, I’ve been on my own, running Adaptive Tiers as a full-stack marketing executive. I work with clients in real estate, coaching, financial services, pharmacy, healthcare, manufacturing, and more. I care deeply about the work because it’s mine—and my joy comes from watching my clients win. I take pride in my ‘swiss army knife’ skillset because I can meet all of my clients where there are and step in to support. From plugging in to get campaigns rolling, building a go-to-market strategy, developing a social media presence, or even giving them a needed digital facelift with fresh content and visuals. I always start my customer engagements with one question, “What is your goal?”. Knowing the goal allows me to know what tactics will drive the most impact and truly move the needle.

That creative little girl never went away. I still channel her into marketing, but also into making snarky greeting cards and coffee mugs on my Etsy shop. Thankfully, I’ve upgraded my storefront from a second-story bedroom window to a digital shop.

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

Referrals from my network have hands down been the most effective strategy for growing my clientele. I’ve built relationships with collaborators who now act as advocates for my work—like a videographer I’ve partnered with on countless projects, who often shares my name in his own professional circles when someone needs marketing support. There’s also a former coworker from early in my career; we’ve kept in touch, and she regularly refers new business my way when the opportunity comes up.

I’ve used gig platforms before, and while they can be helpful early on, they ultimately felt a bit too transactional for how I like to work. The clients who stick—and the ones I enjoy partnering with most—almost always come through referrals or long-standing connections.

For me, it’s not just about landing more projects; it’s about building trust and working with clients who truly value both the relationship and the results. I also recognize that most of my clients will eventually grow beyond needing fractional support—and that’s the goal. When they do, and they’re confident enough in the work we did together to refer me to someone else, that’s the clearest sign my role was successful.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

I build relationships on two key pillars: team and connection.

Team: Executing marketing for clients requires both strong communication and results. Every project, I roll up my sleeves and do the work myself—I aim to be an extension of their team, not just an outsourced freelancer. When you’re viewed as ‘just a freelancer,’ it’s easy to be forgotten. That’s why I prioritize regular communications and make myself readily available. If that means joining ten different Teams accounts and ten Slack channels, so be it. To truly feel like part of the team, I respond promptly—never on a typical ‘within 48 hours’ schedule. After all, you wouldn’t expect a coworker to wait two days to return an email, and I believe my clients deserve that same immediacy.

Connection: Connection is a natural extension of teamwork—I make it a priority to genuinely get to know my clients. After going solo, I realized that many of my closest friends are former colleagues, so I focus on fostering real relationships, not just business transactions. I love starting meetings with a few minutes of genuine conversation, asking about life updates or recent events. The most meaningful moments come when clients remember something about me and check in about it. Building this personal connection matters to me—because even if our professional partnership ends and they outgrow my marketing services, I hope we stay connected in each other’s networks.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.adaptivetiers.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-akers-a0a3162a/