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

Cecilia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

I love the story of how Laurel Canyon Creative came about. My friend was in town from New York and we had just gotten coffee at Aroma Cafe. It was decided that it was such a nice day out that we wanted to walk through the neighborhood. I shared with her how I had been thinking about wanting to start a Social Media Management and Web Design company and she suggested that, just for fun, we start brainstorming some business name ideas. We walked for a couple of hours through this neighborhood just saying things that we saw and pairing it with words like “Studio” “Creative” “Agency” etc. The two of us had an obsession with the Laurel Canyon drive and history here in LA and my first apartment happened to be off of Laurel Canyon so when we paired Laurel Canyon with Creative we knew it was something special.

Our runner-up was another favorite but the URL was already taken. However, if someone needs to name a design agency we highly recommend Yellow Door Studios. : )

Cecilia, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Happy to share more about how I got into this industry! Back in 2015 I was working as an assistant for a small production company. One of the founders of that company was also an actress who was getting ready to launch her new motherhood blog. Because I was so involved in the process of getting that launched and helping to build it’s online community I began taking classes and learning everything I could about Social Media Marketing, design, storytelling, etc.

From there more and more of my friends started reaching out for advice on how they could grow their own online communities. I then had a consultation with a friend who at the end of it looked at me and said, “I’m paying you because you should never do this for free again.” She really sparked the whole idea that I could make something out of all of this experience that I had gathered. In 2018, I quit my nanny job and dove head first into finding clients for Social Media Management. In 2019, I became an official LLC in the state of California and have seen steady growth each year since then!

Have you ever had to pivot?

The biggest pivot I had to make was when I gave birth to my daughter. Up until that point my business had been my baby and I was so devoted to growing my company that I didn’t realize just how much work I was doing. I could no longer keep up with the pace I had previously set for myself so I had to retrain myself to work less hours and really find a routine that would help me drop in and focus each time I did sit down to work.

Now I have two babies that I care for full time on top of my work and while I am still unlearning a lot of that “hustle culture” mentality my work life balance has gotten significantly better and I have put in place many boundaries to protect my mental health and to give me more freedom in my schedule.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

The best source for new clients has been my current client roster and my friends who know what I do for work. I have been incredibly blessed in that every client I have has been through a recommendation from a friend or someone I have previously worked with.

When I first started out I told anyone and everyone exactly what I did, what I offered, and how much I was charging and I asked them to send anyone my way who they thought might need my help. If you are just starting out this would probably be my best piece of advice. Don’t hide it from anyone. Tell everyone who will listen what you are up to and ask them to help spread the word!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.laurelcanyon.studio/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurelcanyoncreative/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/71337278/admin/