We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chloe Grabenhorst a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Chloe, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.
My business made its first dollar of revenue by helping a small business switch their website from one hosting platform to the next. Which the work itself, but the story behind it is what makes it special. Back to the beginning, the idea of Stera Marketing was floating around my head for a few months with progress being put into creating the business, but I couldn’t settle on a name. How can you start and grow a business without a name? I was throwing ideas out to all of my friends that I have told my business plan to. One of those friends, who also has a start up business, had a vendor for one of their events that was needing help with their website and social media. That was my first client referral, but Stera Marketing didn’t exist on paper anywhere yet, only in my head and the heads of my friends. Once the client called me to discuss how I could help her business I knew I had to settle on a name and fast! Stera popped into my head from my love of houseplants (Monsteras specifically) and I created the business name, website, and social media in a matter of 24 hours all on my 25th birthday. I was already being celebrated by friends and family for my birthday and we threw in the celebration of my business finally coming to life.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Of course! I am Chloe Grabenhorst. I grew up in O’Fallon, MO and was a pre-med student at SLU. After graduation, I was taking a gap year to expand my application and experience for medical schools. I was working in a women’s health practice my senior year of college when COVID hit and I was the only employee of the business. I learned to wear a lot of hats when it comes to business, but my job title was a medical assistant. I became the website editor, content creator for social media, video editor, podcast creator, google business manager, and so much more. As much as I love patient care, I really grew a passion for helping the people/businesses that are providing that care to their patients/clients/customers. I still wear all of those hats at that women’s health practice, but I developed the dream to start my own business in the process.
Now I help all kinds of small businesses with their social media, website, and branding at an affordable rate. Many small businesses, like the women’s health practice and all of my other clients, can’t afford a website that cost $4,000+ and it does not cost that much to create! They need a marketing team when they need it, and don’t when they don’t, so hiring a full time employee is also out of budget. That is where Stera Marketing comes in! We are here when you need the help and supporting your business even when you don’t need us. All business owners need to know that there are always more affordable options out there, that doesn’t mean you have to do it all yourself!
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
NETWORKING! Network, network, network. I cannot say it enough. Networking can be exhausting, uncomfortable, and make a long day even longer. HOWEVER, meeting people is the number one way to grow your clientele. When you meet people show up as yourself, not just the business owner/sales person. Meeting a person at a networking event that is giving you a hard sell never works and the other person in that conversation is probably trying to exit that conversation ASAP. When you network it is crucial to ask the other person about themselves, their business, and whatever else flows easily. Then the key is to figure out what they need that you can provide! That might be your business/product, but that most likely is who you can refer to them. Networking is all about how you can help each other, not just benefit your own business. Introduce them to people who might like their business/product or who might be able to collaborate with them!
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I have a very new business, so I want to share the story of how I built the social media presence for the women’s health practice I work at and have since day 1. The business is now 3 years old. Building your social media presence in not easy. It takes time and commitment, which is so hard to do without seeing the growth in followers! My best advice for those trying to grow their social media is to schedule posts. Posting every single day is not realistic to many business owners, but if you schedule content out for the week it takes away the pressure of remembering to post and can help you post when people are most active on social media. I also recommend creating little cards with a QR code linked to your social media and hand them out to all of your clients/customers!
Thank you so much for this interview and the time to share more about my small business! I really appreciate it and can’t see what else is to come from CanvasRebel.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.steramarketing.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steramarketing/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/steramarketing
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chloe-grabenhorst/