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

Holly, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with education – we’d love to hear your thoughts about how we can better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career.

I think it’s important for students to understand how they can get more hands-on education and skills they can use right away in the workforce. I also think having more guest speakers who can provide real world advice in a way that perhaps parents and teachers can’t, is essential to helping students choose a path that would help them live a more fulfilling life by understanding the benefits (ands struggles) of certain career paths early on. Invite business owners, nutritionists, athletes, social media experts, people who are working in fields that students are interested in.

I taught Internet Marketing at SDSU for eight years. An important part of the class was to give my students real world experience. Every semester, I brought in small business owners and entrepreneurs. They would hear first hand about their marketing needs and limitations (budget, time, etc). Then the students would help come up with an online marketing/social media plan – AND help them implement it. Its one thing to read about strategies and tactics, quite another to see happen and understand what works best for different types of businesses.

Holly, 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?

I’m the author of eight Internet Marketing books. My most recent being “The Social Media Advantage”, which shows business owners + marketers how to find and connect with target audiences online.

I developed the Interactive Marketing + Social Media course for San Diego State University where I taught as a guest lecturer for more than 8 years.

I always knew I wanted to be a writer. And I started submitting articles and pitching ideas to local media in my teens. I graduated with a journalism degree at the time the Internet was just getting introduced. Because I already had articles published and built skills beyond what was just taught in the classroom, In my twenties, I was hired by a top media company and went on to take hands-on classes in website design, illustrator and photoshop. This knowledge helped me build some of the first websites and show more value for the company – and eventually lead to me starting my own web design and internet marketing company .

Today, I work as an Independent Internet Marketing and Social Media Consultant assisting a range of industries with critical marketing services such as Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Online Media Buying, Content Development, Analytics and more.

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Have you ever had to pivot?

When my business was at its peak, I had two offices, employees and a new business partner. Soon after, I had my second son (only 18 months after my first son!) Trying to juggle the growing business and two small children proved too much for me. I sold my business to my partner and took a break. After about a year, I took on a client. Then another. And built up a new Internet Marketing Company under my own name. But now I keep things simpler. I work from home. Hire talented consultants and other business owners to help me (rather than full time employees) and only accept a handful of clients each year. The whole experience made me realize what kind of business I want (and what kind I don’t want). Work/Life/Health balance is so important.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Writing my business books and continuing to educate myself helped me to build my reputation. I learned so much from each person I interviewed for my books, and was honored to be able to share that information with fellow business owners, marketers and students. I think being open to learning and sharing information helps you build a strong reputation in your industry.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.berkweb.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hollyberkley/

Image Credits
Photos by Amy Millard