Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jen Hartmann. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Jen thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Talk to us about building your team? What was it like? What were some of the key challenges and what was your process like?

I was a solopreneur for the first 6 months I was in business. It was overwhelming at times, but a great learning opportunity since I was the sales, marketing, customer service and finance department. Since I mastered all parts of the business, it was easier to train up employees when I did finally hire! My first hire was a virtual assistant who supported me with tasks such as answering incoming messages on social media and email inbox management. I felt myself becoming bogged down with answering messages all day and knew that it wasn’t a good use of my time! Having a virtual assistant to support me in the early stages of my business saved me 8-10 hours of time each week that I could use to take more sales calls or spend more time with clients. Eventually, the business grew and I had to allocate my resources to growing an in-house team! A year and a half into the business, I made my first full-time hire, a sales & marketing coordinator. This full-time hire actually started as an intern with the business, learning the ins and outs of our processes before growing into a bigger role. To this day, we still start team members on a part-time basis (either as an intern or contractor) to ensure it’s a good fit for both sides! We use platforms such as LinkedIn, The Mom Project and Indeed to post and search for talent. Instead of just me, the founder, taking candidates through the interview process, we involve our COO and anyone else on the team the new hire would be working with directly. It helps to have multiple people on our team chatting with candidates because they might catch something that I would miss! If I was starting the hiring process from scratch today, I’d start by hiring a salesperson right from the beginning. A salesperson directly contributes to the bottom line, allowing you to have the funds to hire additional team members!

Jen, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I started my career in marketing and public relations during undergrad! I wasn’t sure which “niche” of the industry I would enjoy, so I tried it all before the age of 21 through various internships: social media, events, influencer marketing, media pitching, email marketing and more. Once I finished undergrad, I immediately joined the agency world and went to business school at the same time. By 2018, I landed my first corporate marketing job in a major city and I felt like I had finally made it. Months into my dream job, I struggled with bullying and sexual harassment. I was desperate to get out of corporate so NEAT became my escape path.

I launched NEAT in 2019 with just $3,000 to my name, and went full-time in my business just 3 months before the pandemic. NEAT provides PR & marketing services to both start-ups and billion dollar brands. We’ve helped over 225 clients get in front of the right customers at the right time through innovative campaigns, increase their website traffic by 179% (on average) and boost sales! I’m proud of some of the client features we’ve been able to secure with Bustle, The Irish Sun, POPSUGAR and TIME. I’m super proud of that I’ve been able to take just a few thousand dollars, and turn it into a thriving business!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Ever since I started my career, I carried the belief that if I work harder, I’ll make more money. Before entrepreneurship, I traded time for an hourly wage, so this proved to be true. If I worked more hours, I made more. If I worked harder, I got a raise. This doesn’t apply when it comes to actually scaling a business. When you work harder… you ultimately hit a wall and experience burnout. You have to work smarter, not harder or for more hours. You can’t scale without systems, a team or boundaries. Having these 3 will set you up for success!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

During one of our worst months in business, we were approached by another firm that was interested in acquiring NEAT. It was by far one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made in my life. How cool that another company wanted to buy what I built! Ultimately, I kept the business and we continued to grow and have a really incredible year! During this process, I realized that I valued freedom more than money. It also gave me a kick in the butt that I truly needed — if someone else saw the value in what I was building, why didn’t I? Choosing to sell would have been an easy way out especially during a bad month, but I knew that if I just stuck with it, we’d pull through.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.neatmarketingllc.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neat.marketing/

Image Credits
Ashley Cambron