We recently connected with Jen McKee and have shared our conversation below.

Jen, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

I always knew I wanted to own my own business. Being in charge of my own destiny and success was my goal.
I worked in restaurants for 17 years, starting when I was 16. At first, the thrill of waiting tables excited me. Everyday, it was up to me to take care of my tables well enough that I would make the most tips. And this is true, though most days there’s a limit.

After college, I decided to go into management. I was constantly striving for the next level, following all the rules, working hard to do my absolute best and learn everything I could.

I found out quickly that that wasn’t the way to excel in the environment I was in. It seemed like “fake” amazing results were much better than honest good results. And being the incredibly honest person that I am, I found this so frustrating.

So I DECIDED, I wasn’t going to let this be my story. I wasn’t going to let someone else’s idea of success or how great I was at my job, be a reflection of my reality.

I started Kee Hart Marketing as a side hustle in 2018 with the help of the internet, books, podcasts and some amazing women willing to give me insight into what I was doing.

When the COVID hit, I was pulled out of my safety net of waiting tables and bartending and thrust full time into business owner. After reading You Are A Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero, I decided I needed to hire a business coach. That’s when I found Bianca Gignac who helped me scale to over $100,000 in sales during a pandemic,

In less than 5 years I’ve grown to a company who has helped hundreds of business owners with their social media strategy.

And most importantly, helped business owners start to believe in themselves and what they’re capable of. Both on social media, and in building their dream life.

Jen, 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 a product of the social media era. I’m 35 years old and grew up with AOL Aim Chat, Chat rooms and early internet Hanson fan blogs. I could code my myspace and when Facebook launched (available to university students only) I happened to be a high school senior with access to multiple university email addresses from the colleges I had been accepted to.

I went to school for graphic design and got to take fine arts classes on the way through my undergrad. I attended the Academy of Art University in San Francisco for one semester and then decided to switch to interior design. I enjoy being in the creative field but realized quickly interior design wasn’t for me.

Taking my social media up bringing and combing it with my love of art and experience being a super social bartender, social media was the perfect fit!

My agency has found it’s niche helping service based business show up with confidence on social media. We work with restaurants, plumbers, counselors, lawyers, HVAC businesses and more!

Our sweet spot is creating a social media strategy that helps them professionalize their online presence and grow using short form video. One of our clients increased their sales in 2021 over 30% to push them over the $3M mark all from their digital marketing strategy. Social media and Tik Tok has played a big part in that! They were even invited to be a part of the Tik Tok Impact Project based on that win!

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

We help many of our clients build their brand using social media. If you’re just starting out, here’s what I recommend: Don’t spend time worrying about where you’re not. Don’t worry that other people have more followers or make better content. Don’t think you have to be everywhere right away. Add time to you’re calendar each week that will be when you work on social media, stay consistent and just get started.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way:
1. Determine where your followers are- start on that platform (check Tik Tok- it’s the easiest place to grow right now).
2. Do some research- type keywords from your industry into the search bar and look at the most engaged-with content. Take notes about what it looks like, what type of hooks they’re using on their videos or on the captions, what they’re talking about ect.
3. Start practicing the things you saw.
4. Collect data. Check weekly or monthly in your analytics and see what is resonating with people. Do more of that.

And interact with the people interacting with you. Greet your new followers. Respond to comments and messages. Interact with their content as well. Think of this as a place to get social.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I absolutely love reading and consuming great content (podcasts, books ect). I think this played a huge part to getting me where I am today. The first book that I think shifted everything was You are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero. I read it and decided I was going to invest $10,000 on a business coach and that would help me make $10,000/month in 6 months. It took me 8 months but I got it done. Since then, other notable books are as follows:
Super Attractor- Gabrielle Bernstein
Ask and It is Given- Law of Attraction- Jerry and Esther Hicks Books
I love learning about the law of attraction. Super Attractor introduced me to the Abraham books by Jerry and Esther Hicks- they are all life changing.
The Gifts of Imperfection- or anything by Brene Brown
Who Moved My Cheese- Spencer Johnson the YouTube video is great too

I also love to read marketing, sales and psychology books. Plus a good fiction book will help bring my creativity back or just help me disconnect when I’m struggling.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.keehartmarketing.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/keehartmarketing
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/keehartmarketing
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jen-mckee-72114824/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM45Oy5Bqrs-RWnjDwgi0BA/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@keehartmarketing