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

Hi Kelli, thanks for joining us today. Crazy stuff happening is almost as certain as death and taxes – it’s technically “unexpected” but something unexpected happening is to be expected and so can you share a crazy story with our readers

The craziest story is how I started this business. I went back to working a 9-5 after having my first daughter because I simply couldn’t make my business work. When I first started, I said to myself I would just keep my head down, do the corporate thing and forget about entrepreneurship thing.

That lasted all of 90 days.

I wasn’t happy with the way things were going and knew I had to make a change. But I couldn’t just quit because I had a husband, a kid, a mortgage…big girl responsibilities.

So I thought the first step should be to get a mentor. Someone I could talk to and get guidance from. I was doing makeup part time and had a client coming up who was very accomplished and driven. I decided once the makeup session was done I would ask her to lunch to talk about where I was, where I wanted to be and ask for advice on how to get there.

She agreed to lunch and we met up about 2 weeks later. I laid it all out and she told me that I should apply for this program that helps women entrepreneurs build a solid foundation to create sustainable businesses. She also said the application deadline was that night.

I went home and spent 2 hours getting all the requirements together and completing the application. There were moments where I would hear my insecurities in my head telling to quit, why bother, you’re never going to get in…but I kept going.

I made the 1st cut and had to come in for a full day interview that required a pitch at the end. I’d never pitched before so again, I was nervous as hell and thought about quitting.

I showed up, did my best and I remember leaving at the end of the day and saying to myself “you know what, even if you don’t get it you should be proud of yourself. You COMPLETELY stepped out of your comfort zone to do this and that’s awesome.”

About 3 weeks later I was taking a mental health day from my 9-5 and I got an email around lunch time that I got into the program. I just sat at my desk and cried.

I felt so validated and invigorated that I was chosen. I put in my notice a few weeks later and I was off to the races.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I always had a natural curiousity about advertising as a kid. I would analyze commercials and make note of things like the colors the actors were wearing matched the brand colors of the product.

But back when I was in undergrad pursing my BA in Business Admin, my school didn’t have a Marking concentration. There was one marketing course offered my very last semester before graduating…I took it and was completely enthralled.

I moved to New York after graduating and the company I worked for had one lady doing public relations and this lady would ask me to help her out so I started learning the ropes.

When I moved back to Atlanta, I decided to try my hand at entrepreneurship and start a PR company. Then around 2013 I started to notice how important social media was becoming and decided to focus strictly on digital marketing.

brndMethod Media Group is a digital marketing agency and we help companies elevate their brand presence through strategic and creative digital experiences. Our service offering includes digital strategy & consulting, website design, podcast production and content marketing.

One of the main things that sets us apart is our approach in how we work with the sales team. We don’t operate in a silo. we sit with them to get a clear understanding of the sales cycle, customer pain points, common objections etc. And we use this as the foundation for the creative and the messaging.

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

I absolutely had to be resilient once I left my job to join the entrepreneurship program and pursue my business full time. It was scary. I didn’t have money necessarily saved up. But I did have my side hustle which was doing makeup. I knew I would do whatever it took to make ends meet and that’s exactly what I did. I worked every single weekend doing bridal makeup…sometimes two weddings a day. I also did personal clients. I also gave up any social outings that first year. I only socialized without the purpose of business that year for my wedding anniversary and my 20 year high school reunion.

It was really tough but when I look back on how focused I was I am proud of that and wouldn’t change it.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

The biggest pivot for me was changing my mindset from a digital marketer to a business owner. And what I mean that is I was always the doer of the things: writing social media posts, creating graphics, building websites etc. Whatever services my business offered, I took lead on creating or producing the deliverables. I had support from employees but I always did the things.

I learned that my role as CEO, as a true CEO was to set the vision for the company, create strategy and put the right people in place to get the job done.

This required me to let go, relinquish control. My focus is to work on the business, not in it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://brndmethod.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brndmethod/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brndMethod/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brnd-method
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/brndmethod
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL3X8xknaN3x6_aLq7JEkJQ

Image Credits
Leone + Gray Photography: Just the one image of me