We recently connected with Nichole Sellden and have shared our conversation below.

Nichole, appreciate you joining us today. Risk taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

Starting Post Meridiem was one of the biggest risks I’ve taken. It was early 2020 when I decided to leave my current in-house marketing job to pursue the world of entrepreneurship. I wasn’t sure I was ready to take the leap to start my own business, but was passionate about the startup space and wanted to pivot my career in that direction.

Queue March 2020. All hiring froze and a promised job position at a tech incubator was off the table. As I waited out the worst of the pandemic I started freelancing and explored my options as I contemplated my career trajectory. As the months went on, I started collaborating with Waverly, a friend who had also left her previous position early 2020 in the pursuit of starting a creative agency. The more time we spent together, I learned how talented she was, how complementary our skillsets were, and that we shared the same passion and vision to start a business and create a space that people love to work at and work with.

In June 2020, Waverly pitched me the idea of starting an agency together. As a single woman with no other supporting income, the risk of taking her up on the offer was high (not to mention I had just been offered a job with a great growth trajectory), but in my bones I knew if I didn’t take the leap now I probably never would.

In July of 2020, in the midst of a global pandemic, we founded Post Meridiem.

Though the first step was a big risk, there is never an absence of risk when starting a business. You learn to get comfortable with risk and insecurity, and let it drive you instead of holding you back. Even 3 years in, we’re constantly taking risks – from hiring our first employee, to expanding our office space and targeting larger accounts. Not every risk is rewarded, and we’ve had our fair share of failures along the way, but we’ve learned that strategic, calculated risk is required to grow the business long-term.

Nichole, 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’m a Colorado native and was raised to love the outdoors and everything it has to offer.

I’ve always had a creative bent, but it was my first business classes in college that ignited my love for marketing and entrepreneurship. I worked on both the agency and in-house side of marketing for most of my 20s before starting my own business. This exposed me to everything from brand development and digital marketing to sales enablement and large-scale campaigns.

We founded Post Meridiem in 2020 with the goal of creating an environment where we actually look forward to going to work every day. Three years later, this still rings true and it’s been rewarding to bring other people into that environment as well.

Post Meridiem is a brand and marketing agency based in Denver and Colorado Springs, Colorado. We work with businesses to build revenue-driving marketing strategies, strong brand identities, and engaging websites. For businesses that need ongoing marketing and graphic design support, we act as an extension of their team to eliminate the need for full time hires or a patchwork of freelancers.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

Early in our business we decided to test out offering a niche form of social media content creation as a key service. Though we developed a launch strategy, mapped out our offerings, and identified key targets, our focus shifted off of Post Meridiem’s core business offering. The hours we spent developing and delivering pitches for a service that we hadn’t proved out yet meant our other revenue streams took a major hit. The key lesson wasn’t that we shouldn’t test out new service offerings, but to keep the 80% / 20% mentality and spend the majority of our time selling the bread and butter services we know our clients need and value. After refocusing our sales efforts and adding recurring revenue into our business model, the business saw incredible growth.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Our growth strategy is multifaceted, but by far our most effective strategy for growth is focusing on our current client base. A key part of this strategy is not only delivering exceptional work product but also developing authentic relationships with clients that go beyond Zoom meetings. For us, this looks like attending industry events and conferences, taking clients to coffee or drinks, and providing other spaces to connect on a personal level. Every quarter we identify specific clients and people in our network as ‘advocates’ and make a direct effort to connect with them and thank them for their loyal business and referrals.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.postmeridiem.co/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/postmeridiem_co/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/postmeridiem/

Image Credits
Show the Story – Jeff Weeks (https://showthestory.co/)