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

Hi Sarah, thanks for joining us today. It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

Profitability in this industry is difficult due to a couple of factors. The first is the emergence of AI. Smaller business owners who wanted to delegate their content marketing to agencies or freelancers now feel capable of doing it themselves with AI. While I think AI is a great tool, I don’t think it can or should genuinely replace a human or the expertise someone with years of experience and a Marketing degree has. AI can’t fact-check itself and sometimes writes false things. It also can’t mimic the personability a human writes with. Business owners should recognize AI as a tool for their marketing team to use, or for those that delegate out, see it as a tool for the agency/ freelancer to utilize rather than a replacement.

The other obstacle is competing with teams in other countries who can charge lower rates due to their lower cost of living. I respect anyone’s hustle and determination to follow what they’re great at and carve out a career that works for their lifestyle. However, I wish business owners had a better understanding and appreciation for why someone in the US will not charge the same as someone in another country. Additionally, I think it’s essential for anyone wanting to go into the freelance world to understand they will be competing with those charging less. It does not mean they should charge less. But that can be hard to accept, especially when first starting.

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

My name is Sarah Bell. I earned my master’s in Marketing in 2018 and moved to my dream city, NYC, in 2019. In 2021, I was looking for ways to make extra money on the side because NYC is expensive, and I also wanted a way to utilize my marketing degree. A friend mentioned she was freelancing on UpWork, and I decided to try it. In less than a month, I was freelancing 40 hours a week on top of my 40 hours a week corporate job, and I knew I needed to decide between the two. My now husband (then boyfriend) and I decided to move back to Virginia because his job was remote, and this way, I could pursue freelancing as my only job. I started my own agency after a few months of working under a friend. I founded Personalized Creative in 2021 to serve more clients and provide opportunities and training to those interested in Marketing.

The two problems I wanted to solve with Personalized Creative were not having to turn as many potential clients away and providing opportunities to learn and grow within marketing. Within the first few months of freelancing, I found myself having to reject potential clients because I didn’t have the bandwidth to take them on. Starting my own agency allowed me to say yes to more projects. Before I started freelancing, I was applying to marketing jobs I was either perfectly qualified for or overqualified for, and I wouldn’t even hear back about an interview. I found it incredibly discouraging. I knew there were others like me, so by starting my agency, I could provide opportunities to those who wanted to break into marketing.

Most of our clients come to us for social media content creation and management. However, some clients also look to us for blogging, emails, social media ads, and light website updates. What sets us apart is our personalized approach, hence the name Personalized Creative. We treat every brand as its own entity and create a customized strategy. We also merge the importance of analytics with vital brand aesthetics. We know it’s not enough to create something that looks good; it needs to perform and meet the client’s goals, i.e. brand awareness, brand trust, etc.. We frequently pull analytics and interpret them to decide what needs to be adjusted and work to more effectively and efficiently complete our work. With that said, we also want to make sure what we are creating is innovative and on par with the brand’s aesthetic. Getting to merge creativity with data analysis is truly where I thrive and what I love about my job.

I’m most proud of the work my team and I do. The amount of care we put into everything is hard to find in this industry. Many other agencies and freelancers see a client as just a dollar sign. But we genuinely care about the work we do and how it performs. When our clients win, we win. And when our clients take a hit, we feel that hit personally. We know mistakes happen, and sometimes it takes a longer trial period of testing to come to resolutions, but we aren’t dismissive about these things. We genuinely want our clients to succeed and reach their marketing goals, and we do all we can to make it happen.

Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?

In the fall of 2023, we saw potential work and clients shift. This continued through the summer of 2024 and just now might be swinging back the other way. The shift was two-fold. One, clients wanted to cut back on their spending, so they cut us, and two, there wasn’t the same level of need in the market for us.

This was incredibly difficult for me as a business owner because I had freelancers depending on me. It wasn’t just me behind this ship. There were moments in the winter of 2023/ 2024 when I couldn’t even pay myself but would pay my freelancers because I didn’t want them to feel the hits as much as I did. I think part of the reason for this decline in work was one, inflation, businesses needing to cut costs, and two, AI, businesses thought AI could replace us.

I had to pivot, and it wasn’t easy. For one, I lowered my hourly rate, which I typically advise against doing. I went from charging $75/hr to $50/hr. Even this didn’t result in significant changes in retaining new clients because I was still competing with freelancers and agencies that were charging less in other parts of the world. But I have my masters in marketing, and I really couldn’t justify going below $50/hr. I also started to embrace AI as a tool we could use to help businesses with their marketing goals.

It’s taken some time, and the industry might never be the same again, but we are finally at a point where we are gaining new clients and seeing more service requests. My hope is that more businesses and clients see the value that professional marketers can bring to the table and consider their investment in us a wise tax write-off.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I think what helped me build my reputation was not just my expertise but my work ethic and the level of dedication I bring to every project. I genuinely care about my clients and their success. They aren’t just a number to me. That level of dedication and care is hard to find, but it’s always just been who I am and clients see that and stay working with me or refer me because of that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.personalizedcreative.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/personalizedcreative/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/personalizedcreative/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/personalized-creative/?viewAsMember=true
• Twitter: https://x.com/P__Creative

Image Credits

N/A – all my own photos.