We recently connected with Shea Neill and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Shea, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

Managing an Instagram account for a job sounds easy right? Taking pictures, posting videos and stories, liking content and engaging with followers sounds like a blast! Now, imagine managing an Instagram account, Facebook page, LinkedIn account, Youtube channel and website for a restaurant. Still sounds fun right? Now, add three locations to that restaurant, a catering program and a concierge program. Here’s where it gets a little tricky.

Coming into the roll of Director of Marketing and Business Development was stressful and scary. I had no idea what to expect. I had no experience in either and didn’t even know what this day-to-day work looked like. Little did I know I would enjoy it more than any job I’ve ever had.

I jumped into my role head first, learning everything by just trying things, taking risks, asking questions and not being afraid to look stupid. I did lots of scrolling on Instagram, seeing what other restaurants were doing and posting. This helped in ways, and it hurt in others. Knowing what I know now, I wish I worried less about what other restaurants were doing and focused more on how to make our content unique. One of the most essential parts of my job is that we share content in real time. Most businesses post photos and videos that are professionally shot and edited and then shared later. Since I have access and availability to go to our restaurants to get content and footage, I have the ability to post in real time, which, believe it or not, people love!

My lack of knowledge in marketing and business development definitely didn’t stand in the way of me learning more. In fact, it pushed me even harder to learn the ins and outs of marketing in multiple different areas. What was a challenge? Forcing my mind set to change. Working in restaurants was all I knew, and I no longer had to worry about service or ticket times or scheduling. It was extremely difficult for me to unlearn all my habits when I walked into the restaurant. Thankfully, I was able to do so and create new habits that benefited my new role.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve been in the restaurant industry for about 9 years now and have done just about every job in a restaurant you can think of. It all started at a pizzeria in my hometown of Montrose, Colorado when I was about 17. Since then, I have managed, hosted, served, bussed, bartended and dish washed my way up to where I am now, which is the Director of Marketing and Business Development for Morning Squeeze. I received my bachelors degree in communication in 2018 and knew I was probably going to leave the restaurant to find a job I could use my degree for, but got lucky enough to be offered a job doing marketing for Morning Squeeze instead.

Morning Squeeze is the funkiest, grooviest breakfast, lunch and brunch restaurant in the valley and just like everyone else, I fell in love with our vibe. With classic diner dishes, modern brunch favorites, great music and friendly service, we have exactly what people need to kick their morning off the right way. I take so much pride in what I do and who I do it with.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

When I took over the management of Morning Squeeze’s social media accounts, there wasn’t much of anything happening on their pages. We’d receive a “like” here and there, and a follow was far and few between. In order to build an audience, they had to have something to look at! I made it my goal to post, share and engage every single day. Slowly but surely we started to see a community of supporters that followed, liked and shared daily! Then, I began to engage in topics that were trending, like music, fashion dance, etc.. If I were to give any advice to someone who is just beginning, I would say post every single day. I know this can be a chore and it can feel repetitive, but it works!

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

Believe it or not, my side hustle was working in restaurants. When I started in restaurants, I was always in school and working towards my degree. During that time, serving and bartending was easy money and I was good at it. I had always planned to leave the restaurant industry as soon as I got my degree because I didn’t want it to go to waste. As graduation got closer I got more and more anxious about what I was going to do. My boss knew I was looking for a job in marketing and had the idea that I could take on the marketing for Morning Squeeze. At the time, there wasn’t a position for that role, but it was something that we were going to need in the near future. So, instead of leaving the industry, I stuck around for another year. One of the key milestones that I hit was becoming the General Manager of the most popular Morning Squeeze location in Old Town Scottsdale. After a year, we were finally ready for a Marketing Manager. I progressed quickly and realized I had even bigger goals with this job. That’s when I became the Director of Marketing and Business Development and took off running.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.morningsqueeze.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/morningsqueeze/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MorningSqueezeScottsdale
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/morning-squeeze/mycompany/?viewAsMember=true
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSwFylGLc-Ag7pvsFWnl7PA
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/morning-squeeze-phoenix-2?osq=morning+squeeze