We were lucky to catch up with Sonja Crystal Williams recently and have shared our conversation below.

Sonja Crystal, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about your team building process? How did you recruit and train your team and knowing what you know now would you have done anything differently?

When I first launched my business, it was just me. We started Go Getter Marketing Group in 2008, amidst a major recession. I co-founded the company with my husband, but his focus swiftly centered around real estate as the market was collapsing during that time. I went full-time at the end of 2009 and began landing clients in 2010. I must admit, it wasn’t easy in the early days. I offered to consult business owners I knew on their marketing. We started the company with no capital, so my clients came from networking and referrals. I was the salesperson, account manager, consultant, editor, operations manager, and more. I made my first two freelance hires within that first fully operational year. I hired a close friend who was doing similar social media work, and I hired my sister-in-law, who had recently relocated and had tons of work experience. Recruiting them wasn’t hard, and we found that we had some great synergy while working together. Both hires were invested in the growth and success of our team, and we all played a role in business development, using our relationships to find more clients. However, there have been some hiring challenges along the way. In the digital marketing space, it’s been challenging to find new teammates who have an entrepreneurial spirit or can handle wearing the many hats we have to wear sometimes in a small business. I’ve found that I hire best when I find people with strong critical thinking skills who pay close attention to detail and who have high expectations for themselves. Two ways that we coach our team today: We ask them to invest in themselves personally by investing in their mindset and/or health. We ask them to set standards for themselves so they can raise the bar. These are expectations I’ve created for myself that have been passed on to our team.

Sonja Crystal, 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 love the work I do today as a Digital Marketing & Social Media Trainer and Consultant. While my agency focuses on managing paid ad and social media campaigns for clients, I spend most of my time offering 1:1 training sessions with business owners or C-level executives or training marketing teams across the globe. When a company needs to send their team to training sessions to keep up with much-needed skills such as Facebook and Instagram Advertising, Social Media Strategy, Content Strategy, and Google Analytics, I often get the call to create private and customized training for teams or business partners. I enjoy the work I do and the challenges that come with it.

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

One of the biggest shifts in my business occurred around 2015 as I became a new Mom. Many of us take on a variety of roles in addition to running a business. When I first gave birth to my son in 2015, I was in a happy place and the start of my new family was my top priority. However, as that became a priority, some parts of my business shifted. Around that time, I let go of some new employees and we had some that quit. When I was ready to fully emerge myself into work by mid/late-2016, I had to reinvent how I would approach my business. This is when I decided to launch deeper into offering training and consulting services. Traditionally, we were an agency that primarily managed campaigns. Instead, I pivoted to offer more training and restaffed my team throughout 2017 and 2018. We were headed in a new direction and I had the support to keep us moving forward.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One of the biggest challenges I had to unlearn was not charging enough. I spent so much time in my business underpricing my services and working with the wrong types of clients which often lead to unnecessary challenges. Don’t get me wrong, I had some great clients, but I also picked up some clients that I should not have early on in my business. I had to get comfortable with getting to a place where I could stand by my pricing confidently by understanding the value I bring and being able to pass or say no to opportunities that were not the right fit.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.gogettergroup.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/sonjacrystal
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/sonjacrystal