We were lucky to catch up with Tiffany Lewis recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tiffany, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I have been able to earn a full-time living from my business, but it hasn’t always been that way. In my first year of business, I was working my corporate job after becoming a mom. Like many working women, my heart was truly pulled between being the kind of mother I wanted to be, the kind of mother I knew my daughter needed, and somehow finding a way to fulfill the ambitious side of me that hadn’t left despite having new and different priorities. I guess you could say I was having an identity crisis of sorts.

I was working in a well-paid global B2B marketing role, and I was working closer to home doing a job I loved, but something still felt like it was missing. I should also mention this was also pre-pandemic and working from home wasn’t as widely acceptable as it is today. I learned quickly that daycare came with A LOT of sickness and my little girl had a bit of a rough start already with a milk protein intolerance and acid reflux, which resulted in her being very colicky. I was admittedly depressed trying to balance ALL the new mom things, ESPECIALLY the need for added flexibility and grace.

Like many moms, I thought, “How can I do something I truly LOVE, AND watch my daughter grow up at a pace that doesn’t feel like it’s passing me by before I can adequately catch up? *Plot twist! Even with all the flexibilities, it’s still going WAY too quickly!* How can I be the fulfilled working mom AND the mom who shows up at school events without work totally dominating my life?

So, this is how More Meaningful Marketing started. I missed the human connection of the B2C side of marketing. I missed the art of evoking emotion through strong copywriting and a great well-thought-out campaign. I spent my days working my corporate job and finding my balance with starting a business. The first year, I made about $1,200. Truth be told, I didn’t have time for more than that and I didn’t the confidence to fully promote my business…yet. Oh, and the juggle of keeping my corporate job while building a business proved more difficult than I thought.

Then, I unexpectedly and unjustly got fired from my corporate job. I used to delve way into the details during these interviews, reveal my deep resentfulness, and get onto a soapbox about how tough working moms have it. I even co-authored a book about it, BUT I don’t want to tell that story anymore. It’s not my narrative today.

Today, I want working moms to know that getting fired from my job was the biggest gift I have ever been given. Sure, I wallowed a bit and felt confused for while, but then I said, “If I want to give this business the ‘go’ it deserves, it’s now or never.” How could I not see this as some sort of opportunity or silver lining to truly do what my family needed and what my heart wanted?

From there, I took ALL the branding work I had been working on quietly and put it out into the world. The thing is, when you have a heart to serve, this part can be difficult! Especially for moms who are supposed to “have it all together” by today’s social media standards. GASP! That is NOT me. I show up with the good, the bad, the ugly, and the in-betweens. My hope for anyone reading this is that you give yourself the grace you deserve while building a business, ESPECIALLY if you’re raising littles at the same time. My other hope is that you don’t compare your beginning to my middle in what I’m about to share. My last hope is that you embrace your unique journey to the top and know you are SO capable beyond what you know, beyond what you think, and your worthiness is infinite.

At this time, I was juggling building a business, raising my daughter, and then, navigating a global pandemic with a husband who was deemed an essential worker. I know so many working parents know what I’m talking about. Holy sh-t! That was NOT for the faint of heart. Together, we moved our daughter’s bedroom to one of our spare bedrooms and took over the nursery as our office space. If I was going to make this work, I needed a space where she could still be a child and I could simultaneously build this business. So, that’s what we did. There was a Lego table in the corner, my daughter helped me pick out some artwork, and many days she colored in her coloring book on the floor in between frequent snack requests. As she got a bit older, she even earned coins for getting paper off the printer.

This is where things really interesting. When the world officially went “online”, all the people who thought digital marketing was a trend that would go away if they ignored it long enough exploded. By this point, I was consistent online for long enough to become a subject matter expert in my field. I recorded weekly marketing tips where my goal was to educate, educate, educate. In fact, one of my favorite quotes is, “Be a resource, not a salespitch.” Knowing what I know now, it’s not always the timeliness of building a business, it’s about the diligence you have in creating a brand that lasts.

The gamechanger was really learning to decline projects that weren’t aligned with where my business was going. This took a while to confidently say no and stick to it. NO.MATTER.WHAT. Did I need the money from those projects? Absolutely? Was it hard to say no not knowing where my next project would come from? Definitely! Over time, I realized that the projects I was saying yes to when my gut was screaming no, became huge time commitments with clients who undervalued and under-appreciated work. BUT there is a polite way to refuse this type of work in case you’re wondering how to apply this tactfully. As business owners, we’re always networking either directly or indirectly  Over time, if you network with the intention of serving and building a referral source, you can offer to make a connection to someone you already like, know, and trust. It’s truly a win-win!

In full transparency, this was one of the hardest balances and lessons I have had to learn so far in my journey. Of course, I know not everyone is your ideal client, but when your future depends on that client, it creates quite the conundrum.

In 2023, my business became a 6-figure business by mid-year, which was my goal for the entire year. The most amazing part? I have gotten to be the kind of mom I want to be, I haven’t had to tuck my ambition away for a day when my children need me less, and I have a purpose and passion that I am immensely proud of. If this sounds like you, you can do it, too. You just have to really want it and choose it every day because riding the wave of entrepreneurship is quite literally a roller coaster. So, buckle up!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I started More Meaningful Marketing while I was in Corporate America and I saw the disconnect between customer service and the end user’s true wants, needs, and desires. As technology has evolved, in many ways, the customer experience has become the sacrificial lamb to doing good business. It quite literally pains me when I see it happening, and I was seeing a lot of it.

My corporate job was on the B2B side of things, and it held a super attractive salary, but I longed to get back to the B2C side of marketing. I missed the empathy, the human connection, and the softer, more impactful side of marketing. I was also a new mom, and I felt like Corporate America was slowly chewing me up and quickly spitting me out. You see, my priorities changed, but the expectations of me didn’t, and frankly, the expectations I put on myself had me gasping for an ounce of air and energy to make it through one more 2-hour meeting that really SHOULD have been an email.

So, when I lost my job, I went ALL-IN on my vision, and it really was to create more meaningful marketing for business owners who wanted to get to the hearts of their most ideal clients. To me, that started with the right branding, and not just a pretty logo or aesthetic, but the personal side, too. At the end of the day, no matter how much technology evolves, I believe that people do business with people they trust. In order to gain that trust, I help my clients not only choose colors, fonts, and a vibe that resonates, but I spend time with them to get to a place of confidence with playing all-out with who they truly are so that they can attract clients that are already aligned with them on a level that makes getting clients and keeping clients feel easy.

I also help my clients layer that branding online into their website and social media efforts so that their image and message translate more broadly. In the highly digital world we’re living in, I think leveraging both social media platforms and your website are the key strategies to let clients know you’re serious about showing up and being present. When it comes to their business, they want to trust it to someone who ‘gets’ them and who is going to champion them through what can sometimes feel like an overwhelming feat for them. So, doing the work to represent yourself both online and offline is a priority today.

Lastly, I help my clients work through thoughtful email strategies. We work on monthly emails, quarterly newsletters, nurture sequences, and automated campaigns to bring those prospects and clients one step closer to working with them. The beautiful thing is that this can be achieved by doing the upfront work and letting your marketing do the rest for you. Not only does it free up your time, but it gives you back so much energy to do the things in your business that need your expert attention.

I always say, “your marketing doesn’t have to be everywhere, but it does have to be meaningful.” So, that’s what I strive for with every client interaction.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

First, I want to model for my children that you can be a parent and also have driving purpose outside of parenthood, too. Second, I want to show working moms battling societal conditioning, childcare, and sickness in the younger years, that what feels like an impossible balance, can be achieved. I don’t miss my kids’ games, performances, a chance to chaperone a field trip, or a moment to be with them when they are sick. I am here for everything they have going on, and that’s the kind of mother I want to be. I also want to be the mother who is on fire for a career that she loves, and I have all of these simultaneously. I’m not sacrificing and my business isn’t suffering for it. I never want to look back and wish I spent more time with them while they are little. There are a lot of women who I’ve been fortunate enough to learn this lesson from. They are the real trailblazers and get all the credit for giving us the luxury of hindsight.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Being a digital marketer can come with a negative stigma as many industries can. Unfortunately, I meet many of my clients after they’ve had a bad experience with another marketing. I’m not talking about a bad strategy or poorly spent dollars, I’m talking about a lack of follow-through, and sometimes even ghosting a client after they couldn’t fulfill their needs. Yikes! I just want other business owners out there to know that one size doesn’t fit all, and that there are good marketers out there doing the right things for the right reasons. Once bitten doesn’t have to be twice shy.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.moremeaningfulmarketing.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/moremeaningfulmarketing
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/moremeaningfulmarketing
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffany-lewis-strategic-digital-marketer/

Image Credits
Lisa Buie, Pixel Perfect Studios