We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tiffiny Wiley. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tiffiny below.

Tiffiny , 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.

In late 2014 I was diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer and underwent surgery and subsequent treatment. The treatment nearly ended my life due to an allergic reaction to one of the chemo drugs. This reaction was also rare! A day before my surgery, I was laid off from the company I was working for at the time. Many years before my diagnosis, I knew it was time for a change. I had had a succession of high-stress positions in marketing that had required 2-3 weeks of travel every month. I wasn’t sleeping or eating well, and regular exercise seemed impossible. I found a job in late 2015 and thought it would be a good way to transition back into the work world. It was in marketing and only 20% travel! The limited travel didn’t last more than a year, and by the end of 2016, I was covering a big L-shaped swath of the US from the Pacific Northwest down to Arizona and across to Florida! The position that I took back in 2015 ended up being one of my greatest gifts and pushed me far outside my comfort zone! In early 2017 I submitted my resignation and decided to go freelance! I had met a couple in my previous position who ran and owned their own digital agency. They ended up bringing me on as a full-time freelancer. I loved the work and loved working with smart, talented, and creative people. I dabbled in all areas of digital and worked one on one with clients to help them build profitable businesses. Fast forward to late 2019, when the agency owners came to me and said they wanted out of technology and wanted time to pursue other interests. I had two options purchase the agency from them, or they would close the business by March 2020! I talked to friends and family about it. I talked to my husband at length about it. I talked to the agency owners about it a lot! I had never been one to walk away from something because of fear, but this scared me in a way I had never felt before. I didn’t know how to run a business! I would be responsible for other freelancers and all the clients! After many sleepless nights, long conversations, and digging deep to embrace ambiguity, I took the leap! The agency owners committed to helping with the day-to-day until the end of the first quarter 2020. Then Covid hit. They were gracious enough to stay involved and, to this day, still, provide great counsel, and I consider them both dear friends. I can confidently say I would still be freelancing even if the agency closed its doors in early 2020, but I can’t say for sure I’d be a business owner!

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.

My roots are in content writing. I have loved reading and writing since I was three years old when I read books from memory to the babies in our apartment building. I was in honors English in high school, majored in journalism, and minored in English in college. My first job out of college was marketing for a computer training company; I helped write promotional collateral, wrote the monthly newsletter, and developed course materials. Continuing in my career, I have held various marketing positions and have a depth of experience on the agency and client side. I am a phenomenal strategist and have helped 100’s clients grow profitable businesses. I can build creative marketing plans and use analysis to show clients the return on their marketing investment. I always tell clients that their success is my success. It has been the agency’s motto for over 12 years, and I fully embrace it as my own! I am a marketing partner for my clients, and it is one of my top priorities that my clients are engaged in the process and realize their goals!

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

Unlearning that decisions about career choices or my path should never be dictated by fear. I had a lot of fear at a young age. Obviously, in life, there are times when fear can protect us and keep us physically safe, but in our work lives, fear doesn’t serve us. All the what-ifs keep us from following our true passions and dreams. I use fear as a motivator to keep moving forward and building a career I enjoy. The backstory for me is about moving to different places in the world when I was younger. We moved from California to Canada, then to Australia, and back to the US when I was 15. I always feared starting at a new school and had a million excuses about why I couldn’t go and how I wouldn’t fit in. None of that ever came true, and fortunately, I had parents who didn’t believe that was true either. I have wonderful friends worldwide; if fear had been at the wheel, I would have never met any of them!
The same goes for going into business for myself. Don’t get me wrong, it was and is still scary, but I know to use fear as one of my motivators and push through it to the other side.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I had to make a serious change and being diagnosed with cancer was a wake-up call. I had been looking for my next chapter long before I got sick. I knew the constant travel and toxic corporate cultures were not sustainable long term. I used to think all of it was what I wanted, but I was unhappy and unfulfilled professionally. I was struggling emotionally and physically. I thought my first position after I recovered was going to be a different position but within a year it had turned into exactly what I said I was never going back to.      

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hivemindai.com
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/tiffinywiley

Image Credits
All my photos