We were lucky to catch up with Valerie Morris recently and have shared our conversation below.

Valerie, 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?

Part of my story is probably related to being in the right place at the right time. I was getting into marketing around the time when social media came on the radar for most businesses. Since I “knew Facebook,” the owners at the ad agency I was working for put me on projects where I was managing social media for larger retail brands and I discovered I loved it. However, I saw a fatal flaw with their approach, and that all centered around the slow-moving traditional agency pace. Social media and digital marketing moved very fast and you had to be nimble. So, I took the opportunity to brand out on my own. One of the best things I did when I first started Tintero Creative, was get a day job. I found a gig as a receptionist at a doctor’s office. It was ideal because I could cut my hours back as my own business got busier. I also didn’t take any baggage home from this job, and so my lunch breaks, evenings, and weekends could be focused on building my own client roster. Taking this job was great because it allowed me to focus on operating from a place of abundance instead of scarcity and stress. So many business owners jump in and don’t realize that it can take time to build up your income to a stable spot. I was able to ramp my business up without having any major financial stressors distracting me from building the brand.

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

I founded Tintero Creative as a solution for small and mid-size businesses who needed flexible, creative social media solutions at a time when the industry was just forming. Since then, we’ve embraced more around the world of content marketing, allowing authority-building content to help our clients showcase their expertise. We leverage social media, as well as many other digital marketing channels, to feature their content. We’re really proud of offering a comprehensive approach to any project. We understand most major digital marketing verticals, and can help collaborate with those other experts on the team to make the work we do that much more effective. For example, we don’t typically work on search engine optimization, but every blog article we write is always optimized and written to dovetail nicely with any SEO or paid ads keyword research.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One of the biggest things I’ve had to unlearn in business is the need to delegate sooner. I have a tendency of holding onto tasks and project longer than I should, rather than delegate them out. Honestly, having two children was one of the biggest blessings for my business because it forced me to put more projects into processes rather than keep the information in my own head. I had barely hit my third trimester with our second child when I landed in the hospital and had doctors talking to me about the possibility of having a very early preemie baby born. I remember sitting in the hospital (once stable) and getting all my ducks in a row in case I had to be suddenly “out.” Thankfully, the little man hung on and was only born six weeks early and allowed me more time to prep our team, but the entire experience gave me a very impending realization that processes, organization, and delegation within your team can be your best friends!

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I attribute our success as a company due to integrity and the simple act of doing what you say you’re doing to do. It’s amazing how many people don’t do this, and by simply following through on your word, you set yourself apart from the pack. We’ve also learned over the years to put the scope in writing so you can say with confidence that you did, in fact, do everything you said you were going to do. But this simple focus on follow-through has built us a reputation among our clients and our network that we can be trusted. If you want the digital marketing strategy executed upon, and see your brand make forward progress, then we’re your team.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tinterocreative.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TinteroCreative
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valerielmorris/