Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Veronika Druzhyna. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Veronika, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Your ability to build a team is often a key determinant of your success as a business owner and so we’d love to get a conversation going with successful entrepreneurs like yourself around what your recruiting process was like -especially early on. How did you build your team?

It was just me from the start! I didn’t think I would be able to hire never mind even take this business full time but after a quick 3 months of being consistent, showing up, outreaching, I began attracting clients quickly. About 10 months ago I realized I had too many clients and work to manage all on my own. I was skeptical of hiring due to hearing horror stories from other business owners about their assistants. I knew if I wanted to grow or free up time in my business like I always dreamed, I needed to take the chance. I posted a video and graphics on my social pages (TikTok, Instagram, Facebook) that I was hiring part time 6-8 hours a week and needed help with daily client tasks, planning, schedule, etc and within a day I had 8 applications in my inbox. My first interview was with Gabbie (my now assistant) I felt an instant connection to Gabbie almost like I’ve known her my whole life. Gabbie was a new mom with a 3 month old baby at this point..She opened up to me about her life, career goals, and checked all the boxes I was looking for in an assistant. I wanted to hire her then and there but I knew I had to give other people a fair chance. I continued interviewing that week, I had the applicants create mock-ups suited to each of my clients to visualize what they could create and if it would be similar to my style of work. Although everyone was wonderful, I knew from the start I was going to hire Gabbie. I wouldn’t do anything differently because 10 months later we’ve grown so close. She not only supports me in my business but in life. She has visited me on Cape Cod with her family, and I am visiting her in Texas soon! I feel so grateful and lucky to have her alongside me and plan to continue growing the agency with her by my side!

Veronika, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I was born in Luhansk, Ukraine, and in 2005 alongside my mom, we moved across the world, to the United States. ​
I have always attributed my strong work ethic to my mom, my mom has always showed me the importance of hard work, and supporting yourself.

I landed my first marketing internship with The Black Dog Tavern Co at their corporate office. I began running their social media pages with free range in creativity, creating and successfully running ambassador programs, and working alongside the marketing manager. This position helped me quickly discover my passion for all things social media marketing, content creation, and creative strategy.
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In 2020, I received my Bachelor of Science in International Business from Lasell University. Like many that were set to graduate amidst a global pandemic, the next steps were unclear. Businesses were shutting down, I was applying and not hearing back on my applications, I was forced to move back home. I began working the same four part time jobs I worked during high school until a family friend approached me with a job opportunity.

I accepted the position, excited for the opportunity, however, after a few months of working in the corporate world, I craved the freedom that came from being my own boss, and the fulfillment of helping other like-minded businesses. I left the corporate job, moved home again, began working four part time jobs again. In June of 2021, I set out to start my own business.

I began taking social media seriously, taking LinkedIn courses, consistently posting content, growing my social media pages, going into physical locations of businesses I wanted to work with, offering free work to build my portfolio, and telling everyone I knew about my new venture. After a few months, I was booked out with 5 local clients which was enough for me to leave my part time jobs, and dive into social media management full time.

I registered my business, invested in myself and my education further, began taking on more clients and hired my first assistant. Since then, I’ve been able to help several small businesses take the leap in creating strong social media strategies.

Women owned businesses have always inspired and ignited a fire in me as I’ve always looked up to the women that take risks, and follow their dreams, like myself. SocialsbyV goal is to continue expanding, and working with ambitious women owned businesses in the social field. I’m so proud of how far I’ve come, and extremely excited for this upcoming year!

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

Saying yes to every opportunity. In the beginning of my business, I was accepting any and every client that came my way even if I wasn’t excited to work with them. I was focused on the money and the testimonies I would get for my portfolio. While the opportunities consistently presented themselves, I allowed clients in that didn’t respect or value me or my services, I allowed boundaries to be pushed, I lowered my pricing to keep clients, I began to burn out. I realized that I wasn’t performing my best and I couldn’t say “yes” to the bigger opportunities because I committed to others that didn’t serve me.

I am extremely selective with my clients now and analyze all of the details before we begin working together. This looks like: longer discovery calls, in depth questionnaires, discussion of pain points, clients yearly goals, and the biggest factor being if we genuinely get along. I base a lot of my partnerships on the way we click as people and I am lucky to say that all of my current clients align perfectly with what my “ideal client” is. My time is respected, they fit in my schedule without throwing me into a place where I have to sacrifice something to make it work. I believe that there will always be more opportunities and what’s meant for you will always come around. I now say “no” more frequently because not every opportunity is for me.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I believe the biggest factor to building my audience has been consistency, strategy, and humanizing my business. I began posting consistently to my social media pages, showing up on my stories, sharing the journey as I went. I think a lot of people think they need something perfect or wait until they have the final result in order to talk about it when in reality your audience wants to grow and learn WITH you. Show up messy, don’t wait for the ‘right’ time to start posting or creating content but do sit down and create a strategy otherwise it will be for nothing. I am constantly looking over analytics to view my highest performing content, recreating it, and continuing to show up. I want to give my audience more than I ask for in return. Helping others grow is extremely fulfilling for me whether it’s with clients or with my audience on social media and although I don’t have a ‘large’ following I always want to show up authentically myself. I strive for 80% value, 20% promotional and it’s been a good rule of thumb to follow.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.socialsbyv.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/socialsbyv/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/veronika-druzhyna/
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@socialbyv

Image Credits
Image Credits: Maeghan Spurr Photography, Keith Shaffer Photography