Today we’d like to introduce you to Marissa Pick
Hi Marissa, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I always dreamed of starting my own consulting business. Five years ago, I finally decided to make the leap from full-time work to setting up my LLC. After realizing I was missing precious moments at home with my family and friends, I made the decision to put myself first. Once I refocused and prioritized what mattered to me at that given moment, I felt at ease and knew I’d made the right choice.
Life is too short to be unhappy. I believe in planning, working hard, and doing my best. I know building a business doesn’t happen overnight and even five years in I’m still figuring things out. It’s a process filled with both successes and failures, and I’m focused on living in the moment and appreciating each step of the ongoing journey.
Sometimes changing the status quo can be frustrating, but it’s essential to stay open-minded and practice what you preach. When I began my career in digital marketing and social media, it was a new and emerging field. I put in the hard work to show the impact of having a strong strategy in place. During the pandemic, while many businesses struggled, I was able to help them digitize and maximize their online channels.
As a digital marketing and social media strategist, I’m only as good as the work I deliver, and I must do what I counsel my clients to do for my own brand. I spend a fair amount of time each day developing, posting and engaging with content. I’ve been featured in many media outlets over the years, including Nasdaq, Motherly, Crunchbase and more. I also received several honors I’m proud of. However, the ability to have a work-life balance that allows me to enjoy time with my husband and children, Reid and Lucas, is one that provides the greatest sense of happiness and fulfillment.
Achieving this kind of work-life balance can be overwhelming, and some days it’s hard not to get lost in the fast-moving pace of life. The highlight of my day is having my kids run into my arms off the bus after school and tell me about their day. I find that kids have a view of the world that is so innocent, pure, and refreshing. My boys’ curiosity and hopefulness inspire my husband and me every day to smile and have fun. This really helps offset the daily stressors of running a business. Whatever it is that makes you smile, recognize it, and make it part of your daily routine.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
As the world began to reopen following the COVID pandemic, so did my business. Eventually I built up a steady workflow to the point of having to decide whether to scale up or make a change. I made the difficult decision to leave my own business and go in-house full time to lead a performance marketing team at an AI-powered SaaS company. I quickly realized how much I missed working for myself, the flexibility of a desirable work-life balance, and being my own boss. After six months I decided to leave this role on good terms and re-focus on re-building my business.
I realized that there’s not enough time to wonder about the “what-ifs.” Yes, I made a choice to try something new, but ultimately it wasn’t what I wanted. So, I reversed course and returned to working for myself. These decisions weren’t easy, but you must be willing to go through the mud at times to understand what will truly help you feel fulfilled. You may come out the other side messier, but you may also come out stronger.
Honestly, one of the biggest things I’ve learned along the road is to take chances. If you fail, fail quickly, and move on. The best leaders and brands will tell you that they learn much more from their failures. When shaping a negative moment, always find a way to illustrate how it helped you— these authentic moments humanize us.
As we’re now halfway through 2024, I believe that being open minded and welcoming others into your world is more important than ever. This doesn’t mean you will agree with everyone, nor them with you, so you must be comfortable acknowledging others’ views and giving space even if you don’t agree with them. This may not always be easy, but it’s worthwhile. I look forward to continuing to network and meet new people, embracing change, and finding joy in the everyday. Above all, I will continue to bet on myself as my business continues to grow.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I have an extensive background in digital marketing, and I’ve worked across several industries including events and publishing, and eventually found myself very niche and focused on financial services. Given that financial services are somewhat behind on their digital marketing strategies, I was able to effectively align myself with my clients’ compliance teams to ensure brand safety in a digital environment. It has been very exciting and rewarding to enter rooms with people who simply don’t believe in the power of social media and eventually work to showcase what success looks like.
Family support has been key to my success. My husband has been instrumental in my journey as an entrepreneur. He has always been my biggest cheerleader, encouraging me to start my own business and believing in me every step of the way. I credit a lot of my professional growth and success to his unwavering support. I’m grateful and most proud of my two sons, Lucas and Reid, who motivate me to focus on what really matters– family.
Building a business is a journey filled with ups and downs. There are no shortcuts or overnight success stories. That’s why I’m making a conscious effort to appreciate each step of the way. Life is too fleeting to miss out on precious moments.
Just like I tell my clients, it’s important to develop a persona that is reachable and approachable. So, that’s what I continue to focus on and what separates me from other digital marketers and social media strategists. I learned that you must put your best self forward, even if you don’t feel like it or it’s difficult to do so. The reality is that social media has little to do with what we say about ourselves and has everything to do with what other people say about us. Treating yourself like a brand is the best advice I can offer to someone just getting started. Funny enough, many of us have been running a business just like this the whole time, we just didn’t know it. That business is you. So, invest in yourself!
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
One of the hardest lessons I learned during the pandemic was the reality of dealing with the unknown! Over the past few years, I’ve managed the peaks and valleys of running a business, rebuilt my business following the pandemic, and learned many valuable lessons along the way.
In March of 2020 as COVID rocked the world, my business took a major hit as I went from several clients down to one. Instead of freaking out about my business coming to a screeching halt, I joined several communities for consultants and took a deep dive into ongoing education for small business owners, connecting with others and networking, and being present with my family. I loved taking my two boys for long hikes without fear of missing calls, meetings, and other business-related responsibilities. I refocused, rebuilt, and worked on embracing change, an area where I’ve previously struggled.
I worked to implement a routine to help me get into the right mindset each day. Whether it was an early morning Peloton ride, breakfast with my family, or a morning meditation or yoga session before work, I made the time to get focused and seize each day. I learned this mindset would be firmly tied to my long-term success.
Even though I prefer predictability, I learned to adapt, become more flexible and focus much more on my communication skills. Although this is still an area I’m working on, somehow knowing that the only thing that’s certain is change allows me to be more comfortable with the uncomfortable. When you learn to do this, you never know what new heights you’ll eventually reach. You just know you have what it takes to get there.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://marissapick.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marissapick/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marissapick
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/marissapick
