Today we’d like to introduce you to Patrick Skinner.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Patrick. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Back in 2017, I found myself working as a Senior Account Manager for a Software Company. The job required me to travel all over the US on a weekly bases to two or more locations; which meant I was on a plane at least two to five times a week.
As awesome as it sounds, it simply wasn’t. I spent a great deal of time in airports and hotels with very little time to myself or my family. At the height of the job, I saw my son and wife as little as two to three days a week in which I still had work to do while at home.
It was exhausting, unforgiving, and simply not worth it.
So… I quit.
Without so much of a plan as to what I was going to do or significant savings, I put my two-weeks notice in and never looked back. I did some job searching and went to some interviews, but everything seemed to want to put me right back where I had desperately walked away from.
One day, my wife asked me to break out my old camera to take some family photos at her parents’ house. I hadn’t really done anything with my camera for several years, back when my wife and I lived in Abu Dhabi. I have always had a love for photography, I just never had time to do anything with my camera with that job. But, now that the job was gone, I had plenty of time to start shooting again. And then, it dawned on me.
I’ve been consulting businesses on how to be successful for years, why don’t I start my own?
I decided I was going to start a Digital Marketing Business, but I had little to no funding to do that. So, I picked up my camera and started to offer my services at really affordable rates. So affordable in fact, that I was regularly booked for 3-5 days a week. It took me a whole year of working tirelessly through a small photography business to build the funding.
With the funding phase completed, I was ready to start picking up clients; or, so I thought. I found out very quickly that the Digital Marketing Industry had become extremely competitive in both capabilities and pricing, and there was no way that a 31-year-old husband/father was going to be able to compete with the 20-somethings’ that had nothing but time and Adderall to stay ahead of the competition.
That’s when I implemented the old adage of, “If you can’t beat them, join them.” So, I started hiring. I hired the best Graphic Artists, Content Manager, and SEO Specialist I could find. Growth happened immediately, but I felt I was still just another “CMO in-a-box”. If you don’t know, we have plenty of those in the Dallas Area. I wanted an edge.
That’s when I decided to fill a need that almost every digital marketing business wants, but cowers at doing once they look into what it would require: Printing.
Printed Marketing almost ALWAYS comes up during marketing meetings with clients. Most digital marketing businesses either refer out to get a small cut or simply state that they’re “100% digital”. That’s when we decided to buy into a Printing Business, Chevere Latino Graphics. They were a perfect business for us to buy into. They were a local printing business with fully bilingual staff and no storefront (only a warehouse); which meant their overhead was significantly lower than the average print shop. We took both of our businesses and formed our now stated Brand: CLG Intelligent Marketing.
We plan on being the faster Full-Service Marketing Firm in Texas in 2020.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road is never smooth when taking the unbeaten path. There are always pitfalls, twists, turns, and even setbacks. That’s just something you have to acknowledge every single day. No single day is like the previous simply because there are always evolving problems as you move forward.
At the beginning of starting a business, it’s always the “What?” Trying to figure out EXACTLY what your business will provide.
Then, it’s the “How?” How to get funding, how to get staffing, how to get clients. Honestly, the problem of “how” NEVER goes away.
But, at the end of the day, the easiest way to overcome all of these issues is to remember you “Why”.
CLG Intelligent Marketing – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We’re a full-service marketing firm. That means we provide marketing services from Branding, Printing, Digital/Social Media Marketing, Web Design, and several other services.
I’m the Founder and Chief Operations Officer.
I’m proud of how fast we’ve grown in 2 years.
We’re the only Full-Service Marketing Firm in Dallas that provides in-house Printing and Digital Marketing Solutions.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Obtaining our first Full-Service Marketing Client.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.clgimarketing.com
- Phone: (806) 414-5438
- Email: sales@clgcorporation.com
- Facebook: facebook.com/clgimarketing
Image Credit:
Photographer: Derek House of DHouse Photography https://www.facebook.com/DHousephoto/
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