Enterprise Coworking Community Spotlight: Faceted Media

Transcript:

Brittnay: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome back to Enterprise Coworking Community Spotlight. This month we are talking to Kim with Faceted Media. Hi, Kim. Thank you so much for virtually sitting down with me today. Would you like to tell the people a little bit about yourself, Faceted Media, your involvement? 

Kim: [00:00:19] Yes, absolutely. My name is Kim Hogate and I'm the owner of Faceted Media we're a socially conscious digital marketing agency. We help conscious businesses in the area, but also globally. That's kind of what makes us a little bit different. And we started off doing a lot of stuff in the community, which is kind of why I wanted to chat with you because Community Spotlight. Yeah, so that's kind of our focus.

Brittnay: [00:00:48] Got you. Can you elaborate more on conscious businesses? Because that idea or like the sound of that sounds like businesses that are more aware of what the community needs or like environmental needs. What is that?

Kim: [00:01:04] So it can kind of run a lot of different ways. Like, for example, I'll just say examples because that's easier to relate to. But yeah, so for example, we have a financial planner who we vote with our money basically. So she kind of will analyze what are you investing in? A lot of us invest in mutual funds or ETFs are like groups of stocks that we don't really know exactly what they do as far as their donations and things like that. So she'll kind of review with you and say, Oh, by the way, did you know that you were investing in X, Y, Z and that they were big supporters of this bill or whatever? And she kind of does an intake form where you talk about your values, things like that. So it can kind of be active like that or other things that it can be is like companies that do something good with their own money. So another example is a real estate agent, conscious real estate agent who donates 10% of her own commission to whatever non-profit the buyers are interested in. So they get to pick where the money goes. And then she goes with her big check with the big donation and gets to take a picture so that's really cool. Yes, we've gotten to support a lot of organizations like that. And then with Faceted Media ourselves, my main thing was getting back to at risk teens with sort of my passion, especially when there's this gap between high school and either college or the real world, where it's that conundrum where you need experience. But to get experience, you need the job. And they want the job because you're too young. But in high school you're crushing it and you're building websites, it's a lot of creative stuff. So I wanted to reach these kids and kind of tell them like, you can make money with art. So I actually was a Denver Public School presenter for a long time talking about entrepreneurship to the kids. And then I had an internship program up until COVID, really, because I couldn't go to the schools anymore. I was actually really sad for me because I was like, Oh, that's over. And it never really came back, you know, where I could go be a guest speaker. But what happened is we continue this internship program and I would basically give the kids experience so that they had this job when they left and then it'd be a reference for them and stuff like that. So those are just a couple of examples of socially conscious.

Brittnay: [00:03:26] I love that you're making it known to especially high school kids, because I didn't go to college, because I am a creative type myself and I never really saw any pathways that would lead to success. So I was like, I need to go the traditional ways. So I think that's great that you're doing that. Yeah, that's awesome.

Kim: [00:03:52] I still stay in touch with all of them too. They've worked with me for a long time, like some of them have kids now and are married. So it's really cool.

Brittnay: [00:04:01] So you're a mentor in a way. I love that.

Kim: [00:04:03] Yeah, for sure. For sure. And to clients too. And also like their therapist in a way, because like when you start a business, it's really, it's fun at first and it's hard, but it's fun, you know? And then you make a few successes, but you fail and then maybe you want to quit. And I'm kind of also there for my clients to let them know that similarly to learning a language or learning an instrument, you know, it's just not going to be easy. But the path to the top is going to be persistence and consistency really, and being okay to fail. So I try to mention my clients too, but I also help them do a lot of the tech stuff that people are seriously confused about. So it's kind of a lot of a mix of that, like counseling and tech and helping them just, you know, get their stuff together so they can go out in the world and say, this is my business and and charge money for it and make a living, you know, support their families, have freedom and do whatever it is they want to do in their lives. So I just try to help them with that.

Brittnay: [00:05:00] Nice. We've got a lot of entrepreneurs and small businesses at Enterprise, So if anyone's watching, Kim is your girl. How long have you been in business?

Kim: [00:05:13] So we officially did the LLC in 2014, but I started years before that. My company was called something different. It was a total DIY website. I didn't even have like facetedmedia.com. So that all started like 2008, 2009. And I started off as a photographer actually, and I didn't know how to do photography, to be honest with you. This was like I needed a real camera, a DSLR camera. So I taught myself how to do that because I was working as a photojournalist. I was trying to find a job writing and I also do video, but they wanted me to do photography also for different things. So I would go and cover different events and stuff like that, and I would do interviews, put it together, write the articles. And I did that for a little while and I was like, You know what? I could probably do this myself. And so I took all of that together. And then I have a journalism degree. So writing and communicating was always my thing. I kind of put it all together. And actually how I started officially was I asked my boss for a raise and instead he gave me a pineapple that they got at the market the weekend before. That's a true story. I spent like, hours putting together my presentation. The funny thing is, though, he's actually one of my clients now. Like, actually, I need to send him an email. I still stayed in touch with him, so I just really believe about, like, graceful endings and like, every experience, there's something to learn from it. Even if it wasn't, I didn't get a raise, you know? But I got the inspiration to start my business, which is like a lifelong raise. After scooping myself off, off the ground, because I was like, What? Are you kidding me? I mean, I did quit that job shortly thereafter. Yeah, Yeah, right. Yeah. For a while I had, like, a pineapple in another business that I started. After that for a little bit, I had, like, pineapple. Everything is like the story.

Brittnay: [00:07:23] The journey continues. I love that. The journey continues. Okay, so the next question was what would you say makes your company different from other companies? But I feel like you you kind of already described that.

Kim: [00:07:37] Yeah. There's one thing I would add, though, because there's a lot of marketing companies like you could just look online or on Instagram. It's just it's really saturated. But I think a lot of marketing, not everyone, but a lot of marketing people will guarantee you like you're going to go viral or you're going to have like this massive success and be a millionaire within your first year. Yeah, I try to be realistic with my marketing and tell people how long things are going to take, and then I try to teach them how to do it because it's an ongoing thing. It's not like you can pay a company once, have it done for a few months, and then like you're good forever. You kind of always it's like a garden. I mean, you always need to be watering it. You always need to be kind of learning new ways to make it better. And if you neglect it or you have someone else water it for you, you're still going to have to go in there and weed it. Yeah, you've got to get in there. So and I also try to think like, okay, is this person like I work with a lot of people who are not tech savvy. They might be on their phones or they might be on this or that. But like when it comes to some things, it's really challenging for them. So I always try to make it really approachable. And I think if they can't afford to keep paying me, how can I set them up so that they can keep doing this themselves? And I think a lot of marketers like sabotage you, whether purposely or not, but they make it so that you're dependent on them or they make it so that you don't know how to change it, you know that you can't. Yeah. So that's something that's really different about us too, I'd say.

Brittnay: [00:09:12] I love.That. Yeah. All righty. So this is the second to last question. This is one of my favorite questions. When looking for a coworking community, what was it about Enterprise that drew you in?

Kim: [00:09:26] Okay. Well, for first of all, I love the Rino neighborhood. I'm really excited about the Greenwood Village location, too. So I have some clients down there as well. But yeah, I love the neighborhood. I'm an artsy person, so that's really inspiring for me. And just like the little touches and stuff that they have, I just love it. It's perfect for me. It's super flexible. I like all the options. I love having my mailbox. I was always like, Yeah, I mean, the moment I got the mailbox, I started getting two thousand more views every single day for my Google listing, just simply by having an address because other people are finding you that way and you start showing up more on directories like a lot of people are at home businesses and they sign up their Google listing with like no phone and no address. And that's fine. You can do that, but you're not going to show up on those directories like Manta or like Yelp even, or like random ones that find your address. And then the more links that you have back to your website, those are called backlinks. It's sort of like a net, right? The more you have, the higher you'll rise. So having an address just helps a ton and it's just great having that enterprise too. So yeah, everything. The rooftop.

Brittnay: [00:10:47] You like the roof? That's one of my favorite parts.

Kim: [00:10:50] Yeah, it's gorgeous. I did like a photo shoot up there and filmed a little bit of a video up there too, so that was really cool. I think it's a great spot. Like you could grab someone and have a little lunch out there and then, like, take photos of each other, you know, and then you have some social media content for whatever.

Brittnay: [00:11:08] All right. Last question. You're so fun, this is great. So this one is for the viewers. What would you like people to know about your company or like some final closing words? And where can people find you?

Kim: [00:11:25] Yes. So if anyone is watching this in 2022, I would highly recommend trying to get at me for a consultation. As with everyone, our prices are going up for services. So right now they're a lot more affordable than they probably will be soon. And so I would definitely check that out. If you really need one on one help because there's just a lot of stuff and I don't know about you, but when I'm looking up a simple question and I have to read an extensive ultimate guide that can often sometimes take weeks or never to complete because it's just too daunting. So having that one on one help is really crucial. So I'd encourage them go to my website. It's facetedmedia.com. You can schedule a consultation there. We're booked pretty much for the year but with a few more openings probably. And then we're also introducing something new, it's called business therapy. I'm not a therapist.

Brittnay: [00:12:20] I love the way that sounds, though.

Kim: [00:12:22] Yes, I think everyone needs that. So it's just ways that I've kind of learned to roll with the punches, I guess I could say in my business and also ask specific questions. So it's kind of more of a therapy setting where it's like a Facebook group and I'll talk about different topics and you can kind of ask questions and stuff like that. And that way you can dip in without committing to a monthly contract or something like that. So business therapy is on my Instagram, which is @Faceted.Media. But yeah, those are the two ways to work together right now.

Brittnay: [00:12:56] Awesome.