IAM2327 – CEO Helps Small Businesses Create a Sustainable Marketing Strategy

Ashlan Glazier-Anderson is the founder and CEO of AshbeanPDX Marketing, a digital marketing and strategic communications agency that works with small businesses and nonprofits.

Ashlan is a professional Certified Marketer and Certified Digital Marketing professional with over 17 years of experience working in advertising agencies, corporate, retail, and national nonprofits.

Ashlan serves as a leadership advisor for the American Marketing Association and as the Board Secretary for the People's Nonprofit Accelerator.

She focuses on nonprofits and small businesses, often helping organizations without dedicated marketing teams by being that department and voice.

Her approach is collaborative, always explaining the rationale behind strategies and backing decisions with data.

She uses a color-coded calendar and a remarkable tablet to organize her day, prioritize tasks, and stay on track.

Ashlan advocates business owners to invest time early in creating SOPs and documentation for all key tasks.

She discusses the importance of aligning personal values with business clients, choosing to work with organizations she believes in.

Website: AshbeanPDX Marketing

LinkedIn: Ashlan Glazier-Anderson

Check out our CEO Hack Buzz Newsletter–our premium newsletter with hacks and nuggets to level up your organization. Sign up HERE. 

I AM CEO Handbook Volume 3 is HERE and it's FREE. Get your copy here: http://cbnation.co/iamceo3. Get the 100+ things that you can learn from 1600 business podcasts we recorded. Hear Gresh's story, learn the 16 business pillars from the podcast, find out about CBNation Architects and why you might be one and so much more. Did we mention it was FREE? Download it today!

Transcription:

The full transcription is only available to CBNation Library Members. Sign up today!

Ashlan Glazier-Anderson Teaser 00:00

We look into basically the things that they should care about. We're reading the same books, articles, watching the same content that would matter to them.

And I think that is not something an agency is traditionally known for. It's kind of request-based.

You're very siloed on. This is the only thing that we do. And I think that helps us be more strategic with them and also be able to kind of road map out for them.

Intro 00:31

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 00:58

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO Podcast and I have an awesome guest on the show today. I have Ashlan Glazier-Anderson. Ashlan, excited to have you on the show.

Ashlan Glazier-Anderson 01:07

I'm really excited to be on with you. Thanks so much for having me.

Gresham Harkless 01:10

Yes, I'm super excited to have you on and talk about all the awesome things that you're doing. And Ashlan is definitely a rock star.

So of course, before we jump into having that great conversation, I wanted to read a little bit more about her so you can find out how and why she's such a rock star.

So Ashlan is the founder and CEO of AshbeanPDX Marketing, a digital marketing and strategic communications agency that works with small businesses and nonprofits.

She holds a Master's in Strategic Communication from the University of Oregon, Bachelor's in Business Administration and Marketing from Portland State University.

She is a professional Certified Marketer and Certified Digital Marketing professional with over 17 years of experience working in advertising agencies, corporate, retail, and national nonprofits.

She's an active volunteer serving as a leadership advisor for the American Marketing Association's Professional Chapters Council and Board Secretary for the People's Nonprofit Accelerator.

Through these organizations, she continues to increase her knowledge, strengthens her leadership skills, and expands her network to better serve her clients.

And in March of 2020, she was recognized for her service to the community as a Portland Trailblazer, Hometown Hero by Director's Mortgage, and outside of her work and volunteering, she's an avid reader, enjoys playing video games, watching sports, live music, and traveling between Portland, Oregon, Las Vegas, Nevada and Hawaii with her husband.

And I was listening to one of her presentations actually, and I thought it was really cool because I think correct me if I'm wrong. Ashlan, she wanted to be, when she was younger, archaeologist or a paleontologist, which I thought was pretty super cool to kind of hear her journey and how she ended up to where she's doing now.

But she has a wealth of experience, as I talked about, and I think especially for tomorrow's problems and the things that we're kind of going through, you need to have that breadth of experience to really be able to solve and tackle those things.

So, Ashlan, excited to have you on the show, a fellow podcaster. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Ashlan Glazier-Anderson 02:58

Yes, I am.

[restrict paid=”true”]

Gresham Harkless 03:00

Awesome. Well, let's get it started then. So to kind of kick it off, I know I touched on a little bit. I want to hear a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

Ashlan Glazier-Anderson 03:07

Yeah, I actually say that I got started by chance. I am a true believer in signs. So it was the third or fourth person in December, like after the holidays in 2019, that was like, do you know somebody who does, like, some kind of marketing?

And then it was that fourth person that I was like, hey, would your mom pay me to do that? And thus was born the business.

And so, yeah, one of my good friends and colleagues at the time, her mom does abstract art on the side.

She's a psychotherapist by day and an abstract artist by night. Didn't believe that those have anything to do with each other, but she's like, I just want to break even selling my art on Instagram.

And so I did a whole presentation and all of that. And they, she was like, that's cool. I don't think I could ever do that, but thank you.

And you still paid me. And so I was like, cool, I have an LLC now. What more do I want to do? And so I started interviewing folks that I wanted to work with just as some market research.

And then my very first client at the end of a market research call was like, hey, do you want to just do it for us?

And I was like, oh. And that's how I landed, my first and longest-standing client. And it just kind of snowballed from there. Opportunities came. I started telling people like, hey, I am doing this on the side now.

And then my side hustle became a full-time hustle. After 15 months when I was like, hey, full-time job. I can't do 80 hours a week.

I got to vet on myself and I went back to all my clients and I was like, hey, I think I'm thinking about leaving full-time employment, that you all have more that you can be thrown my way.

And most of them were like, absolutely, we want to support you. And it's been, I've never looked back since then.

Gresham Harkless 04:58

Nice. I absolutely love that here, the journey, because I think so many times people, see the success, the accolades, all the things you've been able to accomplish, but don't really see the behind-the-scenes.

They don't hear the things they have 15 or 18 months or so where you transition from that side hustle to being a full-time gig.

And I want to also hammer home, I imagine that experience that you gained over years and years and years prior to that is such a big thing towards helping you to be and do all the awesome things you've been able to do.

Ashlan Glazier-Anderson 05:24

Yeah, it's been one of the biggest learning journeys and I think that's one of the things that really has helped me is I love to learn to do new things.

I like to try new things and then make the decision of like, that's not so much what I want to do, but I'm not, I'm not unwilling to try something new just to get a good feel for it and be like, okay, that's not for me, but oh, this really looks good and this is what brings me joy.

And so, and I would still say that I am still doing that. Even being four years in is actually going through that and making sure that what we're doing now still fits kind of where we want to be long term.

Gresham Harkless 06:03

I wanted to dread out a little bit more, to hear a little bit more on how you're working with your clients and how you're serving them and maybe even a little bit too on what you feel like is what I like to call your secret sauce. The thing you feel kind of set you apart and makes you unique.

Ashlan Glazier-Anderson 06:14

Yeah, I think the main thing is really that relationship building piece and being a part. I think one thing that I hear constantly from clients is like, you're a part of our team even though you're a contractor.

So like as if I'm a staff person that I, that me and my team. So it's not just me. I do have two full-time employees, but we work really hard to understand the needs of our client as if we are an internal partner of their team.

We read the stuff that they're producing, we watch videos that their CEO is sharing. We follow their partners, we look into basically the things that they should care about.

We're reading the same books, articles, watching the same content that would matter to them. And I think that is not something an agency is traditionally known for. It's kind of, request based.

You're very siloed on. Like this is the only thing that we do. And I think that that helps us be more strategic with them and also be able to kind of road map out for them.

Like, oh, hey, here's other stuff that's happening in your space and in your sector that you should be caring and worrying about as well.

So we definitely go above and beyond. And I think that's part of my own wanting to learn a lot of things about different places and spaces and why I kind of have focused on that like kind of nonprofit and small business owner space.

Because, the more you can at least have those seamlessly, those kinds of sectors as a whole, the easier it is to kind of map out around them.

So that's like a big thing and then that we're in it for the long term. So, like, I'm choosy about my clients. I will say I've had to fire clients before that are not a good fit or not values aligned.

Every single client I work with is somebody that I would buy from. They're either, I have some clients that are. I'm a client of theirs and they're a client of mine.

Like we definitely believe in their mission and what they're doing in the world. And I think in a country that's very late-stage capitalism, like you have to believe in the work that you're doing with the companies that you're being involved with.

And the same with like nonprofits, inherently they already have a really awesome mission. But I also love to work with nonprofits who are like very under resourced and often they don't have a marketing and communications person on their team.

So we're helping be that person, that department, that voice for marketing and communications. Or they might have somebody.

But that's one person that's supposed to somehow magically update the website and write email campaigns and do social media and also have all the internal meetings with the program team and the operations team and all of that.

So yeah, really trying to focus on those folks that maybe marketing and communications isn't first nature to them and we're able to be a resource and also train.

Like, I think being that we're so much on the Learning side, we share information freely so we don't gatekeep any information.

We're like, hey, look at what we learned about this and explain the reasons why we do things as opposed to being like, we're the experts and you're just supposed to listen to us.

Like, I think I will have failed in my day if that is the conversation I'm having with my clients. It's really collaborative and it's really.

We explain the why behind everything that we're doing and back it with data and analytics as much as possible.

Gresham Harkless 10:00

Absolutely. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack.

So this could be like an Apple book or even a habit that you have, but what's something you lean on that makes you more effective, efficient?

Ashlan Glazier-Anderson 10:12

I try to plan in advance and I would say stick to the plan as much as possible. So I live and dive at my calendar and it's color-coded so that I know what I'm doing during the day.

And then my big hack. It's funny, when I was at the conference, people are like, oh, what do you have? I have this remarkable tablet and so it's, it's replaced paper for me, but I have like a snapshot of my schedule every day in there.

And then I have little checkboxes at the bottom where I can put my task list. And I basically put as many things that I think I'm gonna do that day just to help me prioritize.

And then sometimes things get bumped to the next day, but I try to put them in order, like, what is the one?

The thing at the top is like, hey, if I could get to that today, that would make my day. And then the rest are kind of negotiable, but at least that way you can keep track of what the heck you're doing.

Because I do think as many times as CEOs, like our hair can be on fire, there's always more things to do.

And so if you can kind of get yourself aligned around what really needs to happen, then that will help your day a lot.

And also I try to pre-plan a week at a time, so I'm putting things on there for the week ahead as well.

Gresham Harkless 11:35

Perfect, Perfect, perfect. So what would you consider to be a little bit more of what I like to call a CEO nugget?

So this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. I like to say it might be something you would tell your favorite business client or if you happen to do a time machine you might tell your younger business self this.

Ashlan Glazier-Anderson 11:50

I'm just going to keep in the vein of time tracking is eventually it will not just be you. So I wish I actually spent more time earlier in doing this, putting together standard operating procedures, put together the book that says.

Like, hey, if Ashlan really needs a vacation and wants to be offline for, five days at a time, what are the basics that need to happen for to keep the lights on, to keep people in their spots and make sure that those are known, documented, and also cross-checked with other people on the team?

Because I think it will free up your just your mental a little bit to be able to be like, okay, I know that all of this will happen and get managed if I'm gone.

And then also just so that you can know where you need to hire those team members, especially, like, if stuff takes you more time or it's not in that zone of genius for you.

Gresham Harkless 12:58

Yeah, that's. That's so huge. And I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO.

And our goal is to have different, quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So, Ashlan, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Ashlan Glazier-Anderson 13:11

So somebody had said, you don't want to be a chief everything officer. Right? You want to be the chief executive officer.

So I think being a CEO means thinking strategically about what the long term is of your organization.

And, I named myself CEO before there was anybody else involved. But, it was really that core focus on, what are you building and why does it matter?

And really keeping that in mind, and that'll make it easier for you to cast that vision for when you do hire people and what their place is in the organization with you.

So there's one thing that I ask on our annual reviews every year at our organization, and it's a question that says, what do you see yourself doing here in one year?

And what do you see yourself doing here in five years? And my employees, it's  a little bit of a trick question because I'm like, are you thinking about leaving or are you thinking about staying?

And what do you really want when you're thinking about staying? And it's resulted in really beautiful responses about where people see their place in here long term.

And so, yeah, that you are being a CEO means you're building something beyond yourself that you are not planning on just kind of having a single solo mission organization but you are building for something better and for the future.

Gresham Harkless 14:37

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Ashlan, truly appreciate that definition. Of course I appreciate your time even more.

So what I wanted to do now is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know and of course how best people can get a hold of you find about all the awesome things you, your team are working on.

Ashlan Glazier-Anderson 14:52

Yeah, we have our website, ashbeanpdx.com like Gresh had said earlier, I am a fellow podcaster so I have the Take the Leap podcast.

It's a podcast for entrepreneurs to learn from other entrepreneurs about their journeys similar to this one.

And yeah, you can send me an email anytime ashlan@ashbeanpdx.com we have a free form on our website if you're looking for any marketing support.

I'm trying to think of what the journey is to get there on my website, but probably from the Work With Us page you can fill out that form.

We do a free 45-minute growth strategy call where we talk through your business or your nonprofit organization where you currently see gaps and where we might be able to fill them.

It is a no sales pressure call and I've actually forwarded folks on to other resources from that as well.

So like we had said earlier, I'm not always the best fit, but I have been working really hard to learn about other organizations, other practitioners who could be a good fit for different types of businesses as well. So happy to forward on from there. I think those are the main ways for right now.

Gresham Harkless 16:12

Awesome. Awesome, awesome. Well, thank you so much again, Ashlan. Of course, to make it even easier, we're going to have the links and information in the show notes as well too.

So that everybody can click through, find about all the awesome things. Take advantage of that consultation as well too, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Ashlan Glazier-Anderson 16:24

Thanks so much.

Outro 16:25

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by CBNation and Blue16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community.

Want to level up your business even more? Read blogs, listen to podcasts and watch videos at CBNation.co. Also check out our I AM CEO Facebook group. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.

[/restrict]