April 20, 2025 • 36 mins
Company: Growth Marketing Werks
Guest: Suzanne Coriell
Year Started: 2011
Employees: 1-10
What happens when you build an agency around energy, intentionality, and a deep sense of why? Suzanne Coriell, Founder of Growth Marketing Werks, shares her journey from Chicago’s ad scene to Colorado’s mountaintops where a single ski lift conversation sparked the creation of a mission-driven media agency. This episode is packed with fresh perspective on building a sustainable agency fueled by purpose, real relationships, and personal freedom.
Key Takeaways
- How defining your “why” can sharpen focus, reduce distractions, and guide major business decisions
- Why financial freedom early on gave Suzanne the confidence to build an agency her way
- How consistent relationship-building (like handwritten notes and thoughtful gifting) drives long-term loyalty
- The role of energy and “flow” in building a thriving, values-aligned team culture
- A simple weekly ritual to stay in tune with team morale and avoid being blindsided by turnover
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Welcome to An Agency Storypodcast where we share real
stories of marketing agencyowners from around the world.
From the excitement of startingup the first big sale, passion,
doubt, fear, freedom, and theemotional rollercoaster of
growth, hear it all on An AgencyStory podcast.
(00:24):
An Agency Story podcast ishosted by Russel Dubree,
successful agency owner with aneight figure exit turned
business coach.
Enjoy the next agency story.
Russel (00:40):
A chance mountainside conversation turned into an
agency that helps purpose-drivenbrands amplify their impact.
From Chicago's fast-pacedadvertising world to the peaks
of Colorado, Suzanne Coriell hasbuilt Growth Marketing Werks on
personal connections, relentlessgrit, and a commitment to do
good work with good people.
Welcome to the show today,Suzanne.
Suzanne (00:59):
Thank you, Russel.
Thank you for having me.
I'm excited to be here.
Russel (01:02):
Very excited to have you.
Hot take, speaking ofmountaintops and skiing and all
that good stuff that I know isgonna be part of our
conversation today.
Best place to ski in Colorado.
Where is it?
Suzanne (01:13):
Oh, it depends on your ski level, but my favorite place
is Arapahoe Basin.
It just has that charm,authentic ski chalet.
You could still drive into theparking lot and walk directly to
the lift without taking gondolasand buses.
Russel (01:27):
Sounds like a pro place.
You gotta be pretty good there.
Suzanne (01:29):
I wouldn't, uh, recommend going to Arapahoe
Basin if you're just startingout skiing.
I would try to work up togetting to Arapahoe Basin, also
known as A Basin.
Russel (01:38):
All right.
A Basin.
Ah, for the locals.
That's what my son, when my sonand I go skiing, that is what he
always wants to do, is he wantsto try to act like he's lives
there and from there.
He would be all over that, uh,vernacular to make sure he, he
referred to it properly.
Right outta the gate, I guess,if you don't mind, just tell us
what Growth Marketing Werks doesand who you do it for, and we'll
learn so much more after that.
Suzanne (01:59):
Russel, you prepped us very nicely in the intro here,
is that we do, we amplifymessages that positively impact
the world.
I like to begin with the whyversus the what because that
makes us who we are today.
There are many agencies outthere that do the same what as
we do, but the why I think iswhat differentiates us and why I
(02:22):
do what I do every day.
In the world of advertising, Ibelieve that there's a lot of
noise and bad messaging outthere, and consumers have
started to turn off thetelevision, skip the ad.
Turn it down, put an ad blockeron.
At GMW I want to reinvent thatconversation for the consumer by
amplifying messages thatpositively impact the world.
(02:45):
Represent brands that help withbehavior change and enhances
people's lives in or out of theoffice.
That's the why of GrowthMarketing Werks is we really
wanna work with brands thatbelieve in that mission and not
to just reinvent advertising,but to amplify their messages
that are making a difference inpeople's lives or making our
(03:06):
world and the environment betterfor the future.
What we do is we are financialplanners for advertising
dollars.
We plan and buy.
Advertising for brands, youknow, through direct
relationships with brandmarketers or in partnership with
other advertising agencies thatmay not have media services in
(03:28):
house.
We wanna move the businessforward for, for our customers.
Russel (03:33):
Lovely.
I always look for the uniquepoints of how someone describes
what to do is, I like thatfinancial planner for
advertising dollars, I think ishow you may have worded it.
Then you shared your story andthe perfect classic, uh, Simon
Sinek.
Why, how, what, has that been afoundation for you of just even
that concept to start with, whyand how did you come across that
(03:53):
and when did that become such animportant thing for you?
Suzanne (03:55):
You hit it on the, nose.
Simon Sinek was the author orthe influencer in that approach.
We at Growth Marketing Werks,we've been in business for 14
years and the first, I would say10 years was very reactive.
Doing great work, havingpositioning to a degree, but
not, you know, really focusingon that.
(04:15):
And every time I went to look atthe market, I felt like we were
sounding like everybody else.
I know we aren't like everybodyelse.
Simon helped me focus on our whyand be able to really live into
that.
It's how we hire, it's theconversations we talk about
internally, it's how we vet, youknow, potentially good
(04:37):
partnerships and the why isreally at the essence beyond,
take it beyond the company, asan individual human
understanding, a why of why youget up out of bed every day, why
you do everything.
For me, establishing the whypersonally, establishing the why
in the organization,establishing the values, it
(04:59):
helps just energize theworkplace and, and go beyond
just this tactical busyness,mundane, not mundane, but just
the busyness of life, of gettingthings done and having the why
that backs it.
For me, creates purpose and likea, a meaningful life.
Russel (05:18):
We very much embraced the concept in our agency and
even with our client work thatwe did, we would make them go
through the same process becauseyou can come up with a lot of
bad solutions if you don'treally understand that
foundation, that why, and I lovehow you even shared of just
really embracing if we know andunderstand that why, how well we
can embrace how we communicatethat to the world and separate
(05:39):
and differentiate to ourselves,which is so important in this
game.
I always love when people findthat similar enlightenment and
concept.
It sounds like that's worked outreally well for you.
Suzanne (05:47):
It has and, and really what's interesting when we start
digging into the why and atGrowth Marketing Werks, our
essence of strategy first isexactly, it coincides with one
another.
If we don't know the why of whywe're spending advertising
dollars, the goal of thatadvertising, we're just gonna
get really busy chasing a shinyobject versus being very
(06:10):
intentional about the why and,and then getting into the what
and the how.
That's actually how we start allof our relation, our
conversations is why, how, andwhat is the goal here?
Being very intentional.
It's like building a house.
Would you ever, uh, just startbuying wood and hiring
contractors without theblueprint?
(06:31):
The game plan, you couldprobably, get some people and
grab some nails and wood andstart building a home.
But is it gonna really stand up?
Is it gonna protect you the waythat you need it to?
Is it gonna function the waythat you need to it?
The why really built is thefoundation of strategy for us.
That helps us move what we dofor clients forward.
Russel (06:54):
The little snippet I caught.
The why helps avoid shiny redobjects, which I know for any
business owner and probablyespecially agency owners can
tend to chase a lot of those outin the world.
All the more reason why, to diginto some of that work.
If you folks haven't read thebook out there, definitely
highly suggested.
It's one of the classics.
Alrighty.
So many great nuggets and wehaven't even gotten to some of
the backstory yet.
(07:15):
Let's take a trip back in timereal quick, Suzanne.
If you don't mind, just give usa quick overview of where you
started in the world to, uh, upuntil the point before starting
your agency.
Suzanne (07:25):
Where I started in the world, while I was born in
Westmont, Illinois, in thewestern suburbs of Chicago.
I grew up on the same street andmy parents still live in that
same home.
We actually moved across thestreet, uh, when I was in eighth
grade.
It's nice to be able to go homeand do family roots.
While I grew up in the, youknow, suburbs of Chicago, I did
spend some time in, um, the cityof Chicago where I'd like to say
(07:49):
I got my pedigree inadvertising.
I had lived in Colorado before Imoved back to Chicago, but the
day I left Colorado was the dayI wanted to come back.
When I chose to come back, I,uh, I didn't, you know, I quit
my job.
I had some savings.
I had been in advertising,selling advertising for the
first half of my career.
(08:10):
Newspaper, television, forefrontof programmatic and I came back
to to Colorado and I was justlooking for the next
opportunity.
I didn't know what it would be.
I was wanting to be open to theworld and I was fortunate to
have all my debt paid off and tohave some money in the bank
account
Russel (08:28):
So you just kind of showed up with not, I won't say
not a plan, but nothing lockedin stone.
Just said, I'm here and I'mgonna make something happen.
Suzanne (08:35):
That's exactly it, Russel.
In my twenties and earlythirties, I had a lot of debt.
Coming outta college, I wasalways living paycheck to
paycheck.
I landed a job that a lotafforded me to be able to pay
all my debts off and put somemoney in the bank account, and
that truly is the ticket tofreedom and I was able to live
(08:57):
out my dream and follow my heartbecause I didn't have to worry
about making ends meet.
I knew the, the universe wouldland me in the right spot.
It doesn't mean leaving andtransferring life is easy.
Anything that's worth doing, Ifind, is hard.
But it flowed.
I landed correctly, I had peoplearound me supporting me, and I
(09:21):
love the, 300 plus days ofSunshine in Colorado.
I'm an avid skier, as you and Ispoke about a little earlier.
I was single at the time and myoldest sister said, go ride
singles at a ski resort.
Go find black runs, which iswhat you like to ski and go ride
single, I did that one day, itwas a Friday afternoon and I
(09:41):
went out and I ended up meetingthree people that day.
One of those people was an ownerof a B2B agency in Denver.
Through the conversation, heinvited me to reach out to him
because they had needs insidetheir agency for media.
Going agency side was alwaysfaux pa for me because on the
(10:02):
sales side, the agencyperception was overworked and
underpaid, and I wasn'tinterested in being overworked
and underpaid.
I was interested in learning theagency side of the business.
I gave them a call.
They hired me as a contractorand for two and a half years I
built out their mediadepartment, drove client demand,
(10:22):
trained their teams, set upsystems and processes.
That was the start of GrowthMarketing Werks.
Was that fortuitous, ride.
Russel (10:29):
Sometimes ski lift run rides can be longer than others,
but generally speaking, notcrazy long.
So in the course of what, of afew minutes, you basically had
this entire conversation and gotto the point of what you alluded
to is the eventual onset ofGrowth Marketing Werks.
That's crazy.
Suzanne (10:45):
You never know where the world's going to take you.
Just being open to conversationsand the people around you, I
find are the most interestingrelationships I have come upon
sometime.
Not to say my currentrelationships that I met
happens, through school, areamazing, but the ones by chance
really are energizing for me.
Russel (11:05):
Lesson learned.
For any skiers out there, havemore conversations on the lift,
you just never know where itmight go.
We got some foundations sethere.
When was the moment that you'relike, you know what, I'm gonna
start a business, I'm gonnabecome entrepreneur and, and
make this thing happen?
Suzanne (11:19):
It was about six months into that engagement, I realized
that I had skills and knowledgethat I started to develop in
Chicago, that the Coloradomarket hadn't been privy to at
that point.
That was specifically around theprogrammatic landscape.
(11:40):
Rewind.
I joined a company calledRevenue Science in 2008.
They turned in to be audiencescience and unfortunately are no
longer around, but they were atthe forefront of using data to
infor, inform ad calls to peopleusing remnant inventory.
Then there's algorithms tooptimize based on some
(12:02):
conversions.
This was pre programmatic.
This was the onset of, and I wasat the forefront of that and I
saw how powerful this type ofdata targeting and use of
technology and algorithms, uh,was for marketers.
I was working for Crate Barrel.
We revolutionized their onlinebusiness by new customers using
(12:24):
this type of technology.
Through that time, programmaticblew up and I was at the
forefront of it.
People in Colorado did not knowwhat programmatic demand side
platforms were.
I started, um, bringing thesethis type of ad buying to the
clients at this agency as wellas don't, throw everything out
(12:46):
with the bath water.
Still stay true to goodstrategy.
It's not about all in forprogrammatic, it's about a
multi-touch strategy andreaching people on and offline
throughout their days.
That's when I knew that therewas a need in Colorado.
That's when I formed GrowthMarketing Werks, and then I
(13:07):
realized that one client and aone-legged table is bound to
topple.
I started to build out mywebsite and my brand while,
yeah, as while I was consultingand building out this agency's
department.
Russel (13:20):
I want to go back to something I, I think is so
important and, and whenever thisseems like it comes up on the
show, I really want to point itout is, is what you said of just
being debt free and, and reallygiving yourself, you know what,
at least how it's coming acrossto me is runway, one, just to
have that capability that youjust don't have a lot of heavy
expenses that you gotta cover,but it allows you to explore a
space, it allows you to reallyfocus on, a problem and a
(13:43):
solution.
And then how do you bring thatto market where sometimes, a lot
of folks get started in thisspace because they, their need
to replace income, they maybegot laid off or whatever the
reason might be, and that, thatkind of bypasses that whole
problem, solution.
Who and what are we solving forstep?
But, that seems for you just tobe able to explore that based
(14:03):
upon even what you're saying ofsome financial savvy, we'll call
it.
Suzanne (14:06):
I couldn't agree more, Russel.
It's a scarcity and abundancemindset, and as much as I could
say I have an abundance mindset.
If I have bills to pay andmoney's not coming in, it's very
easy for me to move into ascarcity mindset.
Then decisions are being madeout of scarcity versus
(14:26):
abundance.
I've been intentional about, uh,spending within my means not
living on debt.
That's helped me with GrowthMarketing Werks because I've
experienced moments of, scarcitymoments, things that shifting in
the organization that notscarcity with, well, there is a
moment where I had scarcity withmoney, but there scarcity with
(14:49):
talent.
Because I've been very consciousabout not pulling all the money
out of the business andreinvesting the money, having an
emergency savings account in thebusiness.
When things shift in thebusiness, people turn over,
COVID happens.
I have been grateful that Idon't have that worry in how am
(15:10):
I gonna make payroll?
That really frees me up to makegood decisions and not be driven
by scarcity and stress.
Russel (15:19):
It's hard enough as it is, add more stress to this
whole thing and we're justcompounding our capabilities and
even if we don't alwaysrecognize it, I think that can
even weigh on folks.
Then sometimes it does directlyweigh on it.
You mentioned maybe you slippedin there, there was a turbulent
era or something along thoselines.
I can't remember how you put it,what was that little piece of
time that you were, you'realluding to?
Suzanne (15:39):
I think you're talking about the moment where I didn't
have a lot of money in, in mybank account.
What happened was in thatengagement at that agency, they
got into financial woes and theyowed me tens of thousands of
dollars and really they were myonly client.
I had started using my Emerge,my bank account to offset the
(16:00):
delay in payments.
There came to a point where Ihad$2,000 in my bank account.
They owed me tens of thousandsof dollars.
I was working with a coach andhe said, you gotta stop working
for free.
I said, what do you mean workfor free?
They're my client.
They went, yeah, I'm workingwith them for two and a half
years.
He said, you're working forfree.
And you need to leave them.
(16:21):
I made the hard choice to let goof my only client that I was
working for free and walkedaway.
Couple things happened on thatday.
A fortuitous moment.
My website went live on thatday.
I hadn't planned that at all.
It just sort of happened.
I had Growth Marketing Werkswebsite launched, I had my
(16:43):
brand.
I had two and a half years ofreally fantastic work that we
did, uh, together at the agency.
I formed fantastic relationshipswith the people inside that
agency, and I had a ski momentwith their CFO and I had his
phone number that I, I feltcomfortable enough to call him
(17:05):
direct and say, listen, I needyour help to get me paid.
Can you get me on a paymentplan?
He said, yes, I will worktowards a payment plan.
We worked out a payment plan tostart getting money back in.
I had$2,000 in my bank accountand a live website and
experience, and I had to make achoice.
That moment, was I gonna goquote unquote get a job, or make
(17:30):
a go of running and buildingGrowth Marketing Werks beyond a
one customer, contractor,freelancer.
I chose the latter.
Russel (17:39):
I was gonna say, I mean unfortunately we don't have a
what happened next, suspensemoment here because we know
we're here talking about anagency that you created.
But I have to imagine it's, alot of people will say that's
just too much risk.
I can't do that.
How hard of a decisionultimately was that for you?
What were those feelings andthoughts going through your
head?
Suzanne (17:55):
It was hard.
It was very hard.
When I met that agency, I wasnew into Colorado.
I was single.
I was new.
A lot of what I did, and wewould recreate together.
We would the team would go outto lunches together.
A lot of my social life waswrapped up in that engagement on
(18:18):
top of my financial life.
To walk away was more than justwalking away from a client.
It was walking away from how Ispent at my, my, my in work and
outta work time and thoserelationships have continued to
prosper.
Quite frankly, they call, theywere the first people to call me
to do their media work once theyleft and went to the client
(18:41):
side.
That's really how GrowthMarketing Werks has grown is
through those relationships.
But man, writing that email andsaying, this is everything that
we accomplish and this is whatwe have left to accomplish and
walking away was, it tookcourage.
Even though I was getting,working for free, it took
courage and just a belief thatthis was the right thing to do
(19:04):
even though it was hard.
Russel (19:05):
However unlikely that we're gonna get paid anytime
soon.
It is cutting off what feels orhad to have felt like a
lifeline.
As you shared, not evenprofessionally, but also
personally.
What a moment.
That's pretty cool.
I do wanna take a step back andjust remind the folks home'cause
I guarantee there's so manypeople listening right now that
are working for free forsomebody that they've let a
particular client or an invoiceor set of invoices lapse a
(19:27):
little bit.
This is just our friendlyreminder.
You are not a bank.
Take care of it before it comesa real problem and cut it off
when it needs to be cut offbecause we are not a bank and we
should not work for free.
That's our, our PSA for the day.
Thank you for sharing theimportance of that through your
story.
Relationships.
Another word you subtly droppedthere, but I know has been
really important.
You've already shared howimportant it's been in your
(19:49):
journey, but I, I was reallyinspired about how you talked
about the idea of just all thethings you do to actually build
relationships and make'em work.
Give us some of those goodnuggets and how you approach all
that.
Suzanne (20:00):
I love relationships, but I'm an extrovert.
Not to say introverts can't havegreat relationships, but I
thrive in relationships.
I'll take you back to growingup.
I always had jobs in the serviceindustry.
Either it be in retail orhotels, and I learned what
customer service meant.
(20:22):
What's beautiful about GrowthMarketing Werks and owning
Growth Marketing Werks is I getto bring those experiences to
Growth Marketing Werks andamplify them for our customers.
One of the things that I love issnail mail.
In the digital age, it justlacks that personal touch.
To this day, I hand write cardsto friends, families, members,
(20:43):
and not, and customers.
I send them thank you notesevery time we sign a piece of
business.
You have to get their e, theirmailing address.
That sometimes is a littleuncomfortable, especially in a
remote world where they'regiving out their home address.
And we start a little bitearlier on in the process is as
soon as we meet somebody and wethink they're gonna be a good, a
potentially a good partner, wehave a welcome kit that I mail
(21:07):
out and it's, one could call ita direct mailer piece.
But it, it has a handwrittencard in there.
It has YGMW, there's someinteractivity in it.
There's a pen and some stickersI love our brand, so people
receiving that in the mail getthat personal touch.
And then when we sign a piece ofbusiness, I always hand write a,
a thank you letter to them aswell.
(21:28):
But we go beyond that in termsof the relationships.
We don't always work with peoplethat are in Colorado, but when
they are, we get together andwe'll take'em skiing or golfing
or top golf in the escape roomsand axe throwing.
It's a really fun time just toget to know one another.
(21:49):
Our campaigns from the beginningof an engagement to the time we
actually wrap up a campaigntraditionally is 18 months.
That's a lot of time to beworking together and we want to
just not check a box anddeliver.
We want to know who, what theylike, what they don't like, who
their kids are, what they'redoing on the weekends.
(22:11):
The only way we do that is iftake the time to engage with'em.
Russel (22:15):
I imagine you could probably write a book that is
very, very long about all thethings that you do with
relationship.
But I want to hear more aboutsome of the nuggets,'cause
that's the real good stuff that,that people can get inspired by.
But I don't know, when you'resitting here thinking of the
mailer, it's like one, like, welive in this world today, where,
you know, that it does kind offeel weird to ask someone their
address.
What does that mean?
But I also think we live in thisworld the other day where I, I
shared with my wife, like, wedon't get any good mail anymore.
(22:38):
It's only just bills and ads.
That's all I get anymore.
That's gotta be a breath offresh air to get a note from
Suzanne when it's justsurrounded by bills and ads.
Suzanne (22:48):
I hope so.
There's a nice logo that's likebright and colorful, so it looks
fun and engaging when they getit.
I would hope that the recipientshave a good response.
What I've tried to do is curategifts that are very meaningful
and make, and tie it into ourwhy and, and enhancing their
(23:11):
lives.
For example, we sent all of ourcustomers easy plants and they
are self watering plants andgrowing their business, growing
their life.
Plants represent growth and aneasy plant that self waters
enhances their lives becausethey don't have to monitor it.
(23:32):
The plant can live a lot longer.
Just little, thoughtful gesturesof how we can bring our brand to
life without slapping a logo onthe gift that we're giving
somebody.
Russel (23:43):
It reminds me of, I think actually a past guest on
the show shared, uh, there's areally great book out there
called Giftology and it talksabout a similar premise of right
one give gifts that are uniqueand very custom.
Not slap your logo on stuff is,like you said, last thing I need
in this world is another coffeemug with someone else's logo on
it.
But give something that's uniquethat really stands out in
people's mind.
(24:04):
And I've been even doing some ofthis methodology myself and I've
just gotten tremendous feedbackand it really, really does bring
it home.
Suzanne (24:10):
This sort of goes hand in hand with the future of work,
which by the way, the future ofwork is now.
It's not in the future.
It's about how we relate withothers.
This comes, you know, to, comesup with leading inside the
organization and translates intocustomers, media, partners, your
team, and those are allrelationships.
(24:32):
To me, leading with curiosityversus a one-sided conversation
is really, it has shown me whatcomes up when I get curious
versus being very directive.
I always leave the conversationwhen I'm curious with new
information and a newunderstanding and an expanded
(24:56):
mindset of my own belief.
Curiosity takes time tocultivate that conversation
versus just being reallydirective is way faster and in a
time.
I'm always rushing for time.
My default is just say tellsomebody what to do.
While they could go out and doit, the curiosity and taking
(25:20):
maybe three minutes versus theone minute gets me further in a
deeper relationship, in a moreconnected relationship.
Russel (25:28):
I wanna dive into that one a little bit'cause I, I
think that is so important.
I'm just hearing you share thatand I don't know, I don't know
if I truly even make, connect tothe dots fully in this way I'm
thinking about it, but, but wehave to be curious about someone
else to have a relationship withthem.
We have to be curious in a waythat's genuine to them.
Not what we need for right, toput a proposal together or for
something else, but just begenuinely curious in another
(25:50):
human being.
I think that's a really greattakeaway.
And I love what you said, right?
That's not something that shouldjust even come natural.
That's even practice it soundslike.
To do that in an authentic waythat's meaningful and helpful to
building the relationship.
That's the sub context of whatI'm hearing you share there.
Suzanne (26:05):
Absolutely.
I was listening to anotherpodcast this morning and they
were talking about, and I dothis, your gratitude journal.
Every, you know, night I writedown what I was grateful for.
That's a lot around, count yourblessings.
Be grateful be mindful.
Absolutely a fantastic practiceto have, it's very self-serving
(26:27):
in that moment.
This podcast was talking abouthaving a contribution journal
around what are the, you know,over the week, who did I
contribute to?
Who did I help?
Flipping it because the more Ican help somebody and make
improve, like goes back to ourwhy at Growth Marketing Werks.
The more we can help and improvesomeone's life in or outside of
(26:52):
work or you know, your friend,your neighbor, whomever, that's
really where the relationshipthrives and the magic happens.
If I'm always looking for what'sin it for me and how can someone
help me and what am I gratefulfor?
I don't wanna construegratefulness because
gratefulness is very importantto, to acknowledge and so forth.
(27:13):
But I just like this new conceptof reflecting on your, the
contributions you made in theweek.
Russel (27:20):
I love that.
Another great concept, acontribution journal and that
what, what, you know, strikes meas.
I think even going back to eventhe power of why in the business
that you were sharing earlier,just the energy that brings,
that we're doing a hard thingand so we've gotta pull energy
from where we can.
They've done all kinds ofstudies that show that when we
help people, that's far moreenergizing, far more, or far
(27:40):
more likely to take action, bemotivated, et cetera.
I can see where if we're, ifwe're taking time to analyze
where we're contributing andhelping people, where that can
give us more energy andmotivation to do it again and
again.
Suzanne (27:52):
You bring up a, a word that I'm really passionate
about, Russel, which is energy.
At Growth Marketing Werks, wetalk about energy a lot.
Actually, one of our values isflow.
Flow, how we define it is theperson is in the right seat, and
if they're in the right seat andthey have enough capabilities,
they will be energized.
If they're energized, then theycan be great to others, other
(28:16):
teammates, other media partners,other customers, and then we can
deliver excellence.
If you're not energized and havegood flow in your position, none
of that other, all the othervalues is impossible.
It really is the root of how weshow up every day.
How we weave in energy is Mondaymornings there's a slack that
(28:38):
goes out and it's state yourmost energized moment from last
week personally andprofessionally.
It just opens up this dialogueand people sharing photos and
sharing themselves.
And then we get to see whatenergizes you?
Then at the end of the week,there's a survey that goes out
through Slack.
It's rate how energized are youat work this week on a scale of
(28:59):
one to five and then, provide acomment.
It allows me to the leadershipand to understand like, are
people really in their rightseats?
Are they feeling energized?
Because I never wanna be in aspot where I'm surprised that
somebody left.
I want to be given theopportunity to address if
someone's not feeling energized,let's have a conversation about
(29:20):
that.
What do we need to take off yourplate or add onto your plate so
you can feel energized?
That goes to actually my why, ofwhy I do Growth Marketing Werks
personally is reinventing theworkplace one person at a time.
My goal at Growth MarketingWerks is that people don't have
the case on the Mondays.
People feel energized andsupported and heard and have
(29:44):
contribution in their role.
Anyways, I just wanted to speakto the energized moment because
that really is a guiding lightfor Growth Marketing Werks.
Russel (29:53):
Even talking more about how it's weaved into the fabric
of your business think that'sanother important concept in
itself of we have to find morecongruency and alignment with
our activities and the things wefocus on and our values in the
business, rather than beisolated thoughts.
The more they're all weavedtogether, the better it works in
the end.
That's wonderful to share.
I know we teased maybe somecouple other relationship tips,
(30:14):
but we've gotten so many othergood topics of focus that people
will just have to wait for thebook to come out down the road.
As we start to wrap up here, I'mjust curious to hear how you
look at the future of thisbusiness.
What's the 10 or longer yearplan that you're looking at?
Suzanne (30:27):
I am excited when I think about the future of Growth
Marketing Werks.
We are on a tipping point rightnow, and while we've been in
business for 14 years.
We have one of the strongestmedia teams I think I've had in
GMW history at this point.
I'm just really excited to growour client roster, so the
(30:51):
client, our customers canexperience this, expertise that
we've really worked hard tocultivate this flow rooted team
that is really passionate aboutadvertising and amplifying
messages that positively impactthe world.
I'm really excited about, livingour purpose more and finding
(31:12):
those ideal clients that, wantthat, that those marketers
believe in the mission and thepurpose that they're working
for, and that they're not justjoining a company to check the
boxes on their end.
We wanna work with marketers whoare so passionate about
amplifying their messages at thebrands that they represent.
Russel (31:30):
Awesome.
Passion, energy flow,positivity, who are we
contributing to?
All good nuggets and can't waitto see that continue to build
out in your business and whatthat looks like.
Last big question for you,Suzanne.
Are entrepreneurs born or arethey made?
Suzanne (31:44):
Russel, I, I thought about this one a little bit, and
I'm an astrology person, so Iasked in true, modern age
ChatGPT, which astrologicalsigns are more likely to be
entrepreneurs.
I got five of them.
Leo Aries, Aquarius,Sagittarius, and I think
(32:06):
Capricorn.
I look at my history and my dadwas a Leo and an entrepreneur.
My grandfather was anentrepreneur, um, and he was an
Aquarius.
My other grandfather was anentrepreneur and he was an
Aries.
When I look at, I was born inAries, I'm gonna say that we
were born entrepreneurs.
(32:28):
This is just a fun theory.
Russel (32:29):
This is the most unique take that I've ever had for this
question.
I'm sitting here loving this, bythe way.
Suzanne (32:35):
I'm sure there's many entrepreneurs that successful
that are outside of these fivesigns, but concentration of
entrepreneurs.
It would be an interesting studyto take to see the concentration
of entrepreneurs and the overlapof signs.
I look back at my history oflife.
I've been doing entrepreneurialthings my entire life.
(32:55):
Born an entrepreneur, butcultivated the entrepreneurship
inside me over time.
That would be the grow thegrowth side of entrepreneurship.
Russel (33:05):
I love that.
Well, you know what?
I am right.
Suzanne (33:07):
What are you,
Russel (33:08):
I'm an Aries
Suzanne (33:09):
Ah, look at that.
Russel (33:11):
Yep.
So, all right.
Your study is already it's goingin a certain direction.
Someone will have to take thatup, or maybe you can take that
up someday.
That'll be your second book.
Astrology andEntrepreneurialism.
Suzanne (33:20):
Maybe we could do a poll with your audience and see
how many entrepreneurs fit thefive signs.
Russel (33:26):
That's a good idea.
We're gonna do that.
Great conversation, if peoplewanna know more about Growth
Marketing Werks, where can theygo?
Suzanne (33:32):
Go to growthmarketingwerks.com and we
are very active on LinkedIn.
If you go to my page, SuzanneCorelle and follow me, or go to
Growth Marketing Werks as theLinkedIn page, you can follow us
there too.
I would probably rename mycompany if I needed to, because
I have to say that works isspelled W-E-R-K-S.
(33:54):
If you have to spell your brandto people, probably not a good
name.
But we're not changing our nameanytime soon.
Russel (34:00):
That's fair.
Good point of light.
We were talking to someone onthe other day and this idea that
we could probably have a wholeside podcast of just the agency
naming journey.
Companies come on and just tellthe evolution of how they name
themselves and why and when theychange would be a whole niche
podcast unto itself.
Suzanne (34:15):
I believe it.
Russel (34:15):
Wonderful conversation today, Suzanne.
The power of relationships, thepower of energy, the power of
where we can find all thesethings and purpose to make them
move what we're trying toachieve in the right direction.
Certainly good takeaways andnuggets to bring home with all
of that.
Thank you so much for taking thetime to share that with us
today.
Suzanne (34:32):
I appreciate you inviting me, Russel.
I enjoyed it.
We hope you've enjoyed thisepisode of An Agency Story
podcast where we share realstories of marketing agency
owners from around the world.
Are you interested in being aguest on the show?
Send an email topodcast@performancefaction.com.
(34:54):
An Agency Story is brought toyou by Performance Faction.
Performance Faction offersservices to help agency owners
grow their business to 5 milliondollars and more in revenue.
To learn more, visitperformancefaction.com.
I went into a boardroom to pitch Growth Marketing Werks,
(35:17):
and that day I was wearing adress and underneath the dress I
was wearing Spanx.
Spanx are like things to likesort of suck you in.
I had gone to the restroom rightbefore entering the boardroom,
and I hadn't taken off my jacketuntil I got to the boardroom and
I got into the boardroom, tookoff my jacket, and my dress was
(35:40):
tucked into my Spanx.
I'm standing in the boardroom,essentially in my underwear.
My colleague saw what washappening and I saw her face and
I looked down and I was like, ohmy gosh.
I, you know, pulled my dressdown.
Fortunately, it was most, mostlywomen in the room, but everyone
got the, you know, got the pic,you know, got the, the picture.
(36:04):
We were laughing so hard.
My colleague and I werelaughing, cry laughing so hard
that this had happened, that atone point someone in the room
said, alright ladies, it's timeto get it together.
We ended up winning the piece ofbusiness.
So I guess, you know, the lessonis, uh, you know, have a
wardrobe fail and you know, yourvulnerability really does come
(36:24):
out.
Russel (36:24):
It's not weird if it works.
It might be something worthtrying.
I'm sure you were certainlymemorable after that moment.
Welcome to An Agency Storypodcast where we share real
stories of marketing agencyowners from around the world.
From the excitement of startingup the first big sale, passion,
doubt, fear, freedom, and theemotional rollercoaster of
growth, hear it all on An AgencyStory podcast.
(00:24):
An Agency Story podcast ishosted by Russel Dubree,
successful agency owner with aneight figure exit turned
business coach.
Enjoy the next agency story.
Russel (00:40):
A chance mountainside conversation turned into an
agency that helps purpose-drivenbrands amplify their impact.
From Chicago's fast-pacedadvertising world to the peaks
of Colorado, Suzanne Coriell hasbuilt Growth Marketing Werks on
personal connections, relentlessgrit, and a commitment to do
good work with good people.
Welcome to the show today,Suzanne.
Suzanne (00:59):
Thank you, Russel.
Thank you for having me.
I'm excited to be here.
Russel (01:02):
Very excited to have you.
Hot take, speaking ofmountaintops and skiing and all
that good stuff that I know isgonna be part of our
conversation today.
Best place to ski in Colorado.
Where is it?
Suzanne (01:13):
Oh, it depends on your ski level, but my favorite place
is Arapahoe Basin.
It just has that charm,authentic ski chalet.
You could still drive into theparking lot and walk directly to
the lift without taking gondolasand buses.
Russel (01:27):
Sounds like a pro place.
You gotta be pretty good there.
Suzanne (01:29):
I wouldn't, uh, recommend going to Arapahoe
Basin if you're just startingout skiing.
I would try to work up togetting to Arapahoe Basin, also
known as A Basin.
Russel (01:38):
All right.
A Basin.
Ah, for the locals.
That's what my son, when my sonand I go skiing, that is what he
always wants to do, is he wantsto try to act like he's lives
there and from there.
He would be all over that, uh,vernacular to make sure he, he
referred to it properly.
Right outta the gate, I guess,if you don't mind, just tell us
what Growth Marketing Werks doesand who you do it for, and we'll
learn so much more after that.
Suzanne (01:59):
Russel, you prepped us very nicely in the intro here,
is that we do, we amplifymessages that positively impact
the world.
I like to begin with the whyversus the what because that
makes us who we are today.
There are many agencies outthere that do the same what as
we do, but the why I think iswhat differentiates us and why I
(02:22):
do what I do every day.
In the world of advertising, Ibelieve that there's a lot of
noise and bad messaging outthere, and consumers have
started to turn off thetelevision, skip the ad.
Turn it down, put an ad blockeron.
At GMW I want to reinvent thatconversation for the consumer by
amplifying messages thatpositively impact the world.
(02:45):
Represent brands that help withbehavior change and enhances
people's lives in or out of theoffice.
That's the why of GrowthMarketing Werks is we really
wanna work with brands thatbelieve in that mission and not
to just reinvent advertising,but to amplify their messages
that are making a difference inpeople's lives or making our
(03:06):
world and the environment betterfor the future.
What we do is we are financialplanners for advertising
dollars.
We plan and buy.
Advertising for brands, youknow, through direct
relationships with brandmarketers or in partnership with
other advertising agencies thatmay not have media services in
(03:28):
house.
We wanna move the businessforward for, for our customers.
Russel (03:33):
Lovely.
I always look for the uniquepoints of how someone describes
what to do is, I like thatfinancial planner for
advertising dollars, I think ishow you may have worded it.
Then you shared your story andthe perfect classic, uh, Simon
Sinek.
Why, how, what, has that been afoundation for you of just even
that concept to start with, whyand how did you come across that
(03:53):
and when did that become such animportant thing for you?
Suzanne (03:55):
You hit it on the, nose.
Simon Sinek was the author orthe influencer in that approach.
We at Growth Marketing Werks,we've been in business for 14
years and the first, I would say10 years was very reactive.
Doing great work, havingpositioning to a degree, but
not, you know, really focusingon that.
(04:15):
And every time I went to look atthe market, I felt like we were
sounding like everybody else.
I know we aren't like everybodyelse.
Simon helped me focus on our whyand be able to really live into
that.
It's how we hire, it's theconversations we talk about
internally, it's how we vet, youknow, potentially good
(04:37):
partnerships and the why isreally at the essence beyond,
take it beyond the company, asan individual human
understanding, a why of why youget up out of bed every day, why
you do everything.
For me, establishing the whypersonally, establishing the why
in the organization,establishing the values, it
(04:59):
helps just energize theworkplace and, and go beyond
just this tactical busyness,mundane, not mundane, but just
the busyness of life, of gettingthings done and having the why
that backs it.
For me, creates purpose and likea, a meaningful life.
Russel (05:18):
We very much embraced the concept in our agency and
even with our client work thatwe did, we would make them go
through the same process becauseyou can come up with a lot of
bad solutions if you don'treally understand that
foundation, that why, and I lovehow you even shared of just
really embracing if we know andunderstand that why, how well we
can embrace how we communicatethat to the world and separate
(05:39):
and differentiate to ourselves,which is so important in this
game.
I always love when people findthat similar enlightenment and
concept.
It sounds like that's worked outreally well for you.
Suzanne (05:47):
It has and, and really what's interesting when we start
digging into the why and atGrowth Marketing Werks, our
essence of strategy first isexactly, it coincides with one
another.
If we don't know the why of whywe're spending advertising
dollars, the goal of thatadvertising, we're just gonna
get really busy chasing a shinyobject versus being very
(06:10):
intentional about the why and,and then getting into the what
and the how.
That's actually how we start allof our relation, our
conversations is why, how, andwhat is the goal here?
Being very intentional.
It's like building a house.
Would you ever, uh, just startbuying wood and hiring
contractors without theblueprint?
(06:31):
The game plan, you couldprobably, get some people and
grab some nails and wood andstart building a home.
But is it gonna really stand up?
Is it gonna protect you the waythat you need it to?
Is it gonna function the waythat you need to it?
The why really built is thefoundation of strategy for us.
That helps us move what we dofor clients forward.
Russel (06:54):
The little snippet I caught.
The why helps avoid shiny redobjects, which I know for any
business owner and probablyespecially agency owners can
tend to chase a lot of those outin the world.
All the more reason why, to diginto some of that work.
If you folks haven't read thebook out there, definitely
highly suggested.
It's one of the classics.
Alrighty.
So many great nuggets and wehaven't even gotten to some of
the backstory yet.
(07:15):
Let's take a trip back in timereal quick, Suzanne.
If you don't mind, just give usa quick overview of where you
started in the world to, uh, upuntil the point before starting
your agency.
Suzanne (07:25):
Where I started in the world, while I was born in
Westmont, Illinois, in thewestern suburbs of Chicago.
I grew up on the same street andmy parents still live in that
same home.
We actually moved across thestreet, uh, when I was in eighth
grade.
It's nice to be able to go homeand do family roots.
While I grew up in the, youknow, suburbs of Chicago, I did
spend some time in, um, the cityof Chicago where I'd like to say
(07:49):
I got my pedigree inadvertising.
I had lived in Colorado before Imoved back to Chicago, but the
day I left Colorado was the dayI wanted to come back.
When I chose to come back, I,uh, I didn't, you know, I quit
my job.
I had some savings.
I had been in advertising,selling advertising for the
first half of my career.
(08:10):
Newspaper, television, forefrontof programmatic and I came back
to to Colorado and I was justlooking for the next
opportunity.
I didn't know what it would be.
I was wanting to be open to theworld and I was fortunate to
have all my debt paid off and tohave some money in the bank
account
Russel (08:28):
So you just kind of showed up with not, I won't say
not a plan, but nothing lockedin stone.
Just said, I'm here and I'mgonna make something happen.
Suzanne (08:35):
That's exactly it, Russel.
In my twenties and earlythirties, I had a lot of debt.
Coming outta college, I wasalways living paycheck to
paycheck.
I landed a job that a lotafforded me to be able to pay
all my debts off and put somemoney in the bank account, and
that truly is the ticket tofreedom and I was able to live
(08:57):
out my dream and follow my heartbecause I didn't have to worry
about making ends meet.
I knew the, the universe wouldland me in the right spot.
It doesn't mean leaving andtransferring life is easy.
Anything that's worth doing, Ifind, is hard.
But it flowed.
I landed correctly, I had peoplearound me supporting me, and I
(09:21):
love the, 300 plus days ofSunshine in Colorado.
I'm an avid skier, as you and Ispoke about a little earlier.
I was single at the time and myoldest sister said, go ride
singles at a ski resort.
Go find black runs, which iswhat you like to ski and go ride
single, I did that one day, itwas a Friday afternoon and I
(09:41):
went out and I ended up meetingthree people that day.
One of those people was an ownerof a B2B agency in Denver.
Through the conversation, heinvited me to reach out to him
because they had needs insidetheir agency for media.
Going agency side was alwaysfaux pa for me because on the
(10:02):
sales side, the agencyperception was overworked and
underpaid, and I wasn'tinterested in being overworked
and underpaid.
I was interested in learning theagency side of the business.
I gave them a call.
They hired me as a contractorand for two and a half years I
built out their mediadepartment, drove client demand,
(10:22):
trained their teams, set upsystems and processes.
That was the start of GrowthMarketing Werks.
Was that fortuitous, ride.
Russel (10:29):
Sometimes ski lift run rides can be longer than others,
but generally speaking, notcrazy long.
So in the course of what, of afew minutes, you basically had
this entire conversation and gotto the point of what you alluded
to is the eventual onset ofGrowth Marketing Werks.
That's crazy.
Suzanne (10:45):
You never know where the world's going to take you.
Just being open to conversationsand the people around you, I
find are the most interestingrelationships I have come upon
sometime.
Not to say my currentrelationships that I met
happens, through school, areamazing, but the ones by chance
really are energizing for me.
Russel (11:05):
Lesson learned.
For any skiers out there, havemore conversations on the lift,
you just never know where itmight go.
We got some foundations sethere.
When was the moment that you'relike, you know what, I'm gonna
start a business, I'm gonnabecome entrepreneur and, and
make this thing happen?
Suzanne (11:19):
It was about six months into that engagement, I realized
that I had skills and knowledgethat I started to develop in
Chicago, that the Coloradomarket hadn't been privy to at
that point.
That was specifically around theprogrammatic landscape.
(11:40):
Rewind.
I joined a company calledRevenue Science in 2008.
They turned in to be audiencescience and unfortunately are no
longer around, but they were atthe forefront of using data to
infor, inform ad calls to peopleusing remnant inventory.
Then there's algorithms tooptimize based on some
(12:02):
conversions.
This was pre programmatic.
This was the onset of, and I wasat the forefront of that and I
saw how powerful this type ofdata targeting and use of
technology and algorithms, uh,was for marketers.
I was working for Crate Barrel.
We revolutionized their onlinebusiness by new customers using
(12:24):
this type of technology.
Through that time, programmaticblew up and I was at the
forefront of it.
People in Colorado did not knowwhat programmatic demand side
platforms were.
I started, um, bringing thesethis type of ad buying to the
clients at this agency as wellas don't, throw everything out
(12:46):
with the bath water.
Still stay true to goodstrategy.
It's not about all in forprogrammatic, it's about a
multi-touch strategy andreaching people on and offline
throughout their days.
That's when I knew that therewas a need in Colorado.
That's when I formed GrowthMarketing Werks, and then I
(13:07):
realized that one client and aone-legged table is bound to
topple.
I started to build out mywebsite and my brand while,
yeah, as while I was consultingand building out this agency's
department.
Russel (13:20):
I want to go back to something I, I think is so
important and, and whenever thisseems like it comes up on the
show, I really want to point itout is, is what you said of just
being debt free and, and reallygiving yourself, you know what,
at least how it's coming acrossto me is runway, one, just to
have that capability that youjust don't have a lot of heavy
expenses that you gotta cover,but it allows you to explore a
space, it allows you to reallyfocus on, a problem and a
(13:43):
solution.
And then how do you bring thatto market where sometimes, a lot
of folks get started in thisspace because they, their need
to replace income, they maybegot laid off or whatever the
reason might be, and that, thatkind of bypasses that whole
problem, solution.
Who and what are we solving forstep?
But, that seems for you just tobe able to explore that based
(14:03):
upon even what you're saying ofsome financial savvy, we'll call
it.
Suzanne (14:06):
I couldn't agree more, Russel.
It's a scarcity and abundancemindset, and as much as I could
say I have an abundance mindset.
If I have bills to pay andmoney's not coming in, it's very
easy for me to move into ascarcity mindset.
Then decisions are being madeout of scarcity versus
(14:26):
abundance.
I've been intentional about, uh,spending within my means not
living on debt.
That's helped me with GrowthMarketing Werks because I've
experienced moments of, scarcitymoments, things that shifting in
the organization that notscarcity with, well, there is a
moment where I had scarcity withmoney, but there scarcity with
(14:49):
talent.
Because I've been very consciousabout not pulling all the money
out of the business andreinvesting the money, having an
emergency savings account in thebusiness.
When things shift in thebusiness, people turn over,
COVID happens.
I have been grateful that Idon't have that worry in how am
(15:10):
I gonna make payroll?
That really frees me up to makegood decisions and not be driven
by scarcity and stress.
Russel (15:19):
It's hard enough as it is, add more stress to this
whole thing and we're justcompounding our capabilities and
even if we don't alwaysrecognize it, I think that can
even weigh on folks.
Then sometimes it does directlyweigh on it.
You mentioned maybe you slippedin there, there was a turbulent
era or something along thoselines.
I can't remember how you put it,what was that little piece of
time that you were, you'realluding to?
Suzanne (15:39):
I think you're talking about the moment where I didn't
have a lot of money in, in mybank account.
What happened was in thatengagement at that agency, they
got into financial woes and theyowed me tens of thousands of
dollars and really they were myonly client.
I had started using my Emerge,my bank account to offset the
(16:00):
delay in payments.
There came to a point where Ihad$2,000 in my bank account.
They owed me tens of thousandsof dollars.
I was working with a coach andhe said, you gotta stop working
for free.
I said, what do you mean workfor free?
They're my client.
They went, yeah, I'm workingwith them for two and a half
years.
He said, you're working forfree.
And you need to leave them.
(16:21):
I made the hard choice to let goof my only client that I was
working for free and walkedaway.
Couple things happened on thatday.
A fortuitous moment.
My website went live on thatday.
I hadn't planned that at all.
It just sort of happened.
I had Growth Marketing Werkswebsite launched, I had my
(16:43):
brand.
I had two and a half years ofreally fantastic work that we
did, uh, together at the agency.
I formed fantastic relationshipswith the people inside that
agency, and I had a ski momentwith their CFO and I had his
phone number that I, I feltcomfortable enough to call him
(17:05):
direct and say, listen, I needyour help to get me paid.
Can you get me on a paymentplan?
He said, yes, I will worktowards a payment plan.
We worked out a payment plan tostart getting money back in.
I had$2,000 in my bank accountand a live website and
experience, and I had to make achoice.
That moment, was I gonna goquote unquote get a job, or make
(17:30):
a go of running and buildingGrowth Marketing Werks beyond a
one customer, contractor,freelancer.
I chose the latter.
Russel (17:39):
I was gonna say, I mean unfortunately we don't have a
what happened next, suspensemoment here because we know
we're here talking about anagency that you created.
But I have to imagine it's, alot of people will say that's
just too much risk.
I can't do that.
How hard of a decisionultimately was that for you?
What were those feelings andthoughts going through your
head?
Suzanne (17:55):
It was hard.
It was very hard.
When I met that agency, I wasnew into Colorado.
I was single.
I was new.
A lot of what I did, and wewould recreate together.
We would the team would go outto lunches together.
A lot of my social life waswrapped up in that engagement on
(18:18):
top of my financial life.
To walk away was more than justwalking away from a client.
It was walking away from how Ispent at my, my, my in work and
outta work time and thoserelationships have continued to
prosper.
Quite frankly, they call, theywere the first people to call me
to do their media work once theyleft and went to the client
(18:41):
side.
That's really how GrowthMarketing Werks has grown is
through those relationships.
But man, writing that email andsaying, this is everything that
we accomplish and this is whatwe have left to accomplish and
walking away was, it tookcourage.
Even though I was getting,working for free, it took
courage and just a belief thatthis was the right thing to do
(19:04):
even though it was hard.
Russel (19:05):
However unlikely that we're gonna get paid anytime
soon.
It is cutting off what feels orhad to have felt like a
lifeline.
As you shared, not evenprofessionally, but also
personally.
What a moment.
That's pretty cool.
I do wanna take a step back andjust remind the folks home'cause
I guarantee there's so manypeople listening right now that
are working for free forsomebody that they've let a
particular client or an invoiceor set of invoices lapse a
(19:27):
little bit.
This is just our friendlyreminder.
You are not a bank.
Take care of it before it comesa real problem and cut it off
when it needs to be cut offbecause we are not a bank and we
should not work for free.
That's our, our PSA for the day.
Thank you for sharing theimportance of that through your
story.
Relationships.
Another word you subtly droppedthere, but I know has been
really important.
You've already shared howimportant it's been in your
(19:49):
journey, but I, I was reallyinspired about how you talked
about the idea of just all thethings you do to actually build
relationships and make'em work.
Give us some of those goodnuggets and how you approach all
that.
Suzanne (20:00):
I love relationships, but I'm an extrovert.
Not to say introverts can't havegreat relationships, but I
thrive in relationships.
I'll take you back to growingup.
I always had jobs in the serviceindustry.
Either it be in retail orhotels, and I learned what
customer service meant.
(20:22):
What's beautiful about GrowthMarketing Werks and owning
Growth Marketing Werks is I getto bring those experiences to
Growth Marketing Werks andamplify them for our customers.
One of the things that I love issnail mail.
In the digital age, it justlacks that personal touch.
To this day, I hand write cardsto friends, families, members,
(20:43):
and not, and customers.
I send them thank you notesevery time we sign a piece of
business.
You have to get their e, theirmailing address.
That sometimes is a littleuncomfortable, especially in a
remote world where they'regiving out their home address.
And we start a little bitearlier on in the process is as
soon as we meet somebody and wethink they're gonna be a good, a
potentially a good partner, wehave a welcome kit that I mail
(21:07):
out and it's, one could call ita direct mailer piece.
But it, it has a handwrittencard in there.
It has YGMW, there's someinteractivity in it.
There's a pen and some stickersI love our brand, so people
receiving that in the mail getthat personal touch.
And then when we sign a piece ofbusiness, I always hand write a,
a thank you letter to them aswell.
(21:28):
But we go beyond that in termsof the relationships.
We don't always work with peoplethat are in Colorado, but when
they are, we get together andwe'll take'em skiing or golfing
or top golf in the escape roomsand axe throwing.
It's a really fun time just toget to know one another.
(21:49):
Our campaigns from the beginningof an engagement to the time we
actually wrap up a campaigntraditionally is 18 months.
That's a lot of time to beworking together and we want to
just not check a box anddeliver.
We want to know who, what theylike, what they don't like, who
their kids are, what they'redoing on the weekends.
(22:11):
The only way we do that is iftake the time to engage with'em.
Russel (22:15):
I imagine you could probably write a book that is
very, very long about all thethings that you do with
relationship.
But I want to hear more aboutsome of the nuggets,'cause
that's the real good stuff that,that people can get inspired by.
But I don't know, when you'resitting here thinking of the
mailer, it's like one, like, welive in this world today, where,
you know, that it does kind offeel weird to ask someone their
address.
What does that mean?
But I also think we live in thisworld the other day where I, I
shared with my wife, like, wedon't get any good mail anymore.
(22:38):
It's only just bills and ads.
That's all I get anymore.
That's gotta be a breath offresh air to get a note from
Suzanne when it's justsurrounded by bills and ads.
Suzanne (22:48):
I hope so.
There's a nice logo that's likebright and colorful, so it looks
fun and engaging when they getit.
I would hope that the recipientshave a good response.
What I've tried to do is curategifts that are very meaningful
and make, and tie it into ourwhy and, and enhancing their
(23:11):
lives.
For example, we sent all of ourcustomers easy plants and they
are self watering plants andgrowing their business, growing
their life.
Plants represent growth and aneasy plant that self waters
enhances their lives becausethey don't have to monitor it.
(23:32):
The plant can live a lot longer.
Just little, thoughtful gesturesof how we can bring our brand to
life without slapping a logo onthe gift that we're giving
somebody.
Russel (23:43):
It reminds me of, I think actually a past guest on
the show shared, uh, there's areally great book out there
called Giftology and it talksabout a similar premise of right
one give gifts that are uniqueand very custom.
Not slap your logo on stuff is,like you said, last thing I need
in this world is another coffeemug with someone else's logo on
it.
But give something that's uniquethat really stands out in
people's mind.
(24:04):
And I've been even doing some ofthis methodology myself and I've
just gotten tremendous feedbackand it really, really does bring
it home.
Suzanne (24:10):
This sort of goes hand in hand with the future of work,
which by the way, the future ofwork is now.
It's not in the future.
It's about how we relate withothers.
This comes, you know, to, comesup with leading inside the
organization and translates intocustomers, media, partners, your
team, and those are allrelationships.
(24:32):
To me, leading with curiosityversus a one-sided conversation
is really, it has shown me whatcomes up when I get curious
versus being very directive.
I always leave the conversationwhen I'm curious with new
information and a newunderstanding and an expanded
(24:56):
mindset of my own belief.
Curiosity takes time tocultivate that conversation
versus just being reallydirective is way faster and in a
time.
I'm always rushing for time.
My default is just say tellsomebody what to do.
While they could go out and doit, the curiosity and taking
(25:20):
maybe three minutes versus theone minute gets me further in a
deeper relationship, in a moreconnected relationship.
Russel (25:28):
I wanna dive into that one a little bit'cause I, I
think that is so important.
I'm just hearing you share thatand I don't know, I don't know
if I truly even make, connect tothe dots fully in this way I'm
thinking about it, but, but wehave to be curious about someone
else to have a relationship withthem.
We have to be curious in a waythat's genuine to them.
Not what we need for right, toput a proposal together or for
something else, but just begenuinely curious in another
(25:50):
human being.
I think that's a really greattakeaway.
And I love what you said, right?
That's not something that shouldjust even come natural.
That's even practice it soundslike.
To do that in an authentic waythat's meaningful and helpful to
building the relationship.
That's the sub context of whatI'm hearing you share there.
Suzanne (26:05):
Absolutely.
I was listening to anotherpodcast this morning and they
were talking about, and I dothis, your gratitude journal.
Every, you know, night I writedown what I was grateful for.
That's a lot around, count yourblessings.
Be grateful be mindful.
Absolutely a fantastic practiceto have, it's very self-serving
(26:27):
in that moment.
This podcast was talking abouthaving a contribution journal
around what are the, you know,over the week, who did I
contribute to?
Who did I help?
Flipping it because the more Ican help somebody and make
improve, like goes back to ourwhy at Growth Marketing Werks.
The more we can help and improvesomeone's life in or outside of
(26:52):
work or you know, your friend,your neighbor, whomever, that's
really where the relationshipthrives and the magic happens.
If I'm always looking for what'sin it for me and how can someone
help me and what am I gratefulfor?
I don't wanna construegratefulness because
gratefulness is very importantto, to acknowledge and so forth.
(27:13):
But I just like this new conceptof reflecting on your, the
contributions you made in theweek.
Russel (27:20):
I love that.
Another great concept, acontribution journal and that
what, what, you know, strikes meas.
I think even going back to eventhe power of why in the business
that you were sharing earlier,just the energy that brings,
that we're doing a hard thingand so we've gotta pull energy
from where we can.
They've done all kinds ofstudies that show that when we
help people, that's far moreenergizing, far more, or far
(27:40):
more likely to take action, bemotivated, et cetera.
I can see where if we're, ifwe're taking time to analyze
where we're contributing andhelping people, where that can
give us more energy andmotivation to do it again and
again.
Suzanne (27:52):
You bring up a, a word that I'm really passionate
about, Russel, which is energy.
At Growth Marketing Werks, wetalk about energy a lot.
Actually, one of our values isflow.
Flow, how we define it is theperson is in the right seat, and
if they're in the right seat andthey have enough capabilities,
they will be energized.
If they're energized, then theycan be great to others, other
(28:16):
teammates, other media partners,other customers, and then we can
deliver excellence.
If you're not energized and havegood flow in your position, none
of that other, all the othervalues is impossible.
It really is the root of how weshow up every day.
How we weave in energy is Mondaymornings there's a slack that
(28:38):
goes out and it's state yourmost energized moment from last
week personally andprofessionally.
It just opens up this dialogueand people sharing photos and
sharing themselves.
And then we get to see whatenergizes you?
Then at the end of the week,there's a survey that goes out
through Slack.
It's rate how energized are youat work this week on a scale of
(28:59):
one to five and then, provide acomment.
It allows me to the leadershipand to understand like, are
people really in their rightseats?
Are they feeling energized?
Because I never wanna be in aspot where I'm surprised that
somebody left.
I want to be given theopportunity to address if
someone's not feeling energized,let's have a conversation about
(29:20):
that.
What do we need to take off yourplate or add onto your plate so
you can feel energized?
That goes to actually my why, ofwhy I do Growth Marketing Werks
personally is reinventing theworkplace one person at a time.
My goal at Growth MarketingWerks is that people don't have
the case on the Mondays.
People feel energized andsupported and heard and have
(29:44):
contribution in their role.
Anyways, I just wanted to speakto the energized moment because
that really is a guiding lightfor Growth Marketing Werks.
Russel (29:53):
Even talking more about how it's weaved into the fabric
of your business think that'sanother important concept in
itself of we have to find morecongruency and alignment with
our activities and the things wefocus on and our values in the
business, rather than beisolated thoughts.
The more they're all weavedtogether, the better it works in
the end.
That's wonderful to share.
I know we teased maybe somecouple other relationship tips,
(30:14):
but we've gotten so many othergood topics of focus that people
will just have to wait for thebook to come out down the road.
As we start to wrap up here, I'mjust curious to hear how you
look at the future of thisbusiness.
What's the 10 or longer yearplan that you're looking at?
Suzanne (30:27):
I am excited when I think about the future of Growth
Marketing Werks.
We are on a tipping point rightnow, and while we've been in
business for 14 years.
We have one of the strongestmedia teams I think I've had in
GMW history at this point.
I'm just really excited to growour client roster, so the
(30:51):
client, our customers canexperience this, expertise that
we've really worked hard tocultivate this flow rooted team
that is really passionate aboutadvertising and amplifying
messages that positively impactthe world.
I'm really excited about, livingour purpose more and finding
(31:12):
those ideal clients that, wantthat, that those marketers
believe in the mission and thepurpose that they're working
for, and that they're not justjoining a company to check the
boxes on their end.
We wanna work with marketers whoare so passionate about
amplifying their messages at thebrands that they represent.
Russel (31:30):
Awesome.
Passion, energy flow,positivity, who are we
contributing to?
All good nuggets and can't waitto see that continue to build
out in your business and whatthat looks like.
Last big question for you,Suzanne.
Are entrepreneurs born or arethey made?
Suzanne (31:44):
Russel, I, I thought about this one a little bit, and
I'm an astrology person, so Iasked in true, modern age
ChatGPT, which astrologicalsigns are more likely to be
entrepreneurs.
I got five of them.
Leo Aries, Aquarius,Sagittarius, and I think
(32:06):
Capricorn.
I look at my history and my dadwas a Leo and an entrepreneur.
My grandfather was anentrepreneur, um, and he was an
Aquarius.
My other grandfather was anentrepreneur and he was an
Aries.
When I look at, I was born inAries, I'm gonna say that we
were born entrepreneurs.
(32:28):
This is just a fun theory.
Russel (32:29):
This is the most unique take that I've ever had for this
question.
I'm sitting here loving this, bythe way.
Suzanne (32:35):
I'm sure there's many entrepreneurs that successful
that are outside of these fivesigns, but concentration of
entrepreneurs.
It would be an interesting studyto take to see the concentration
of entrepreneurs and the overlapof signs.
I look back at my history oflife.
I've been doing entrepreneurialthings my entire life.
(32:55):
Born an entrepreneur, butcultivated the entrepreneurship
inside me over time.
That would be the grow thegrowth side of entrepreneurship.
Russel (33:05):
I love that.
Well, you know what?
I am right.
Suzanne (33:07):
What are you,
Russel (33:08):
I'm an Aries
Suzanne (33:09):
Ah, look at that.
Russel (33:11):
Yep.
So, all right.
Your study is already it's goingin a certain direction.
Someone will have to take thatup, or maybe you can take that
up someday.
That'll be your second book.
Astrology andEntrepreneurialism.
Suzanne (33:20):
Maybe we could do a poll with your audience and see
how many entrepreneurs fit thefive signs.
Russel (33:26):
That's a good idea.
We're gonna do that.
Great conversation, if peoplewanna know more about Growth
Marketing Werks, where can theygo?
Suzanne (33:32):
Go to growthmarketingwerks.com and we
are very active on LinkedIn.
If you go to my page, SuzanneCorelle and follow me, or go to
Growth Marketing Werks as theLinkedIn page, you can follow us
there too.
I would probably rename mycompany if I needed to, because
I have to say that works isspelled W-E-R-K-S.
(33:54):
If you have to spell your brandto people, probably not a good
name.
But we're not changing our nameanytime soon.
Russel (34:00):
That's fair.
Good point of light.
We were talking to someone onthe other day and this idea that
we could probably have a wholeside podcast of just the agency
naming journey.
Companies come on and just tellthe evolution of how they name
themselves and why and when theychange would be a whole niche
podcast unto itself.
Suzanne (34:15):
I believe it.
Russel (34:15):
Wonderful conversation today, Suzanne.
The power of relationships, thepower of energy, the power of
where we can find all thesethings and purpose to make them
move what we're trying toachieve in the right direction.
Certainly good takeaways andnuggets to bring home with all
of that.
Thank you so much for taking thetime to share that with us
today.
Suzanne (34:32):
I appreciate you inviting me, Russel.
I enjoyed it.
We hope you've enjoyed thisepisode of An Agency Story
podcast where we share realstories of marketing agency
owners from around the world.
Are you interested in being aguest on the show?
Send an email topodcast@performancefaction.com.
(34:54):
An Agency Story is brought toyou by Performance Faction.
Performance Faction offersservices to help agency owners
grow their business to 5 milliondollars and more in revenue.
To learn more, visitperformancefaction.com.
I went into a boardroom to pitch Growth Marketing Werks,
(35:17):
and that day I was wearing adress and underneath the dress I
was wearing Spanx.
Spanx are like things to likesort of suck you in.
I had gone to the restroom rightbefore entering the boardroom,
and I hadn't taken off my jacketuntil I got to the boardroom and
I got into the boardroom, tookoff my jacket, and my dress was
(35:40):
tucked into my Spanx.
I'm standing in the boardroom,essentially in my underwear.
My colleague saw what washappening and I saw her face and
I looked down and I was like, ohmy gosh.
I, you know, pulled my dressdown.
Fortunately, it was most, mostlywomen in the room, but everyone
got the, you know, got the pic,you know, got the, the picture.
(36:04):
We were laughing so hard.
My colleague and I werelaughing, cry laughing so hard
that this had happened, that atone point someone in the room
said, alright ladies, it's timeto get it together.
We ended up winning the piece ofbusiness.
So I guess, you know, the lessonis, uh, you know, have a
wardrobe fail and you know, yourvulnerability really does come
(36:24):
out.
Russel (36:24):
It's not weird if it works.
It might be something worthtrying.
I'm sure you were certainlymemorable after that moment.
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