Life and Work with Katie Vilichay

Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie Vilichay.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Katie. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started my first marketing/sales role job in 2011, after working in property management for five years as a leasing consultant–which I LOVED, but it wasn’t the career-path I wanted and I wanted to make more money while not having to work 3 weekends out of the month. My dad’s best friend owns and operates a printing company in Conyers, GA that, at the time, was trying to transition into becoming a ‘marketing solutions provider’ vs. ‘just a printer’, to overcome the significant changes happening in the printing industry as the economy was struggling and everyone was making budget cuts. Digital printing technology was becoming more and more of an affordable commodity, and ‘going green’ was emerging as the new new buzzword and go-to budget-cut for most smaller and larger companies. The company offered everything from high-end, offset printing work to graphic design to promotional products to corporate apparel and even web design. My future boss and mentor was looking for energetic, outside sales reps to help bring in new accounts and revenue, and offered me a position as an outside sales rep. It was, initially, a huge challenge and I found it difficult to relate to or get along with some of the long-term sales reps and employees. I missed my former coworkers, who always made work fun, and wasn’t as excited about what I was selling. I quickly found that developing new relationships and business accounts from scratch was extremely difficult, as I had little experience getting my foot in the door with the ‘decision-makers’ for each prospect customer and had never sold anything like this before. While I was doing my best to sell what we offered, it felt harder because I wasn’t passionate about the services I was selling and didn’t quite comprehend what sort of ‘need’ I was fulfilling–which, in my case, has always made a difference in my success.

Fortunately, my boss was extremely patient and helpful, and helped coach me to use different techniques and avenues to get past the ‘gate-openers’, and speak with the people I needed to be speaking with. I also was able to overcome the generation gaps and rocky roads with my new co-workers and, while it was different, felt like I could have occasional fun at work. I was eventually able to grow my personal sales enough to earn the opportunity to inherit several ‘dead house accounts’ to try to revive, and receive the commission for the jobs placed for them. I quickly found that I could easily connect with people who were willing to hear me out, and was able to revive most of the accounts I was given–in most cases, I significantly increased the invoice amounts and jobs they were placing with us, as well as up-selling them to purchase additional products/services from us, to the point that I actually started earning enough on my commission checks to motivate me to keep pushing. It was around this time that my boss told me about a new venture/service that he was interested in learning more about, and potentially adding as an additional service to existing and new customers, and he wanted me to attend a 3-day seminar to learn more about it.

The seminar was hosted by a (now out-of-business) Digital Marketing franchise and, given that the Smartphone, mobile marketing and an increased use of local Search Engines for small-to-medium sized businesses, was a fairly new concept that was growing every day, was centered entirely on emerging SEO (Search Engine Optimization), SEM/PPC (Search Engine Marketing or Pay-per-Click), Social Media Marketing and other Online Marketing services. Within the first hour I was hooked, became a total sponge, and was absorbing every detail I could about how this marketing technology could help businesses acquire more customers and grow–all while having the tracking and analytics capabilities to both show value and improve marketing efforts, based on real data.

I felt a spark of excitement and something inside me ‘clicked’: this was what I wanted to focus my efforts on! I spent the next several months learning all I could about SEO and Digital Marketing–how it worked, what all the acronyms and metrics meant, and how to understand it enough to break it down to an individual who was still using a flip phone or still trying to ‘fight the internet’, etc, so I could effectively communicate WHY this was something they needed to implement if they still wanted to be relevant in 3 years . My boss encouraged me and supported my enthusiasm tremendously (thanks, Jeff!). At the time, our company was struggling, so there was virtually no budget to put together marketing materials, to advertise or to hire in-house pros to actually ‘do’ the work I wanted to sell and offer, or support me in any way. I sought-out and interviewed lots of providers willing to white-label these services, and persuading our in-house graphic designer to put together some basic marketing materials (thanks, Chris!), I was able to eventually spearhead the offerings of these services and offer them to new and existing clients. I “found my calling” and was finally passionate about what I was selling–and I was really good at it.

Fast forward a few years, I found myself restless and wanting to be able to focus primarily on digital marketing, which honestly ‘made more sense to me’, was a service where I could tangibly show value, and earned me a lot more money! I moved on to a digital/tech company, in Midtown but based in the UK, where I was making more money, had more benefits, and felt like I was making a good career-move. I traveled a lot, barely understood the product I was selling or the value it brought to our customers, and worked in a toxic, cramped office with three other people–only one of which was friendly and helpful and didn’t verbally abuse me on a regular basis. I was not good at my job and found it incredibly difficult to get or stay motivated, which left me deflated, beaten down and insecure. My husband and I had just bought our first house, so I felt trapped and was completely and utterly miserable–almost daily. Fortunately, my superiors and I were able to agree that it was not the right fit and I needed to move on. It was a huge disappointment at the time, but ultimately it led me to my next venture, where things completely turned around for me. I’d developed a thicker skin and sense of gratitude.

I soon landed a position with a digital marketing agency in West Midtown that, ironically, was one of the agencies I’d vetted when I was trying to find a company to partner with, to white label digital marketing services at the marketing solutions provider I was working for previously. They were looking for a ‘closer’, to….well, close deals, who had experience selling SaaS–primarily SEO, SEM/PPC and Web Design. They offered great products/services, had established a very fun and encouraging company culture, based on core values that I could really get behind, and seemed to have coined something special that I wanted to be a part of. It seemed like a great place for me to really hone my skills while having fun at work and doing something that I was passionate about. My colleagues were helpful and taught me A LOT about Digital Marketing. Leadership sincerely encouraged a healthy work-life balance (which I will always remember and appreciate) and was supportive and understanding any time I needed to take time off. For a while, these were the “golden days”. I was happy, and after a relatively short time period, was having a blast at work, spending time with new friends who were the most amazing and talented people, and earning more money than I’d ever made in my life. I was REALLY GOOD at my job and was starting to gain more confidence in my knowledge of digital marketing and abilities, as well as becoming more financially stable than I’d ever been.

Fast forward eighteen months: the company and its policies towards clients and their success, and how employees were taken care of, started to change. Talk about “the vision’ and the future of the company was becoming hazy and one-sided, and a lot of us were shaking our heads on a daily basis. I’d become a first time Mom around this same time, so I was acutely aware of when anything made me feel less secure or ‘not good’. When these changes began to negatively affect my client churn rate and paycheck, I started asking questions. I’ve never been a ‘yes man’, and have always felt better being open and honest about how I feel and what I think–respectfully, of course. I began to learn more about our service processes/offerings and how they’d ‘always been’, I became a better listener and spent time in other departments outside of sales. I learned more about our offerings and was striving to confirm that the info I was relaying to prospects was accurate and truthful. Let’s just say that what I learned shattered my former confidence. After several months of playing tug-of-war with those in charge, to try to find solutions that might improve things, I quickly went from being from an appreciated ‘top sales rep’ to an annoying reminder of the truth, and was branded ‘not a team player’. The environment became incredibly toxic and morale was always low. I was no longer excited to come to work and had lost my passion for what I was doing. Sadly, I began cleaning up my resume and looking for interviews with other companies I admired.

Around this time, I decided I didn’t want to put all my eggs in one basket and had better start creating some other options for myself, since I was growing more and more unhappy. After a particularly infuriating frustrating, drama-filled week, I made the decision to stop being complacent in my unhappiness. Along with my husband–who is one of my biggest supporters–and some talented former colleagues/contacts I’d picked up in recent years, I co-founded First Draft Marketing and began “moonlighting” to start bringing on website + digital marketing clients to see what would happen. The company I was working full time for had found mild success by focusing on just a few vertical markets and thus positioning themselves as “the experts” in those respective industries–which also made it easier to scale–so after conducting a LOT of market research and meeting with other successful people to learn some tips, we decided to focus primarily on solo attorneys and small-to-medium-sized law firms. My father is a solo attorney who had admittedly, spent a small fortune on ineffective “lawyer marketing” companies and outdated marketing tactics. He agreed to be our first guinea pig and did everything we told him to do. Fortunately, it all worked out and he was singing our praises after a few months, but we will always be grateful to him for seeing our potential and trusting us to market his law firm. I did the best I could to manage two sales roles, but it was really hard to do both–and convincing well-educated attorneys to take a chance on a brand new agency, without testimonials or a huge client list, was like pulling teeth. We did a lot of “free or EXTREMELY discounted work” for a handful of unappreciative folks, but after about four months, most of the clients we had who were willing to take suggestions and follow our recommendations, started to do REALLY WELL. Like, “I can’t believe this is actually working and I’m getting so many more leads and making more money”-well. I didn’t want to leave my work friends behind and would potentially be walking away from a financially-secure position that I was more than great at, but I knew I couldn’t do two sales jobs at the same time, and ever expect to grow FDM.

So, after a lot of consideration and and sleepless nights, I decided to quit my “day job”. After witnessing how previous “awesome” employees were treated or talked about after moving on to something else, I chose to leave and gave the excuse that I wanted to be a stay at home mom. I spent a few months struggling to find my place and learning how to do more than just ‘close deals’ that had been teed up for me, then hit the ground running, trying to grow our business. Almost two years later, we are a profitable business with a more-refined process and bigger book of business, and while we still primarily focus on lawyers/law firms, have grown one other ‘vertical market’ and have lots of other clients in various industries. I love what I do and have learned a lot. My business partners have been patient with me and have helped me develop additional skills that are helpful to our business–and we finally have client testimonials and happy clients!

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has not been a smooth road, LOL. It’s been filled with occasional high-highs and periods of low-lows. I’ve had a lot of help. Most of my struggles have been personal struggles that I can only blame myself for. I’m incredibly direct–especially with written communication such as emails, texts and chat messages–and my communication style can sometimes come across as bossy or impatient. It’s never my intention, but is something I’ve had to constantly work on, since I work with several introverts and and do not always fully comprehend other people’s time frames or train of thought. It was also an adjustment to go from making a lot of money to (at first) no money, then a little money, then more money, but still not enough to be ‘comfortable–as our business grew and we brought on more clients. I’ve slowly but surely improved and know that it’s a growth process.

Early on, I struggled with establishing and enforcing healthy boundaries with clients, learning to say ‘no’, and with charging for my/our time when projects far exceeded the scope of work or hours quoted, due to our clients. I’ve come a long way and have met with other business owners and entrepreneurs, to get their input and feedback, so I could learn from my mistakes (or from theirs).

I still struggle a fair amount with working alone most days. While we regularly meet up for hack-a-thon sessions, company meetings or work days, our team primarily works remotely and gets more done, this way.  I am a person who THRIVES in environments with other people I can talk to, and–if I’m being honest–that I can ‘compete with’ (sales quote-wise) or at least joke around with. I’m constantly Slacking my co-workers because I want to bounce ideas off them or need help with something. Honestly, I sometimes just need that interaction with another person, but I’m learning to be more self-reliant and to trust my instincts. I also joined a networking/referrals group called “PowerCore”, that meets once a week and strongly encourages regular meet-ups with other members and newcomers. Not only has it been incredibly helpful and financially beneficial to my business, but it’s given me the social/business interactions with other people that I need and had missed.

I’m a work in progress.

Please tell us about First Draft Marketing.
We specialize in Responsive + Optimized Wed Design; SEO (Search Engine Optimization); SEM/SMM/PPC + Retargeting (Search Engine Marketing + Social Media Marketing or Pay-per-click), Social Media Management, Content Marketing & Website Optimization/Cleanup.

Our primary focus has been working with/marketing law practices, but we have several salon/spa clients, as well as a variety of other digital marketing clients.

I am most proud of the referrals we’ve received from happy clients who enjoy working with us and have benefited from our services. I also really feel a sense of pride when clients follow our recommendations, without excessive skepticism, and soon learn that these suggestions have produced the results we projected 🙂 Same thing when clients feel comfortable enough to take advantage of our consulting experience and come to us with questions about ‘other services out there’ or other marketing providers they’ve been approached by, for our feedback–it serves as confirmation that they’ve come to trust us and know that we will advise them as best we can, no matter what.

What sets us apart is 1) our “non-salesy” approach and preference to start with more modest PPC budgets than most other digital marketing providers, 2) we offer very fair prices (ESPECIALLY for attorneys, given what other similar providers charge for similar or less-than services) while never striving to be “the cheapest” and still earning fair wages, and 3) transparency about what we’re providing to our clients, with regular updates that actually make sense and educate clients on what each metric means for their business.

Who have you been inspired by?
My mom. She survived an incredibly damaging and traumatic childhood/past, and went on to attend night school/get her Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering with a 4.0–all while working 40-50 hrs a week, raising two small children and being a wife. She was my hero as a child.

Dr. Lisa Boyd. She was my high school English teacher, two years in a row, and always found ways to educate and motivate her students in unique ways, while treating them with the same respect she would treat an adult. She marches to the beat of her own drum and was always a compassionate listener with a huge heart.

My sister-in-law. She’s a mom to three young boys, has the biggest heart and just tries SO HARD. She’s kinda of like Super Mom, and is a motivation to me to be a better mom and wife.

Rachel Hollis. Her self-help novel, “Girl, Wash Your Face”, saved my life and helped me in SO many ways. I love her honesty and bravery, and can relate to her on nearly every level. I just love her.

Sara Blakely. She worked her ass off to get to where she is and is a total badass. I love that she is honest with her struggles and that being a successful business woman has not kept her from being a mom and wife.

Pricing:

• Web Design + Content = $4000+
• WordPress Website Cleanup + Site Optimization= $1500+

Contact Info:

• Website: www.firstdraftmarketing.com
• Phone: 678-902-7754
• Email: [email protected]
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/firstdraftmarketing/
• Other: https://vimeo.com/213906437

Image Credit:
Headshots/personal photos by Woody Um; Group photo is a group of YLD attorneys at the GA State Bar- “Legal Marketing 101- Panel”; Client website – attorney James Paisley

Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.