Latest / Behind the Founders / She Took a Freelance Side Hustle and Built an Agency Serving Major Fashion Brands
Transcript
- Carmen: Hi everyone, my name is Carmen Durvet and I will be hosting today's episode of Behind the Founders and I will be interviewing Terry Trovado today. Hi Terry, welcome. Terri: Hi Carmen. Thank you for having me. Carmen: Thank you so much for hopping on to share a little bit about ⁓ your founder's journey. to get us started, could you introduce yourself ⁓ and you've been working on to the audience? Terri: yeah. So ⁓ have been working in the digital marketing space for over twelve years now, I think thirteen years. and that's ranged from when social media was, you know, organic and brands were just discovering how they could integrate their business within social media in terms of marketing. And that's expanded all the way up to paid media, running ads for a lot of different major brands, and now it's incorporating a lot of AI. ⁓ ⁓ especially generative AI for merchandising content for brands. So it's like every end of the marketing digital marketing spectrum has basically been covered at some point. Carmen: Great, nice. And right now I see on LinkedIn that you are currently a founder of the Darcy Agency as of twenty eighteen. Could you tell the listeners out there what is Darcy Agency? What do you do? And what inspired you to get started? Terri: ⁓ well, it was just the natural step when I was somebody who was, you know, ⁓ I moved over to Spain with my husband. We had just gotten married and ⁓ I was still waiting for my residency. So I couldn't officially work in Spain. I had to basically find a way to work. So I was doing paid media for a lot of brands in the US. And ⁓ I was actually mentored by a woman who had worked at Meta. so she really taught me the ins and outs on how to do everything really, really well. so because of her I started to get on more clients. I really accumulated some really cool brands that I was working with. And then it got to the point where I'm like, I have so many brands, it made sense to just turn this into my own thing. it just kind of naturally occurred from there. So the Darcy agency was officially founded last year, but it's been in motion since twenty eighteen. Carmen: you mentioned that you ⁓ officially launched Darcy Agency as of last year. So could you walk us through the timeline between twenty eighteen to last year? What were the steps that you took to ensure that Darcy Agency officially launched out as a business? Terri: Well, once I got to a point, ⁓ after having ⁓ a lot of clients in place and feeling really secure, at least knowing that there was always like a steady ⁓ amount of money coming in, ⁓ it just made more sense on every term ⁓ and also just from like organizational, like to put all of this together under one L L C. So ⁓ the actual filing of it was done in the US. which was actually even more complicated because I live in Barcelona. So ⁓ I could only physically do it when I was in the States visiting. So every time I was home, it was always like a way to I was trying to like get everything done at once. but the whole process and setting everything up, it was it wasn't difficult. I already had the my my clients in place. I already had like ⁓ an idea of what I was doing, but then I realized if I wanted to turn this into an agency, I would have to offer even more things that were out of my general scope. 'cause I would usually just offer paid media services only as a freelancer. And I was really good at it. I really focused on that. but I was like, if I want to do an agency, I you know, you don't just have a paid media agency, you have to offer more things. So that became a little intimidating for me. And I think that's why I also held off the idea of doing it for a long time because there had been years and years where I would be told, You need to turn this into a business. You need to turn this into something and not just freelance. But I was always afraid to make that that Carmen: Course. Terri: into going ahead and just making it official. I don't know. Maybe I I there was a part of me like where I thought I just enjoyed freelancing. It was a lot more simple. It was easy. I understood how to do it. But then it was really just a moment where I it was January twenty twenty four or twenty twenty five. No, it was last year. ⁓ I just had this moment where I'm like, you know what? Why not? Like, you know, I'm I have everything in place already. I just need to s make the articles of organization. ⁓ just let's just do this. So I went out to dinner with my husband one day. And he was like basically my the person we were just he's like, let me bounce ideas off you. What do want to name this? How do you want this to look? And we sat down and I was just like, you know, I d we were thinking about names and we were bouncing names off of each other. And then I was just like, What about Darcy? That'd that'd be a great one. He's just like, I like that. It has a ring to it. And ⁓ we cheersed and went home and then I started filing for incorporation. we were thinking about names and we were bouncing names off of each other. And then I was just like, What about Darcy? That'd that'd be a great one. He's just like, I like that. It has a ring to it. we cheersed and went home and then I started filing for incorporation. Carmen: Okay, great. Yeah, I was actually gonna follow up and ask you, you know, what what's the story behind the name Darcy and ⁓ is there any what inspired you with the name Darcy? Terri: There is actually. ⁓ I don't know if you've ever seen the movie What Women Want, the Mel Gibson movie. Carmen: heard of it. I've heard of it, but I'm not really sure. But tell me more about it. Terri: It's nothing fancy. It's a ⁓ what's her name? Nancy Myers film from like two thousand. I saw so I was about ten when it came out. ⁓ but Mel Gibson basically he works at an ad av agency and the whole plot is that ⁓ he gets shocked by electricity and then he can start to hear what women think. but his female counterpart in that movie is Helen Hunt and she's a woman named Darcy McGuire. And I remember even when I was a kid, she was somebody who came into the advertising industry to take his place. Carmen: Yeah. Terri: And she was just so competent and she was so strong, but they showed her process ⁓ throughout the film of how she liked to create ad campaigns and how she really liked to get into the mind of, you know, the viewer, the end user, and how she really tried to put empathy into her campaigns and they were really thoughtful. And by the end of it, she did this campaign for ⁓ Nike Women's Sports Division. And it was just such a really well thought out, really wonderful, like kind of insightful campaign that made you feel something and it made you feel like, wow, this brand really understands me. And I just remember always being like, she was if I ever grew up to work in like advertising or marketing, I would love to be like her. So it was funny. So sometimes I'm just like, ⁓ I want to have that Darcy moment where she's sitting there and she just kind of like, you know, it needs to be like this. And I feel really I'm understanding that person. And I'm like, well, the Darcy agency. It just it makes sense. Carmen: ⁓ okay. Yeah, that's a very cool story, I gotta say, because it does come down to trying to meet whoever the clients you're working with with empathy, really understanding their needs, their wants, and to be able to provide them that as well. ⁓ so tell us a little bit more about so my understanding is that it is an agency where you are offering different digital marketing campaigns. Terri: Yeah. Carmen: What kind of clients have you worked with? Well, what kind of brands have you worked with? I see on LinkedIn that some of them are some fashion brands. Tell us a little bit more about that. Terri: It's kind of become much more niche. When I started, it was whoever would take me. ⁓ but so I really have worked in every industry at this point where it would be, you know, ⁓ senior living facilities or law firms or health insurance or ⁓ market research firms. And then I started to slowly find my niche more in the ⁓ B to C kind of category for like direct to consumer kind of like purchasing. So I loved the whole idea of building marketing campaigns that were Carmen: Okay, yeah. Terri: driving a funnel that were getting people to a landing page to make sales. but, you know, I had more fun eventually in f I found I was having more fun in the fashion industry, luxury industry. ⁓ ⁓ I also when I first graduated college, I w started out as a stylist. so I always loved the idea of working in the fashion industry and working on shoots. so anything that could get me back of that industry was kind of like I eventually decided this is the kind of the arena I wanna go and try to get as many clients as I can. Carmen: Yeah. Terri: So I ended up getting with a lot of different smaller brands and then eventually I got reached out to by Conde Nast UK to start helping them with their branded content. ⁓ all of the ads that were basically going through Conde Nast. And from there it just kind of it grew into other brands like Marquesa, Tally Paris, and now I'm really just trying to put a focus on fashion brands in particular. Carmen: Okay. And do you have a favorite fashion brand that you love you enjoy working on the most in particular? Terri: I mean the one I worked with the longest is Marquesa. And it was just it was a brand that I, you know, when you're working with someone for years and you kind of build something from the ground up and it's your work, because when they came to me, they really needed help in the paid media department. I basically took ownership of all of that. ⁓ And was, you know, taking them from one ⁓ side the spectrum to the other side of the spectrum. And it was just you get close with the people you're working with and it's really exciting to see all the results coming in. Carmen: Okay. Terri: And you start seeing the blan brand really flourish. And ⁓ yeah, that's that was a brand I was really proud to work with. It was only recently that we ⁓ parted. Carmen: Yeah. Hmm, okay. And like from your experience collaborating with all these different types of brands, what what are the typical strategies that you use to help them grow and for them to get more reach or to get more exposure? Terri: Well, now when they come to me for the most part, it's brands who are established. but they say, Look, our ads, we are ⁓ are a brand, we sell our merchandise online. we are running these ads, but you know, ⁓ our ads are starting to ⁓ our per result is starting to go up or ⁓ our are starting to go down or our ads are starting to really like fatigue. we need new creative, like we need help with that. So for the most part now it's coming in and helping them like recalibrate their their ad account, ⁓ helping them scale, helping them find a way to scale efficiently. So they're not just dumping more money in, but ending up ⁓ with a lower return on ad spend. Like it's helping them scale but keeping the ROAS positive. and it's now another element to it now ⁓ where a fashion brand, it's like, look, we have these big shoots that we have scheduled for mid March, scheduled for October, but we need content now for our socials. Can you add some AI integration? Can you do AI images or videos ⁓ so can use that as a supplement? ⁓ between all of these like twenty thousand, thirty thousand dollar shoots that we're gonna be having. So that's something else that's becoming much more of a demand. ⁓ I've had to really like integrate that into what we offer and it's becoming something that's almost like it goes hand in hand now with any kind of paid media offer. Carmen: Yeah, and you mentioned a little bit about AI. So let's jump into this topic because obviously it is quite, you know, people have multiple perspectives, standpoints, and views on this. before we get into that, what kind of tools or software AI have you used to leverage and help these other businesses? Terri: Controversial. I mean, I started with mid journey and I started it just as a curiosity. When I you know, when I first heard about AI, I was like everyone else. I thought it was, you know, the end of you know, end times. I was a little freaked out by it. But when I heard about Gen AI, just wanted to see what it could do. And I told you I was a stylist back in the day and I'm like, Well, what if I could take what I had and type it out and see if it pops up something like vaguely in the realm of what I had in mind? And once I saw that it did, I was like, that was a bit of like a light bulb moment. I'm like, Okay, this is gonna be something Carmen: Okay. Terri: Once it gets in to a good place, I think this is something that's going to really have an impact on a lot of industries. so I've been working in Mid Journey mo ⁓ I still do most of the time, just because I'm very familiar there. But now you have Higgsfield, you have Seed Dance, you have Vio. ⁓ it really dep and all of them kind of specialize ⁓ ⁓ particular things that you're looking for. If you're looking for better video, you maybe go to Seed Dance or V ⁓ Vio. But if you want more control over know lighting or things like that, you can go to mid journey. So it's almost like now you have this workflow where it's not just one software, it's it's a multitude of softwares. Carmen: And in general, what are your thoughts about AI? Do you think it is more efficiency in your business, or do you feel like in some ways it might potentially hinder creativity? Terri: Mm, I don't think it hinders creativity, but I definitely think if you're not creative, you you won't make any you know what I mean? I feel like if you don't have like that spark or that idea, you're not gonna make something out of nothing. ⁓ I think it if you are a somebody who's a bit more creative, it helps amplify something that you had in mind quicker than you know, than what it would take if you wanted to actually put together a shooter, if you wanted to draw something. And I'm not saying any of that's gonna go away. I actually think We're gonna have a bit more of a renaissance in human art, like the analog movement. I think AI is just going to be another tool at some point that's gonna have its own lane and probably use more for commercial use, but not necessarily in an artistic realm. Carmen: Okay. And do you feel like currently right now are there still parts of your business that still feel manual? Maybe it's double double work or perhaps inefficient? Terri: I know it is. I f I know it is because I ⁓ I'm very hands on, especially when it comes to reporting for numbers for paid media. I like I have Excel spreadsheets and I like to put in the numbers every day myself. I just I don't it's just my way, first off, to keep track of what's going on. And also I just I've done some, you know, some software where it's just like I'll pull the numbers, I'll do the reporting, but it's never right and I have to go over it and I feel like I spend more time Carmen: Yeah. Terri: refining everything rather than actually like just getting the numbers. So I'd rather just do it myself. Carmen: going back to you said that before ⁓ you started Darcy Agency, you were freelancing ⁓ and you've been in this state of would say like you're in a bit a limbo of to decide, okay, do I want to take this leap of faith or not? Terri: Mm. Carmen: ⁓ or should I continue freelancing because there's a lot of like flexibility with that. So for you, I would be curious to know what was you back at first from ⁓ that jump or from starting your own business? Terri: It sounds but it was really just like it felt like it was a like it was way more official somehow. It felt like it was a bigger deal. It just f there was a mental block where it just felt like if I took it to this level, then it's like, well, now I'm really in it. Now I really have to make sure that everything's working correctly and everything it and it's n it but it it's ridiculous because it's no different than what I was doing beforehand. It's just now under an LLC and actually it offered me a lot more freedom and protection than what I was doing as a as a freelancer. Carmen: Okay. Terri: It was really a mental block just because I don't know, sometimes you're afraid to take that step and start a business because it's like, Well, what if I fail? I think that held me back a lot. And finally one day I just realized who cares if I fail? So once I hit that Yeah. Carmen: And what was the yeah, what was that turning point where you had this shift in mindset? Because I can imagine there's probably a lot of people who are probably thinking the same thing, you know, they're in the state of overthinking. What if I fail? Should I do this? Why what why should I do that? Because probably somebody else is already doing it. So I'd love to know like what was the shift in mindset that made you decide, okay, I'm gonna just do it. ⁓ even if I fail, I'm gonna try. Terri: I think it was just on Instagram. It was something where it was I saw a video where they just said, you know, half the people who fail are just wasting time because they're overthinking it. you have the higher s high success rate if you just do it. Just jump in and do it. And, you know, you learn as you go. So ⁓ that it's just one of those I think I guess it took me six, seven years to get the moxie to do it. And then one day I just decided, you know what? What am I holding what is ⁓ even if I incorporate. And I start this and I found it under my own brand. I'm not losing out on anything. I think the only other thing that maybe made me intimidated was that nowadays, if you own a brand or if you own a business, it's very c like you have to put yourself out there. And you're a freelancer, you can be behind the scenes. Nobody really knows who you are. And I'm not somebody who likes to really put my stuff out there, but it kind of I feel like you almost have to do that nowadays. And that was ⁓ Carmen: Okay. And you would say that this is also the main focus is that now when you do own the business, you gotta put yourself out there, you gotta put more time and effort in terms of promotion, in terms of marketing, in terms of building your platform on the social media and everything like that. How's that looking actually? Terri: I mean, I'm getting more comfortable with it. I've made I mean like I'm even doing this this podcast interview because at first when I saw this I was like, ⁓ gosh, no. ⁓ and I'm like, No, you have to go ahead and do this. But I've I've made some trips this year to Paris Fashion Week and I spoke, and then was just at Cannes and ⁓ did a whole other presentation in Cannes Film Festival. So it's just I have to start putting myself out there because I am the brand at this point and if I don't promote it, nobody will. Carmen: Okay. Okay. Terri: And also it's a way nowadays to you have to have the founder backstory to basically promote trust and just a it's a necessary evil, but I'm getting more comfortable with it. Carmen: Yeah, of course. looking right now, so in terms of your agency, ⁓ what does the team set up look like? Is it just you or are you looking for other people to jump in to s work with you, support you to be able to grow? What what it how what's the current process like? I know that it's probably in the early stages because you officially launched it last year, but like are you looking to grow and build your team? Terri: Yeah, just because now the work is becoming to the point where it makes no sense for me to just have everything. But how I had everything set up before is it's me, but I have partnerships with ⁓ other agencies that focus on different aspects. So it would be more of a collaboration. So if in terms of production, I have a partner who if I had need production or any kind of production needs, it would become a collaboration between the two of us. So it's really more like and then for the day to day stuff, I have myself who do Carmen: Okay. Terri: I do my own operations, but then I've relied a lot more on Claude ⁓ integr integration just for, you know, the annoying reporting things that, you know, take up a lot of time. But I would like to start having more people under my scope specifically, ⁓ because that would only help me grow and I'm starting to feel like I'm a little out of capacity. Carmen: Yeah, absolutely. Mm-hmm. Okay. Yeah, okay. Which brings me to my next question. So if you were to delegate something immediately that you're like, Okay, I want to take the weight off my shoulders and give it to someone that can be in charge, take care of it, what would you say would be the main function or support that you would need? Terri: I mean in right now it would really be more outreach, I think. I do a lot of the a lot of the work that it that I do in particular is again like paid media. So it's working with the clients, but it's a lot of the behind the scenes kind of stuff. I only need weekly cadences with them. ⁓ and the work itself, because I've been doing it for so long, it it takes me really no time at all to get it done. But it's like I need more outreach and I need more know, some help just be basically bringing in more work. need doing and meeting c brands in person and doing these trips, like all of that's great. But if I could have somebody also like bringing me more and more leads, that would be kind of like my next step. Carmen: ⁓ okay. Okay. So sort of like ⁓ outreach, generation. Okay, got it. No, that's definitely really important as well. Yeah, yeah, because obviously that would be very challenging if you have to ⁓ ⁓ wear multiple hats at the same time as well, because you also need to balance life outside of work too. yeah, definitely for sure. So I would love yeah. Terri: Yeah. Which is I could do that myself, I just haven't. It's ironic though, because I if I was talking to any brand, I would tell them immediately this is how you have to set it up. I know what I would need to set up. I'm just not I just haven't done it. It's like I'm it's harder f to do it for myself than I don't know why. Carmen: Yeah, of course, of course. And that's why there's a lot of importance when it comes to having your own team so that you're not alone this, that you could carry this together and build something together too. Yeah. Terri: Yeah. And I would want to make sure that it's somebody who understands who I am, who can sell Darcy the right way. ⁓ you know, I don't want it to be like this whole calling thing. ⁓ it would ⁓ they would have to come in with like some really cool ideas for new ways to reach brands, rather than just sending out emails or or calling. ⁓ but that would be like if I could find anyone, like if I could snap my fingers, that's who I would look for. Because in terms of like, ⁓ you know, the day to day stuff, like I said, the reporting, I kind of rely on Claude at this point. Carmen: ⁓ huh. Well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely for sure. And sometimes there are some tools like AI that could definitely help you to automate and optimize some processes as well. And then of course, while trying to balance the human element to help you manage some of the operational behind the scenes. Terri: Yeah. The one thing that actually works in my favor is I live in Spain. So all my clients for the majority are in the US, which works for me because that at least gives me the morning to get a lot of things done before they even wake up. Yeah. ⁓ it's great. It's great. I look like I'm just always on top of things 'cause everything's ready by the time they're awake. Carmen: Mm, for sure. The power of time differences as well. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. ⁓ that's the beauty about it as well, with the remote work and everything like that. Yeah. ⁓ Terri: Yeah. I I've been working remotely now for over a decade. I could never go back. Carmen: Yeah. No, I totally understand what you mean. For me, it's been the same. I've been working remote since well, pretty much since COVID started, but then you know, there's been a lot of accelerated growth in terms of remote companies, remote businesses, and yeah, the flexibility is definitely something that will never take for granted too. Terri: Well, we learned that y we can do people are very capable of d getting things done. It doesn't matter where they are. And you probably get things done a lot better because they're in a better mood if they're working from home rather than fighting traffic to get into a an office. So yeah, no, I'm I'm way I'm a big advocate for work from home. Carmen: For sure. Right. Yeah. So for sure. I mean, there's a lot of flexibility with that. At the end of the day, it's all about getting the work done, delivering the results. ⁓ I I'm a firm believer that there isn't like a one size fits all approach. what works well for one person doesn't necessarily mean the other person will thrive in the same environment. So I think there's it's just great that they're offering this ⁓ remote work flexibility as well. Yeah, so yeah. Terri: Well, that's other thing. When I was ⁓ you know, starting out as a f ⁓ and doing everything and freelancing and working remotely, you have to find a balance because when you are working from home a lot, you start to feel really isolated, you start to feel really alone. And it gets to the point sometimes where I would miss that community of just being around people. so a solution for me was finding a workspace where I could go and not only be around people when I'm working, but I could also meet people, make more connections. I ended up getting a a Soho House membership back in 2000. Yeah, basically around COVID. that opened up a lot of doors for me in terms of opportunities too. So if you can find a workspace with people who are also in the same industry as you, it's it's really, really helpful. Carmen: Yeah, definitely the hybrid balance approach as well. ⁓ definitely help for that too. So Terry, just as a final question that I think is extremely valuable for the listeners out there, if there's one advice you will share to someone thinking of starting a business, what would it be? Terri: Yeah. Make sure you know what you well, have a service. If you're gonna provide a service or a product, make sure you really know what it what it is that you wanna sell, that you're very clear about what your vision is. And also just, yeah, don't be like me. Don't be afraid to just go ahead and jump in and and make mistakes. Just get started and figure out as you go. but make sure you have a plan, make sure you're confident and be open to help from others. And ⁓ that's you'll be okay. Carmen: Great. That is a very powerful and encouraging message as well. And I hope that the listeners out there, they'll be able to ⁓ take that and feel inspired to create something that they firmly and truly believe in. Terry, thank you so much again for coming on. This is Behind the Founders with Carmen Devat and Terry Trovato. Stay tuned.