How to Start Your Own Business During a Global Pandemic with Samantha Woolf and Hilla Narov: An EOFire Classic from 2021

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire. Brought to you by the HubSpot.

0:30connections between brands and talents, but they have a unique instinct for what's next and what's newsworthy that allows them to put their clients at the center of pulp culture moments. In today, Fire Nation, we will talk about how nice guys do not get ahead in the end. Part of every success is learning along the way, and you have to understand who your customers are and ensure that you put the right face out there that will resonate and owe so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Samantha Hilla and our sponsors. The next wave, your chief AI Officer, hosted by Matt Wolf and Nathan Lance, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals.

1:04AI technology is transforming the way we do business and the media landscape is fragmented. The Next Wave strives to be the leading podcast on AI technology and how you can apply it to growing your business. Listen to The Next Wave wherever you get your podcasts. Looking for an easier, safer way to manage passwords than a million post-it notes. Welcome to LastPass, the most accessible and easy to use password manager on the planet. Visit lastpass.com slash fire for a free trial and get started today. Every login lives in LastPass. Samantha, Hilla, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with.

1:48What's up, Fire Nation? This is Sam. I think that, you know, what I think that becoming successful that most people disagree with is that nice people finish last. I think that our business is so much based on relationships and cultivating those relationships and having, you know, really good partners and really good people to count on. And you get there by being kind. And I really think that nice guys do get ahead in the end. Awesome. What about you, Hila? I agree. I think that, you know, we built this business on 20 years of relationships and it makes a difference. People, you know, when you call them and they want to help you.

2:32So being, you know, even though a lot of our business is negotiating and doing deals, we try to do it with a way that's a win-win for everyone. And I think that, you know, that's been the secret to a lot of our success. So Hila, I've talked a little bit about what you to have done during the pandemic with Official Partner and all of that jazz. So tell us a little more now that we have you on the microphone. What is Official Partner and why did you start it? Official Partner is an entertainment marketing agency. We work with companies to connect them to pop culture and the entertainment and fashion industries.

3:14And I started it because, you know, know, we started it together first. I started it a year before and then Samantha joined as a partner right before the pandemic. But we, you know, I started it because I saw a need where the business that I was in was generally transactional and there was no thought to the strategy, to the PR, the marketing, the rollout and all of that, even just connecting brands that are, had brand parity, whether it was a talent and a brand or a brand and another brand. So, you know, people started coming to me for that. We were, you know, so I just decided, hey, this is something that we can service for our clients.

4:00But beyond just doing the deals and getting the people, you know, connected, we build out full marketing strategies around it, PR strategies, we help them amplify what they're looking to do. And it makes, you know, I think it makes a big difference. So Samantha, what we're going to kind of move into next is challenges, like challenges that you faced during the pandemic. Because as I mentioned during the introduction, you guys actually launched this during a global pandemic. And that's why we're going to be giving Fire Nation, our listeners here today, some insights on how you can start your own business during a global pandemic, which depending on when you're listening to this Fire Nation, is still happening with all these variants and all this craziness going on in the world.

4:42So this is going to be very valuable and important information for a long, long time. Like obviously, hopefully not a global pandemic for a long time, but this is going to be great information to have. So tell us some stories. What were some challenges? What did you face with the launch? Obviously, initially, it was very scary. That first month where everyone shut down, nobody knew what was going on. What is the world going to look like? And here we were, like newly formed partnership, all these big ideas. And we really just all of a sudden were kind of handcuffed. And I think a lot of people were paralyzed for the first month.

5:21But we really took a long, hard look at it and decided to make it an opportunity. And I think that's true for most things in life, right? Look at a challenge as an opportunity. and we were able to see that our clients still really needed to go on with their business, but we needed to help them think about it in a different way. You know, the benefits, of course, were that we didn't need office space. There was a lot of overhead that we did not need to take on right away that enabled us to put our minds and our resources into finding new opportunities for our clients and being able to really think about the landscape, whether that was different talent that was now open to doing stuff online that never had done that before, having brands rethink their approach to working with influencers or different platforms.

6:13So much of our business was based on shoots and, you know, in-person interviews or entertainment experiences, like on-site activations and all of that was gone. So we had to really get creative and think about what were the new ways of doing that. And being able to be on the forefront of that and being able to think about that in a different way allowed us to build a business that was very solid. And it also enabled us to be really strong as partners, to really rely on one another. I think so much of COVID also taught you about yourself and about how you approach the world. And we were able to take that thinking and really translate that into success for our clients.

7:00So maybe before I let you go on this topic, just give us one quick thing. Like looking back, hindsight's 20-20, we all make mistakes. What's something that you would have done differently knowing what you know now? I would say that we would probably have created a little bit more of a rule book early on. We both have 20 plus years experience in this industry and variations of the industry, whether it's law, PR, marketing, publishing, advertising. We've touched all of it. And being able to, we probably would have created a bit more of a rule book, a playbook, if you will, earlier on, instead of learning some of these things along the way.

7:40But also part of the success is learning along the way and finding our way through some of it. Well, get that rule book dialed in early, Fire Nation. But as Samantha mentions, be flexible. know that things are going to come up they might not expect. So you need to be agile and be willing to make moves, adjust, pivots. Hilla, let's talk about priorities when starting a business. You guys obviously had a lot of things to do overall, but what were like the things that you really prioritize when you first got official partner running? The clients that we chose to work with, we wanted to have clients that had our shared values.

8:20And I think that because we're small and we're building, you know, it's easy to get bogged down in things that take your time that might not be, you know, where you want to go. And really being able to say no to certain things and really just focus on the things that we wanted to work on, you know, was one of our priorities starting out. And it continues to be, you know, we like look at every client that comes through is can we add value? you know, can you execute on the mission that we put together, put, put together for you? And, you know, if the answer is yes, then, you know, we're ready to go.

8:59Looking back, kind of the similar question that I asked Samantha, what's something that maybe you prioritized where now you look back and you're like, you know what, that didn't have to be a priority. Like it was obviously something that we did. And at some point we had to do, but maybe didn't have to be a top priority. Was there something that fits that bill? Starting the business in the pandemic really took a lot of that stuff out of the mix because we had to prioritize, you know, figuring out how we're going to make money during this pandemic and keep the business going. And we didn't really have time to get bogged down in, in other things that were not necessary.

9:42You know, we wanted to make sure that we were servicing people, getting them what they needed during this time, because our clients also were not sure about where things were going and what they were going to be doing. So we were always a member of, you know, a big part of their team. So we just, you know, we had to sort of pivot. And I don't think, I think that starting the business right before the pandemic didn't give us that luxury. Yeah, we really didn't have time to think about it. We just sort of had to go. I think one of the challenges that we had was like, was networking, right? Because there are ways of networking were going out to events, meeting people, lunches, breakfast, whatever, what have you, and that all went away.

10:28So as Helo said, we didn't really have the luxury of thinking about certain minutiae. We had to really roll up our sleeves and say, okay, we physically can't be together. We physically can't be with our clients. How do we ensure that we're getting the best information possible, the best intel possible, the best, you know, relationship building among people that matter for our clients? how do we continue to do that? And it was kind of a blessing in a way because we didn't have to worry about certain things. It was like, let's make sure we got a website up and let's make sure that we have all of the proper paperwork and what have you figured out.

11:13But for the most part, I think it helped us really think through growing our business and diving in. Fire Nation, we're going to talk about the best strategies for choosing the right talent for your brand. We're going to talk about the greatest lessons that these two ladies learned from their first year as founders and so much more when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Picture this. You're at a party and someone asks you what you do as a marketer. How do you even begin to describe it? Not only do you brainstorm new campaigns, create compelling copy, dream up landing pages that will actually convert and generate leads, you also have to gather all the data to make sure it's even working.

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13:38Samantha, we're back and I'd love for you to take a minute. Share some of the best strategies when it comes to choosing the right talents for your brands. It always starts with looking at the big picture of where do you want your business to go? What are you trying to achieve? And depending on the investment of the talent, whether that's an expert, an influencer, or a celebrity, is really understanding what can you do to support this initiative and how do you ensure that you're building a longstanding relationship with the right person. You know, pre the digital era, it was very much like TV and print and you slapped a celebrity in there and you let it go and it worked for the most part.

14:25But as media evolved and the media landscape evolved. So did leveraging, you know, experts, celebrities or influencers. And to me, the most important thing is to ensure that you have the means both from a teaming staff, staff standpoint, budget standpoint, resources standpoint, media standpoint, to support the face that you're putting in there. So, you know, people don't just watch network TV anymore and see the same commercial. Consumers are constantly getting their information and their entertainment through different channels. So you have to really understand who your consumer is, what they're interested in, and ensure that you put the right face there that's going to resonate there and it doesn't feel fake or forced.

15:14But also at the same time, we always tell our clients, you have to manage those relationships. You can't just assume you throw up one social post without any support around it that it's going to do anything for your business. And that's, I think that's really critical when picking talent or relationships or partnerships, however that is. And it has to work within the bigger picture of where your business is going. Otherwise it feels very disjointed and it won't do anything for you. I agree with that. And I also think that, um, you know, what Samantha said about managing the talent and continuing with the relationship, The best thing you can do is get the talent excited about your product so that they really like it and it feels authentic.

15:54So it doesn't feel like it's a job. They get invested in it. And then sometimes we create long-term relationships. I think one thing that a lot of entrepreneurs do forget is keeping their finger on the pulse of that big picture. So I love that you brought that up and you're really talking about that when it comes to choosing the right talent and really the right strategies for everything you're doing. So Fire Nation, absorb this, understand this. Make sure you're always stepping back from time to time and looking at that overall big picture. Now, Hilla, I want to stay with you for a second here and have you share your greatest lesson from your first year as a founder.

16:35And Samantha, you're coming up next. I think the most interesting thing is the idea that now as a founder, you're accountable for everything in the company. And, you know, I always had someone else to sort of have my back or lean on or someone else that was accountable if, you know, if it went there. But, you know, now, you know, the buck stops here. So, you know, I have to make sure that I'm delivering. And I think that it was a great lesson. And it was something that I really enjoyed doing this year. You know, really digging in, managing my time, getting results for the clients during the pandemic, seeing the results in real time, because that's one thing that's great about our business is that we do things that you see in the media, in the press, in the news.

17:24So I will be at a dinner party and someone will say, oh, I saw this thing and I knew that I had a hand in it, which, you know, that's really exciting and fun that you can actually see it in real time. But I think, you know, having, you know, having this feeling that everything, there's no one I can sort of turn around and say, hey, what's going on? It's really all about, you know, doing the job. And I thought that was, I think that's sort of a big lesson that I learned this year. Well, we're all about the yes. And I, too, have a similar experience to Hello, where I worked, you know, for someone else, for many different people for over 20 years, some big corporations and some small.

18:04And while we're always about the yes and we always want to over deliver for clients, there's also a time and a place to say no. And that's OK. And that if people really aren't aligned with what you can do for them and have a, you know, truly believe in you, and then it's okay to say, I just don't think this is the right time. And I think so often we're so scared to say no, or we're so scared to take a big risk that we feel like, you know, back to your point before, that could be so short term. When you take a step back and look at the big picture and you realize and remember why you're doing what you're doing, whatever business it is, whatever the main goal is, you know, it's really important to have confidence in the power of a no as well as the yes.

18:56And I think that's critically important for all businesses. So Fire Nation, I really hope you're taking in this really interesting conversation that we're having about actually starting a business during a very difficult time. And if you look back over the decades and the generations, some of the strongest and best businesses were built during the toughest times. I mean, you go back and you look at the Airbnbs of the world, the Amazons of the world, during the dot-com burst. I mean, these companies learned to be anti-fragile, which is a fantastic book. Highly recommend it. And this is kind of the stuff that Hill and Samantha are talking about here as to why they're not necessarily looking back at their launch during this time that we're in right now as a bad thing.

19:38But hey, this is really having them grow this anti-fragile type business. So give us one key takeaway, Samantha. Like what's one thing that you really want to make sure our listeners get from everything that we talked about here today? Just one clear, crystal, concise thing. And then we'll pass it to you, Hilla, for the same question. One key takeaway, then we'll say goodbye. Don't let fear stop you from going after your dreams. One key takeaway is not to lose focus. You can get distracted by a lot of noise, things that other people are saying or talking about or panic or things, especially during, you know, the last two years.

20:20And I think that you just have to keep focusing on doing what you do. You know, I always say to people, you know what you do, just do it. And don't, it goes back to Samantha's point about fear. I mean, fear plays a part in it, but keep focused, do what you know how to do and everything else will fall into place. And Hila, while we have you, why don't you share the best ways that Fire Nation can connect with you, Samantha, your company, your brands, any call to action you have for our listeners. And then we'll say goodbye. We are on official partner agency on Instagram and we often post our projects.

21:00And we have a website, official-partner.com. Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with SWHN and JLD today. So keep up the heat. Head over to eofire.com. Type Samantha or Hilla, that's H-I-L-L-A, in the search bar. The show notes page will pop up with links to everything. And Samantha, Hilla, thank you for sharing your truth, knowledge, value with Fire nation today. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side.

21:57easier, safer way to manage passwords than a million post-it notes. Welcome to LastPass, the most accessible and easy to use password manager on the planet. Visit lastpass.com slash fire for a free trial and get started today. Every login lives in LastPass.