The Evolution of Marketing Mud
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Written by April Shroeder Thursday, 11 February 2010 00:00
We all have different motivators in life and various reasons for getting up in the morning. Some of us are motivated by money, while others are motivated by success, notoriety, the satisfaction of accomplishing a goal, or building relationships to name a few. I, on the other hand, have been motivated by a desire to show my children a good example and the importance of finishing what you start. It is important that they see me succeed so that they will be motivated to succeed in the future. So, a few years ago, I decided I wanted to finish my Bachelor of Science in Advertising at the University of Florida. Now I’m not saying I was a failure before I finished my degree, but I felt something was missing and I knew that I had to show my daughters and myself that I could accomplish this goal and finish what I had started.
Up until I made the decision to go back to school, I had several major successes in my career. I earned my AS degree in Graphic Design from Santa Fe Community College, worked in marketing for a major boat manufacturer, was the top sales director within the national ClubCorp family of country clubs, and was the Marketing and Sales Director for O2B Kids for a total of 4 years. The decision to finish my degree in Advertising at the University of Florida was exciting, but I had no idea how I would manage college, career, and family.
This is what led me to start my own business. Working from home would allow me to achieve my goal of finishing my college degree and to eventually be a mother in the future. My professional and personal experiences in Gainesville led me to the realization that there was a need for a marketing company that combined creativity with branded promotional items. The combination of my marketing experience with my graphic design degree, I thought, made me the perfect person to fill this void. So, along came Marketing Mud!
I knew that it would be a challenge, but that I could run my company from home and take classes at UF. In the beginning, Marketing Mud provided mainly promotional items and graphic design services. Steadily, the business grew and evolved as I became more involved with professional and networking organizations. It became more and more difficult to juggle going to school and run a thriving business. I didn’t give up though!
As we all know life isn’t as cut and dry as we’d like it to be sometimes. Very shortly after the business started to take-off, and I had began school full time, my husband and I found out we were pregnant! What a blessing and surprise! I wondered how in the world I could accomplish running a small business, going back to school, AND now being a mommy! It was my grandmothers words of wisdom, “where there’s a will, there’s a way,” that kept me going. I knew now that I needed to finish school more than ever to show my kids how important an education is. I can only imagine what my 19- 22 year old classmates were thinking as I rolled through campus 9 months pregnant.
I kept running my business, hired an assistant and worked long nights and every weekend, always wondering when I would get caught-up. Timing seemed to work out well for everything. My daughter Adley Lane was born in early May, just 5 days after my final exams had ended for the semester (thank goodness she was 2 weeks over due). I took the first 6 weeks off from school and then returned back for the latter half of the summer semester. I owe so much of my ability to juggle all of this to the support of my amazing husband, step daughter, and mother! I was lucky to be able to leave my new born baby in the care of my mom while I was taking summer classes and continuing to grow my small business.
I am proud to say that I finally graduated with my BS in Advertising in the Fall of 2009 while running the business and most importantly being the CEO of a very busy family with two daughters, a dog, fish and a husband.
I now run Marketing Mud full time out of an official office (no more living room) with the support of 9 talented team members on staff! Over this short period of time, Marketing Mud has added web design, brand management, and social media management to its list of services and is now considered a leading agency in creative branding solutions and advertising. Some would say it wasn’t possible with all that I had to juggle but I am proud to say that I wouldn’t have done it any other way, and I look forward to all that my family and Marketing Mud will become because of it!
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