Getting Clear About Your Mission with Emily Zimmerman
In this episode, we have invited Emily Zimmerman. She worked in the corporate world of marketing and sales nationally when a twist of events eliminated her position. This was the catalyst for her to create Grace Communications—an agency whose mission is to help businesses grow and make the world a better place. Today, Emily will talk about making an impact on the world by helping other businesses.
Key Takeaways from Emily
Emily’s most curious about outside work: Emily is curious about how things are built and how they’re made. She constantly analyzes many things and is obsessed with watching shows about how things are built. She finds it fascinating how unique structures are built.
How Emily makes an impact through her work and her inspiration: In starting Grace Communications, Emily’s heart was in a place of wanting to give back and not wanting to be in a realm that was money-driven. Grace Communications looks for nonprofits, brands, or businesses that are community-focused and have the heart to take over the world in a good way. Early on, Emily was lucky to identify her core when she started her agency and strategically helped businesses grow philanthropically. She is driven to help companies and nonprofits that are helping others.
How Emily gets the most success: Emily gets the most success in the message of her agency and being intentional about the clients she works with. Emily makes sure that the clients, brands, and the nonprofits she works with aligns with her mission: to give back, help companies grow, and make the world better. If Emily is going to work with somebody who isn’t the right fit, it will not help her with what she is trying to do with her agency. Everybody wants to grow their business, but ensure you don’t say YES to everything. You want to make sure it does fit in with your ultimate vision and ultimate goal for your business.
How the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything for Emily: The pandemic affected everybody. Her events were 30% to 40% of her agency’s total revenue. With only a year of being an official agency when the pandemic hit, their revenue significantly decreased. Every event got canceled or postponed because of the crisis. Emily learned that when something terrible happens, you will eventually freak out. But you have to figure out a way to work with it. You need to see the opportunities that are fitting in your mission and what you have to offer. You can’t wait for something to happen. You have to make it happen.
Emily’s big challenge: When Emily first started her agency, she thought she knew how to write contracts. She relied on her past jobs, but the huge learning curve resulted in her committing many mistakes. It made things very difficult. From that experience, Emily had to redo how she writes contracts and leave room for growth. It can be challenging to figure out how to quantify and set boundaries when combining a different gray area services.
The Future for Emily and her agency: Emily has lots of exciting stuff coming up. She has several different events that are focused on her mission. Grace Communications are focused on their core values and getting more growth-minded and community-focused clients. They are also helping clients who have already continued to grow and help their communities.
Book recommendation: Emily recommends the book The Nuff by Veronica Waldrop. She has read the book multiple times and discovered it through one of her clients giving away books. It was written for the author’s daughter, who was diagnosed with a terminal illness. The author wrote this book so they could read it and remember that they are enough. It’s a nice story where you could be reminded that you are enough.
Emily’s advice: Emily advises to have a clear definition of your goals by starting to work with yourself and your business. Otherwise, you won’t know who to work with, what your goal should be, etc. Take the time and write if it’s not in your business plan. Have it in your marketing plan, but write out what are your core values for your business. By having clear and defined goals, decision-making becomes easier, especially for the challenging ones.
Follow Emily Zimmerman: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook
