My dad was an entrepreneur.
After a trip to Vietnam and a 13-year stint as a high school art teacher in Chicago, my dad spent the rest of his professional career an entrepreneur. One of my earliest memories is of dad lecturing me on the benefits of being a business owner. I was ten years old, a little girl who loved horses, and we were talking about my dream of teaching riding lessons for a living someday.
“The only way to ever really control your own destiny is to own your own business, Emily.”
His words, repeated again and again over the following years, stuck with me. I founded my first business in high school; I was 15, couldn’t even drive, but had a legitimate riding lesson business and an accountant. By the time I finished college, I had two employees and was teaching riding lessons to 40+ students a week.
I was controlling my own destiny, and I loved it.
Work hard and work smart
I grew up watching my parents work really, really hard. To this day, my mother is the hardest working person I have ever known. As an entrepreneur, I understand how hard the leaders of lean organizations—associations, nonprofits, and small businesses—work. Sales reps at agencies and tech firms love to throw around the phrase “work smart not hard”, and it always makes me laugh. Those of us who have been in the trenches know that working smart is not enough. Organizations that reach their goals work smart and hard—really, really hard.
A non-agency born out of love for lean organizations
As lots of small businesses do, my horseback riding business ultimately failed. I found myself working 12-hour night shifts in a factory in order to keep the business solvent. It was heartbreaking, but I was still too young, and frankly, too hungry to see the world to put down roots in the way the business needed me to in order for it to be successful.
But I brought that love for entrepreneurship and that respect for hardworking, lean teams, with me. Over the course of the next decade I worked as a strategist for a technology startup and in governmental communications at a political consulting firm before landing in higher education. Every step of my journey, I watched lean teams of passionate people working hard to achieve their goals.
So why associations, nonprofits, and small businesses?
Now, a seasoned marketing and communications professional with decades of experience and her MBA, I understand another dark truth about why so many lean organizations struggle to reach their goals. Simply put: they cannot afford to hire people with the incredibly specialized skillsets necessary to exist in today’s rapid-paced digital-based environment. I see so many advertisements for entry-level marketers that include a grocery list of skills: SEO, blogging, the ability to write code and manage websites, paid advertising experience, event experience… the list goes on.
No one person can do all of those things exceptionally. And so lean organizations hire someone who can do them all passably, and then struggle without the expertise necessary to keep up with and compete in an increasingly digital and increasingly competitive market.
Enter 3MC Media, Inc.
That’s why I founded 3MC. I passionately believe that associations, nonprofits, and small businesses play a critical role in our communities and in our economy. They invest locally. They are innovators. They are job creators. It is critical that these organizations have access to marketing and communication strategies that are modern, measurable, and competitive.
Most of our clients couldn’t afford to hire me as their full-time Marketing and Communications Director. They certainly can’t afford to hire a full team—director, web developer, social media strategist, editorial writer, and data analyst. Through 3MC Media, Inc., you gain access to a network of subject matter experts with decades of experience who are at the top of their fields. We are guided by a board comprised of industry-leaders. And we are passionate about helping hardworking organizations reach their goals.
When you’re ready, we’re here
If you’re ready to talk about how we can help you build a foundation for measurement, let’s get in touch.