Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in marketing but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Kent Lewis, Chief Marketing Officer of Deksia, located in Portland, OR, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Deksia is a data-informed strategic marketing agency specializing in branding, search engine optimization (SEO), digital advertising, social media, and content creation, including website development, graphic design, photography, video, and copywriting. With four nationwide offices located in Grand Rapids, Des Moines, Indianapolis, and Portland, Deksia provides its clients with a systematic approach to strategic planning, unprecedented measurability, and accountability that drives consistent return on investment (ROI). Our customers are primarily small businesses (15-250 employees) looking to grow.

Tell us about yourself

After graduating from college, I started my marketing career after interviewing at a full-service agency in Seattle. I liked the PR team based on their responsibilities and personality. I shifted to digital marketing in 1996 when there were no conferences or classes, so I had to teach myself and others. That turned into a career educating coworkers, clients, peers, and students as a subject matter expert, volunteer instructor, and adjunct professor. I sold my agency last March to provide more time to educate others via speaking and writing on subjects I’m passionate about (typically digital marketing, business, and entrepreneurship).

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My greatest accomplishment as a business owner has been the ability to train, mentor, and support employees to harness their passion and have fruitful careers. That includes a handful of employees who have left my agencies in the past to strike out on their own to start competing agencies. While selling my agency after 22 years was rewarding, it was an outcome of a long journey of mentorship and coaching others.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

One of the most difficult things that comes with business ownership, for me, was the realization that building a “family” wasn’t truly an option, as much as I desperately wanted it to be. When I first started building a team at Anvil in 2003, I was committed to creating a company that everyone wanted to work at and retire from. After a few years of challenging employees, I realized my goal was unrealistic and unhealthy at times. I was destined to be disappointed in my team and myself. Once I reframed my goal of creating a magnetic place where people want to work and make a few friends during their stay, I was happier and more effective as a leader.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

I’ve shared 27 years of experience as an employee, entrepreneur, business owner, and leader in dozens of articles available on my LinkedIn profile. To distill the key advice, I would suggest the following tips:

  1. Stay close to the money. Understand where the money flows and ensure your business helps create new revenue, protect or grow existing revenue, or measure and optimize operations to maximize profitability. For example, my agency specializes in creating new revenue via digital marketing.
  2. Be human. While you have a business to run and employees, partners and vendors are essential to the delivery and support of products or services, they are human beings and should be treated as such. The more you spend the time to get to know what matters to your employees and other constituents and deliver that regularly, the more successful (and enjoyable) your experience will be as a business owner. This became clear to me as I transitioned from a business owner to an employee last year.
  3. Invest wisely. I’m known for being thrifty (I recycle the cans from work myself), and I’ve made an effort never to cut corners when it matters. The best way to determine when investment in people, tools, or processes is by mapping them against your company’s purpose, vision, and core values. If that expense doesn’t directly support progress towards goals or is aligned with your values, it’s probably not a good investment.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://deksia.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kentjlewis/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kentjlewis
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kentlewis/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

Turn your craft into recurring revenue with Subkit. Start your subscription offering in minutes and supercharge it with growth levers. Get early access here.