All In One & One For All - Ethos & Able Creative

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in digital marketing but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Dante Marino, Founder of Ethos & Able Creative, LLC, located in Manchester, NH, USA.

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

Hey everyone! My business is Ethos & Able Creative, a lot of people refer to us as EA or EA Creative, out of Manchester, NH, and we're a young, up-and-coming digital marketing brand in the area. When we set out to launch EA, it wasn't just a hobby or something my business partner & brother Vinny Marino, and I came up with to make money. We LOVE local business. Hearing from a lot of my friends and people I went to school with who are business owners have told me a lot of the agencies, teams, freelancers, and whomever in our industry that covers any sort of marketing need, have approached them and always found them to have some means of disingenuity, lack of flexibility or all followed the same cookie cutter aesthetic of being creative. Our customers are the ones who don't want frills and other fluff. Just an objective, truthful and thoughtful overview of their digital presence, whether that's social media, website, email marketing, etc., and how we can help.

We just do not pull our punches about business. Vin and I's will to make local businesses stand out have no end, and truly, we work WITH them and not just for them. A lot of businesses we've made clients have seen our difference, our genuine selves of not being afraid to say, 'this launch idea sucks – we can do better' or 'why are we planning a sale when we haven't even recognized our top demographics yet?' It's the relationships we create that build trust, and that trust lends itself to better results for our clients.

Tell us about yourself

One of the biggest reasons Ethos & Able Creative (EAC) came to be was there are a lot of hidden gems in Manchester, NH. I could go on and name all of them, but it started with the question of 'why are they hidden in the first place? These places should be on everyone's list and shouldn't be missed by something like word of mouth!' So one of my long-time friends reached out to me about helping him make a website for his business. In a past life, this is all I did was simply web design, but then I wanted to just do more – my ambition knows no end, so I wanted to really help him be successful, and in turn, would give me a start to my marketing portfolio. The true challenge was this was in the middle of the pandemic of 2020, yes, that pandemic haha. Luckily, his model was sound with the takeaway, no contact styles of pick up, so he could open it, which gave me the green light to start developing a website. From there, you start to realize (well, a website isn't shit without good-looking photos of it), and I called upon my brother, who would soon find EAC with me. This created an absolute game changer of a dynamic as we could offer a one-stop solution for great photography to use for web, social, email, etc., and I would be on the back end with creative design and copy, which is what I always found my niche in. Once we combined forces, we were able to complete the website relatively quickly and STILL have a ton of photos left for us to post on social accounts, email lists, and more, which not only saved us a ton of time but the client money as well.

This model worked so successfully that my friend asked where we'd been all his life, haha. I soon found that he wasn't the only one looking for someone local, affordable, and just to be a person about their business as they were and cared to hear the vision and get it out there for those who just didn't have the tools to do. There are so many places that are just amazing. But you and I both know that all it takes is a really bad website and awful photos to detract someone from coming and enjoying your products and services. People want to be wowed, and we create sites that keep attention and function just as good as they look – all while being an advocate for our clients in their spaces to hear their voices, truly hear them, and act as more of an extension of their business, rather than just another for-hire.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

The thing I'm definitely most proud of is the people that work with us every day and the relationships we've built with our clients who invite us to be extensions of their businesses past what they originally hired us for because of the experience that was just so great for them!

I'm not here to say we haven't had any negative experiences haha, in our beginning stages. While we were figuring this all out, there were definitely some hiccups, mistakes, and learning curves, but from those, we've been able to create a solid plan going into any situation that's made us a versatile partner for any business looking to come to improve their online and active presence in the world's community known as the internet.

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

One of the hardest things is time management, and the sidecar to that is self-management. What I mean is as a business owner or entrepreneur, whatever you do to work for yourself, it becomes increasingly difficult to put yourself ahead of your business and initiatives. If you don't work, you don't get paid, and if you don't get paid, you can't afford to live anywhere, eat, etc. No one wants that. But that mindset can become so influential and tempt you into the 'if I work on this for another hour, I won't have to do it tomorrow,' but that whole other hour you promise yourself freedom for the next day is actually just the start to more time needed in the business! YOU WILL FIND WAYS TO BE BUSY.

What you need to find, most importantly, is time for yourself to break away, reset and give yourself the best chance to be clear, sharp, and headed in the right direction for your business goals.

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

1. Square away ALL of the legal stuff. LLC, taxes, trademarks, payments, benefits, bills, etc. Running a business, unfortunately, is not just 'ok, gonna make a product or offer a service and get paid for it!' the government will want theirs lol, and you don't want to slip on that stuff. Take the time to automate all of that in the beginning and save yourself a ton of time after.
2. HAVE 👏 SOME 👏 F#$&%^& 👏 FUN! Don't go into business for money. It is a COMMON silver-tongue motivator, and yes, it helps, but learn that line between business and expensive hobby. Don't limit yourself to being paid, and you're worth it!
3. Accept failure and feedback. Failure is only true failure when you give up. Don't. Especially if you believe in it, feedback is a powerful tool, and you might feel awful if it's negative or opportunistic, but use it as a means of listening and getting better, so you don't have to guess.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.eacreative.co/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eacreativenh
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eacreativenh/

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.

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