This Morning’s Rant, Backdrops & My Career
Evans Company, EntreNash, Experience Nashville & Tribe Builders

I went on a rant this morning on Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook. Small business owners, marketers, entrepreneurs spend too much time trying to “understand” the inner workings of social media vs. just getting started. Many conversations I’m in, people are more interested in ad spends and forgetting that their digital foundation is shit. I mean, “not so great”. 😬
Understanding how it works is important, don’t get me wrong, but it’s vital that you understand more about what you’re telling people and why they should care.
We don’t spend time with or (in some cases) trust the same media outlets that we used to. We want what we want, we want it, how we want and we want to pause and playback at our leisure. What friends, connections and family say and share about your brand is key. Having a consistent seat at the table with consumers of your products and services is today’s reality. I find that business owners have come to the reality that content and placement on Google are connected yet there is still a gap in context.
You Can’t Produce a Few Blogs & Become a Subject Matter Expert
You must be consistent and authentic or people will smell you
Let’s face it, people look at every aspect of your digital presence before they meet with you and in some cases, do business with you. If your digital foundation isn’t as secure as your competitors, you have a great chance of losing share of business. Today’s content / media strategies and executions are the new cost of doing business. Actually delivering on what you’re saying still remains to be seen but it’s much easier to get your story in front of those that might care. That to say, having a plan is #1. If you have no clue what your business is promoting in April of 2018, you should. You should alwasy think that your competitors do.
Get Out of Your Own Head
After closing my 1st business, I went thru the trough of sorrow and thought I could actually turn everything around. It took months for me to realize that no one cares. It’s true, how you come out of those times is what people are actually watching. More people work for other people than have the drive, want & spirit to start their own business. That said, I decided to move on.
Q1 2017 I created Evans Company, LLC, we’re a marketing company for small businesses that want to move their brand forward. We specialize in media, digital strategy, operations and processes a LOT! I also secured an investor, closed an advertisers and created a ton of content for my 2nd company EntreNash, LLC, our business & entrepreneur digital publication that brings direct value to business owners, leaders & creatives.
Q2 2017 I had a coffee meeting with Matt Niehoff, to discuss EntreNash. In that meeting we talked about the blog he created in 2008, Experience Nashville and the direction he wanted to take it. A new partnership was born. Within days we were in development of our new website and scheduling meetings with our connections in town to tell our story and to secure the right brand partners for us. Today we are reaching over 400,000 a month and we have some great tourism and lifestyle promotions coming in Q4 2017 and Q1 2018. Follow us on Instagram!

Q2 2017 Then, to promote the brands I wanted to create a networking group that was unlike anything in Nashville and give the companies additional exposure. So, Tribe Builders was created. We scaled from 11 to 25 to 40 to (today) having 2 locations at 50 per location. We are just getting started and are having a blast sticking to our mission —
Tribe Builders
We Move Commerce Forward

If you need a random kick in the ass from time to time, want to grab some inspiration or tactical advice around processes, business development, marketing or media — follow me.
Check out my business podcast Brand Forward.
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