David Song: Five Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started My Consulting Business
An Interview With Doug Brown
Be flexible. In every which way. Nothing is predictable and you are going to have to change the way you do business, handle clients, create strategies, work with a different generational workforce ( I am surviving working with Z and Millenial as a X’er) and global pandemics. We were able to survive COVID because of our flexibility. We had a remote workforce prior to the pandemic and that really helped us survive and thrive the past 18 months. Our flexibility gave us a leg up on the competition when we were already doing calls on zoom in 2018.
As a part of my series called “Five Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started My Consulting Business ”, I had the pleasure of interviewing David Song.
David is transforming the way companies look at marketing and technology to yield success. He advises companies on how social media, digital, and branding transformations can drive growth and expand their business capabilities. David has worked with a wide range of clients including businesses from Fortune 500 clients to startups. Prior to his work in these transformations, David was a pioneer in the digital advertising space and helped clients grow their revenue using data driven marketing tactics.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I started my career in digital media in 1998 (during the infancy of “web”) and slowly went up the corporate ladder at big agencies and realized very quickly how slow and antiquated big companies were structured for true digital transformations to drive business. So I decided in 2008 to start my own consulting company advising agencies, corporations, and even just friends on how to use different channels to scale your business.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began at your company?
I started the business in my apartment and at one point had 18 employees coming to my home every day (some arriving at 8am). I had a “guest” over and they walked out undressed to the main area to meet a few of my team that day.
Note for Kristen- Too much? I can tell a tamer story but this is the fun stuff.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
Yes, Dr. Urvashi Pitre who was a colleague of mine at JWT. We have been friends, colleagues, advisors to each other for almost 20 years now. My business suffered the loss of our top 3 client in less than 60 days (all un related to each other) and I was about to put up the “closed forever” sign. I called her to let her know it was over for Rosie Labs and she said to me “ You are the smartest person I know, there is no doubt that whatever you do after Rosie Labs, you will be very successful but I also know that David Song is not a quitter and if you decide to stay open, Rosie Labs will also be a huge success”.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Thank you for being a friend”. There is nothing more important in life (and business) to actually let those around you know that they are loved and acknowledged. I started to “thank” clients regularly for being good at something specific. They are usually stunned into silence as no one actually thanks clients anymore. I have it tattooed on my arm now.
Ok super. Thank you for all that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. We’d love to learn a bit about your company. What is the pain point that your company is helping to address?
Rosie Labs was designed to help companies look at marketing with a different lens that actually attributes to revenue and growth versus being the single largest line item in overhead costs.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Our people defines us. 40% of our current workforce was actually a client of Rosie Labs.
When you first started the business, what drove you, what was your primary motivation?
Make a lot of money (just being honest). Not having a boss.
What drives you now? Is it the same? Did it change? Can you explain what you mean?
No, now I tend to look at fostering the next gen of thinking for marketing transformation. I sense a lot of pride when I will tell a client ..so and so has been with me for 10 years. So and So was just promoted. So and so (employee)) is now CMO at client x (which recently happened).
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
Yes. We are helping an organization called It Gets Better (itegetsbetter.org) get the word out that It really does get better. We hope to make the journey of coming out, one that is less daunting and more joyful.
In your specific industry what methods have you found to be most effective in order to find and attract the right customers? Can you share any stories or examples?
Be a good person. Clients want to work with kind and smart people. It’s really a simple formula. 40% stat (shared earlier) about clients becoming employees. I feel a lot of pride in that.
Based on your experience, can you share a few strategies to give your customers the best possible user experience and customer service?
Be kind, be transparent, be on time.
Thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “Five Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started My Consulting Business”. Please share a story or an example for each.
- Be a nice person. To be transparent, I was not necessarily a nice person in some of my agency jobs and early in my consulting career. I was an arrogant asshole. A client was not so nice to, rose to CMO and fired us. Lesson learned- Karma is a thing. I started to weigh my business decisions after that moment on the premise “ would my mom be proud of my behavior”. It works.
- Money comes and goes. I always thought running my own business, that clients and money would always be rolling in. There is almost no way to predict business and cash flow. Some months we had 3 cents and other months we had lot’s of 0’s. Get used to it.
- Treat your team well. Happy team means happy clients means happy boss. I gave a spot bonus once to someone and they called me crying that they couldn’t afford to visit their sick parent and now they can. That was 10 years ago. They still work for me.
- Be flexible. In every which way. Nothing is predictable and you are going to have to change the way you do business, handle clients, create strategies, work with a different generational workforce ( I am surviving working with Z and Millenial as a X’er) and global pandemics. We were able to survive COVID because of our flexibility. We had a remote workforce prior to the pandemic and that really helped us survive and thrive the past 18 months. Our flexibility gave us a leg up on the competition when we were already doing calls on zoom in 2018.
- Work with dogs. I named my company after my dog (Rosie the black lab) and I can’t say enough about have a dog friendly culture. The number of calls I have started w new business prospects talking about what my dogs are doing is in the hundreds. We used to have an office where the elevator opened to the floor. My dog was our receptionist (she has since been promoted to chairwoman) and would greet every guest. Till this day, my clients and staff remember her more than what the color of the office wall was. I miss her dearly. We now have a pet friendly office and our new Managing Partner is taking over the pet obsession by bringing her cat into the office…on a leash.
Wonderful. We are nearly done. Here are the final “meaty” questions of our discussion. You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
BE KIND. I know it’s cheesy but when anne curry started the kind in 21 days thing, it really stuck with me. Just imagine if everyone did one nice thing a day. I sense the world would be different.
We are very blessed that very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)
Michelle Obama. She took kindness and grace to a new level.
Thank you so much for this. This was very inspirational, and we wish you only continued success!
