Hannah Best Of Firecracker Marketing: Five Things I Learned As A Twenty-Something Founder

You can be good at what you do while still having a life and personality outside of work (I’d actually argue that it makes you better at what you do!).

As a part of our series called “My Life as a TwentySomething Founder”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Hannah Best.

Hannah Best is the Co-Founder and President of Firecracker Marketing, a women-owned digital marketing consultancy that focuses on hospitality. She has spent her entire career working in food, beverage and hospitality communications and founded Firecracker, with her business partner, Sarah Archer, in 2020. Firecracker quickly grew to an 8-person team with more than 30+ clients worldwide. She is 28 years old.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! What is your “backstory”?

Well, I grew up in the Bay Area, CA and went to college at University of the Pacific to study Political Science. I ended up hating it (too much arguing) and changed to a communications degree as I figured my life out. I had a bunch of internships in governmental and non-profit PR in college and started doing tech PR after I graduated. I never really loved tech, so I decided to get a part-time job working weekends at my local tasting room (perks of living in Northern California). I ended up loving it and learning a lot and, ultimately realized that I wanted to work in food and beverage. I ended up applying to work at a wine PR company in SF and got the job and worked my way through that for a few years. I then decided to switch it up and go work in digital marketing (because it’s the future!) and worked at a national communications firm and represented restaurants, hotels and brands from around the country. I met my co-founder, Sarah Archer, at this job and we became fast friends. We went to another travel agency together in 2020 and led the social media team, until we decided maybe it’s time to do it for ourselves. We sat at my kitchen table and talked about our lives, our mental health and our work, and came up with Firecracker Marketing, a fully-remote digital marketing consultancy, in one night, over several bottles of wine. In October 2020, shortly after we came up with the idea for Firecracker, my Dad passed away. Once that happened, I really grasped that life is WAY too short to not do something you love, so I quit and got Firecracker running and Sarah joined me a month later. Ever since then, we’ve been full steam ahead and building an amazing, talented, incredible, fun team and having a blast doing our jobs- what a concept!

Can you share the funniest or most interesting story that happened to you since you started your company? What lessons or takeaways you take out of that story?

Well, in July I ran into Jerry Jones (the owner of the Dallas Cowboys) at a restaurant in Montecito and we got to talking about business ownership, while I was a few glasses of wine deep… whoops. Anyways, we chatted for a bit, he gave me some solid advice and then he asked for my business card, so I gave it to him. Still haven’t gotten a call about representing the Cowboys, but it was a great reminder to ALWAYS carry business cards, because you just never know who you’ll run into and talk shop with!

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

Firecracker was created to be the alternative to the traditional agency; we offer the experience, creativity and processes that you would find within that structure, but without the surprise fees, high overhead, unrealistic expectation of our team, and the “say yes to everything, even the bad ideas” model. We always aim to deliver the best and most creative work possible, but not at the expense of our or our team’s well-being.

This may sound like it should be standard, and it really should, but it unfortunately has not been our experience in the agency world. Our dedication to a healthy work environment is so important to us and I think it’s what has made the difference in our client relations. When employees are happy, treated well and have positive internal work relations, they are also more likely to have more positive external work relations. It just permeates across everything.

One story that truly brought tears to our eyes is when Sarah and I were interviewing a new team member and she told us that our leadership team (who does the first round of interviews) told her about how Firecracker has changed their lives, improved their mental health and boosted their confidence, in and outside of work. And that is why we really do what we do.

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?

The obvious and most prominent answer is my co-founder, Sarah Archer. Sarah was formerly my boss and through working together we learned that we have so much in common, both personally and professionally, but also have enough difference to be complementary. I have learned so much from Sarah and I can confidently say that I would not be where I am today without her friendship, guidance and support.

Also, starting a business takes a full-on VILLAGE. We have an incredible team of family, friends, and former colleagues and clients that believed in us from the beginning. Sarah’s Dad is our unofficial business advisor, my Grandma gives us legal advice, my Mom follows every client even though I know she has no idea how to work Instagram; We’ve been so blessed to have them in our corner. And my husband, Cameron, is our “Firecracker Husband” and supplied Sarah and I with the wine, nachos and endless support as we made this company from scratch. It’s absolutely a risk to have your wife potentially jeopardize your income, in the middle of the pandemic, with a new business, but he always encouraged us and believed in us.

Are you working on any exciting projects now?

Honestly, Firecracker in itself is an exciting project that I am lucky to work on every day. Sarah and I are basically re-working everything every day as the company grows and we’re always on our toes, which to me is exciting! Also, I’m a semester away from finishing my MBA at Baylor University, so that’s an accomplishment I have been really excited to complete.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

I think the success of Firecracker also leads to our overall goal of changing the communications agency model for the better. And look, I’m not trying to bash the agencies of the world because there are some amazing ones! But the lack of a work-life balance is so damaging to a lot of the talented people who work in agencies and ultimately to the clients too. It also just doesn’t lead to success. People who are miserable, over-worked and follow the “always online, never hit snooze” lifestyle aren’t always the stars in the field. You can be good at what you do while still having a life and personality outside of work (I’d actually argue that it makes you better at what you do!).

Do you have a favorite book that made a deep impact on your life? Can you share a story?

In peak-millennial basic-ism (I know that’s not a word), I would say Harry Potter. It was the first book I remember loving and it sparked my love for reading. I am still a fantasy nerd and I’m currently reading The Witcher series so I can watch the show with context. No spoilers, please.

Can you share 5 of the most difficult and most rewarding parts of being a “TwentySomething founder”. Please share an example or story for each.

Difficult: Hustle Culture

• The whole “girl boss” and “never stop working mentality” felt like such a prize when I first started my career but now I think it’s really toxic and it’s genuinely something I have to stop myself from falling into. I HATE being called a girl boss, btw.

Difficult: Imposter Syndrome

• When you’re in your 20’s you’re constantly second guessing whether you deserve to be there. You’re too young, you don’t have the experience, etc.

Difficult: Not Always Being Taken Seriously

• If I could tell you how many people have gone to me, instead of Sarah (who is a few years older), asking about lowering our fees or overworking, etc., you would be shocked. A lot of people think they can take advantage of you if you’re young and it’s one of the many reasons that I’m so thankful for Sarah because she really taught me to stand up to those folks. Just because you’re young does not mean you’re stupid.

Rewarding: Working with People I Love

• I get to work with my best friends every day, it’s AWESOME.

Rewarding: Learning the Hard Things Early

• I have learned more from owning a business in my 20’s than in my MBA classes (no offense, Baylor). Every day is a learning lesson and I have learned so many things, from how to manage money from how to break-up with a client, and I am much smarter and savvier for it.

Rewarding: Owning Our Generation

• I work in social media, which is a product of MY generation. There is no better social media expert than someone in their mid-twenties. We lived the AIM, Myspace, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Vine, Tiktok and everything-in-between era. I love that I get to represent my generation as I professionally navigate a field that I’ve really been in since middle school.

What are the main takeaways that you would advise a twenty-year-old who is looking to found a business?

Take your time. I see this all the time with clients, and now as a business owner, how rushing through the basics and not having a strategic plan can really hurt you. Make sure you have the fundamentals down before you move on to the next thing. I can’t tell you how many clients come and want to start a TikTok before they even have a product for purchase and I have to tell them to do one thing at a time. It’s so easy to be distracted by trends and that can be the kiss of death for a strategy (because trends fade!), so focus on what matters and add things on later.

I always say that Steph Curry mastered his free-throw before he learned to dunk, and that’s why he’s the best shooter in the game.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might see this. :-)

It is a strong tie between Mark Cuban or Guy Fieri. Obviously, they are very different but I admire them both so much. I’m a huge fan of Shark Tank and all of Guy’s shows, so I am absolutely a fan-girl in that sense, but I also really love their businesses and what they have done with them. Mark is constantly investing in socially-conscious brands and he has no problem standing up for what he believes in. I would love to just pick his brain on all things business because I really respect him.

I’m also from Northern California and work in food, so Guy is an obvious choice. Guy has done so much for Napa and Sonoma county (his hometown) with the CA wildfires and he really is just beloved in the Bay. Would I love to talk business with him, yes? But honestly, I would rather drink some tequila and talk about our love of food, the Bay Area and the Raiders/Warriors instead. Sarah and I have a saying at Firecracker that “all roads lead to Guy” and it’s our dream to meet him.

What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?

Follow us at @firecrackermarketing to see what we’re up to and you can catch me on my personal account @hannahstheworst (it’s a pun off my last name).

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!