Today we’d like to introduce you to Gwen Beren.
Hi Gwen, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I founded Illuminous Marketing about ten years ago in 2013, after deciding that corporate life was no longer serving me. I was in a fantastic position at the head of the marketing department with a growing company, but there was no work-life balance, and I was burned out.
When I started Illuminous, I wanted the company to really embody the positivity, integrity, and results that I always wanted to deliver for clients in previous roles. I wanted to make a difference for smaller businesses by providing search engine optimization done the right way. I also wanted a brand that highlighted my own optimistic personality and love of the sunshine. Illuminous Marketing was born!
After a few years of doing everything from SEO strategy to our books myself, I decided to slowly grow the company and expand our services to adapt to the changing market. While I do believe that SEO is a pillar of any business’s digital marketing strategy, I also saw that breaking down the silos between website development, social media management, and content marketing was increasingly important. A rising tide floats all boats, right? So, I began slowly building the team to include experts in different areas of digital marketing.
Around the same time, I also joined Hera Hub Carlsbad, which was a game changer. The community that Hera Hub provided for me as a female entrepreneur has been and continues to be invaluable. It was because of this great community that I have found strategic partners, team members, business advisors, and best of all, great friends. That doesn’t even touch on the great business resources that really set them apart from any other coworking space or business accelerator. (I am not paid to say that, LOL.) I truly believe that Hera Hub was an essential key to my business success.
Now that we are officially celebrating our 10th year in business, we are expanding our services and encompassing all aspects of digital marketing, from website development to content marketing. When I re-evaluated our vision at the end of 2022, I really wanted to incorporate the initial vision of the company – to provide great service that made an impact for businesses – and adapt it to the modern challenges that we are facing as a global community in 2023. As we go through the process of relaunching our brand this year, our vision is to provide digital marketing strategies for change-makers striving to make a positive impact in the world.
Growing a business has not been all fun and games. There have been legal battles, missteps, bad hires, resetting my own mindset, and of course, finding that balance when “life is lifing” as the insightful Keasha Lee recently told me.
Although I had never really considered myself entrepreneurial when I started out, the challenges of running and growing a business have been (mostly) thrilling. I am by nature a learner, and as I’m sure any business owner will tell you, there is a lot to learn, and the landscape is constantly changing. That is the biggest lesson that I’ve learned in the last ten years: change is the only constant.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Some of the struggles that I’ve faced were not recognizing red flags quickly enough and not trusting my instincts when I knew someone wasn’t going to work out. That is true for both people that work with us as well as clients with whom we work. Even though losing a team member or a client is stressful, what I ultimately learned is that the stress from trying to fix the situation can be much more toxic than just confronting the problem head-on.
In fact, a friend of mine gave me a book that really helped me shift my perspective for Christmas one year. It’s called, What do You do With a Problem? The essence of the children’s story is that when you don’t confront a problem when it is small, it can swirl out of control (even if in your own head) and threaten to overtake you. I was becoming so engulfed in stress that I began having physical manifestations.
Unfortunately, I ended up in the emergency room with serious stress-related symptoms before I really adopted that lesson as a mantra. Now, my six-year-old and I love to read that story together. It’s a great lesson for her to learn young and a great reminder to me that in every problem, there is an opportunity.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
The best advice that I’ve learned for networking is to have a goal when you go into an event so that you don’t get stuck talking to one person all night! When you set a goal of, say getting 5 business cards or connecting with one good resource, you are more likely to continue meeting more people until you find what serves you.
I also learned that following up after networking can make all of the difference. I am a firm believer in connecting on LinkedIn with a day or two of meeting someone. Just recently, as I’ve been expanding the team, I’ve reached into my network to find qualified talent, sometimes just by searching for the job title on Linkedin. It is a great resource that I don’t think people use enough!
Pricing:
- SEO Audit Start at $1495
- Digital Marketing Audits Start at $2495
Contact Info:
- Website: https://illuminousmarketing.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/illuminousmarketing/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gwenberen/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm_8avbYh1rhrH_OyQsHpjA
Image Credits
Jules Kirkeby Photography
