Guest Blogger: Kolby & Rachel from Simply Modern Marketing

Hi, I’m Kolby the owner of Simply Modern Marketing based here in YYC.

Our business is in our name; we make marketing simple. We provide social media marketing solutions to local businesses. Whether you need help growing your Instagram account or setting up a business Facebook page for the first time we are here to help. We love teaching people what social media can do for their business and why it’s so critical in reaching their clients. We take care of your social media so you can get back to taking care of your business.

I started SMM for a few reasons. I’ve worked in marketing for over 10 years now and I’ve always loved it but I didn’t always love how disposable I felt working for large companies, marketing always seemed to be the first to go when it came to layoffs and I was tired of being scared for my career. I wanted to not only have job security but I also wanted to switch gears and start using my marketing skills to help small local businesses grow and focus on helping entrepreneurs. I value work life balance and was tired of having to ask permission to spend time with my family. I wanted to create an environment that allowed me and my team to be able to work from anywhere and work on our own schedules. Life is too short for a 9-5 job, if I want to take a day off to go hiking I’m going to do that and I wanted to allow my team that same freedom.

It’s no secret that Alberta thrives when the oil is flowing. This has been a really hard year for a lot of Albertans but through this downturn I have witnessed a lot of really talented entrepreneurs step out of the shadows and whether they are taking a chance on their dreams because they were laid off or because they finally decided to take a leap I want to help those people. There are so many amazingly skilled and talented people in Calgary right now who can’t find work and are struggling to pay their bills and I want my work to keep the cash in Alberta…literally. Calgary has such an amazing community feel for such a large city and I want to see it bounce back and not because of the price of oil.

One of the reasons why we love YYC is because of its talent and how welcoming everyone is. There are so many opportunities for entrepreneurs to get together in Calgary and share their ideas and support each other and it feels really powerful to be a part of something like that.

We are so inspired by the brands and businesses that have come out of Calgary over the last few years, people are following their passions and it’s working and that’s powerful to watch happen.

When I was thinking about starting SMM I knew I wanted to directly involve local talent in what I was doing. I brought on Rachel from Frankly Ray because of her impressive blogging, social media skills and strong marketing background. Her ability to connect with local businesses is undeniable; she is my right hand girl and brings amazing energy to SMM.

When I asked Rachel why she decided to join the SMM team, this is what she had to say:

I love social media and I want to make a career in digital marketing with a focus on social so when you asked if I would join Simply Modern I was stoked. Getting to work with fun (I was used to oil & gas clients) and interesting clients makes the work not seem like work. Your values and goals for Simply Modern aligned with mine – support local brands, connect with the community, and create a living based on passion and hustle. We both offer different skills but with the same goals in mind we make a killer team.

We recently teamed up with a few local design companies as well to ensure we can help our clients with not only their social media but their entire branding process from beginning to end. Collaboration is our middle name so what sets us apart is we aim to help Alberta grow and that mean’s providing jobs for local talent and getting start-ups off the ground.

We feel strongly that you won’t succeed if you don’t support your fellow entrepreneurs. On a daily basis I’m meeting fellow entrepreneurs for coffee and chatting about how we can help each other’s businesses grow. We need to all work as a team to promote each other in order to make Calgary thrive again. Let’s use this blog as an example, this collaboration with Local Laundry started with me sending an Instagram message to the boys telling them they were killing it and I was proud of them, which turned into what you see here. Without networking I very simply would not be able to make this business work and grow, it’s critical.

Kolby: Over the next year we really want to continue to strengthen our community relationships, keep meeting cool talented people and build a business that gives back to Alberta. We also plan to create an office space for the business that we can extend to people in the community who just need a space to get creative in. I don’t know what the future holds for SMM but I know I’m doing what I love and that I’m grateful for the people who have come into my life since embarking on this adventure.

Rachel: We want to continue growing with the Alberta community – being a part of brand’s stories and success. We’re always looking for new ways to collaborate and work with the brands that we love in our province. We also are going to launch a series of Instagram workshops with tips and tricks for using the platform, styling photos and building a brand on your grid. We are super excited for all of the new opportunities coming our way!

Fun Facts:

Kolby: I’ve been snowboarding since 1996 and worked for more years than I care to mention as a snowboard guide where I spent my weekends taking people all over Alberta, BC and Montana to ride. I still ride every single chance I get and live for the mountains.

Rachel: I hand paint bleach designs onto clothing for a company I started called The Bleached Tee. I used to sell it at craft sales and on Etsy. I sold my clothing for about 3 years before I decided to retire from the bleach.

We love what we do and we love living in such a talented city, we are proud to say that we live local and shop local and of course support local whenever we can! Calgary offers sooo many amazing brands it’s really hard to choose which are our favourite but just to name a few; obviously Local Laundry is one of our faves, as well as CoutuKitsch, Camp Brand Goods, Alberta Branded, Mother Co. just to name a few…don’t even get us started on the long list of our favourite local artists that’s a whole other blog!

We hope you had fun getting to know us a little better, if you want to follow along with what we are up to follow us on Instagram at @simplymodernmarketing