Hey, thanks for tuning in to another Partner Interview at AccountsBalance.
My name is Connor Gillivan. I’m the CMO and an Owner of AccountsBalance.
We’re on a mission to help 1,000+ businesses better understand their numbers, and industry partnerships is a big way that we’re able to make it happen.
We’re all about creating win-win partnerships where we are able to grow with other companies in the agency, SAAS, and online space.
In this exclusive interview, we interview Tyler Pigott from Lone Fir Creative.
Tyler really loves what he does, from building teams to coaching, encouraging, and cheering people on when they win, he loves helping people find purpose beyond work. Maybe it was his parent’s decision to buy a 100-acre Christmas Tree farm or the made-up products we pitched to each other on road trips, but he always felt like he was born with a love for building new businesses and launching products.
He paid his way through college with a one-man DJ company, built IT teams and creative teams for startups, developed and launched a national beverage product, and founded a marketing agency — Lone Fir Creative.
Now, as CEO of Lone Fir, his favorite task is to cheer on others — whether it’s my employees, other entrepreneurs, fellow agency owners, or our clients — and he loved almost 😉 every second of it.
We hope that you enjoy the interview and that it brings value to you as an agency business owner.
Connor: Hey Tyler, thanks for taking the time to chat with us here. We love getting to know our partners better so that our community can benefit from what our partners are offering and doing in the industry. To get started, can you give us a high-level overview of Lone Fir Creative and how it got started?
Tyler: I started the agency after spending 15 years in the corporate and start up space. I had the opportunity to transition out of a start up in 2015, so naturally I transitioned into being a college golf coach (haha just kidding, it wasn’t a natural transition). During that time I had to figure out how to pay the bills and started taking some of the projects that people began to ask for help with, mainly in the communications and branding space. Over time those projects grow in complexity and I needed more help. Thus the agency started to take shape by hiring employees and starting to build a team.
Connor: That’s awesome! Can you dive a bit more into the marketing services you offer? I’m sure our audience would love to know exactly what problems you could solve for them.
Tyler: We help companies build their brands on HubSpot. From brand messaging and positioning, and strategy to websites and content marketing. Once the foundation has been laid with clear messaging and customer journeys we then help with lead generation through tactics like paid media, ABM and PR.
Connor: Jumping off of that…if there was one problem you’d say that Lone Fir Creative solves best for your clients, what would it be? Why?
Tyler: The problem we solve for clients is creating a clear message for their brand and/or products and then working to amplify that to their core audience.
Connor: As the company continues to grow over the next year, what are your plans for expansion? Any new products, offerings, or enhancements to your current services?
Tyler: As the company continues to grow and expand we plan on continuing to bring on additional really smart people in the brand and marketing space. This helps us serve our clients the best! As far as product lines and/or services, working to keep up with AI in the marketing space has been a focus, trying to use to it make us more efficient and improve outcomes for clients. As we continue to focus on verticals like EdTech and Educational support companies there will additional niche services like PR and product strategy that may show up 🙂
Connor: And how specifically would you say that Lone Fir Creative and your team is different from other similar businesses in the industry?
Tyler: I’d say our people and process, so the How We Do It side of the business makes us stand out. We mix highly skilled consultants and problem solvers with the right clients that will let us help them succeed. Additionally, the Lone Fir Creative team has spent hours and hours build robust processes on how to accomplish projects and campaigns for clients to get repeatable results.
Connor: What made you decide to get involved in marketing? What’s your starting online business story? From what we’ve found, a lot of business owners in the same space have fun stories of how they first started…
Tyler: My getting started story starts back in 1998, a job as an intern in a marketing agency. It was so random task, but I loved helping make videos for clients. It was so cool how you could craft a story using video and then get it in front of tons of people over and over again. As the internet and online stuff evolved, I’d say the power of a good story just took on new meaning with the ability to reach and impact a wider audience.
From a business perspective, I started my first business in high school as a DJ, this was pre-iTunes and Spotify, so you actually had to go find the music people wanted and then play it, I continue building that business through college and it actually helped me pay my way through college.
Putting those two things together landed me jobs out of college at broadcast studios help create videos, being able to use the technical side of music and audio. And then fast forward a few years into explore how to get more people to see those videos which took me down the path of branding and marketing.
Connor: Love it! Talking more about the online business industry, where do you see it going in the next 1-2 years? Any unique predictions that you could share?
Tyler: Online businesses will continue to grow and I believe that they will be required to be more and more focused on what they do. The generalists will have a hard time since there will be people that focus on the specific problem them solve so well and others won’t compete. I also think that the importance of your personal brand is going to continue to play a part, people are going to be challenged by the constant barrage of saying this and that online and will have to figure out how to sort through it all. Real authentic brands will it through, both personal and business.
Connor: Giving you an open mic for a minute, what is something you’d want the AccountsBalance audience to hear?
Tyler: When it comes to marketing, there isn’t a silver bullet. There are lots of principals and frames works that have proven work well, but good marketing like most anything else takes time, focus and constant improvement to watch it work. There are so many businesses that want the quick fix, the quick sale, the fastest way to making money. Just know that like most things in life, it’s going to take you longer than you think and will cost you more money than you think since most business owners are ambitious.
Get started, work on one tactic, dial that in, then add another.
Connor: Changing gears a little bit…When it comes to bookkeeping and accounting, what do you think the biggest pain points for business owners are? Feel free to speak from personal experience as well.
Tyler: I feel like lots of business owners in the beginning try to do it all, bookkeeping and accounting included. You don’t have too! And probably shouldn’t. Focus on what you are good at, what makes the most impact, what moves the needle the most. Every different season of business requires different kinds of help. I’d say finding the right help from a bookkeeping and accounting perspective is well worth it.
Connor: As we close this out, I just have one more question. Where is the best place to find and follow you and the company online? Also, if you have one, is there any special offer that you’ll be offering to the community today?
Website Health Check
https://www.lonefircreative.com/website-check
Tyler:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerpigott/ Website: https://www.lonefircreative.com/
