Interview with Aub Wallace

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Bio

Aub is the cofounder of Dandelion Branding, a content marketing agency dedicating to elevating the impact of social & environmental impact businesses. When she isn’t working on a project, you can usually find her nosing about in the forest or giving congratulatory high fives to her plants for growing.

Tell us your best small idea for big business wins

My simple idea that helped with big wins is this: work with people who are as passionate as you.I love what I do, and I need to work with people that are as excited/passionate as I am, otherwise I’m giving more energy than my clients are to their business.
When the energy is equal between myself and my clients, we create real magic and grow businesses.

Tell us about you; your background.

I grew up in a very small town outside of Flint, Michigan called Clio and went to college at Michigan State University, where I dual-majored in Criminal Justice and Interdisciplinary Social Sciences (focused on Governance and Advocacy), and worked almost full-time running a teahouse.Yes, I founded a marketing agency and no, I didn’t go to school for marketing. My schooling taught me how to understand what people need, what they want, and what lengths they’ll go to to get it.At the same time, I’m a voracious reader, and I have always wanted to be a writer. But I learned the hard way that writers don’t have it easy. It’s hard to be a creator in a world that is full of constant, easy distraction. I learned marketing techniques to help me get my writing noticed – but I realized how powerful marketing is.And even though I’m not working in the criminal justice system, I have the skill to create campaigns that sway people. I know how to advocate for people, and I can help build platforms to make underrepresented voices louder! So that’s what I’m doing.

Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as the real challenge right now?

This is a big question – The real challenge right now in business is that we can’t compete with people who lie.
The marketing industry is unregulated and there aren’t set standards. I can’t tell you how often we hear from clients that they have tried to work with marketers that make huge promises and deliver websites, SEO, and content that doesn’t cut it.On top of that, the sustainability sector comes with specific language and an additional set of knowledge. That knowledge takes time and attention to learn, and it shows when a sustainable business hires a copywriter that isn’t well-versed in the principles of sustainability.Then, half the time, the marketers that do have the language around sustainability use it to help big businesses greenwash! Truthfully, there’s money in greenwashing. Helping big businesses lie about their sustainability values while they continue on with business as usual is a pretty good way to stay profitable.

On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?

I think if I could choose a business superpower, it would be networking. I’m pretty introverted, and it takes a lot of energy for me to network, connect with people, and make sales calls.I would use my superpower to spend more time talking with people, and help them by connecting them with others. I wouldn’t feel like I have to convince people to take the chance to trust Dandelion after they were burned by their last marketer, because my superpower would make sure that all the people I spoke with would be as excited as I am!

What does “success” in 2023 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.

For me, success means living the life I want. I’m not a huge consumer, so I don’t define success by how much money I make. Success means having time for my partnership, a healthy body, and great work-life balance.