Meet Lauren Loreto, the Founder and Owner of Brand Good Time, a content marketing and web development agency dedicated to helping growth-stage startups increase their visibility.
Lauren’s marketing journey began when she used her people skills and quick wit to land her first agency job. Despite having no prior experience, she quickly worked her way up to managing substantial ad campaigns. Unfortunately, the toxic work culture took a toll on her and her colleagues. It also led her to start her first company as a side hustle, marking her foray into entrepreneurship. After experiencing various setbacks and selling her company, Lauren realized her passion for brand-building and officially founded Brand Good Time. Her mission? To make marketing both fun and effective, combining operations with creative thinking to deliver lasting results for her clients.
Below, we delve into the evolution of Brand Good Time’s mission, Lauren’s personal values and the inspiration behind her major business decisions, and the lessons she’s learned throughout her entrepreneurial journey.
Tell us the story behind your company’s founding. How and why did you start working on Brand Good Time?
I think it’s important here to go back a bit to my first job. It all started when I completely BS’ed my way into a job at a marketing agency. I’d read a paid search book cover to cover before the job interview, nailed it, got the job, and worked my way up quickly. In no time, I was managing ad campaigns with budgets of more than $500,000. The grind was just that though: a grind. I learned a lot about how to communicate with clients and run successful campaigns, but I was also part of a toxic work culture that deprioritized “living.”
I took what I learned and ran with it, acquiring my first client as a side hustle and scaling that over the next few years. Ultimately, my business came to life. One agency creation and sale later, Brand Good Time was born from the belief that marketing and life should be fun. Oftentimes, marketing becomes a hamster wheel for businesses—another weekly agenda, tasks that fall through the cracks, and chasing campaigns for virality that don’t yield true results. By combining our unique talent for marketing operations with creative thinking, we’re able to help our clients achieve real results and sustain those results over time. We do this through web design and development, as well as content marketing services.
Can you delve deeper into the evolution of Brand Good Time’s mission and values over time?
What started as a company that wanted to make a difference for brands through strategic marketing has evolved into something much more solidified. Of course, all brands want to succeed. We’ve found that we can make the most meaningful impact with brands whose founders and team members play an active, visible role. They’re bought into what we’re doing; they understand the integration of all “departments” of their business for the success of a brand; and they’re highly fulfilled by the work that they do. Our values reflect this understanding, and include optimism, having a damn good time, being resourceful, simplifying things, and honoring individual capacity.
Reflecting on your entrepreneurial journey, how have your personal values and ethics shaped major business decisions?
The biggest decisions I’ve had to make in business have been around hiring. That said, I knew I wanted to create a work culture that honored the individual. For example, I like being able to have a flexible schedule. I’ll take a hair appointment on a Tuesday, so I’m not taking time away from family on the weekend. I’ll drop what I’m doing mid-day to pick up my daughter early from school to go get ice cream. Our handbook and company culture are a direct reflection of what I want for myself: I want that for my team members, too. We’re big on downtime—when you’re off, you’re off. Take Slack off of your phone if that means you don’t check it, and enjoy the time you’re not in front of your computer. We’re not saving lives here; nothing is ever a true emergency or “fire.”
What were the most difficult and most impactful lessons you’ve learned starting and running a company?
My first business was a result of quickly shifting from being a freelancer to being a company. As a result, it lacked the foundational components that I preached to every client we had: be firm in your vision, messaging, and branding. Over time, I was left with a brand that, from a marketing and business structure point of view, felt disjointed in every possible way. This led to disorganization, over and under-scoping projects, and no clear brand direction. While this wasted so much time and money, it ultimately led to the creation of the brand I have today—a brand that was born out of a clear vision and time spent honing in on the components that make brands successful from the jump. The biggest lesson I learned here was to nail the vision first. Taking the time to sit down and really plan out the trajectory of a project will help focus on this vision and stay true to its goals.
What resources or people have contributed the most to your successes?
Early on in business, I searched high and low for a mentor. I believed that was my ticket to success. Back in 2015, that wasn’t as easy to find as it is today. Instead, I struggled for a few years, leaning on Google and YouTube to help me pave a path in my business. Over time, I started forming friendships with other entrepreneurs from my local community. Those friendships have been more impactful to the trajectory of my business than any coach ever was, and I still lean on them heavily today. I highly recommend seeking out “business besties,” as I like to call them, or even communities of entrepreneurs. Being surrounded by people going through what you’re going through will yield the support you didn’t know you needed and help you move through the ups and downs of running a business.
What have you learned about building a team and a support network around yourself?
Building a successful business is an uphill battle—no ifs, ands, or buts. And if you’re someone who has built a business or is building one, and you’re reading this, you probably have felt a few moments over time of, “Wow, I really wish I had someone to talk to about X scenario.” Business owners cannot operate in a silo and be successful. This is where you need the support network and, most often, a team. You don’t know it all. You shouldn’t strive to know it all either. I’ve learned to hire people who are smarter than I am and surround myself with business owners who are at least two steps ahead of me. Not only does this provide insight, but it provides incredible opportunities for growth I may not have previously seen.
What is the advice that has had the biggest impact on your entrepreneurial journey?
Don’t be a jack of all trades and a master of none. You can’t do everything yourself—so don’t. As you grow your business, peel away the layers of what are not your strong suits so you can focus on what you do best. Whatever goals you have set for yourself, I promise that this will help you get there faster.
What’s next for you and Brand Good Time?
We are on the up and up. Currently, we are scaling the web design side of our business and obtaining training to expand to multiple web providers. Personally, I am focusing more on speaking engagements and getting out into the community to share more of the “good times” part of Brand Good Time. I am passionate about connecting with business owners who are also scaling their brands. I am never a stranger to a friendly coffee chat to bounce ideas.
Lauren is a member of Dreamers & Doers, an award-winning community that amplifies extraordinary women entrepreneurs, investors, and leaders by securing PR, forging authentic connections, and curating high-impact resources. Learn more about Dreamers & Doers and get involved here.