Headquarter In: Scottsdale, Arizona
Founded in Year: 2016
Employees Headcount: 11-50
“I’m fortunate that my passion is my “job” and I have the opportunity to help companies grow every day,” says Kim Grennan. She is the Founder of Axle Eight, a digital marketing agency based in Scottsdale, AZ and serving customers around the globe.
Kim’s career in marketing began as a freelancer with a desire to learn more about how to transform a company concept into a profitable reality. She had always been fascinated by business and how to make money and build it, and it wasn’t until she was older that she realized how important marketing was in that equation. As a result, Kim began to self-teach herself marketing by reading articles on Google, watching YouTube videos, and other methods. She eventually improved to the point that she began leasing out her skills to small companies through sites like UpWork, and her business grew to the point where she required full-time personnel to help with the marketing demands of a diverse group of customers. That’s when Axle Eight as a marketing agency was truly born, 6 years ago.
Axle Eight
Axle Eight is a digital marketing agency that specializes in paid media, content production, public relations, email marketing, and social media for mid-sized businesses. It’s difficult to differentiate at a truly distinct level in a service-based firm that is heavily commoditized. “There are not dozens, but hundreds of thousands of people who offer aspects of the services that we do,” says Kim. “But it’s the people, and our process for how we get things done for our clients, our work quality, and how we pride ourselves on building unique relationships with our clients that set us apart.”
Kim and her teamlike being very personable, more casual, and results-oriented. They tend to have a human approach to relationships and less of a white collar business approach. She says, “We want to be approachable and transparent while achieving results you’ve only dreamed of.”
The team at Axle Eight, idolizes results and relationships—not only for the clients they work with, but also among one another. And each day, they hold one another accountable for the results they promise to clients.
Challenges that Strengthen the Company and Team
Moving from a business of just her to a business employing 12+ full-time individuals has been one of the most challenging yet rewarding things Kim has ever done. She opines, “It’s easy to make decisions that just impact yourself, but when it impacts my team, their lives, and their families, that’s a different ballgame.” For Kim, her team’s happiness is something she puts the largest emphasis on.
“Axle Eight put prominence on building the right team and culture internally moreso than any other agency,” says Kim. She further adds, “Because we know that we will only be successful for our clients if our team is strong and enjoys what they do and believes in the goals that we are working to achieve together.” She believes “With that comes us only hiring people who we know will amplify our culture and what we have as a team. If they don’t fit the mold as a human and bring positivity and smarts and naturally embody our core values and ethics, then they won’t work for our team. That way, anyone we bring on, they fit right in and we all truly enjoy one another’s company and are tightly bonded.“
Kim feels the organization is lucky to have discovered individuals that are not just talented, but also care about the company’s outcomes, one another, and always doing what is best for their clients. Axle Eight offers a flexible work environment with no micromanagement and a profit bonus scheme in which all workers get a 2X annual profit share. As a result, when the company succeeds, all employees are personally rewarded for their contributions.
One Advice; ‘Just Do It’
Kim says she’s spoken with a lot of individuals who want to be their own boss and start their own business, and her suggestion is to show them how. 95% of the people she talks to who want to do it never make the decision to leave their job and focus on something personal. “If you want to be an entrepreneur, the hardest thing is the first step,” says Kim. “So, if you want to do it– prove it because once you are in the situation of not having your comfort zone of a salary, you have no choice but to try and make it work. And no one is getting any younger, the sooner you can do it, the better because life will happen and more responsibilities that will be difficult to escape will likely only pile on as years go on.” She also adds, “If you can prove it, you’re ahead of 95% of people in my books. Have faith in yourself. And you know what? The worst case scenario is you go find yourself another job if it doesn’t work out. It can be that simple.“
Making Every Idea Countable
While making strategies for the company’s vision, the team works collectively and is always looking for any member of the team to bring forth new ideas. Kim asserts, “We want to be collaborative in how we grow as a company.” She explains that the team meets regularly to discuss new ideas for the business and how they can improve how they can make things happen. But the company also goes over all of its financial results every quarter as a team so there is complete transparency. Kim adds, “Every year our general goal is successful growth by delivering services and results to the right clients for our team in a systematic way that continues to be scalable.“ According to Kim, Axle Eight has big growth goals every year that it sets, and luckily, the team has never had a year where they haven’t achieved them, and not because they aren’t stretch goals. Kim says, “We genuinely always find new ways to rush the year. I plan on not breaking that streak.“