Today we’d like to introduce you to Allie.
Allie, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
All my life I’ve been a neon pleather outfit in a sea of sensible suits.
As in literally.
I once wore a chartreuse pleather shirt and jacket to meet with my hometown’s Board of Education. I was there repping my high school Student Council and when we collectively took a seat around the boardroom table, the sound of my clothing was so loud it caused me and our class prez to go into a laughing jag that nearly brought down the damn building.
BUT our hysterics became the warm opener for what was sure to be the coldest, stalest snoozefest in the history of meetings. AND 15 years later if you polled the folks from that room, I bet 96% of them would remember my silly-ass outfit.
The point? Standing out has so many perks.
But it ain’t always easy. It takes guts and nerve and a heavy helping of “I don’t care what you think—Imma do me.”
And more than anything—it takes help.
For most of the last decade, I was a self-worth expert (read: fanatic) working with women to love themselves unapologetically and enthusiastically no matter how long they’ve been their own opponent. And that business stemmed from a difficult time in my youth where standing out brought me a ton of pain (and an illness that brought me to my knees).
I created programs + courses that brought together 8,000+ women, held sold-out workshops and spoke on panels across the globe, built an email following of 23K with another 18K on social, and even worked with bigwig companies (Dell, KIND, AT&T, Trunk Club, etc.) to develop programs for and teach content to the women leaders at the tip-top of their organization.
And while that was incredibly fulfilling (and certainly the full circle of my own healing), a nagging concept kept coming to the surface: STANDING OUT.
Deep in my background bones (before my self-help biz fling), was this hankering and knack for helping people show the hell up in whatever they’re doing—so they make a wave that ripples and so people wanna ride it.
I spent 6 years working at the world’s leading consulting firms in customer experience and talent acquisition answering these big sexy questions— How do you create a brand that people are banging down the damn doors to be a part of? A brand so strong that it leaves your competitors chasing after your tailwind? A brand that people brag about, rave about, obsess about?
Then, I skipped on over to a start-up where I held my ranks as the VP of Engagement. Translation: leading the strategy for every single thing that touched the customer. From identifying customer acquisition channels to engaging our customers through creative email campaigns, actionable video content, and witty social media posts to making sure they stick around (i.e. keep excitedly buying our shit) to the vibe and words of our brand to implementing sick new technology that kept our customer experience at an A+ — that kids, was me.
So it made all the sense in the world that I would pivot from helping people love their self/body to help them love their business enough to stand up for it, advocate for its place in the world, and whip up strategies that actually addressed its problems.
The same hang-ups and holdbacks that impact the trajectory of someone’s life, impact the trajectory of someone’s business — vague plans of action, half-assed ideas, and an obsession with playing by someone else’s rules.
Different vessel, same issues.
So now I get my rocks off by teaching you: HOW TO STAND UP FOR YOUR BUSINESS SO YOU CAN STAND THE HELL OUT.
(Yes, I’m shouting.)
I leverage all my big creative thinking, strategic marketing skills, fanaticism for slick branding, and O.B.S.E.S.S.I.O.N. for system (i.e. deploying sickass tech and customer funnels) to give your peeps a bang-up experience through every inch of your biz.
BECAUSE EVERY BUSINESS CAN HAVE ITS DAY IN THE SUN
— IF YOU STEP OUT OF THE DAMN DARK.
Out of the darkness of weak business strategies, copycat branding, and fear-based execution.
And I say this because I GET YOU. I know what it’s like to be an entrepreneur with big dreams! Exciting ideas! Well-intentioned plans! And to also be SHITTING MY PANTS because it’s f#cking hard to get a business off the ground.
But you don’t want any business, you want a business that falls out of formation and into the arms of your ideal customer.
So let me tell you this—you can be a little LOT scared and (with strategic support) create a stand-out biz from scratch.
And I created Shamelessly + Obedient Agency to prove it’s possible.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Entrepreneurship a smooth road?! I’d call that an oxymoron. 🙂
I come from a family of small business owners, so I definitely didn’t start a business because I thought it was going to be easy — I knew it was going to be hard as hell sometimes.
And the hardest part for me wasn’t necessarily the systems or strategies, but putting myself and my ideas and my creations out there for people to either receive or reject. That was literally terrifying — especially when sometimes things land that you don’t anticipate, while other that you don’t anticipate to land do. So learning how to reach and resonate with my clients, to create things they wanted and needed, to get to know and understand them has been an incredible evolution.
Also, the other biggest struggle initially, before I had a team, was loneliness. Sitting in my house or a coffee shop alone on a laptop with no one to ideate with and bounce ideas off of was super challenging to me as an extrovert. BUT I ended up joining up with other entrepreneurs to work, which helped tremendously until I had teammates to grow and run my business with.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Shamelessly + Obedient Agency – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
About Shameless.ly:
STOP WAITING FOR YOUR BUSINESS TO TAKE OFF WITHOUT DOING SH*T ABOUT IT.
Because strategy matters.
Because consistency matters.
And because if you don’t carve out your own path in the entrepreneurial forest,
you’ll be a tree falling and no one will hear you.
Shamelessly is a witty, action-inducing hub to help you do exactly that — build an actual business that takes actual risks and gets actually noticed.
Because this life is too short (and you’re certainly too smart) to beg for it.
That’s why Shamelessly is where the cool kids hang out.
The big-hearted, infectious, slightly messy, always determined, playful, kind, super-supportive, strong, real, cracked-wide open, all ages, colors, and stages in their business, kind of cool kids.
And we are 1000% percent certain: YOU ARE AS COOL AS IT GETS.
SO IF…
You want to amp up your ability to stand the hell out OR you’re ready to ditch the inner drama keeping you from really killing it in your online business OR you truly want to make waves in your business and life without that whole criticism and comparison thing.
All in the company of the fierce and freshest solopreneurs and small business owners on the block, then you’ve met your match.
Programs we offer:
BRAND CONSULTING
Want to clarify your message? OR break your big bad vision into actionable parts? OR hash out your rough sketch of a launch? OR… Let’s take your well-intentioned, not well-oiled, business/product/program/service idea and turn it into a damn masterpiece.
WEB COPY + STRATEGY
Sounding interesting on the internet is harder than being a 90s boy band trying to make a comeback. But don’t fret — this is your one-stop shop eye-opening, unexpected witty copy that will impress your (soon-to-be) customers in those few precious seconds you have to catch their attention.
FB ADS THAT ACTUALLY SELL & AREN’T GARBAGE
This service is for anyone who is like aw sh*t, I know I should be running those, but is it worth the money? And what do I even say? And how do I decide who to target? And when? And IS THIS A SCAM?!, (I like conspiracy theorists. They’re fun at parties.)
About Obedient Agency:
1. We believe that fun sells.
2. We also believe that you can’t spell fun without F U. (Our name is Obedient after all—because we want to teach you to do the opposite with your business.)
3. We live by the raw, proven mathematics that unexpected + unconventional = unforgettable.
4. We know that if you can make people laugh, you can make them do anything. (Anything legal, that is.)
5. We break rules on the reg, for example we said there would be three things here and we just listed 5.
Programs we offer:
LAUNCH VIRGIN:
A strategic consultation + creative branding sesh (w/ tangible takeaways) to make sure your launch idea doesn’t blend in or bore—so you can avoid that walk of shame.
MONEYSHOT:
A quick-fire name + tagline to bring fun and brilliance in the face of any product, service or program.
BRAND INTERROGATION (free offering):
We throw the best parties online: Tools-day (tech you need to know) and CAN THEY BRAND THAT? (A 7 minute branding challenge) with some Brand Interrogation mixed in once a month.
What I’m most proud of:
I started this whole shebang, so that no other business owner had to go through something heavy and feel alone or misunderstood or like a lost f#cking cause.
Even though I didn’t know all the ten-million nuances of running a biz, I knew how to make people feel welcome, make them laugh, make them throw their guard down.
And so I built these businesses on three things:
1. My desire to turn my past experience into a salve for others
2. My ability to figure shit out (no matter how damn long it takes.)
3. And my humor
Because laughter opens people up and when you’re open, you’re willing to make changes that would otherwise cause massive resistance and a downright panic attack.
So I started designing—
-Workshops and programs that nearly NINE-THOUSAND WOMEN have gone through—which is BANANAS.
-A mailing list of ~23,000 folks. Folks who found this site and it spoke to them enough to trust me with their time and space in their inbox (two things I hold incredibly sacred).
-A Facebook group of thousands of entrepreneurs who give a shit about each other, root and rally for one another, who want to make things better in their heart and in their world.
-My sites. Yes, I designed most of these silly ass things. For better or worse, if I believe I ‘can’ do something that I damn well should try. Thank you, YouTube Photoshop tutorials. I HATE YOU AND ALSO LOVE YOU.
Also, here’s another part of me some may/may not know
I spend the last decade creating, launching, and scaling global programs — first, in the wild and wonderful world of consulting, then as the VP of Engagement at a Chicago-based start-up where I led brand development, customer acquisition strategy and essentially was the inevitable wizard behind the voice and vibe of the business—from brand copy to our social media persona to our customer’s experience through every inch of our biz.
Before you read this next part, please note that talking about my accomplishments (especially unprompted) is honestly really hard for me. That’s not bullshit, that’s true. I was raised by a fam that believes in hard work and humility and finds people who ‘brag’ extremely irritating. Ok, continue…
-Partnering with big whig companies like Dell, Always, AT&T, and Trunk Club to develop innovative programing—i.e. creating and integrating stand-out marketing strategies, building ride-or-die community, developing a brand that people give a damn about and actually pay attention to, telling a story that grabs your audience’s attention.
-I engaged in ideation sessions with growth-minded brands like KIND and Red Bull.
-I hosted/participated in panels globally about slick branding and social media engagement and customer acquisition and how to integrate cutting-edge tech into your biz and how to build a brand through humor and honesty.
-I taught workshops (in-person and digitally) about things like: leveraging tech to standout in your market AND building a brand with some damn personality.
-Talked business strategy with some whip-smart clients with big sexy brands.
-Built my site and my 23K mailing list and a billion customer funnels (translation: a customer’s journey through a business)
-Launched a crazy-ass podcast that just ranked Top 40 comedy pods on iTunes.
-Got some media attention from outlets like HuffingtonPost, NBC, PureWow, Bustle, MTV, and New York Mag.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We’ve got some huge things in store! Launch some new programming/workshops/experiences through Obedient, all with the promise that FUN SELLS. So we’re working with our clients and also teaching folks how to infuse fun, surprise, delight and humor into their brand and business so that they stand the hell out.
Also, thinking of taking our podcast on the road and doing a National tour! We’ve already had a ton of interest, and our first live event was sold out and SO FUN, so why the hell not?!
Pricing:
- Launch Virgin — $800
- Facebook Ads That Actually Sell and Aren’t Garbage — $1000
- Brand Strategy Consult — $250
- Web Copy + Strategy – Basic — $2000
- Web Copy + Strategy – Next Level — $3000
Contact Info:
- Website: shameless.ly / obedientagency.com
- Email: hi@shameless.ly / hi@obedientagency.com
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
