What Unwavering Commitment Can Achieve

May 27th, 2015, marked Reunion Marketing’s first day of operation. We didn’t have venture capitalists or bank loans on tap. Instead, our team built the foundation of this company with pure grit and determination.

I won’t speak on behalf of the other co-founders or initial hires, but I do want to share what can be achieved with grit by sharing a few of my own personal experiences. I don’t want you to think that I believe my journey is somehow uniquely difficult or that others haven’t made greater sacrifices. It is, however, a demonstration of what you learn when you push harder than you think.

Investment is Instrumental

When I first joined Reunion, it wasn’t on a full-time basis. We couldn’t afford it. I was employed at an ad agency, writing and editing creative copy for a variety of clients. The workday started at 8:00 in the morning after you exchanged the standard morning pleasantries of “Good Morning” and “How are things going?”

I would work on one account in healthcare that needed a new tagline that better resonated with their audience while still communicating the core of their business. By the end of this task, I’d have a few hundred taglines that we’d whittle down to a few dozen that were “serviceable.” With some feedback (including from myself), I’d set those aside to come back to later.

The next account had a big white paper to release, which another copywriter had drafted. I had to comb through the five pages for grammatical and mechanical errors, as well as look at overall formatting and readability.

A final look at clients’ television, radio, and bumper ad scripts would close out the day — with suggested edits.

All of this includes the process of considering what platform people are consuming the content, the targeted audience, and the mode of delivery (email, gated, free). In all, my eyes review thousands upon thousands of words by 5:30 p.m.

I’d go home, eat, and be on my personal laptop by 6:15. That’s when I’d work until around 11 that night, conducting research for and writing at least 15 model conversion pages per night. At that time in our company, our strategy was to pack as much interesting, relevant content as possible — so we’d have 500-word pages to help dealerships rank for highly relevant terms regarding their inventory. (Things have changed for the better since.)

This was my nightly schedule for three months, not including weekends, and that eventually took on writing for other pages on dealer websites, as well as include website landing pages for companies in other verticals.

I didn’t consider writing model conversion pages to be the most thrilling activity. But, as we launched Reunion Marketing, it was important to deliver what we could with the resources that our team had. And writing these pages were a part of what drove initial results for our partners at that stage of business.

I found what made me feel invested in the work. The success of the business. So I wrote copy because if the pages worked, our partners would thrive. If our partners thrived, the company would thrive. And if the company thrived, I would along with it.

Keep in mind that I’m not talking about the investment of time. That’s a different conversation for another day. I’m talking about investing yourself in the work that you do. Plying your trade to the best of your ability for as long as you need to — because the return on that investment will be the realization of your ambitions.

Obstacles are Achievements Awaiting Action

I took ownership of a team that would research, write, edit, and publish both intent-driven content and complementary content (e.g. blogs). As our SEO strategy evolved, so did our approach to and format of the content we produced, which was more strategic and often driven less by the length and size of the content. This meant new goals that felt like obstacles to success.

By this point in the company’s growth, we now had dozens and dozens of dealerships who needed model conversion pages and other content that all had to be unique — absolutely no duplicate content.

When you consider that there were about 275 existing and new models of vehicles in 2017 and we had most manufacturers represented through our partners, there were hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of pages needed to be drafted, edited, and published. Think about when we would onboard a new partner who did have any while also juggling new models being released in a staggered fashion.

But this obstacle was just an achievement awaiting our action.

The team I lead conceived of documentation to record different value propositions that they could use for each model; they thought about how to exchange nouns, adjectives, and verbs to keep content unique and shared that with each other; they found ways to share the workload that made it more manageable.

All of that while juggling Google Ad copy, other landing pages, and blogs.

And, of course, they put in the hours. The team and I would come in early and stay late throughout the week. The team and I would sacrifice our weekends to crank out a few more pieces of content.

Then we would enjoy the fruits of our labor with an evening get-together or leave early on a Friday or take an extended lunch or work from home — things to break the wheel.

What we have realized is that the new expectations placed on us weren’t obstacles. They were opportunities for us to achieve remarkable things for our partners and, thus, ourselves. We simply had to find a way to innovate and apply our expertise and make thing work within certain limitations.

Uncertainty is a Path to Prosperity

Reunion Marketing hit remarkable strides in growth. As a result, our internal structure had to change to meet the demands of better and better strategies. We formed our national dealer network to pull in big data with which we could use to make better data-driven decisions. As a result, I was in a role that would soon no longer exist as a matter of circumstance.

Fortunately, as a young company, you often have the ability to forge your own path when there’s a demand that needs to be met.

My entire professional career was based on writing advertising copy to influence people to make a range of purchases, from single purchases like a pair of shoes to subscriptions like with a magazine or insurance to significant multi-year payments like a vehicle. But not to influence a business to contractually partner with another business.

I also never had to sit in front of a camera to talk to people. Or to write scripts for a Youtube series. Or to coordinate schedules with other departments. Or to understand how to edit video or add graphics or captions. Or to use Instagram.

There was so much uncertainty in my transitioning into my new role as Brand & Public Relations Manager for Reunion.

But I read and watched and listened and applied. I failed, then used that to triumph. I failed again, then triumphed again. I made better strides with some skills and had to get additional help with others. There was no linear way forward. It was a trajectory dotted with quick turns and unexpected pitfalls — but also with unexpected results and delight.

I learned that uncertainty, when you really want to succeed, can be transformed into a path to prosperity. Not necessarily monetary. No, prosperity much more fulfilling than that.

I experienced growth as a writer, a professional, and a person.

I have accomplished things that I never thought I’d have the opportunity to.

I’ve had the fortune to meet people I otherwise wouldn’t have and make friendships that wouldn’t have been possible.

I’ve created memories for myself and others — and helped them along the way — that wouldn’t have existed.

That’s prosperity no currency can match.

These Events All Had a Common Theme

Each of these events shared something in common. They all took grit. When your commitment becomes unwavering and you find the true reason for investing yourself, you’ll discover a whole new work ethic. And you’ll apply that grit and push harder and push through because the results that you’re hurtling towards are worth every tear, every heartache, every frustration, and every moment along the way.

And, in the end, you realize that you can move mountains.