Young Entrepreneur Interview: Shaun Walker, Co Founder of HERO|farm
Written by Puneet Lakhi Tuesday, October 16 2012
Interview Shaun Walker about his experiences starting up ad agency HERO|farm
Born and raised in New Orleans, Shaun graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi with a Bachelor of Arts in Advertising. During his senior year, Hurricane Katrina smashed into New Orleans. Many experts claimed young people were fleeing the city in droves and would never return. After graduating, Shaun set off to his hometown determined to prove the critics wrong and become part of a defining generation of young entrepreneurs.
He has worked for a national top 20 ad agency where he honed his skills on projects for McDonald’s, Sony Pictures and Columbia Pictures. After that he worked for two years at a New Orleans agency as a content developer creating award-winning material for the NBA’s New Orleans Hornets, the New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Louisiana Superdome and others. As a copywriter, Shaun was influential in the creation of the New Orleans Hornets critically important "Fan Up" campaign in 2007, their first season back in the city post-Katrina.
Shaun founded HERO|farm in 2009 with partner Reid Stone. Some notable achievements of the duo: YFS Magazine's Top 20 Young Entrepreneurs of 2011, Business of the Year for 2011 (International Association of Business Communicators—New Orleans), Spotlight on Success 2012 Honorees (March of Dimes—New Orleans), 40-Under-40 (Gambit) and members of Tulane University's Public Board of Advisors (Journalism/Media Arts). They also are hosts of Brand This, an internet radio show where they consult with entrepreneurs and small business owners on how to best brand their services and products and give marketing advice.
How old were you when you started out on your first entrepreneurial venture?
My business partner, Reid Stone, and I founded our company when he was 26 and I was 24. Really, it was out of necessity. We had been laid off together at the beginning of the recession, as we worked in an industry that is anything but recession proof and is one of the first to go down in times of economic woe: Advertising. Since marketing budgets are typically cut during recessions, no one was hiring and we decided to make our own opportunity – and couldn’t be happier with how it’s turned out.
How did you get the idea/inspiration for the agency?
There's nothing quite like having your industry collapse around you to make you evaluate the future. The advertising world is usually a good prognosticator to the health of the economy. And having worked together in this industry for several years, it dawned upon Reid and I more than once that a great shift was on the horizon.
To work in a typical advertising agency during a recession, it's like you're sitting in a waiting room waiting for a doctor to stroll in and give you the news that you have a terminal illness. You've known it before you ever even walked into his office. You felt it coming. Things weren't going right. It's not personal. Hell, you've been healthy and productive. But circumstances outside of your control have made you the walking dead. And there are several other people just like you in that same room. Your choice at that point is to accept the inevitable news and begin the scratching and clawing that is interviewing at the few, still profitable agencies, or you can create opportunity.
When did you decide this is what you want to do?
When the market tripped and the axe fell in 2008 due to scared clients and shrinking budgets, our "what if" turned into "what now?" Thankfully, we had considered the idea of a new breed of advertising agency and, at this point, just had to find a way to make it a reality. I'd be a great politician if I could say with a straight face that we were 100% sure that our idea would pan out, but alas, the presidency is not in my future.
How did you turn your idea into a reality?
We founded HERO|farm in 2009 as a result of our unemployment. We both interviewed for several jobs in our industry, but no one was truly hiring. During a recession the marketing budget is the first thing to go, which means we, as ad people, feel the effects far sooner than most.
We first worked out of Reid’s house and used our connections to strengthen our fledgling business. We have never taken out a loan and used a couple hundred dollars for simple things to get going. Otherwise, we built up from scratch, emerging two years later as the 2011 Business of the Year, (International Association of Business Communicators), Top 20 Young Entrepreneurs of 2011 (YFS Magazine), and 2012 Spotlight on Success honorees (March of Dimes). ABC News here even did a profile piece on HERO|farm during Entrepreneur Week 2012 in New Orleans to highlight our success against all odds story.
We were truly lucky/blessed/charmed to have been surrounded by individuals who had been given the same unemployment death sentence. It's with these individuals we formed our creative guild, and with a few trusting clients that HERO|farm came to be - an agency based on creating opportunities out of unconventional thinking and maintaining a philanthropic side to keep us grounded. Some of our original teammates have grown with us and some have moved on to other opportunities, but all of them coupled with a "head first" attitude helped us to where we are today.
Did you over-estimate or underestimate the costs associated?
Fortunately, we never had to be in the daunting and often scary position of getting a loan. If anything, we over-estimated the costs – Which I know usually is the opposite of most entrepreneurs. We just happened to be in the right industry with the right connections to start up with minimal costs, such as filing our papers with the government, some supplies and initial branding elements.
What aspect of your background or education has been most helpful to your experience as an entrepreneur?
Education is important, but real world experience is more critical. Reid and I learned more immediately after graduating school than we ever learned or could have imagined while in it. Internships and working for someone else for a little while can provide some of the most helpful tools and experience to expanding your entrepreneurial spirit.
What challenges did you face in the first year of starting your business and how did you overcome them and motivate yourself to keep going?
In advertising, we're already battling a negative stigma before we even meet a client because the industry has never been highly regarded, ranking right along with car salesmen and lawyers. But our vision is to change that perception into something positive. For the longest time advertising has been about building brands up and creating a feel good perception for them—But along the way it the ad industry forgot about itself. Ad execs helped brands like Coke and Apple turn into amazing, barrier breaking companies that are recognized the world over, often glowing with feel good personalities. Yet, the ad industry fell by the wayside for the good of the clients, focusing everything on them. While noble, it hinders our line of work. In response, we try to help both clients and agencies alike create better public perception at the same time by doing relevant and beneficial things for their customers.
We also learned that being young, while admired by society, also poses a challenge as the stereotype that comes with it leaves your credibility short. You must continually work to gain experience outside of the office including networking and taking public speaking opportunities. By giving presentations, guest lecturing, and doing interviews, you can rehearse and better handle situations with clients and co-workers. The more you put yourself out there and are seen, the more name recognition you earn. Your age pretty much becomes a non-issue as you have earned that incredibly important third-party validation.
Clients like to know that you're about more than just the bottom line and collecting invoices—But how will they know you are? We overcame the challenges mentioned above by turning an aging industry on its head. Back in the early 20th century companies could get away with it not being socially responsible, but not anymore. We formed HERO|farm with a social mission not only to help us break away from the old way of doing things and stand out, but also because we wanted to make a difference.
What were you afraid of when starting out and how did you overcome this fear?
We were more anxious than afraid. We knew we could succeed if we got a chance – And since we had to make our own opportunity, it was up to us to make it work. Don’t get me wrong; starting a business in one of the industries most affected by the recession was difficult. We wondered long would it take us to make at least enough money to get by? Would we make any money? Like I said, no one was hiring in our industry, so we pressed on and gave it our all. When it comes time to sink or swim and your back is against the wall, you often will amaze yourself with how well you perform.
What is the most challenging aspect of running a service business and what's the most fun and rewarding?
As with most service businesses, you must prove your value and how you benefit the customer. For us, our entire business is built upon ideas, which makes running it often more difficult than most. How do you assign a value to an idea? Ideas, prior to their execution, are some of the most powerful elements in business. Nothing great happens without solid ideas laying the groundwork. After proving the worth of an idea, you then have to execute and evaluate it – a process that can be long and difficult.
Many business owners, especially during this economy, are often trying to do everything themselves. We can’t blame them. As an entrepreneur, they usually have an inner fire that makes them want have their hands in everything their business does – They just run short on time to do it all. Our challenge is to prove to them that we are here to make their lives easier and take a little off their plate.
Seeing our ideas come alive, whether a billboard, radio spot or whatever else, is one of the greatest feelings. The best feeling, though, is when our work has effectively helped a client reach their goals. When a client does well, we do well – and that is our goal.
What was your strategy to market your business and build your client list?
The majority of our business comes from word of mouth. We’ve been lucky to work with some amazing clients who believe in our abilities and us. We do some new business outreach but mostly do solid work that gets recognized and gets us enough attention to have clients calling us for help. However, as I said, one of the best tactics is to make your presence known in the community by being as many places as possible, doing as many things as possible.
How has your revenue grown since the business's inception? Are you able to fully support yourself with your business?
We have been extremely fortunate since we started up. While the first year was very inconsistent and we often would go a couple of months without getting to pay ourselves, the next few years have been kind. We’ve doubled our revenue every year and are now able to fully support our salaries and many employees.
What overall advice would you offer young entrepreneurs who are looking to emulate your success with creating a service/marketing agency?
There is an old saying, "In seeking happiness for others, you find it for yourself." We truly believe that, which is why we make it our mission to give back. You have to make work about more than money and success, because if you are in business only to make money you WILL fail. It has to be about more than that. This kind of thinking helps power us through our day-to-day grind when times like this are tough. It reminds us that no matter how much money, power or fame we may end up having, it all means nothing if we aren't making a positive impact on the world. People remember the kindness and smiles you share with them and how you made them feel, not what kind of car you drove or what designer clothing you wore.
You have to be a part of something bigger than yourself so that everyone, regardless of status in the company, has a sense of ownership in the brand. You become invested in it not because you work there, but because of what it stands for: You and all that you believe in. It is the common, uniting goal that everyone here works toward for clients, the world and us. True success comes when everyone focuses on the bigger picture and here, the bigger picture isn't just about doing your job—It's about trying to change the world for the better.
Working just for the sake of completing a task may finish the job, but does it provide any added value other than checking it off your to-do list? If not, what's the point? There will always be more work that needs to be done, and once it's done there's another assignment ready to take its place. Why not make it meaningful? Why not stand out? If you're not trying to change the world for the better or having some kind of positive impact on it, all you're doing is taking up space.
Connecting your work with a worthwhile endeavor makes it meaningful not only to those who work on it, but it also becomes more appealing to those who view or experience it. As the creator, you become invested in its outcome, since a part of you truly lives on in the work. We founded HERO|farm with a simple philosophy: Do great work for good people. We’ve discovered that when following this principle, everything else seems to fall into place.