Life and Work with Brittany Sarconi

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brittany Sarconi.

Brittany, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started exploring career options at a pretty young age. As a high school sophomore, I was lucky enough to intern with a trailblazing female assistant athletic director at the University of Denver. Working with her for a year made me decide I wanted to pursue sports marketing as a career.

However, years later, I was studying Journalism with an emphasis in Public Relations and Advertising. I landed an internship with a top digital marketing agency in Denver, 90octane. I was instantly enamored with “agency life”. We worked hard for our clients and I got to be a part of so many impactful projects. After the work was done, we played in a kickball league, had beers at work (what?!), and everyone just had a lot of fun. The energy was contagious. I decided, “Forget sports! This is definitely what I want to be doing when I graduate.”

I graduated in the middle of the recession and couldn’t find a job, agency or otherwise, to save my life come May 2011. After much consideration, I decided grad school would be a good option to help me learn more and prepare for my future career. I hoped that in two years when I was ready to graduate again, the job market would be in a better place. There was only one program that I was interested in pursuing at that point: the Sports Administration program at The University of Northern Colorado. The program was ranked 5th best in the world for Sports Administration at the time and it gave me the opportunity to reconnect with my first passion, sports marketing.

As with most degrees, an internship was required to graduate. I was eager to start getting a “real life” experience so I applied like crazy during my first semester. I interviewed with some pretty amazing organizations, but when the Houston Astros extended an offer to be their Spring 2012 Media Relations intern, I jumped (literally) at the opportunity. I was the most excited I’d ever been for anything in my life. I packed my bags and moved to Houston six weeks later. I lived in a three-bedroom loft with five other interns that semester; we called it the “Real World Loft”. That semester was the most fun, exciting, trying, and challenging of my life. I was in the office every single day, Monday through Sunday, by 8:00 a.m. I knew the media relations position was a very involved position, but I learned just how involved it was very quick. I worked an 8-hour day before the games even started, and then usually worked another 6-8 hours prepping the press box for the game, facilitating interviews, keeping a box score and then writing post-game stories. I worked 60-80 hours a week (unpaid) for six months straight. I wouldn’t trade that experience for the world, but I was ready for a break.

I took the following semester off to rest and to decide if pursuing a career in sports was still my calling. After a few months, I missed the action like crazy! I packed my bags again, moved back to Colorado to finish my degree, and started a job with Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, at Altitude Sports regional television network. As the home of the Colorado Avalanche, Denver Nuggets, Colorado Rapids and Colorado Mammoth, I marketed our core teams for our television channel and our regional affiliate stations. The burnout came slower this time, but eventually, I was discouraged about working so much and making so little. I graduated with my Masters of Science in Sports Administration in May 2013 and by April 2014, I was ready for a change.

Remembering how much I loved that internship four years ago, I decided that was going to be my next step. I spent the next two years at PlaceWise Digital as an Account Coordinator and Account Manager, managing websites, email, SMS and promotions for shopping malls and outlet centers. I quickly moved up in the organization, learning as much as I could to help my clients be successful. I was at home again, like things were falling back into place. I had amazing mentors to learn from and I met, to this day, some of my best friends. But, being the never-quite-satisfied person that I am, I felt after two years that I had learned everything I could there and was ready for my next adventure.

The Lone Star state was calling my name again, but this time, in Austin. I landed a position as an account manager with a social media-focused agency, Social Factor. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was in for quite the ride! The agency was in a big transitional period and my team ended up playing a huge role in the growth of the company. I focused primarily on our Social Care clients. Social care is essentially “caring” for your social media community- from customer service types of services to “brand love” initiatives. And I did it all. I learned things I didn’t even know existed, like how you can turn a qualitative data point like someone’s thoughts and feelings and turn it into a quantitative data point like what percentage of people are having that same thought and feeling, and how you can turn a “brand hater” into a “brand lover” with online and offline tactics like surprise gifts or actions. It was challenging and fascinating and I loved it. In three years, I moved from an Account Manager to a Senior Account Manager and then to an Account Supervisor as my team grew from four people working on two accounts with three projects to 20 people working on four accounts with 30+ projects. But after three years, I was ready for my next challenge.

I accepted a role with a small agency in Denver called Distill as their Director of Accounts. I was excited about the opportunity to help build something again. I was ready to turn small clients into huge accounts and grow the agency like I had before. But even the best-laid plans don’t always work. After about six months, the agency downsized and eliminated the account services department. I was out of a job and some of my biggest clients had nowhere to go. It was stressful, but that’s how Fireside was born.

I took my clients and started an agency with two partners who have launched eight businesses between the two of them. We had the same values and ideas, so things started moving very quickly. We are a fully-functioning, full-service agency, but we do things differently than other agencies. We focus solely on small businesses, the ones that other agencies turn away because they can’t afford thousands of dollars in monthly retainers. We help our community, our neighbors and our fellow small business owners. We are a low-cost solution to those who need marketing help but definitely can’t afford to hire an in-house resource — especially one with the expertise the three of us have with 50+ years of combined experience.

I’ve been able to use every single thing I’ve learned over the past 10 years to make this dream a reality. It’s a great feeling to be able to pull from prior experiences at the exact right moment to help a client in need. I think it’s safe to say I’ll be sticking with this adventure for a very long time, and I can’t wait to see the success the future brings us, but more importantly, the success it brings to our clients. They’re the reason we’re here!

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Far from it! First, being a young (23 years old), (objectively) attractive woman working in sports is a huge challenge. People didn’t take me seriously. People thought I was stupid. I had to prove myself every step of the way. I had to be “on” 110% of the time. I had to be the first to answer a question with the smartest answer. I had to be the first person in the office and the last person to leave. I really had to earn my place. Second, once I did earn my place, I got an ego about it. It took a long time for me to learn to be confident yet humble about my achievements. My advice for other young women would be to work harder than everyone else but remains humble and hungry to learn more.

Please tell us about Fireside.
Fireside specializes in four digital marketing tactics: organic social media, paid social media, email marketing, and search engine marketing. This is a strategic grouping of offerings for our primary target audience of small business owners because these services have the most impact while being budget-conscious. I’m proud to offer effective marketing services to fellow small business owners and to support local businesses.

What advice would you give to someone at the start of her career?
Stay hungry. Don’t let anyone diminish your accomplishments. Remember your worth. And once you’ve made it, give back to others who are in the position you were in not that long ago.

Pricing:

• $5oo/month for 1 service
• $950/month for 2 services
• $1,350/month for 3 services
• $1,700/month for 4 services
• Custom packages and services available

Contact Info:

• Website: www.meetfireside.com
• Email: brittany@meetfireside.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/meetfireside
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/meetfireside
• Other: www.meetfireside.com/enter

Image Credit:
Kimberly Schlichting, Through Your Eyes Photography

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