Meet Laura Hobbs of Darling Creative

Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Hobbs.

Laura, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started Darling Creative in 2015 after leaving the corporate world. During my time at a mid-sized health and wellness company, I’d gained a wide range of knowledge and skills in social media management and digital marketing, but I wasn’t willing to climb the corporate ladder. Taking that knowledge and expertise I’d gained, I created my nano-agency around those offerings.

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?
Owning your own business definitely isn’t a smooth road—nor one with clear visibility. From setting up a business to filing taxes and maintaining your own schedule, there are a lot of things to self-manage.

Working from my home office, I have to draw a distinct line between my work life and my home life. It’s easy to get distracted at home—the dogs need walking, the laundry needs folding, the dishwasher needs unloading—so I’m sure to set aside time to get those tasks done each day without interrupting my workflow. I’m also strict about working office hours—I don’t check my email after 6 pm; that never leads to anything good. Five years in, I still get up at 6 am, get dressed like I’m going to the office, and manage my time in a regimented and orderly way.

Another struggle I’ve had was letting go of control and the need to do everything, for everyone, all at once. Because I’m my own brand and the quality of my work is a direct representation of my business, I felt the need to personally do everything. As my business grew, I realized that in order to gain more clients (and more business), I need to hire help. Finding talented, reliable and trustworthy contractors has allowed my business to grow even more, and for me to move into a more managerial role, handing off some of the more tedious work I was doing for so long. Letting go and trusting others was one of the best business decisions I’ve made thus far.

Please tell us about Darling Creative.
With over a decade of experience in copywriting, social media strategy, content creation and community management, I’m well-versed in helping brands find the essence of their message and convey it in a relatable, empathetic and human way. Through voice, tone and audience engagement, I bring a brand’s persona to life, authentically connecting with their digital communities and sparking conversation. Through my thoughtful strategy and hands-on approach, I bring humanity, empathy and heart back to a data-driven world.

Darling’s biggest differentiator is its human-driven, empathetic, high-touch approach. I put a human-focused strategy behind every word that leaves my inbox, and I look at every interaction on social media as a human interaction. It’s important to realize that behind every avatar and every brand, there’s a human on the other end. How do we want to affect that person? How do we want to engage that person? How do we want to break the digital barrier to make a real connection? I remind clients: it’s not about what your brand wants to say. It’s about what your audience wants to hear. And I get it: data is important. Conversions are important. But isn’t the story and the human connection made at the heart of it all?

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Learning to drive at ten years old. My dad thought it was important to start me young and start with a stick shift. We would spend weekends out at the university farm where my mom worked, tooling around the dirt roads in my parents’ ’63 Saab. I felt simultaneously free and in total control—it was a great feeling to have as a kid.

Contact Info:

• Website: darlingcreative.co
• Phone: 479-422-8253
• Email: laura@darlingcreative.co
• Instagram: @darlingcreativeco
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darlingcreativeco/
• Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-hobbs-98070740/

Image Credit:
All photos courtesy of Chantalle Hegreness of @lumynphotography

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