Hey there! I'm Tony, the Experience Coordinator at Storm Cloud Marketing. They say that everything happens for a reason. Sometimes that worn-out cliché is the only way to make sense of why things happen. Here’s the story of how I became part of this awesome team. Sometimes, everything really does happen for a reason.
In high school, I dreamed of going to college, getting my marketing degree, and living happily ever after. There was one problem with my perfectly laid out plan. That whole college thing. Let's just say that I’ve never been one of those people who is focused enough to listen to lectures, study and memorize notes all night, and ace those pesky finals.
After a couple of rough semesters, I decided that maybe the marketing dream wasn't going to happen after all.
Picture being 20 years old and someone tells you that you can have a job where:
• You don't have a set schedule
• You can work as much as you want
• You have unlimited earning potential
You'd be crazy to turn that down, right? This is where my career in real estate began (HGTV, here I come).
Once on my new career path, the dream of working in marketing began to spark back up. In real estate, marketing is a crucial piece of the pie. You're not only working on ways to properly market listings for your sellers, but you’re also marketing yourself to stand out from the competition and attract potential clients. Trust me, there's a lot of competition.
During my journey in real estate, I was involved in many marketing aspects of the business. I was lucky enough to have input with the company I worked for at the time and to help with a substantial amount of their marketing efforts.
I began creating Facebook Business pages, not only for my company, but assisting other realtors to create professional pages for themselves as well. I started working on the weekly newspaper ads, coordinating trade show booths, meeting media reps, and getting more and more familiar with posting on social media on the business side.
So, how did I make it to Storm Cloud Marketing? It all goes back to a public hearing, a realtor banquet, and a Facebook message. None of those things seem related, but I promise you they are.
In 2021, I was ready to make a change. I had a full-time administrative role in real estate and felt like it was time to move on. But I hadn't found anything that sparked my interest enough to take the leap. That marketing fire was still burning, but I was running out of firewood. Then I saw a job posting for an Agency Assistant at Storm Cloud Marketing. It piqued my interest right away.
My first thought was, "Here's my chance to get in the door at a marketing agency!" My next thought was, "Storm...that sounds familiar." This is where the public hearing comes in.
In 2018, my neighborhood had a public hearing regarding zoning. Half of the neighborhood showed up to voice their opinion, so I made sure to attend. Also in attendance, my neighbors from two doors down, Dustin and Candace Storm. After the meeting, we had a brief conversation and then went our separate ways.
Our area Realtor association has an annual banquet, and there is always a photographer taking group photos throughout the night. When our company went to have our photo done, I thought the photographer looked familiar. Sure enough, it was Dustin Storm. We chatted for a few minutes, laughed at the coincidence, and went our separate ways once again.
Now, back to 2021 and the Facebook message. I decided to shoot Dustin a message on Facebook, to see if the job was still available (it had been posted for several days). This is where I got my first glimpse of the Storm culture in the form of a few well-placed GIFs. After a couple of messages back and forth he encouraged me to apply. I went for it.
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Cliché time – everything happens for a reason. In April, I found out that the company that I worked for had been sold. My job would be going away on May 1st, which, coincidentally, is my birthday. Great birthday present, right?
That was also the day I got the call for a second interview with Storm. After some tough questions, a story about a cow (it's for the children), and an interesting question about the speed of zombies, I left feeling very hopeful that I might get to be a part of the Storm team.
It's taken a while to get here, down some bumpy and curvy roads. But, as a big dreams kind of guy, I'm living my dream of working at a marketing agency every day. I love the opportunity to be able to work with all of our awesome team members and help when I can.
A big part of my job is working with our clients to communicate their needs to our awesome team. As Experience Coordinator, I function as the main point of contact when our clients come on board with Storm. I’m here to help you through every step of your marketing journey. In addition to that, I help with writing social media posts for our clients and create custom branded images that can really help your business stand out across social platforms. If you’re stressed about not having the time or content to keep up with your social media posting, I'm your guy. I also work with media reps on the traditional media side of marketing.
When you're ready to feel good about your marketing, place your media buy, or level up your social media game, the Storm team and I are here for you. Let's talk.
