Meet Katey Hicks

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Katey Hicks. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Katey below.

Katey, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.

In March of 2022, I signed my first social media client not knowing that two years later I would own my own social media marketing company while also being a successful content creator. This sounds like most people’s dream – to own their own company, but the confidence that it takes to run one, did not come easy. Nor did it happen overnight. To be completely honest, I’m not even sure I could call myself confident, I just know that I’m happy and feel secure in where my career is now. My confidence and ability to take a chance in myself actually came after the before-mentioned client and I parted ways. It was not a mutual parting, but it ended up being the best thing for me. I spent the following weeks desperately applying for any kind of marketing job I could get my hands on. Even though I still had other clients I was working with, I wasn’t making enough money to support my family. With no bites on any of my applications, I connected with a non-profit called PA Women’s Work where I was matched with a mentor in the marketing field. During our first meeting, she asked me why I was trying so hard to find a corporate job when I already had a business of my own? I may have lost one client, but I still had two others, so why not put all my effort into the clients I still had? With this advice, I took the plunge and turned my freelance “business” into a fully registered one. KT Social Media + Marketing was officially founded in March of 2024.

The confidence to take a risk on myself and become my own business is something I work on everyday. Each time I post for a client or post on my own social media pages, I have to remind myself that this is a dream and I cannot take a single moment for granted. When a reel flops or a client requests a revision on a project I loved, I remind myself that it’s not personal. I have grown so much in these past few months and I know I have a long way to go, but I just wake up every day and know that I deserve to be where I am.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I am a one-woman do-it-all social media meets marketing girl. I started my company in March of 2024 after spending the previous two years working in the social media world as a freelancer. My company, KT Social Media + Marketing, houses both my love of managing social media accounts for local businesses and my passion for content creation. As a business, I handle social media posting, website design, content creation, event planning, general marketing, and more. My clients are local to where I live, just outside of Pittsburgh, PA, and I help them elevate their brand and online presence.

As a content creator, I work with big and small brands to create and advertise a product. I started posting regularly on Instagram and TikTok back in November of 2023 and took a personal account and transformed it into a successful content hub. I specialize in mainly fashion and makeup, but I also feature skincare, haircare, and lifestyle content. I have recently been signed by a UGC Agency, The Lobby, and accepted into esteemed affiliate programs with LTK and Amazon.

Both my life as a business owner and a content creator have really helped me find myself again after having my first child, Owen, who is a year and a half. I started taking better care of myself, found my style, and found out who I was outside of being a wife and a mother. I’m so incredibly grateful this life that I truly believe I lucked into.

There are so many exciting things to come – being selected by The Lobby has been huge for me and I’m hopeful it’s the start of a more successful UGC side hustle. KT Social Media + Marketing is almost at its maximum number of clients and is on pace to actually have a waiting! I’m hoping to be able to transition my business into more of a consultant style partnership to allow for me to be able to help more of the small businesses I love. My next content creator goals are to reach enough followers on TikTok to be able to become a TikTok shop creator and to continue to work with my favorite brands.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

You just have to start – to take a chance! When a local hair salon posted that they were looking to hire a Social Media Manager, I took a chance and applied and now I run my own Social Media company. It took a lot of stress and hard work to get to where I am today, but it’s worth it.

In the social media field, your best friends are those connections you can make within brands you want to work with or clients you want to have. For my content creation, I interact with the brands socials – I reply to stories, tag them in my posts, email to inquire about partnerships, etc. I make myself memorable by being their biggest cheerleader. For my business, I would pitch my services in person as the owners are often onsite or I send them an email and include a portfolio of my work aka my amazing website – which you should all subscribe to!

The best advice I can give is to always be genuine. Brands and clients can tell when you’re just talking them up for the free things or to make a few bucks off the current trends.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?

I am an insanely busy person. If you were to take a look at my Oura ring stats, it would tell you that, on average, I am stressed for 5-6 hours a day. I am always overwhelmed, but that’s how I work best.

When you are trying to manage a business with multiple clients while also trying to become the next influencer, it’s hard to not be overwhelmed. Social media trends change daily, what worked yesterday won’t work tomorrow, etc. Those who say social media is easy clearly doesn’t understand the amount of research and skill that’s involved.

How do I mange being overwhelmed? I don’t know that I do, but I do try and reward myself for small things like making a commission sale, hitting a new follower goal, or even just making it through the day. Also coffee. I survive on a lot of coffee!

To balance my day, I always start with a positive, like checking my personal socials to see how yesterday’s content did. Then I get started on my client’s work which is where I spend the majority of my day. If I finish a big task, I’ll take a break by filming content for my pages. If I balance my work and think of it in terms of “I get to do this today” it makes my ever growing to-do list seem less daunting.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

All taken by me (Katey Hicks)

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