We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lily KT Smith & Kara Cecala. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lily KT Smith & Kara Cecala below.
Hi Lily KT Smith & Kara Cecala, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
We both were born into families of entrepreneurs. My mom had a business in mobility care and Kara’s dad owned a dentistry too, so we were both exposed to entrepreneurship at young ages and it must have just been engrained in us. In fact, for myself, I swear it is in my blood as my entire family, all the way back to my great-grandfather, were entrepreneurs. But I also believe that I inherited my dad’s workaholic trait. My dad lives to work and growing up, I saw someone who was so passionate about what they did (in this case, law), that they taught it to others, brought it home with them to continue doing it through the night and surrounded their life with that work. And I think that says a lot about work ethic, as having a work ethic should come easy if you’re doing something you love and are passionate about. To be an entrepreneur, you have to live to work, because it’s a lot of work, and a lot of work without a lot of immediate or promised payout, so you’re doing the work because you believe in it, you’re passionate about it, and trust that it can make an impact on the lives of others enough to put in all the time and effort.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
At 101Media, we create a sense of belonging by propelling the prosperity of a city, its people and business. Nine years in the making, it began as a fun project on Instagram, between the two of us in the mid-2010’s to help people moving to Dallas find out about ways to enjoy their newfound city, from the voice of two fellow transplants. Both having the entrepreneurial gene that we talked about earlier, a side hustle of an Instagram was just the tip of the iceberg that we wanted to conquer. We began adding different platforms like a website and newsletter, and expanded services to hosting events around the city, and even taking our mission to the B2B side, by building a marketing agency to help businesses tell their stories through their own brands and voices.
Today, we just hit a team of 30 total full-time across our three divisions: Experiential, Communities and Agency, plus support with executive, operations and sales teams. Gathering at our adorable 1900’s HQ in the historic district of the State Thomas neighborhood, our team is alive with chatter, collaboration and excitement for big projects and bigger wins! our team culture is a standout beyond our consistent growth and profitability financially (we were named a 5000 Fastest Growing Company by In in 2023!). We care deeply about our core values, and care deeply about uplifting the professional experiences of amazing people, eager to learn and grown in their careers. (We were also named the #5 Best Small Business to Work For in North Texas by Dallas Business Journal in 2023 too!) We are constantly ideating and strategizing how to better our organizational structures, systems, products, services and team dynamic, and part of that includes what goals we want to accomplish each year to get to our 3 year vision! How that translates to new products or services, will be for you to learn as you follow along with our growth at @101media_ on Instagram!
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?
1. You don’t know it all! It might seem like backwards advice, but it’s a skill to be open to seeking feedback and mentorship, and an even bigger skill to be open to hearing how your specific idea could be done differently. We cannot stress the importance that always having mentors is. They’ve been in your shoes and have learned through experience and can pass invaluable experience shares to you about how to navigate the professional world. Seek them out, listen to them and be open to what they share! We have always had mentored and cannot thank them enough for the success they’ve helped bring to our business.
2. Networking! Network, network, network! Some people are lucky enough to start a business that’s so brilliant on its own that it doesn’t need a founder to network for its success, but most of us need to rely on meeting people, gaining important contacts and fostering relationships to grow. When we first started out, we were every where. Yes it’s exhausted, and yes, some of us hate to do it. But if you care more about growing your business than you do not going to an event, then go to that event! Show up, be present, be inquisitive, don’t talk about yourself…honestly, don’t talk, let your conversation-companions do the talking and you’ll leave a really beautiful and impactful impression! Networking can change the trajectory of your business – you never know who you will meet and when, so especially when starting out, say yes more than you say no!
3. Be clear on your business mission, purpose and goals. We have encountered so many discombobulated visionaries and entrepreneurs. Typically, entrepreneurs are ideators – they see the big picture, sometimes years in the future, and can sometimes get lost in their thoughts of what could be vs what is and what needs to get done. It’s very important to be self-disciplined about what you’re doing, why you’re doing and what goals will get you there, and stick to those. Be wary to throw in new ideas or get caught up in other projects. Stay focused and on task, set checklists, use a project management tool, break your goals down into bite-sized week or month long mini goals etc. It’s hard to stay on track and focus on the present, when your brain is moving a million miles an hour, but it’s so important for getting even half way to where your brain already is!
Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
Kara and I both read Rocket Fuel and Traction, two books about EOS, “entrepreneurial operating system.” It’s a system to operate a business that empowers entrepreneurs to focus on and achieve their true goals. There are many components, some that stay high level and others that trickle down to every employee to where everyone at the company plays a role in making the vision happen. It essentially takes a very broad, futuristic idea and lays out a very realistic path to achieve it, by week, by quarter, by year. You set your 10 year vision, and then your 3 year vision for getting 30% of the way there, and then the one year vision including your revenue and profit targets, key KPIs and a number of specific goals that you want to be true by the end of the year. The goals are assigned to people in your company to own and from the goals, quarterly “rocks” are created to break the work of one big yearly goal, into four building blocks. There are also tools for how to run very organized and efficient team meetings, checkins and more. We have loved implementing it as it allows us to recenter and focus on what’s important and what we want to be true for our company year after year, and not get lost in the fluff or shuffle of day to day that can so easily take over.
Contact Info:
- Website: 101media.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/101media_
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/101mediadfw/
