Meet Madi Balman

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Madi Balman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Madi, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?

I always knew I wanted to be creative in some capacity, allowing myself to be happy in my job, but the hard part of finding my purpose was how to become purposeful. I used to be so confused on how creative and strategy skills like mine would change lives, so the idea of living a purposeful life was beyond me.

My desire has always been to help people with my talents – and nowadays that looks like helping businesses build their brands. I have helped many businesses who have been screwed over by their previous marketing companies – from redoing their marketing strategy or giving them the files that they need in order to be successful in their marketing campaigns.

The relief and joy that radiates from my clients when we are finished or finally start getting traction is all I need to know that I have a purpose – to help those who need logo design, branding, social media marketing, and web design help.

Nowadays, I am a new mom to the sweetest little boy. A new purpose is to create a business and a legacy for him that will last. By being the best mom, a resilient business owner, and a supportive partner and friend.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

Skellydog is a top-rated marketing agency on the East Coast of the USA. We are primarily located in Southeastern Connecticut, serving local clients as well as remote clients throughout the United States. We are part of the small percentage (1%) of woman-owned creative agencies.

We specialize in digital marketing and branding services such as Logo Design, Web Design, and Social Media Marketing. We believe without a brand backbone, you truly can’t have effective marketing. We make sure that we aren’t just doing a project to do a project – there has to be a reason for growth. We never sell things to our clients that they don’t need and try to combat some of the sleezy, money-hungry marketing companies that you can see day-to-day.

We are unapologetic, while maintaining professionalism and our no-bullshit mindset. Authenticity is key in today’s marketing world, and we want to help people maintain their authenticity on the market.

Whether you need a fractional CMO, a new logo (and made right the first time), a website redesign, new messaging, help with social media marketing, or even the miscellaneous design or marketing help, we’re your team! We are truly Your Brand’s Best Friend. We have exclusive pricing for handmade businesses under 5k/month in revenue, as well as nonprofit (501(c)(3)) organizations.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Three qualities that I am grateful to have had are adaptability, resilience, and eagerness to learn.

When I work with young designers in mentorship environments, I always tell them to try to go the extra mile. It can be exhausting and hard, especially when you have so much going on in your life, but the willingness to put one foot in front of the other is rewarding.

Being adaptable in situations also allows you to have a breadth of experiences under your belt, which ultimately allows you to grow as a person and a business owner even more.

Resilience is necessary to get through the hard times: think about the pandemic. If it wasn’t for me trying my hardest to stay afloat during 2020-2021, my business wouldn’t be here today. Resilience means you can get through any obstacle that comes your way. Pair it with being adaptable, you become someone who is able to solve problems easily, which is no small feat.

Continuously educating yourself is the cherry on top – staying 100% in your ways and not branching out or learning more about your industry is a disservice to yourself. Stay curious, stay adaptable, and stay resilient to be able to grow!

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

Since rebranding Skellydog from Mae Creative in 2024, I have found that we are clearer on our messaging, our demographics, and our goals. I find that we offer better quality services, have streamlined processes and procedures, and even a better client retention and client experience.

It has been a lot of work, and we still have many things to keep improving on, but we are so happy for the opportunity to prove to ourselves (and my imposter syndrome) that we can do anything.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Headshot: Ellen Charis Photography
Additional images: Skellydog

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