Building Flex360

One of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done has been helping build a digital marketing agency and watching it grow to nearly $3 million annually. I still work at Flex, and I’m still proud of what we built.

Before Flex, I spent a good part of my career in newspapers. For a long time, that was rewarding work. But as the industry declined, it became harder to ignore what was happening. Readers were moving online, and businesses knew they needed to reach them there. What they didn’t know was how. More importantly, they didn’t know how to tell if any of it was working.

I was offered a job at the Arkansas Business Journal, and part of that responsibility was overseeing a web development business named Flex360. That was a bit of a leap for me. Web development was never really my background. I had basic knowledge, but I understood enough to know the opportunity was there.

Then I discovered Google Analytics.

That was the aha moment.

For the first time, I could see a way to actually prove marketing. In traditional media, that was always the missing piece. You could believe an ad worked. You could make a good case for it. You could rely on experience and instinct. But proving it was another matter. Digital marketing gave us the ability to show clients what was happening, where people were coming from, what they were doing and whether the work was actually leading to results.

That became a big part of the foundation of Flex.

From the beginning, we believed digital marketing had to be more than selling ads or handing someone a prepackaged plan. If you’re going to help a business grow, you have to understand the business. You have to understand its customers, its goals and how those customers actually move from interest to action. Digital marketing is not just an ad. It’s a journey, and if you don’t understand that journey, you’re mostly guessing.

So we built a process around listening first.

One of the best things we created was an introductory meeting we called Data Bites. The idea was simple. We would sit down with potential clients, usually over lunch, and help them understand analytics at a basic level. Not enough to overwhelm them. Just enough to make the numbers less mysterious and the process more transparent.

What made those meetings work was that we weren’t there just to pitch. In fact, we usually didn’t pitch much at all in that first meeting because we were still learning. We listened. We asked questions. We tried to understand the client before recommending anything. Then we explained how analytics could help all of us measure whether the work was actually doing what it was supposed to do.

That built trust.

And trust mattered, because most clients didn’t start big. We usually started small, let the work prove itself and grew from there. Often it wasn’t the first year when clients really expanded. It was the second year, after they had seen enough to believe in the process.

That approach helped Flex grow, but the revenue was never the part that meant the most to me.

The most rewarding part was the people.

Digital marketing was still new enough that there weren’t a lot of experienced people lining up for these jobs. So we trained people. We hired smart, curious people who were willing to learn, work and figure things out. Over time, I got to watch them grow in confidence, take on responsibility and become leaders themselves.

That has always meant a lot to me.

One of the best examples is Aly. She was there in the beginning, and together, along with others on the team, we helped build the methodology that made Flex successful. I’ve watched her grow into a strong leader who now oversees account managers and the fulfillment team while also mentoring younger employees. Seeing that kind of growth is every bit as rewarding as seeing the business succeed.

Because the truth is, Flex was never just me.

I may have helped shape the vision, but it took a lot of talented people to build Flex into what it became and what it still is today. Good people. Smart people. People who cared about doing things the right way.

That’s really the story of Flex.

We built it on transparency, honesty, care and trust — values you don’t always see in digital marketing, but values that mattered to us from the start. They’re what helped us earn confidence, build relationships and create something that lasted.

And that, more than any number, is what I’m proud of.