Interview with Ana Raynes

In this episode, I had the chance to sit down and speak with a digital marketing expert, Ana Raynes, and we chatted about the importance of social media metrics and growing as entrepreneurs.

Ana Maria Raynes is an entrepreneur, digital marketing expert, and owner of the marketing agency, Simplified Impact. She studied at the London College of Fashion, and credits her previous life in fashion for her creativity and high energy. She was a co-founder of the Internet fashion startup Smart Is Cool, where she was responsible for social media and information technology. Following her position with Smart Is Cool, she pursued a career in e-marketing.
Ana has since worked in social media and content marketing with agencies in the New York and Boston areas. She has led digital marketing campaigns for clients such as HSN, Wendy Williams, Football Legend Carl Banks, iHip for Snooki, Eastbay, Aer Lingus, SkyMall, and more. Prior to the launch of her own business, she was Vice President, Content Marketing at Didit. As a thought leader in her field, she has been invited to speak at conferences such as PPC HERO, NY Small Business Expo, NYXPO, Philanthropy Day, CORE, and Vistage.

One of my favourite things about speaking with entrepreneurs is seeing how multi-passionate people are and the incredible journeys people take typically going from industry to industry until they find what lights them up. Ana and I spoke in-depth about her origins as a fashion designer in New York, and how she morphed into an entrepreneur of a completely different industry after moving to Rhode Island!

Ana talks about the importance of reviewing and knowing your social media metrics in growing your business – whether you are a B2C or B2B business. We also go into depth about how valuable having a niche is especially when you’re starting out and wanting to grow your business rapidly. Ever heard of the saying “The riches are in the niches”!

Lastly, Ana and I chatted about morning routines. I’ve always heard that really successful entrepreneurs have really consistent mourning routines to get themselves ready to take on the day. Ana shared how she wakes up around 4 am, meditates, journals, reads and catches up on industry news, all before breakfast and doing the mom thing around 6:30 am and then heading onto work. For the last few years, I’ve been doing my best to develop a morning routine that works for me and makes me feel energized – I have yet to find my jam. Most importantly Ana and I talked about how it doesn’t matter what others do if it doesn’t work for you. Having a standard morning routine that you follow each day is about feeling good, energized, and starting out your day strong. With this in mind, I’m ready to switch things up a little and do it my way – I’ll report back 😉

You can connect with Ana and her team at www.simplifiedimpact.com