Rebekah Werner
Unita Marketing
How to Master Local SEO & Connect with the Right Clients at the Right Time | Rebekah Werner
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"I dive in head first and then I figure out what pool I'm swimming in. That's what I do. That's like my process, right?
Key Takeaways
- ◆Unita Marketing doesn't use contracts or tiered packages; instead, Rebekah Werner works with each client to design a custom engagement that fits their unique needs, budget, and her team's capacity.
- ◆Before leaving a salary, Rebekah Werner ensured she could replace her income by landing enough clients at Unita Marketing, then gave notice only once she'd secured the financial cushion to match her previous earnings.
- ◆In the Wake Forest Business Industry Partnership founders cohort, peers told Rebekah that calling herself a boutique marketing agency sounded expensive and exclusionary, even though she meant curated and custom-tailored, so she stopped using that language.
- ◆Join a single chamber deeply and attend events weekly rather than spreading yourself across multiple chambers, because staying front of mind with the same group compounds your referrals and relationships over time.
- ◆Do not start work until the deposit is paid, since Rebekah Werner learned this lesson early and it stuck as the foundational rule that protects cash flow.
- ◆Rebekah Werner uses otter.ai to record client conversations in Google Meet and added a home screen widget to her iPhone so she can start recording with one tap while maintaining eye contact, avoiding the fumbling that kills momentum in face-to-face meetings.
- ◆When recording conversations with clients instead of taking hand notes, you capture the minutiae details and intonation that reveal how experts actually think about their industry, rather than the five percent you'd catch by jotting down topic outlines.
Full transcript
Show
Chad Paris
There's a moment a lot of people in marketing never act on. You're good at the work, you're trusted, you're the strategist everyone leans on, and you're doing it inside somebody else's company. Most people stay right there. It's safe, it's a paycheck, and it's not yours. Today's guest didn't stay. After more than a decade in digital marketing, including being the lead strategist at one of the top agencies in Raleigh, she walked away from the safe version and built her own. Her name is Rebekah Werner, and her company is Unita Marketing and Boutique Agency. She founded in 2022 to help small and mid sized businesses actually get founded and grow. She's a Raleigh native, a Carolina grad, and she's built something that now part marketing firm, part family. And we're going to talk about the leap, the fear that comes with it, and what it really takes to better than yourself. Rebekah, welcome to Process Over Pressure.
Rebekah Werner
Thanks, Chad. I appreciate your having me today.
Chad Paris
Very excited about you on the show. So so let's let's just start like get right in 'cause I want people like, Hey, who's Rebekah? I wanna know who Rebekah is. Like tell me about her. So so so who is Rebekah and and what does United do?
Rebekah Werner
Mm-hmm.
Rebekah Werner
All right. Well, two completely different questions. I'll answer the first one first. yeah. You know, that's a that's a loaded question. Who is Rebekah? number one, I'm a child of God. I identify as a child of God. That's how I I try to keep that first and foremost. It's a daily struggle, an hour to minute to minute struggle, but but that is my intention to identify that way first and foremost.
Chad Paris
Yeah, it's got two of them, yeah.
Chad Paris
Yes it is.
Rebekah Werner
Secondly, I'm the wife of Matt Warner, the the mother to three beautiful young women, Zoe, Gianna, and Ella Jane. I'm a daughter, I'm a sister, I'm a friend, you know, all the fun things. but beyond that, I enjoy being a marketing partner to a lot of small business owners that that live around me and that don't live around me. I also, you know, have that other side of my personality. And then another fun fact about me is I'm also a yogi who loves to teach yoga. and just to round it all out, I love to cook, make a giant mess in the kitchen. I love going and hearing live music, dancing like there's no tomorrow. and yeah, that's pretty much it. That's who I am. So, so yeah. And then I think your next question was.
Chad Paris
Yeah. Yeah, go ahead. I w I wanted well first of all let me just say that. You sound like somebody that I would absolutely have a good time hanging out with. You sound like somebody fine and I like that. You're my kind of people.
Rebekah Werner
yeah. I love hanging out. That's right. You know, I've always believed in working hard and playing hard and and that the work life balance is very important and part of the reason I founded my own company. So
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Chad Paris
Yeah. Hey, life's short, right? We we better enjoy life and if you're not enjoying it, that's a probably a good place to start. So tell us about Unita, what it is, what you know, how you you know, what what is it? Tell just like what what is a mantra? Well, who are you?
Rebekah Werner
That's right.
Rebekah Werner
Yeah, yeah. thank you for asking that question. You know, it I think it starts with the with our naming, right? Unita is the Italian word for unity. I identify my father's family came over from Italy and I just have really strongly identified with Italian culture. I got to study there in college and love cooking Italian food and and other food too. But really wanted a unique word that that kind of made people pause and go, Wait, what is that? You know, how do we how do you say it? Wait, what do you mean? Like I I kind of enjoy being having people ask questions about it and and being able to explain what I mean because it goes beyond meaning unity. For us, we try to differentiate ourselves from other marketing agencies because we do view every single client as a partner. we look at it as an ongoing partnership that whether you called me and asked me to help you design a trade show booth and have no intention of ever calling me ever again, or you've called me and said, hey, I've got this idea and I want to launch a business, right? And I need you to help me start it from the ground up. Usually it's somewhere in between where, hey, I started a business a little while back, I've made a big mess. Can you clean it up for me and help me grow? you know, and we and we kind of do everything in between. We are a full-scale agency. Thank you, Lord. so happy you know, we've been in business almost five years now. We are now fully, fully operational, everything in-house, no longer outsourcing any work, which is just something I'm so excited about for two thousand twenty six. all design work.
Rebekah Werner
all hosting, everything. You name it, we've got it. that doesn't mean it don't work with partners. We don't deal l deal large scale printing, of course. You know, we don't have that kind of equipment. And so we do have all kinds of people in our community that we that we partner with for, you know, a lot of physical, tangible things that you can hold in your hands. but anything dealing with your online presence, we don't have to outsource anymore. So we're really excited about that. But The important thing to remember about us is that we are full scale, but we also specialize in search engine optimization. So I do have people call me and just want me to run advertising for them or, you know, like I said, just run a trade show booth design, whatever it may be. but what we've have built a reputation in our community for is matching intent, like helping our business owners connect with the right person at the right time when they're online searching for their services. And we do that mostly through search engine optimization and then also with the help of Google Ads. You know, anytime somebody's going to Google and typing in or AI or wherever they're going and typing in for a service provider. we make sure they're matching with our clients and other competitors.
Chad Paris
that's great. That's you know, such a look, there's a lot of marketing firms that are that are out and and do a lot of different things. And I think the thing that that when I was looking at your story and kind of who you are and wanting you to have on the show is is that there's there's a personal element to to you and your team and that culture. And I think, you know, to me, culture is the starting place for any company. I I don't care. I mean, it just starts there, right? It's it's it's who you are, it's what you're gonna be, it's what you're gonna be twenty years from now. But you that's that's that's the way it's gonna be. And I like that, you know, when I was talking to you, like you take that element and that's the way you work with your clients too, if if if I'm if I'm correct. Like that's that's it it bleeds over into the way you even go about thinking about their business and how to help them.
Rebekah Werner
Yeah, you know, I would say foundationally, we worked I worked really hard in 2025, worked with a bunch of people helping to identify our values and our culture. And, you know, that was one of those things like that you never know when you're starting your business as a baby business owner, you never think about those kinds of things until you know you're a couple years down the road. And and it takes a while to really shape them. And and I'll be lying if I told you it was, you know, perfectly put in a box, but but but what's interesting is that part of what defines our company and our culture is that we're not in a box. One one thing that that w we're kind of the anti-corporate, I would i I would say we we don't do contracts. You know, I mean we're kind of crazy. Like we're one of the only agencies in our area that doesn't operate under contracts. in addition to not doing contracts, we don't have pick A, B, or C. we don't have packages at all. I mean there there's just There are no packages. Every single client is unique. Every single client has a unique set of needs and wants and budgets and all the things. And we put all that together along with our professional recommendations. And we work together to come up with a package that works for that client, that works for their budget and also works for us too as a company. Yeah.
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Chad Paris
I love that. I love that. I I th and and I I think that's that's how I that's how I operate my business as well because I I don't everybody's I mean every I don't think you can put you don't think you can take ten businesses and say they're all alike. They're all different. They're they're and so how do you how do you create a real how do you help us you know, w you and I are in a solution business. We're we're providing a solution, right? How do we do that if we don't
Rebekah Werner
Every single one. Yep.
Chad Paris
Each one's unique and have different things that kind of have to tailor for right? Like I just can imagine being a cookie cutter, like, this is what we do, these three things, and w you you figure out how to fit it in your company. And I think that's important for people to hear that because that is an approach by a lot of people. Like you got A, B, or C. Which one do you want? What's that's what we do. And then now you try to fit, I don't care, you put this little square peg in the round hoe, that's the way it works. Or you have people like yourself and say,
Rebekah Werner
Right.
Chad Paris
Let's let's understand you and how we can best make the best impact.
Rebekah Werner
Yeah. Yeah. And I I mean, and honestly, if I was some like, you know, if I was a business consultant, like somebody who was telling agency owners how they should do it, I probably wouldn't recommend the way that we do it, because we don't take the easy way by any stretch. it'd be a lot easier to say pick A, B, or C and put, you know, I mean, that's definitely you a a lot of agencies will specialize in one industry and it's just copy and paste across the board, different geo geotargets. I mean, you know, there's a lot of easier way to do ways to do it, but
Chad Paris
Yeah,
Rebekah Werner
I want to sleep well at night and I want to help grow my community of business owners. I want to, you know, the people that I network with, the people that I have relationships with. I want them to grow their business and I want them to enjoy the freedom that that my team has been able to establish. That, you know, the the the no walls doesn't just stay in the between us and our clients. It's also between our team. We we literally don't even have working hours. Like we have expectations and response times to one another. Where we're being courteous, you know, like and we have deadlines. And other than that, I I don't need to know if you're at the gym or taking your kid to the doctor or taking a walk or meditating or whatever you're doing. I don't need to know any of those things. I need to know if you're not gonna meet your deadlines for any reason and if you're not gonna be able to respond to my emails in a certain amount of time. That's that's how we do things because freedom is so important in the workplace in in my opinion. It's a it's a foundation of the way we work. What you know, to to say that you're gonna work mo most effectively the same way that I'm gonna work most effectively is ridiculous. To expect us all to be robots working from nine to five or eight to four or whatever, you know. and A lot of people do that and it works well, but I mean, we are all over the place. we're generally all working during the day because we have social lives, you know. Our friends aren't working at night and weekend. So we are generally speaking available. but at the same time, like, you know, I'm wellness is a huge part of my life and and I want it to be a huge part of my team's life. If you need to do anything to stay well or for your family to be well, go do it. You don't need, you know, you don't need to run any of those things by each other. And our clients our clients know they can depend on us to be on time ahead of time. You know, we keep the ball rolling. You know, they know we're gonna respond to them. they're taken care of, they're held. You know, there's there's very few marketing emergencies, which is one of the things I love most about our industry.
Chad Paris
I love that.
Chad Paris
True. It's just so true. So so so take me back to and I really appreciate the the deep dive into kind of who you are and and and and what makes your team so unique 'cause I think I think so many people forget
Rebekah Werner
Yeah.
Chad Paris
We're all trying to be in a very fast rat race pace. And sometimes we forget to just stop and think about the big world that we live in and what's imported. And everybody's different. Like like there are people that like, man, I I wanna have a structure and I wanna work nine to five and I imp and that's fine. And that then that that's the way you operate. But that sense of health is going to make it you know, I say like this. If you're happy in life, you're gonna be happy in your job and your career. And you're gonna be able to be way more productive tenfold than you would be unhappy, unhealthy, and miserable. and I think that's that's that's a a piece that you know, if you go back and look at twenty five years ago, the way business was structured, it's probably why you had a lot of people that were just burnt out and like hated it. Yeah. so
Rebekah Werner
Yeah, I think I think it's unusual that everybody on the team what we all have in common is that we we genuinely love what we do. we love our clients, we love their businesses, we care about them, and we and we care about each other. so it's it's a really it's a really lovely work environment for all of us. but we also we work really hard. We we've stayed lean as far, you know, I think the the volume And the amount that we're able to do for our clients is pretty high given how small our team is. I'm really proud of all the work that everybody puts in. So it's pretty incredible.
Chad Paris
That's awesome. So tell me back to 2022. You you're you know, you're you're in an agency, you're killing it, your life is like just you're you're doing all the things, right? I mean, you're you're successful. What you walked away? Like what made you decide to walk away? And and I'll ask you that first. What made you decide to walk away? Then I'll ask the follow up question.
Rebekah Werner
Yeah, I'll tell you what, I if you if I go back there mentally, I can feel my heart rate start to increase. It was it was a wild time. I mean, you know, I mentioned I'm I'm a yogi, I teach yoga, I teach people how to breathe and and I'll never forget the day I went to give my two weeks notice, you know, I was having a hard time breathing. I was so upset. It was a really big decision for me. I mean I'm incredibly loyal.
Chad Paris
Well let's don't do that.
Rebekah Werner
And I was in a I was in a great work environment. I had a wonderful, wonderful business owner who who brought me under his wing and taught me a lot. And I'll forever be grateful to the to the to the job that I was given and the the amount of management I was given. you know, eternally grateful for it. And and to walk away from it, it was not a light decision. It was a big one. And and it was really hard to walk away from all those clients that I'd built relationships with for so many years. but ultimately at the end of the day. You know, b my family is always gonna come first. And we had reached a point in our lives where we needed more. March our children were our children were wrecking cars. Our car insurance was skyrocketing. Kids were going to college and it just it wasn't cutting it. And I was, you know, doing some side jobs. I love the work I was doing. I was trying to make it work. And and meanwhile, you know, when I look back, I have this clarity that I didn't have at the time. But I was constantly pushing my business owner. I mean, constantly. I was like, I I was always seeing different ways to approach things and wanting to do more for the clients. And and just, you know, at your typical agency, the volume is just too high to to give that bear hug approach that we do at Uni to Marketing. just sheer volume, it just it just limits you, right? And it's like, you know, we we've taken care of that client, you gotta move on, you gotta move on, you gotta move on. And I'm not saying that we weren't taking care of our clients there. That's that's the last thing I'm saying. But what what I am saying is that I was continually frustrated by the volume and I was continually frustrated by the processes, constantly, you know, I'm sure he was frustrated with me continuing to challenge the processes and push them. So when I look back, the writing was on the wall.
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Rebekah Werner
But in real time, it it I mean, it was wild the way it unfolded. I was feeling like, man, I love the work that I'm doing, but I need I need to contribute more financially to my family. And how do I do that? while still taking care of my family. And I was kind of in this, in this place where I was looking like, knew I needed to make a change, but didn't really want to. And one of my best friends, husband and wife owned company, started a brewery nearby, and they reached out to me personally and said, We love. work that you do and we want you to take over our marketing, not your company. And that was the very beginning. That was like the little mustard seed, you know, per se. I said absolutely yes. I was so excited to be able to do things my way from the ground up, you know, that that was the launch of you need to marketing essentially. That's I created it.
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Rebekah Werner
It was like a boom, a quick decision. Took me no time to name the company and and found it so that I could, you know, start take on that one client in a legal capacity, of course. but what but was it so interesting to me, which blew me away was how much I loved doing it my way. And and you know, when I look back, it's like, yeah, it was pretty obvious. that Uni T Marketing's not my first company. I also own Uni to Yoga. I I've also had several other companies in the past that kind of were stair steps to where we are now. but yeah, what I think once I started it was it was like, wait a minute. I think we're on to something here. And then, you know, then my my next client was the hardscaper that knocked on my door to do give me a bid for hardscaping. And he had a a a trailer that said two guys mowing. And it was one guy hardscaping. And I said, I think you got a branding problem. He said, Yeah, to make it even worse, I don't live in this city anymore. I live an hour away, and all my client base is here. And I said, You've come to the right place. So we built him a new brand, a new website, you know, launched his SEO. Now he's his pipeline's full, three teams of guys. he's full six months out, all within his service area. So I mean, that guy loves me. He's he was client number two. And then from there I started think started dreaming. And it wasn't until then that I started dreaming, but that's when I started dreaming. And I started doing some math and realized how many clients do I need to walk away and then start growing this thing. And that's exactly what I did. Got the got the clients I needed to walk away. Never did lose salary because I couldn't you know, we're a double income family, always have been. So once I was able to replace my salary, then I then I gave that two weeks notice, which was that scary day. I I already painted that picture for you where I was so nervous because I loved the work I was doing. It was really hard to walk away. But it was the right thing for my family, no question about it. And I've never looked back.
Chad Paris
I love that story. And that's, you know, it's it's it's the th I guess the thing that, you know, listening to you tell that that kind of back to you know, I was thinking and and really I think for anyone who is an entrepreneur or that's listening, or maybe they're just thinking about being an entrepreneur, they're there, like there's a sense of anxiety, right? Like I'll tell you, I I mean
Rebekah Werner
yeah.
Chad Paris
I I explain this all the time. It's the happiest I've ever been in in being an entrepreneur owning this company. But it's the scariest at the same time because you walk away from a salary where, look, you make great money and it's and it and you and you know that there's gonna be a paycheck there. Like you know you're putting in the time the work and there's gonna be a paycheck. To you're not sure if there's gonna be a paycheck, but you hope there's gonna be a paycheck, and you work a lot. And I don't know, I mean it's hard to explain that to people, but there's a sense of of freedom. There's a sense of I'd be a little bit scared. I mean, I'm just be honest, it's a little bit scary 'cause you know everything's like, you know, you you've you've kind of played being an entrepreneur in your head a thousand times. Like if I owned it, you you hear the people say, If I own the business, I would do it this way. I think we all do that if you're if you're if you're an entrepreneur at heart, like you think of those things. But then now you you like put the money where the mouth is, you gotta do it. And
Rebekah Werner
Yeah. Right.
Chad Paris
And and and I love that even that the the guy that was knocking on your door to sell services, you you saw him as a opportunity. That's a big difference between successful entrepreneurs and unsuccessful is being willing to see an opportunity and being willing to to go after it. And I think that's huge. And so, you know, kudos to you and and I know that's that's probably you probably feel like I do. Scary. Sometimes fun, sometimes a little bit of a little
Rebekah Werner
man. I'll tell you, I've no, there's there's couple couple things I would recommend to anybody who's thinking about starting their own business. And it's and this is kind of unusual advice, but something that gave me peace was knowing I could go wait tables. Right? So come up, make sure you have a a solid way that you know you can get money coming in. if if things get tight. Because if you don't have that cushion, you're less likely to really, really go for it. Right. So so when I went for it that day, a couple things were behind me. Number one, my husband was behind me. And and without his support, You know, it was a it was a family decision. It was, hey, everybody, I'm gonna kiss goodbye to a salary and a job that I love because I have a dream. Is everybody okay with that? You know, I mean it was it was a family decision. And and I didn't feel like my family said, okay. I feel like my family said, You've got this. We believe in you and we will we will lift you up like on the bad days. And they absolutely do, because not every day is good. there are days where I am
Chad Paris
That's awesome.
Rebekah Werner
thinking, you know, I'm like, what have I done? You know, especially early on. It's very scary. It's very, very scary. But every day at the end of the day, I knew if I'm not gonna meet the financial needs of my family, I know I can go wait tables. I know I can go bartend. I know I can teach more yoga classes. I knew that I had that earning potential. And did it mean I might have to work 12 to 15 hours a day. Yes, it did mean that. But that's what I but you've got to be willing to do that to take this leap.
Chad Paris
Yeah. Yeah.
Rebekah Werner
You know, and there there are many, many days. I'm sure both of us could say anybody who's started a business. There's there's a lot of twelve, fifteen hour days, but there's a lot of two hour days too. You know, four or five years down the road now. I also love to paddle board. And if if it's beautiful outside and it's not windy and I don't have meetings, guess what? I go paddle board because that's a lot of stuff to line up. No meetings, good weather, no wind, I'm out, you know.
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Rebekah Werner
So it it works both ways. But there's yeah, there's a lot of 15 hour days and yeah, there's a lot of days where I think, you know what, I think I might have to call those friends that started a brewery and I might need to pour some beer this weekend. and that's okay. That's okay because you have a dream and you're willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen.
Chad Paris
Yeah, I and I love that and I think it's so true is that it's it's you know, for people we we live in we live in this and I've said this a few times on my podcast. I think it's I think it's I don't wanna sound cynical, but it's true. you know, we we live in a we live in a time where and I do, I think I think we've created this this this culture where it's i everybody's looking for an e I say an easy button. And I know that sounds horrible, but I think we we wanna look at like Let me say it this way, and I think this is kind of relate. You got people that are, you know, never heard of in my life that can become a social influencer overnight. Like like we all have TikTok. I mean, there's people out there that are building a go-kart that's got sixty, eight hundred, sixty-eight thousand followers that are following them to building a go-kart and they're making a living doing that. Like, you know, you think like there's an easy button, but but being but really stepping out is is not easy. Like owning a business is not fun. It's not We say it's fun, it's hard, it's hard work, it takes time, it takes commitment, it takes you you know, to be successful, you have to be willing to look at the mistakes that you made and a self-intern evaluate saying, I screwed that up, like man, I jammed that up bad. and and pivot and fix and have people to to look at your six and say, Hey man, you should do this. You're not doing this right. Like you gotta have that. And
Rebekah Werner
I'm right.
Chad Paris
Sounds like your family's one of those that kind of for you have been able to do that. But but maybe maybe you have other people that have helped you do that. And I and I encourage people, if if you're an entrepreneur and you don't have people doing that for you, find somebody.
Rebekah Werner
Yeah. One hundred percent. Yeah, I've got a great community. I I live in North Raleigh. And so, you know, for those of you that've never heard of Raleigh, it's in North Carolina. And it's a metropolitan city, you know, with a the heart l little little little town heart, but you know, we've gotten pretty big. We've got great culture now. It's it's an awesome city. Wake Forest used to be, I mean it I could think it's technically a town, which is like a joke now because it's gotten really, really big. North Raleigh where we live, we're halfway between downtown Wake Forest and downtown Raleigh. And I always like to tell people, I work in Wake Forest and I play in Raleigh because I like live music and all the best live music's downtown Raleigh. So you know, but but and a lot of my friends are down there. I grew up in Raleigh. So I mean I I always end up downtown a few days a week, but normally it's social. when I'm out there hustling and networking and, you know, making strategic decisions, I'm I'm
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Rebekah Werner
I'm with this Wake Forest community, which is just absolutely incredible. There's a there's a community there of founders. It's an entrepreneurial commit community. It's called the Wake Forest Business Industry Partnership. It's pretty incredible and it gets together founders and we I mean, I was just part of a founders cohort in fall 2025. It was incredible. I mean, that that's where we were honing in on our messaging and our core values and I mean just the things that you never think. And to have peers alongside you to say, you know, when you use that word boutique, sounds bougie. And I'm going, I thought it meant like curated and custom tailored to every single individual person. They're going. That makes sense, but on the get out, when you refer to yourself as a boutique marketing agency, it sounds expensive. And I'm going, thank you for telling me that. I didn't know that. So you'll you'll hear me identifying with that a little bit less because you know, we're not the most expensive and we're not the cheapest. We're we definitely do the best job, no question about that. you know, we're very much hands-on, all inclusive, you know, we give a bear hug, not a handshake is what we like to say. But yeah, we're not the most expensive. There's way more expensive companies out there that are doing way less. You know, we'd we like to put ourselves as the best value. but yeah, the last thing I want to do is make somebody think we're like, you know, pinkies up, bougie expensive, only working with large companies. That is not the case at all. So that that was great feedback for me. That's a perfect example of, you know, people being honest, good, hardworking people that are also business owners being honest with you.
Chad Paris
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Chad Paris
Yeah, and I think you're you're pretty involved in the in the Wakeforce Chamber, right? You you do a
Rebekah Werner
yeah, yeah. I that's where I do all my networking is with the chamber. And I I work from a place called the Loading Dock, which has three locations downtown Raleigh, Midtown Raleigh, and and Wake Forest. But a lot of our Wake Forest Chamber networking events are there. So it's in in the Wake Forest Business Industry Partnership Headquarters is there. I mean, it's like this one just conglomerate of business owners that that we're we're we're kind of like our our work family, you know, where we we network, we we send people to one another. Like if if one of, you know, my networking partners is mentioned is talking to somebody about how they need a new website, you know, that they think of me. And if if somebody's talking to me about how they need paint, you know, I'm thinking of him or, you know, we all just refer to one another. And it's it's really great. But then we also can lean on each other for business advice too and say, you know, a guy recently told me about like an improved process for billing, you know, and now I'm saving hundreds of dollars a month on my fees by, you know, the the just that little tweak. And I'm like, Man, you you're saving me thousands. Thank you. Like, you know, over the course of a year. That was a huge conversation. I appreciate you sending me this guy's name. Like, thank you so much, you know.
Chad Paris
I I love that and and and I and I brought that up for for the listeners because you know what I'd what I'd like to do is I I want to just be if you're not in if you're if you're you know for people who are listening this like you know Rebekah could give you like hey here are couple of things that I would do if I lived in a bigger city. Not all I understand not everybody lives in a big city or a bigger city and I think joining the chamber is one of right? Like that's you you just gave a great example of
Rebekah Werner
Yeah.
Chad Paris
Being around other business owners and and stuff helps to kind of have that network that you can talk about your business and hear things that's like, my God, that could because look, a few thousand dollars is a lot of money for some people and a lot of money for anybody. And so to be able to hear that one nugget and shift and change that, I mean it pays for being a part of the chamber and just it really just kind of makes you a part of that community and and and gets you involved in what's going on and feel like you're, you know.
Rebekah Werner
Anyway.
Chad Paris
doing something and matters inside that community.
Rebekah Werner
Yeah, and even even beyond that, like just looking at SEO, like search engine optimization, you get you get a pretty detailed profile listing that you're if you take advantage of it once you join the chamber, they'll send you your login information. And I mean, you can fill out quite a bit of up optimized content on there as far as what you do and your services and all that, which they'll show up in search engines for sure. and beyond that, even the the administration through the chamber, if you're going to events, make sure you meet those people because those people are meeting with business owners all day, every day. And you want to be at the front of their minds. I've got I get referrals directly from chamber administration. You know, people say, so I met so and so when I was at the chamber and I was joining and they told me about you. Right? I mean like and there's there's hundreds of members of the chamber. And the reason they told That person about me and not someone else is because they see me on a weekly basis. Right. I'm at the events, I'm shaking hands, I'm meeting people, I'm I'm checking on how, how, how that process, you know, that procedure go, like, you know, how's this season going for your kid or whatever? Like we just we have relationships, we actually care about each other. So you stay front of mind with other business owners and people that interact with the same, you know, my clients are business owners. So I surround myself with business owners who also work with business owners. Right. So it's like w th that way, you know, I don't surround myself with with agency owners necessarily. I do though. I mean, I'm I'm kind of, you know, again, no walls. I've got no walls. Like I I I actually hang out with agency owners too and we learn from each other. And I'm trying to when I first kind of broke into Wake Forest, the the it was very dismissive, like, you own an agency, I guess we shouldn't talk. And I was just kind of like, hey, let's flip that table because there's plenty of business to go around. Do you think you're gonna get every single business owner in this town? No. Let's learn from each other and let's share business. And if I'm full, I'll pass to you. And if you're full, you pass to me. But more importantly, let's learn from each other. And who are you outsourcing this to? And you know, how did you improve this process? And you know, how is this working for you? And what do you think of
Rebekah Werner
GEO is like the new thing, you know, all the things we we can talk to each other and learn and and be better for our community because we're all serving the same community and let's be better for our community as a whole. So
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Chad Paris
Yeah, I think that's you know, I think people get they get tied up into feeling like they're you know, I live in the Dallas area. There's there's there's eight and a half million people in the D FW area. I'm like, there's you know you can't see everybody. I mean, there's so many people, right? And so y you know, I love talking to people who are in the same space that I am because it it it it's being an entrepreneur is lonely sometimes. You're it can be very lonely. And if you don't have You don't have network of people that you talk to every day, like that understand what you go through and do. It it it really helps to bounce things off. And, you know, I I I tell I tell any entrepreneur or any business owner, even even, you know, established businesses is, you know, who who are the who is in your in internal network that you kind of talk to, or you'll be able to pick up the phone. I don't care if you're a CEO of a hundred million dollar company. You have to have people that you can pick the phone up and call and be like, Hey, I'm I'm running into this. What's your what's your thoughts on that? And and and will not tell you what you want to hear, but be able to kind of help you a little bit through that or or at least say, Hey, I know another guy I talked to, right? That that circle is important. It's very valuable.
Rebekah Werner
Right.
Rebekah Werner
Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. It's it's incredibly valu valuable. I would you know, to to take it a step further, I don't think I'd be the first marketing professional to tell you that that niche works, right? but it also works with networking. So, you know, I mentioned I'm in Raleigh. Raleigh's a pretty large city, not as not as big as Dallas, but it's it's pretty big. And the Raleigh chamber is great, but I felt like I was getting swallowed up in there. little bit, you know. and so I started shopping around. We've got a North Raleigh Chamber now. We have a Wake Forest Chamber. There's another small t couple other small towns popping up, Young'sville Chamber, Roseville Chamber. a lot of people I know make the mistake of joining all of them and going to one event at each one every month or two ish and kind of spreading themselves thin. And
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Rebekah Werner
And it's not that that's a mistake. That may that may be working for them, but I think what has worked really well for me is to stay focused on Wake Forest Chamber. Right. I've just gone, you know what? I'm a loyal person. I I kind of my personality is I I've said this before. I dive in head first and then I figure out what pool I'm swimming in. That's what I do. That's like my process, right? So first step one, dive in head first, fully committed. And then step two, figure out what in the world's going on around you and like how to adapt and like
Chad Paris
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Rebekah Werner
kick harder, swim harder, whatever. That's what I did with the Wake Forest Chamber. It's, you know, within that chamber, it's gotten bigger and bigger and bigger. I've been a member for, I think this is my third year now. And knowing that I know this many people, that now I know this many people, that now I know this many people, and now it's this many people. Like it just it grows from there versus diluting those relationships by spreading myself to then because there's only so much in the day time in the day for networking. You know what I mean? There's so much time in the week, I'd say or in the month.
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Rebekah Werner
There's, you know, certainly not time every day for it. so rather sometimes it does feel like, I'm seeing the same people over and over again. But the reality is I'm building relationships with those people, I'm staying front of mind with those people. And those people are growing, the number of people and the number of connections. And even within that chamber, you can differentiate, you can even specialize more. Like we have Women's Business Alliance within the Wake Forest Chamber. And I'm like, I'm all about lifting up other women. especially female owned businesses. That's like my kind of like my little side. Like I'm like, yeah, like I l you know, I love a female owned business. If I could no offense to you, Chad, but if I could if you know, if it's apples to apples, I'm going with the female owned business every time. Like
Chad Paris
No.
Chad Paris
No. I I I I doesn't doesn't bother me at all. I I've got I actually got several women owned businesses that that are friends of mine that I have and and I love it. I mean I I think you know, I think we live I I to me I I see it as a as you know, have we arrived? No, but how far we've come. Like I think we need to celebrate that. Like the fact that that that we have thriving women owned companies, we should say Great job. Like that's awesome. Like twenty five, thirty years ago that wasn't the case. And and so I I look at it as like I think it's a I think it's a good thing is what I'm saying. I think it's awesome and I th I I I I think it's I I think it's fantastic and we should celebrate it. Not look at it like ooh like
Rebekah Werner
I think I've you know, I'd be remiss chat if I didn't mention that my grandmother owned two soccer stores. And it's just so cool for me when I think about that. And I think about, you know, when I was growing up seeing my grandmother as a business owner and what a profound impact that had on me when I look back on it, you know, and I didn't know it at the time. But when I look back, I just think what an incredible role model for me.
Chad Paris
Absolutely.
Rebekah Werner
It's incredible. You know, we and and and I come from a family of entrepreneurs. Many, many of my family members own their own businesses. But to think, you know, in the fifties that my grandmother was like, Hey, I'm gonna start a soccer store because my son loves soccer. You know? And and so I'm we're I'm buying all this soccer equipment anyway. I'm gonna learn how to source it and I'm gonna start a store. And she ended up having multiple locations and sold it for profit. And, you know, it it's just incredible when I think about it. So
Chad Paris
I guarantee she was one tough cookie.
Rebekah Werner
She was. She was. I feel bad for that guy that tried to steal her purse one time. That did not go well for him. yeah. That did not go well for him. Yeah, but yeah, she is a tough lady and she set a great example for me. And you know, I I come from a long line of entrepreneurship. And I do think it's really helpful if you don't come from that long line of entrepreneurship, and it is something that you want to do to surround yourself with people that have that mindset, that have that, yes, you can.
Chad Paris
I love it.
Rebekah Werner
mentality because when you're in a room full of people that believe they can and believe you can, you start to believe it too.
Chad Paris
Yeah, and I mean for you, you have three daughters. And so look at the example that that your grandmother had on you and now you're leaving for your daughters too. I mean, that just you know, gotta make you feel good or it should. I mean, it's what an example that they get to see. Like, hey, my mom kinda owns she's kind of a a badass a little bit. I mean, it's a second. You know, I think that's cool. You said so kudos to you for that. so I got
Rebekah Werner
Ha ha ha ha.
Chad Paris
like a little we're gonna do a little rapid questions here. I'm just gonna throw out a qua like a little comment and you just kinda you just kinda answer. Like you don't get a chance to sing. It's not prep, so nobody gets like, you just get to get to go out of here. So it's just a little rapid fire fun here at the end. So here we go. You ready? All right. So one thing that you've learned while owning your business, a mistake that that that you can remember back on that
Rebekah Werner
Okay.
Rebekah Werner
All right.
Rebekah Werner
Yes.
Chad Paris
actually turned out to be in something that w was a positive. Yeah.
Rebekah Werner
Oof.
Rebekah Werner
Mistake I made that ended up being a positive one.
Chad Paris
Or you look at now it's like, I'm glad that happened. Like he wasn't happy at the time. It was a it was like, my gosh, I shouldn't have done that. But you look back and like, man, what a lesson I learned of
Rebekah Werner
Okay. Then I can give you my original answer. The first answer that popped in my head, I learned early on, don't start working until the deposit's been paid. Yeah. That's right. That's the lesson most people learn once.
Chad Paris
Mm. It's good. Yeah, you don't want to do it free. Yeah, that's good. what is one AI tool that you may be new to you that you're using right now? Doesn't have to be in your job, it could just be any of that you're like, This is really cool.
Rebekah Werner
you know what? This is I I'm sure you've heard most of them, but this one's pretty cool. This is right before this meeting. I I've been using auto.ai for a while to record conversations with clients where typically when we're in a Google meet, I can I use AI to record on the meeting because I grab tons of content from our meetings. But sometimes, you know, when I'm face to face, I see my clients all the time, you know, in the real world. And and I'm out in the real world and we start talking and they start telling me something that I'm like, I need I need to record this because this is great content for, you know, I could write six articles off of what we're talking about right now. And I have had to go to my phone and and search for the auto.ai app and and and hit record. And by the time I've done that, they're kind of like, it's good to see you. And I'm like, shoot, you know.
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Rebekah Werner
So today I just Googled how to get it so that it's a faster click and it was super easy. I just put the widget on, you know, I scroll to the left of my iPhone, the widget's right there, and I hit tap and I can start recording without even looking at my phone. I can maintain eye contact with the client and start recording the call to their benefit, right? I mean it's you know, I'm not like a re secretly recording them, but it's more just like, hey, this is interesting. I want to look, I want to use this content. because we try to capture their voice as best we can.
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Rebekah Werner
when we're writing for them. So yeah, that was that was huge today to find that quick tap where I can start recording easily.
Chad Paris
I love that. And that's such a such a and there's there's a lot of them out there and there's so many that that's a I use I use similar to that as well because you know you you could take a pen and paper and write it down, right? But but I but you but what happens is and this is why I love that and I think you said it is is you get to have when you're having conversations like we're having, you're more real and authentic and you're capturing the true essence of of their voice and their character and who they are.
Rebekah Werner
Yeah, yeah okay.
Chad Paris
And so it helps it for especially for marketing or anything, it really helps to to get that in its authenticity versus trying to take quick hand notes that you lose the the true power of what they're trying to say. So I love that. I think that's that's cool. That's a great tool that anybody out there listening should should try to definitely use that. So
Rebekah Werner
Yeah, and it goes beyond just capturing their voice too, capturing the details. Because these, you know, these business owners, they're they're in their industry and they're experts. They know they could they could talk about it inside and out, forwards and backwards. And I'm trying to learn it as they're talking. And when you're writing writing it down, you're only getting maybe five percent of what they're saying, right? I mean, in case you're maybe you're superhuman, but like, you know, I'm I'm jotting down like overall notes like here's a topic. Here's three supporting points. Here's a topic. Here's three supporting points. Like stuff like that. But what you're getting from the client is yes, their intonation, yes, their tone of voice. But most importantly, you're getting those minutiae details from inside their brain. So you're choosing, you know, we can do our own research and find all these other things, but like. We want to know, we want to essentially represent you to your clients. And so taking what's in your brain and putting it out there is there's nothing better than that. Right. So and when you're recording, you can focus on the conversation. You're not focusing on wait, can you repeat that? You know, I I didn't quite how do you spell that? Like you don't have to deal with any of that. You can just have a conversation and just learn and be engaged and ask the right questions at the right time and go deeper and learn more.
Chad Paris
Absolutely not.
Rebekah Werner
And get more content, you know, essentially by the end of it. So I highly recommend recording as much as possible.
Chad Paris
That's that's totally agree with that. So last question, last fire question here at you. What would you tell young Rebekah today as she's starting out? What would be one advice you'd give her?
Rebekah Werner
okay, the rule is the first thing that popped into my head. I I hate my answer, but it is what popped into my head. Go to business school. Yeah. That's where I started and I switched and started marketing and advertising, which I loved, but I wish I'd gotten my MBA before I dove in head first and figured out what pool I was swimming in. I think that would have been really helpful to have an MBA. Just for me, for for knowledge.
Chad Paris
Love it. Yeah, yeah.
Chad Paris
Yeah. Well I I I I love it. You know, I just I like those rapping because it gets you just kind of th throwing off the you know, cup pops in your head. So well listen, Rebekah, th we're we're at her time. This has been an absolute pleasure to have you on the show. I really appreciate that. If people are listening and they're and they and they'd like to know more about you or they'd like to, you know, get an opportunity to to have a consult with you or a conversation with you about what you do and maybe learn a little bit more, how would they reach you?
Rebekah Werner
The easiest thing to do is remember the word Unita. It's the Italian word for unity. It's spelled U N I T A. So just an A instead of a Y. And if you search Unita Marketing and you don't find me, let me know because that's a problem. You should find me pretty easy. It's Unita Marketing dot com, Unita Marketing N C on all socials. contact at Unitamarketing.com is my email. Should be pretty easy to find me there from there.
Chad Paris
Perfect. Well, guys, it's been a pleasure. It's been a pleasure to have you. It's been a thank you guys for joining on the show. I'm Chad Paris, owner and founder of Stonefly Consulting. This is my podcast, Process Over Pressure. Love for you to subscribe and and follow along as we continue this journey talking to fabulous entrepreneurs like Rebekah. Till next time.
Rebekah Werner
Thank you, Chad. Thanks for having me.
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