While we’re comprised of more than 8,000+ orgs of all shapes and sizes, all appreciate innovative work and sharing ideas. In this series, the Bureau of Digital’s (BoD) Carl Smith chats with members who make our community happen. This time around we speak with Andi Graham, CEO & Managing Partner of Big Sea, an agile digital agency that builds marketing partnerships based on a foundation of empathy and connection. Big Sea offers a full range of services—including branding, strategy, design and development—focusing on smart organizations with complex problems. Enjoy the cleaned-up, abridged transcript below or view the video interview in its entirety.
CARL: TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF. STARTING OUT, WHAT DID YOU WANT TO DO?
Andi: I’d been interested in advertising and marketing forever and I went to college on a scholarship in advertising. I taught myself to code, learned HTML and started making websites. I had no aspirations for agency life. In my first job, a great boss gave me the keys to building my career. After seven years, he said, “There’s nowhere else for you to go here. How can I help you move out?” In 2000, I found my first agency gig as director of digital for a traditional agency. They didn’t know how to sell digital or talk about it. I was coding their website and doing all their media buys, which was ridiculous, because those things aren’t related at all.
CARL: AT WHAT POINT DID YOU SAY, I HAVE TO DO MY OWN THING?
Andi: I’d been amassing clients since the early 2000s, and I started Big Sea in 2005. I worked part-time while I was pregnant and finishing my master’s degree. Big Sea was making around $30,000, a nice supplement but not enough to live on. But I decided to leave the agency I was working for and make this my whole thing in December 2008, when I had my daughter.
CARL: YOU HAVE A CHILD, LEAVE THE AGENCY — BIG SEA IT IS. HOW DOES IT GO FOR THE FIRST FEW YEARS?
Andi: Really well. I hired three people the first year and we grew quickly. The hardest part was that I didn’t really know agency life. That’s where the Bureau of Digital came in. Even though I’d worked at a traditional agency, I’d never been involved in finances, pricing, billing or managing projects. I was making stuff up as I went along, learning the hard way. For some reason, people trusted me, I guess because I deliver on my word. You’ll hear that from so many agencies — if you do what you say you’ll do, people will call you back.
CARL: SO TRUE! WE MET IN 2016. WHAT DID IT FEEL LIKE WALKING INTO THAT FIRST CONFERENCE? MY FIRST TIME, I FELT LIKE, “THESE PEOPLE KNOW EVERYTHING AND I KNOW NOTHING.”
Andi: 100%!
The first Digital PM summit saved my ass because I had no idea how things were supposed to work. I couldn’t believe I was in a room with folks I’d been following online forever.
While I was there, I heard about owner camp, and knew I had to be there. That camp was so personal that I made relationships I still have, some of the best of my professional career.
CARL: I AM GOING TO PUT THAT ON A LOGO. WHO WERE THE BIGGEST INFLUENCES, THE PEOPLE YOU STILL LEAN ON TODAY?
Andi: Nancy Lyons [of Clockwork Interactive] has remained a true friend and mentor. She runs an incredibly successful agency and shares the values I hold most important. I was raised in the punk rock community, which frowned on capitalism and making money. Nancy helped me realize I could make money and generate wealth and also support other humans and be a good person—they’re not mutually exclusive. She showed me that I could give back and make the world a better place because I built this thing.
CARL: NANCY WILL BE AT THE NEXT OWNER SUMMIT, TALKING ABOUT CHALLENGES SHE’S OVERCOME. WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES YOU’VE FACED AND WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED?
Andi: #1 is that you can bill clients a lot more than you think you can. Many women at the owner camp felt strongly that we undervalue what we’re doing and have trouble with hard conversations about money. We need to be brave enough to say, “We never did this before, and it’s taking longer than we expected.” I had ridiculous cash flow issues because I was undercharging. I couldn’t make payroll a couple of times when I was waiting for milestone payments on big projects. I’m so happy to be past that. 2020 treated us very well, and now we’re having a killer year.
CARL: WOULD “EARLY ANDI” UNDERSTAND WHAT “NOW ANDI” IS DOING, LOOKING TO ACQUIRE COMPANIES AND STUFF LIKE THAT?
Andi: No. My goal was to have freedom and comfort. I’m not making a fortune, I’m making a comfortable living and enjoying a life of freedom. If you looked at my roster, you might say why do you have so many non-billable employees? Because I don’t want to do the onboarding and office management. My quality of life is not about money, it‘s about freedom.
CARL: IF YOU WEREN’T DOING BIG SEA, HOW WOULD YOU SPEND YOUR TIME?
Andi: I don’t know. This is what I do. We get offers for acquisition all the time, and people ask, “What would you do if you had millions of dollars?” I’d probably be consulting, doing exactly what I’m doing now. I’d always be starting some fun little project. In fact, now that I have the gift of time, I bought into a café.
CARL: THANK YOU FOR YOUR FRIENDSHIP AND FOR BEING AN INFLUENCER WHO ADDS SO MUCH VALUE TO THE COMMUNITY.
Andi: I love offering advice when I know something. I don’t feel like I’m giving, it’s part of having a relationship. The Bureau is such a great connection.
CARL: YOU JUST SUMMED UP THE WHOLE BUREAU!
Andi: You’ve taken something magical and ran with it.
Check out the full video discussion. To interact with digital agency leaders like Andi Graham, join the Bureau community today!