Starting my own agency wasn’t always part of the plan. There's actually a few deeper reasons why I did it, but I'll pick one for now and save the rest for another day.

It wasn't until my favourite local burger restaurant unexpectedly closed down in June 2023 that an idea sparked in my head.

Despite this restaurant being popular and having other successful locations, this branch shut its doors, leaving me completely shook and confused. After reaching out to the team on social media to ask why this happened, they simply told me that they just weren't making enough money from that location.

This came as a shock to me because, looking from the outside in, they always seemed to be doing okay.

I couldn’t help but feel that if I’d just reached out to offer help with their marketing and brand strategy, maybe they'd have been able to stay open. This experience was honestly a weird epiphany and turning point for me. It eventually drove me to start The Level Up, my own agency side-hustle and passion project, outside of my full-time role as CMO. In the evenings and on weekends, I began offering marketing support to small businesses that needed it most.

A few months in, I decided to bring onboard my good friend Christo as a business partner. Our different skills and personalities complement each other well, which has made the agency journey all the more enjoyable and rewarding. Today, our agency is still dedicated to helping local businesses succeed, especially those who might struggle to keep up with the latest marketing, AI, and software trends.

Many small businesses face the daunting challenge of balancing day-to-day operations with staying on top of technology that could help them thrive. That’s where we come in.