Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew Mimault.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to build and run businesses. I grew up middle class; my mom ran a large in-home daycare and my father worked as a cook. When I was 13, my parents divorced and I didn’t take it well, I remember going through depression for a long time and I wasn’t happy overall with my home-life situation. At the time, I remember thinking to myself: I am going to do this “life” thing differently. I started to immerse myself in whatever I was doing at the time: skateboarding, writing music and plays, fashion, sneakers, small lawn businesses. The list goes on, my interests have always been varied and I enjoy learning and practicing many different disciplines.
At age 14 is really when my business and entrepreneurial journey began. I started my first job at a retirement community and began dabbling in “side hustles,” such as selling shoes and clothing online (way before StockX and other apps took over). I quickly fell in love with the grind and the sense of independence that came with it. Around the same time, I also discovered hip-hop and fashion and began working for a local menswear boutique, Fresh Rags. All of this changed the course of my life and the boutique itself has been apart of my story ever since. Hip-hop reinforced my “go-getter” mindset and gave me the confidence to really be myself; mix that in with some fresh shoes and a clean outfit and I felt like I could do or be anything.
From 17-22, I worked 2-3 jobs simultaneously in hospitality, shipping, and retail while also working my side hustles to help pay my way through college. While in school, I started to take a keen interest in technology and advertising. As a teen, I looked up to Wieden+Kennedy for the work they did with Nike and Jordan brand. The ability to tell a story in such a captivating way that it could make people get up and take action really inspired me.
While attending USF, my curiosity in media lead me to teaching myself web and graphic design. I also studied marketing, consulting, and technology incessantly in my spare time. This lead to a web services internship at a large financial firm, where I learned the corporate ladder was not going to be my career path. I felt creatively stifled in that environment.
As I started giving marketing campaign presentations in my junior year, my professors and peers often told me that I was talented and I should consider marketing as a career. From my perspective, I was just doing what I enjoyed and if people wanted to pay me for it, even better. I started networking in the local startup and small business community to provide consulting and web design work to anyone who would give me a chance. After a few months, I founded my first consultancy, HyperViral Marketing, which would ultimately turn into my first business failure. Upon graduating college, I took a healthcare marketing position at a local device manufacturer. I was still doing consulting on the side and while my day job provided me with valuable experience, I longed to work with more diverse brands.
After about two years of searching, I found the opportunity that I was looking for and landed a position at a digital advertising agency. I spent a few years there and really loved it. I got to work with some of the biggest brands and budgets in the US and worked alongside some really great people, but I started to feel like I was hitting an advancement wall.
Then in 2018, I received an offer to work for a growth firm and lead digital media. I decided to take the leap and again changed companies. While I enjoyed the work I was doing and many of the people I worked with, it ended up not being the right move for me. After almost two years, I felt overworked, stressed, and again like I was limiting my full potential. I decided to leave with no concrete plan in sight other than: I am going to make this work.
After leaving the stability of my day job, I took three months to travel, paint, and network. I had always wanted to pursue art, so I started learning how to paint and shared my work online amongst the art community. I also started doing photography and was still doing consulting work but wasn’t sure if I wanted to make it a full time endeavor. I had tried once in my career and failed, I wasn’t ready to fully commit. During this period I focused on building up another co-owned business, Blue Palm Cleaning Services and I started a podcast, The Eclectic Hour. Looking back, I think all of this work was incredibly important for my business growth and I learned a lot in these pursuits.
In January of 2020, my consulting and advertising business started to take off. I was already well known within my circle for being the “digital guy” and I kept receiving referrals from brands and businesses looking for websites, digital advertising, or help in general with their business. I decided it was time to commit and I went into consulting full time.
In March, COVID-19 hit and I started getting calls and emails almost daily: Many businesses were not prepared to rely solely on digital to feed their sales pipeline. I saw an opportunity and a gap in the market. I founded Mantic to help businesses of all sizes embrace the digital future and drive growth using the power of digital media. I am proud to say in our first 18 months of business my team has helped over 20 businesses across 10 different markets!
I think there are a few themes that have always been part of my story: never stop learning, seeing opportunity in obstacles, and always be willing to do the hard work. I have also been fortunate to work with talented people who are just as committed as I am to improving the lives and businesses of those around them.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
There have been a lot of struggles over the years, every business is full of unexpected obstacles and opportunities. In fact in a somewhat poetic nature I have “The greater the struggle, The greater the victory” tattooed on my inner bicep. I believe the struggles prepare you for your time on the podium.
When in the corporate world, it was always challenging for me to stay within my box. I have a lot of ideas and I move fast, I think that sometimes confused people and made it difficult to put me in one defined role or title. I also never really played into office politics and found navigating corporate culture exhausting at times. I just liked to work and deliver results. Learning to accept that about myself and adjust my work style has been a challenge over the years.
When I struck out on my own, the biggest challenge was becoming an authority and talking about my work. I love doing what I do but I live by the mantra “let the work speak for itself”, so I am not naturally inclined to talk about or share my work publicly. When you own your own businesses, you have to be your biggest cheerleader and that means talking about yourself and what you do.
Accepting failure is another big challenge. As a high performer you don’t like loosing. Knowing when to take the loss and walk away can be difficult. After taking a few loses you learn to accept the failures and appreciate them for the lessons they teach you.
It has also been a challenge to find and hire the right talent as business grows. I know that sounds cliché, but it’s true. Finding the right people and putting them in the right roles so they can learn and grow is challenging. It’s something I am committed to improving.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Mantic Media Group?
Mantic Media Group is a full service independent media firm specializing in the digital activation of brands through paid search and social advertising, web development, content creation, SEO, and design services. We create stunning branding and memorable campaigns that drive increased engagement and sales.
If it has to do with digital media, we can get it done or get you in touch with the people who can help. I like to summarize by saying “we make your brand successful online” but our work often has positive impacts on the entire organization.
What sets Mantic apart from other media firms is that we take an omni-channel approach to growing business by leveraging sophisticated tracking to make data backed decisions. Where many traditional marketing agencies tend to provide one or two service lines or recommend one marketing strategy over another, we are committed to discovering where our partners should invest their media dollars by letting the data tell the story. We are agile in our methodologies and work with our partners to quickly launch go-to-market strategies that achieve their business goals.
I am very proud to say that we work with big and small businesses, across many industry verticals; including home services, e-commerce, and fashion. We enjoy the challenge of working with different brands and we truly believe every industry can benefit from harnessing the power of digital media. In the last 18 months we have worked to help grow 23 different businesses around the country.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Growing up, I didn’t have any mentors and outside of my mom, I am the first entrepreneur in my family. However, I was fortunate to have a solid group of older friends that looked out for me and helped keep me focused. In my younger years and still today, my primary mentors have been books. I am an avid reader and urge everyone to self-educated.
As my career progressed I found mentors in my work peers and some of my previous VP’s and CEO’s. I am grateful for these people and experiences as they motivated me to provide mentorship too other young entrepreneurs. My advice for finding a mentor or networking in general would be this: Be you and don’t force anything. If you are someone who does well with Internet networking, go that route. If you do better with in person networking, go to more local meet ups or industry events.
There is no secret formula to finding a mentor or network, you just have to keep putting yourself out there and you will find the right people. Don’t be scared to start a conversation or to take a leap of faith. You just might get what you’re looking for.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: http://manticmediagroup.com/, http://andrewmimault.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manticmediagroup/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/manticmediagroup
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ManticMediaG
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwaz2i8ZtkDWGKoqkKn7wZw
Image Credits
Photography: Justin Butts on location @ Greenslate Studio.
