Building a Business & The Power of Stories with Hodges Markwalter and Mary Scott Jameson

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Taking on the journey of entrepreneurship is not an easy feat and it’s not for the faint of heart. It takes passion behind your product or service and quite a bit of gusto on how you deliver your messages to investors and potential customers.

On this episode of What’s Your Story, hear from entrepreneurs Mary Scott Jameson and Hodges Markwalter about their journey to building a business, the power of stories when doing this, and how small things can have big impacts.

More about Mary Scott Jameson

An Atlanta native, Mary Scott Jameson, is Sitano’s co-founder and CEO/Creative Director. Mary Scott attended the University of Georgia with a B.A. in Art History and minor in Spanish. She began her career in fashion almost 10 years ago in the Neiman Marcus buying program. Since then, she has pursued various positions in HR, conference and event planning, and business development in various industries. She also spends time interviewing female founders on her podcast, She Had A Vision.

More about Hodges Markwalter

Hodges Markwalter is the Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Office of Atlanta-based VIVA Finance, a fintech upstart that provides working Americans access to fair and affordable credit. His responsibilities include overseeing VIVA’s growth initiatives, including digital marketing, partnerships, and revenue operations. Prior to co-founding VIVA, Hodges worked at Truist Securities as an analyst in their Equity Capital Markets group. Hodges earned a BA in Finance from the University of Notre Dame, graduating with Cum Laude honors.

Show Notes

LAUNCHING A COMPANY:

00:11:50– How do you get your first audience for your business? How do you get started into changing it from an idea to a business?

00:15:00- Mary Scott takes us down a different path from VIVA Finance.

GET BUY IN:

00:17:30– Fundraising with investors and getting buy in into the next phase.

00:18:29– Mary Scott describes her story of finding different spaces to include her brand and her product.

00:19:49– Hodges talks about the early days of pounding the pavement and tells us how he created his pitch.

FEEDBACK AND BUILDING A BRAND:

00:21:47– When a company’s story or brand is really compelling, when thinking about your company what was the feedback that was helpful in the early stages when building your story?

00:22:33- Hodges talks about being nimble.

00:24:00- Mary Scott shares the feedback she received in the early stages of building her company and the feedback she continues to receive.

INVESTORS:

00:25:52- What does it take to get an investor to back you? One key takeaway.

STORIES:

00:28:12– Stories shared by Mary Scott and Hodges about the early days of launching their businesses.

• • Mary Scott shares a story about when losing sleep became a best seller and solidified her commitment to her company.
  • Hodges tells us a story about how doing something so small was the make or break moment of his company’s success.

Like what you hear? Hear more episodes like this on the What’s Your Story podcast page!