Magnolia Communications began life 20 years ago as Yong & Associates. Since then, we have become one of Vancouver’s premiere full-service PR and marketing agencies. As we celebrate our 20th anniversary, I want to take a moment to reflect on the journey so far, what I’ve learned, and where I believe Magnolia can go in the future.
Finding the confidence to grow Magnolia
Being a woman of color in the PR industry when I first started, and even now, requires a level of confidence that can only be derived from resilience, persistence, and drive. As a new immigrant coming to Vancouver in 1976, I learned resilience and grit from an early age. I believe my family was one of the first Asian families living in North Vancouver. It was, as you can imagine, not a kind environment. We were being called names and mocked for being different. When I told my father about it, his response was for me to stay low on the radar, to not say anything, to keep my head down and move forward. At the time, I wanted my father to fight for me but looking back, I now see what an impossible situation he was in, raising a young family in an unfamiliar place with limited resources. We did not have the tools to fight bigotry, and even now, so many still don’ts.
Which is why I adapted. I learned to speak English quickly and conformed to ‘Western’ culture. I even started bringing sandwiches to school instead of “weird” food in my lunch boxes.
But as Kelly Clarkson sang in “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”, my experiences being different taught me resilience, persistence, and drive. When I face adversity now, I go back to those days being called out for my differences. It makes me work harder and strive further. As a result of that perseverance, we’re celebrating 20 years of Magnolia.
Three lessons about clients, colleagues, and myself
I’ve learned many valuable lessons over the course of these 20 years. If I had to distill them into just three lessons, they would be:
Trust
I’ve learned to trust in my team, trust in myself, and from a spiritual angle, trust God.
Instincts
One of the things I’ve learned is how to really listen to my gut and follow those instincts. My gut will tell me what to do. Sometimes it’s right, sometimes it’s wrong, but in my experience, my instincts have usually been right.
While in life, we tend to remember more of the bad things than the good, and we don’t really celebrate the small wins, it’s those good experiences that hone your gut, more than the bad times. So, pay close attention to the good wins.
Saying ‘no’
However, the biggest lesson I’ve learned running an agency for this long is that it’s okay to say “no”. Within an agency environment, there’s a fear of not saying ‘yes’. Because saying no could mean loss of revenue for us. It could mean losing a lucrative contract or a client, entirely. We don’t realize that sometimes ‘no’ can be the best thing.
Women will know this feeling well. We’re taught to please those around us, which inculcates a desire to be liked. But during my Masters program, I embraced a unique perspective – that I was okay with people not liking me. This gave me the confidence to be able to say things that people don’t like, such as ‘no’.
At Magnolia, I’ve seen what the power of ‘no’ can do. We had a lucrative contract at one point but the client had no story or narrative. I could see the team struggling. So, I asked them if they wanted to say ‘no’. The relief I saw on their faces. It was a tough conversation with the client but it was the right decision for the team and the agency. We were able to concentrate on our other clients and new leads without being sapped for energy.
Getting to the point in one’s career where you have the confidence to decide to say ‘no’ to clients can only come through years of experience.
Staying adaptable
In the last 15 years, Magnolia has gone through so much. We saw the financial crisis of 2008, the stock market crash where one client watched the DOW drop 500 points just days before their big launch. Then, of course, the pandemic and multiple wars during the last few years have changed the global landscape. In the face of so much uncertainty and change, it is imperative that agencies stay adaptable.
You have to take a deep breath and make sure that internally, from a financial, operational, and human resources standpoint, you’re making the decisions that keep the ship afloat. That means being nimble, because you don’t know where the waters will take you.
Adaptability is tied to the resilience, persistence and drive that I mentioned earlier. A drive for excellence must be at the core of agency life. People are entrusting you with their money to deliver quality services. You cannot drive excellence without being equally adaptable.
“Nevertheless, she persisted” has been a rallying cry for women since 2017. Persistence and resilience go hand-in-hand. The harsh truth is that rejection is part of running an agency. Every week, we face rejections and it can be hard. You can always take a moment to throw a pity party but then you have to pick yourself up and keep trying. Another client is around the corner but you’ve got to have the resiliency to adapt from earlier rejections and persist in your attempts to get new leads.
My one piece of advice to budding entrepreneurs
My journey with Magnolia has been rewarding and fulfilling, but it has also been challenging. For anyone taking their first steps into entrepreneurship or running an agency, my suggestion is to get a partner. One who shares your passion and your drive. It makes sharing the load much easier. A partner also balances out one’s strengths and weaknesses. From a logistical point of view, one partner can take over operations while the other is on vacation. I’ve never really had a vacation where I can switch off.
Magnolia’s future is bright
The explosion in digital marketing offers boundless opportunities to Magnolia. We have always prided ourselves on data-driven decision-making and that is going to be a key factor in our future. Personalization has become increasingly important in marketing. We see that with email campaigns and account-based marketing. With our drive for excellence and adaptability, we are positioned to penetrate numerous markets. I also believe that markets are ready for personalization, but they don’t yet have the wherewithal to do it. That’s where Magnolia comes in.
Even after 20 years, I love what I do. It’s a blessing and a curse! So much has changed in the industry, and so much more will keep changing. But making our clients happy, seeing my team grow and feel empowered, celebrating small wins and big successes with the team and clients, those remind me why I do this every day.