We recently got the chance to sit down with Ms. Brandie Grace Wong. She is the Founder and Managing Director at Totally Brand It, a done-with-you operations/strategy agency designed for digital agencies to grow their influence and revenue, save time, and scale.
Brandie built her first business at the age of 15, and by her early twenties, she had successfully started & scaled up her first start-up, Totally, Brand It.
Brandie, Thank you for speaking with us today. Can you tell us how you get started?
At the beginning of Totally Brand, we were a Lead Generation Agency for digital agencies. But we realized that we could bring in hundreds of pre-qualified leads to an Agency Owner and they might close none at all. This was because their sales funnels were either inefficient or nonexistent, and those factors were out of our hands.
So, instead of charging an arm and a leg to take over a digital agency’s entire Lead Generation, Sales, and Client Acquisition, we decided to work very closely with Digital Agencies, no matter which field they are from: Marketing, PR, Recruitment, Talent Acquisition, etc. We aim to build custom systems and operations to not only improve Lead Generation and acquire more clients but also expand and scale the capacity of their agency to build longevity and save the Founders the headache of becoming an employee to their own business.
The more agencies we work with, the more experience we gain and the more testing we do. With our experience of working with over 40+ Agencies, we’ve learned that every Agency has its own set of problems that need a unique set of strategies to solve them.
That’s why Totally Brand It exists!
When did you decide that you wanted to become an entrepreneur?
When I was in high school, I wanted to be a doctor. I was a year ahead in biology but wasn’t doing as well as I’d hoped in my Senior Biology class. So I asked my principal to let me drop out of the class that year and retake it the next, but she declined. And that’s when I realized that I wanted to be an entrepreneur because only I could say no to myself.
Around that time, I also developed a new obsession/passion for building and creating something to help and work with others. It brings me great joy to see my clients finally be able to get a good night's sleep because the required support for their agency has finally arrived.
What gave you the courage to start a company?
My mother passed away when I was 19, which is when I started building Totally Brand It. My mother’s biggest worry wasn’t that I wasn’t going to be successful or not get married. Her biggest worry was that I wasn’t going to be happy.
And I determined that what would make me the happiest would also be to make an impact somewhere for someone, to create new jobs, and to have the time to be myself.
I realized that whatever I was going to do was going to be scary anyways. Either way, staying in University or starting a business were both going to put me in the negatives for a while. Thankfully, I didn’t stay in the negatives for too long with my Agency.
I also saw a need in the market with Agency Owners that were really talented at fulfilling their clients’ needs, but generally lacked support or knowledge on the operations side of things.
What is one of your greatest accomplishments to date? Tell us about something that you are most proud of.
My biggest accomplishment for my Agency is bringing in 50-70 pre-qualified leads a month into my own Agency.
My team is growing every day and working with Agencies to put out fires, and build repeatable consistency and growth.
What was one of your most challenging moments, and how did you overcome it?
My most challenging moment was definitely when I was torn between going back to University or continuing to drive myself further into the negatives for Totally Brand It. How I overcame it was not simple, and everyone will tell you how they overcame their own doubts.
But for myself, it was a routine. Every morning it was: Gym, Pray (I’m buddhist), meditate, read, listen to a podcast, and repeat. And I’m not even kidding; it changed everything! Just remember that whatever business you’re trying to build, and however many times you’re switching it, it only needs to work once.
Does your family support you in your efforts? How?
That’s an interesting question. At the beginning of my journey, no. I think that’s the hardest part about starting any sort of business. You would hope and expect that everyone around you would give you an overwhelming amount of support, but the reality is not everyone gets that.
Luckily, for me, my parents were rather supportive of all my endeavors, with the occasional “maybe you should think about going back to school” as a backup. But overall, they were very supportive.
What I got from many people around me were a lot of questions, doubts in the form of “looking out for me”, and discouragement. Which, I now understand, was my inability to explain what my Agency was doing because what I do is so niche.
Today, I receive and appreciate all types of support coming from my family and friends online who once in a while see or follow my content online. I’ve learned that now I don’t need to constantly talk about my business at functions.
Who are your favorite people and/or role models, both business and personal?
My mom would be Number #1. She taught me how to integrate love into every part of my life. And I’ve integrated it into Totally Brand It, and I hope my clients feel that from me too.
Number #2 would be Casey Neistat. It sounds crazy, but he’s a filmmaker/YouTuber who makes a lot of inspiring content about working on what you’re passionate about and learning that it takes a lot of NOs to finally get a YES.
Number #3 would, of course, be the amazing Alex Hormozi, who’s amazing at not only inspiring, but he gives really good sales tips too. You can’t go wrong with Alex Hormozi.
What message would you send to inspire all the other entrepreneurs out there who look up to you?
Believe in what you do, if you don’t, then you can’t expect others to believe in you either.
What do you understand about your industry that other people don’t understand?
That marketing for an Agency is not the same as marketing for any other service-based business. I speak to a lot of Marketing Agencies (along with other agencies) every day, and many of them are so great at marketing for their clients. Still, it’s always harder to market for themselves, which usually comes down to 3 things.
Their brain - The Agency Owner isn’t involved in their own marketing/lead generation, and nobody knows their agency better than they do.
The system - A lot of Agency Owners don’t have a system for Prospecting if that’s what they’re doing for lead generation. A system that’s trackable, scalable, and duplicatable is essential.
Their copywriting - Agencies might be really great at writing copy for their clients, but they might not be very great at writing for themselves. If the copywriting doesn’t resonate with their leads, then, of course, they won’t book that call or close that lead.
What’s next for you in your career/business?
I have big plans externally, with new businesses and platforms. But in terms of Totally Brand It internally, we’ve just come out with a new set of strategies that we’re excited to bring to our existing and new clients to help improve their lead generation and client acquisition to expand their agency.
We plan on bringing in more services and packages that are affordable and easy to use for all sorts of Agencies at different levels. And, of course, continuously upgrading and making it easier and easier for our Clients to scale up their own agencies.
Where can people find you:
https://www.instagram.com/brandie.w_/
https://www.facebook.com/brandie.wong.1
https://www.youtube.com/c/BrandieGraceWongTotallyBrandIt/featured
https://www.totallybrandit.com/first
Media Contact
Company Name: Totally Brand It
Email: Send Email
Country: Australia
Website: https://www.totallybrandit.com/first
