As President and CEO of Astute, she now oversees creative and technical production work completed while focusing on company growth and culture.
She is also the co-founder of "Speak: A Public Speaking Workshop for Women in Tech," where she leads discussion and provides practical takeaways to encourage more women to take the stage at tech events.
Anna is an active participant in the business and technology communities. You can find her participating in local tech conferences, serving as a volunteer mentor for the Pathway Women’s Business Center, or taking the stage as a nationally recognized speaker. Anna is the Vice President of the Nashville chapter of Women in Digital. Her 5-step process for planning a website was published and featured on the cover of the renowned international web design publication, Net Magazine.
Residing Nashville, TN with her husband and two sons, Anna is a successful business owner and proud “Woman in Tech.” She is dedicated to empowering other women in digital careers through ongoing educational opportunities and one-on-one mentoring.
About Astute Communications
Astute Communications is a digital marketing agency in Nashville, TN. We provide custom solutions to enhance and showcase your company’s brand and online visibility.
We offer a broad portfolio of services including Branding, Web Design and Development, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Online Advertising and Content Development. Our focus is on bridging the gap between beautiful design and the strategic use of data to drive awareness and increase revenues.
To see our recent work, or learn more about us, visit us at http://astute.co.
Deb Bailey: Welcome to the Secrets of Success blog, Anna. So, how did you get started as an entrepreneur?
Anna Stout: Great to be here, Deb. I started my company, Astute Communications, right after the birth of my first child. I resigned from my position with a well-established agency to grow my business and my family simultaneously. But I started my entrepreneurial journey long before that...
I started as an entrepreneur with "The Soup Apple Kitchen," a mud-pie restaurant operated from my mom's greenhouse when I was about 6 years old. Then there was "Clover Creations," a hand drawn greeting card business I went door-to-door selling to my neighbors. My family was incredibly supportive, going so far as to buy rocks from me that I had handpicked from our gravel driveway (except my dad, who exclaimed, "I paid to have those rocks put there! I'm not buying them again!" ...He was supportive in other ways.)
I guess you could say I got started then... As a young, enterprising country girl. And now... as a not-as-young (but still young-ish) woman living in one of the country's hottest cities.
Deb: That's a wonderful entrepreneur origin story. Who are your ideal clients?
Anna: Our ideal clients don't come from one specific industry. We love working with mid-sized companies who have begun to understand their place in the market, but don't know how to best leverage their opportunities. We maintain a broad and deep expertise in digital marketing and, for me, the clients that I get really excited about are the ones who have a deep passion for what they are doing, and understand the value that our marketing team can bring to their business.
Our ideal client believes in open communication, trust, and discovery. They understand that they will play an integral role in our marketing efforts–because no one knows their business better than they do. They understand that they've hired us because they believe we can help him, and they get out of their own way.
I love being the team that helps other companies level-up. The team that looks at their big goals and says, "Yes, let's do it!"
Deb: What inspires you to do the work you do?
Anna: My inspiration related to entrepreneurship is two-fold: First, it is rooted in a lifelong gratitude for the opportunity to have a real, positive impact on people's lives. I love being the person who says, "Yes, let's do it!," and then being able to take actionable steps to effect change.
My second motivation, which I only discovered in the last 5 years, is raising my 2 sons in a world where they can take for granted the idea of a woman as leader. I believe that if we can raise our children in a world where this is normal–where they can be comfortable seeing people of all genders, ethnicities, and religion in leadership positions, we will be able to truly put the best people, regardless of how they identify, in place for the betterment of our country.
Deb: That's very inspirational! What is your vision for your business?
Anna: In the next 5 years Astute will grow to support a staff of between 20-30 people, serving clients across industries with annual marketing budgets in the $250,000-$600,000 range. Within 10 years, we will have between 50-100 people on staff, and will be serving clients with marketing budgets in the $360,000-$1,100,000 range.
We will remain self-funded for the duration of this growth, with the exception of securing an available line of credit to support growth periods if necessary. Our growth will rely on a firm operational foundation along with expertise and service area expansion. We will continue to maintain a liberal financial runway to avoid losing momentum during slower periods. Our philosophy towards growth has always been slow and steady–allowing us to be nimble and make the necessary moves and investment when opportunities arise. The most important contribution to growth will be continuing to expand our expertise around retainer base services. This will make our revenue more predictable and allow us to anticipate and act on growth opportunities while maintaining stability.
From a marketing perspective, we will continue to invest in the growth of our individual employees–providing learning opportunities that will bolster our skillset and credibility–and will remain diligent about documenting and sharing our learnings with the community at large. We will maintain high return advertising campaigns to share our expertise, provide value, and establish credibility with people being exposed to our company for the first time. We will also engage is account-based marketing, targeting specific people at larger companies, developing and building relationships, and providing holistic marketing campaigns to those larger organizations.
Deb: There are a lot of people who desire to be business owners. What advice would you give to women entrepreneurs who are just starting out?
Anna: The longer I’ve been in business, the more I’ve learned about mistakes. How frequently they occur, which ones can be avoided and which ones are just part of the natural progression of things. Which to take to heart and which to let slide off my back.
Mistakes are never easy. Whether the mistake is my own or an oversight by a member of my team, each time I experience the full, crushing weight of its implication: We’re not good enough. We should have been better. If we were smarter, tighter, more dedicated. If we just had better processes, this could have been avoided.
But what I’ve realized over time is that while, yes, there have been stupid, embarrassing, avoidable mistakes, most of them, once unpacked, are mistakes that anyone could have made. And most of them, cliche as it may sound, have provided us with exactly the insight and opportunity we needed to continue to grow. To become smarter and more adept. To develop better processes.
This realization (and working to remember it!) has helped enormously. It helps to remember that the sky isn't falling. That it will be ok. It's important as an entrepreneur to keep moving forward–Learn from your mistakes, yes, but don't let them derail you.
Deb: Great advice. What is your favorite activity to relax and unwind?
Anna: I do adult gymnastics classes 3 times and week. It's physical, it's intense, and between two kids and owning a business it's virtually the only time in my life when there isn't someone saying "Stop doing what you're doing, and come do what I need you to do."
I love being that person for so many people, but I realized pretty quickly that if it was going to work, I was going to have to be that person for myself too. So, I started doing what I needed me to do, too.
Gymnastics is my me-time. It's the thing I always look forward to. It's my non-negotiable. And I encourage every woman, every person really, to have their own non-negotiable.
I also read at night, to disconnect my brain from the rest of the day.
Deb: What do you wish you could tell your younger self?
Anna: Don't focus so much on boys. Respect yourself. Go to class.
Deb: Thanks so much for stopping by, Anna! Please share website and social media URLs
Anna: I enjoyed it! Here are my links.
http://astute.co
https://twitter.com/AstuteCo
https://www.instagram.com/astutenashville/
https://business.facebook.com/AstuteDesign/
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