Paige Wiese Founder & CEO of Tree Ring Digital

Today we’d like to introduce you to Paige Wiese.

So, before we jump into specific questions about what you do, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I had gone to school for architectural drafting and had been laid off twice by the time I was 22 due to the economy. I was diagnosed with epilepsy and was having frequent grand mal seizures so I was unable to drive to a new job. I started looking for ways that I could make money from home that wasn’t a scam. I had a knack for computers and enjoyed playing with graphics and fonts, and dabbled just a little bit in website design while growing up. On a whim, I decided to put an ad on Craigslist for website and graphic design services. As people started to contact me and I started getting more work and referrals I just kept posting everywhere I could on Craigslist to have maximum exposure because it was free marketing. I had the algorithm down. After about a year of that, I had grown my business to solely referral based and no longer needed to be posting ads. As the requests came in, I kept learning, finding out whatever I needed to know in order to help my clients achieve their goals.

I started hearing “I love the site, but it’s not generating any business.” I’d always ask what they were doing for marketing and the answer was always “nothing.” So, I began teaching myself Search Engine Optimization, paid advertising, social media, and anything else to help clients achieve the results they were looking for.

I had so many happy clients, but I wasn’t satisfied. I felt the websites could be better if we had better content, our turnarounds would be better if I had other creatives who could help, and I wanted to continue bringing fresh ideas to the table. That’s when I grew from a solo freelancer to a full-fledged business owner and entrepreneur. I was hiring the most talented people I could find to help with the areas that weren’t my expertise (like content writing), or areas that could benefit from dedicated attention like SEO or ad campaigns.

Seeing what I was capable of achieving with absolutely no money, finding what I was truly passionate about, and what was possible if I really put my mind to it has lead me to where I am today. As we celebrate our 10-year anniversary, I’ve gone from unemployed with epilepsy to CEO of a full-service digital marketing agency. I’ve managed to assemble an incredible team of a dozen talented individuals, and together we’ve helped hundreds of clients with their online presence and marketing needs – from start to finish.

Has it been a smooth road?
Absolutely not. One struggle was having to raise our rates in order to handle the increased overhead and reflect the higher quality service we were offering. In doing so, we completely lost our referral base because we were no longer “great communication, fantastic work, and cheap.” continue reading