We had the good fortune of connecting with Stephanie Morgan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Stephanie, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I fell into social media marketing accidentally. I studied sociology and business in college and went into a recruiting/HR job first thing after graduating. In that job they needed someone to start doing recruitment marketing on social media. They had zero social media presence, and I had zero professional social media experience, but well, challenge accepted.

Social media marketing ended up becoming most of my job. I was a one-person marketing team inside my company’s HR department. Eventually, I became SO successful at it that my friends started asking me for help with their social media accounts. Before I knew it, I was getting a lot of freelance clients on the side.

Then it hit me. I absolutely LOVE working with entrepreneurs and small businesses. Why not go all in? I became so passionate about helping entrepreneurs create a bigger impact online. So, I left my 9-5 (in an actual marketing job at this point) and launched my social marketing agency, Social Lock.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Many Social Media Managers start their business with no experience and learn along the way. What sets me and my social media management business apart is my corporate marketing experience prior to launching the business. I’ve also served on two boards of directors as marketing director. This gave me the opportunity to work with over a dozen brands of different sizes and industries – effectively knowing how things are done in the “big boy leagues”. Having been fully immersed in all the important functions of a marketing team outside social media, I’m also a capable marketing subject matter expert for clients. Thus, we can create strategies and manage social media for brands in any industry, with any goals.

Becoming a successful business owner doesn’t happen overnight. For me, I tried to grow Social Lock before fully leaving my 9-5. It didn’t work well. I learned that you really need to be ALL in for it to work. I also learned that there’s an immense amount of mindset work that comes with being a business owner. From reshaping your money mentality to dealing with rejection and objections, being a business owner comes with a set of challenges outside of the business itself.

What I’m most excited about is that we’re at a point where we’re scaling. We’re bringing on team members at Social Lock so we can serve more clients. We’ve been fully booked out for the past couple months. New clients can apply to work with us here: https://www.honeybook.com/widget/social_lock_167408/cf_id/5fb423e40bba993eb70ceadb

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’m a newcomer to Atlanta, but I love the vibe of the city already! From the malls to the parks to the sporting events, there’s always something fun to do here. There are so many young professionals here, so networking is easy – and encouraged. No matter where you go, don’t forget your business card!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I could not be where I am now without the support of my old corporate marketing colleagues and my partner. They helped me find the courage to take the leap from 9-5 to full on business owner.

Website: www.thesociallock.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/sociallock

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/snmorgan817

Twitter: www.twitter.com/thesociallock

Facebook: www.facebook.com/sociallock

Other: Client inquiry form: https://www.honeybook.com/widget/social_lock_167408/cf_id/5fb423e40bba993eb70ceadb Course: https://sociallock.podia.com/course Hashtags ebook: https://sociallock.podia.com/hashtags Social strategy template toolkit: https://sociallock.podia.com/toolkit Free social media post ideas: https://sociallock.podia.com/postideas

Image Credits
David Skow

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutAtlanta is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.