Fireside Chat with Christy Hiler of UntilYouOwnIt.com

All right, in this uh special episode today, talking with Christy Hiler from Cornet uh about women-owned agencies. So, Christy, tell us a bit more about who you are and what you do and and why you're here. Sure. I'm Christy Hiler, president and owner of Cornette. Cornette has uh been in business over 30 years.

It's an advertising agency based in Lexington, Kentucky. And let's see, I have been here almost 20 years. And about five years ago, I took over as president, and then just over a year ago, I purchased the agency, 100% of the agency. And shortly after I bought Cornette, I started asking around because I was curious how many other female-owned agencies there were in this business. And I was going through the process of getting certified by WeBank.

And that's a pretty intense process getting certified. You have to provide a lot of information and a lot of taxes and just I would say time and um money too. There is a fee associated with that. It's not huge, but um I started asking if they had a number. And I think that because that process is so cumbersome, I don't think that that information really is complete.

I think that there's some factors that hold people back from going through that certification process. Um, but then I started asking a number of the different associations in this industry, the four A's, and there's also AdAge, which has a data center and just some other context, some industry leaders if they knew where I could find this number. And it was really hard to get to get to a number. And even I would say the closest number admitted that it's probably not current or complete. And so I felt like, okay, well, how can we how can we how can we start building this number?

Because I don't think that we're going to see progress unless we have a baseline. And the number that I got, the closest number that I got to was that was that of the over 20,000 agencies in the US advertising agencies, um less than 150 are female owned. Now again, I don't think that that is a complete number. I don't think that there is a source that has a good list, a clean list. It's hard to look at such an ugly number.

For me, I couldn't turn away from that when I learned that that means that you know, far less than 1% of all agencies are owned by women. And if you look at data just across just general in the US businesses, almost 40% of general businesses in the US are owned by women. So like how can there be such this incredible discrepancy? It's not easy for me to turn away from that number and feel good about turning away from that number. I have to look at that and go, okay, wait, that's not okay.

One, like let's get a real number. And if that is a real number, we got to do something to drive that number significantly higher. And so if you look around in our business, that has been done a number of times. So there's a well-known initiative that started about 10 years ago called the 3% movement in the advertising business. And that at the time was the number 3% 10 years ago.

And since that time, and since they have raised that issue and held conferences and many other initiatives that are a part of that, that. That number has grown to 30%. So again, I think, you know, just being able to have the right numbers to work with, and then bringing people and pulling this community, we can see some progress. So that's who I am, and that is what I came on to talk to you about, which is this initiative called Own It, which is hoping to shine a light on the lack of equality in ownership in the advertising business. How did that happen?

So, how did you know less than 1% of ad agencies end up being owned by women? What's the what do you think are the driving causes behind that? Yeah. So that's what the podcast element of Own It is also talking a lot about. I have started that podcast because I wanted to talk to both owners, industry leaders, and then the other side, which is women who aren't yet owners, and understand what's holding them back.

A couple of things that I think are very consistent that I've heard just even so far. And I've only, you know, spoken and recorded maybe 10 interviews so far. But consistently, what you hear and what we know and what is said about this business is, you know, it's called the boys' club of advertising. I mean, Mad Men is not, yes, you like you think about it being early days of average, but it's it's not the earth, like that is the route. That is how this industry was built.

Um, so this you know, the infrastructure of this business was built like that, and so until that changes, we're not going to see a change at the top. But I also think that there have been a lot of really fantastic conversations and initiatives like three percent and see her and have her back. I mean, there's a lot of really great conversations that have been building that have allowed and put more women in positions of leadership. But what I am saying is that can't be the end. Like, let's not have leadership be the end goal.

Let's have ownership be the end goal. What if we just kick that bar up one more notch and we say instead of getting and talking about getting women in positions of leadership, let's let's just keep that going. Let's go one more step to ownership. And I think that's really important because at the ownership level, you that's really when you have the ultimate power, the ultimate power to change your agency and then collectively change the industry, but there also is another important piece of that, and that's wealth, right? Like redistribution of wealth, so that there's equality um in distribution to women in terms of wealth, too.

So I think um both of those things are ultimately what what I would like to see, and I would like for us to talk more about. For folks who are not owners, talk a bit about what the difference is between being a leader and being an owner. Somebody is not an owner. What does that look like and how do they become one? Sure.

Yeah, so I can tell you from my experience and what I've heard from a number of other owners so far, too. The difference is having the ultimate responsibility. You know, for me, when I was leading the agency, I was making a lot of decisions. But honestly, Chris, I didn't have the full weight of those decisions because I wasn't financially responsible for the weight of those, you know, for those decisions until I was in the position of ownership. So and it's and it's both.

So like if you're making a lot of these decisions and you're building these agencies and you are driving the vision, then you should also be rewarded for that financially. Also, I think the difference between leadership and ownership is and this I've heard a number of times from other owners is there are there are different skills that come with ownership, especially as it relates to finance and just like entrepreneurship skills and business. A lot of if you think and I think it depends on what kind of leadership you're talking about, too. Like if you're talking about creative department leadership, right? Like the skills that you need to do that job really well are vastly different from the skills that you would need in order to own and operate a successful agency.

And really any you know, leadership of different departments, but I think you get closer when you are leading the agency. I think that you are developing more of those skills to step into the ownership position. So for me, and for a number of the other owners who purchased existing agencies, a lot of us were running the agencies, you know, more as that president role before taking ownership. I think founders, you know, they jump right in to that position. Um but again, I think it's it's different from department leadership.

There's lots of different types of leaders, and I think that the different in what you graduate from is like being really well at strategy, for example, for me, you know, I loved that. And that was really what my hesitation was for a long time in taking on the agency leadership role was I really loved that piece and I didn't want to stop doing that. Um because you kind of do, you have to let go of doing and hand that over to other people and trust and you know, watch them and cheer them on. And so it it is it is a different role. You you're managing a lot more people, oftentimes too, and um, but a lot of different parts of business.

But I love that. I loved the challenge that gave me the opportunity to grow and to learn uh from the business, but also from other people. What about other agency types? PR agencies, marketing agencies, management consultancies and stuff. Do they all seem to adhere to about the 1% as well?

Oh, that's a good question. I don't know. I don't have the data on PR agencies necessarily. Although I will say it, I think that there are some agencies that do PR that are a part of this list. I don't know the number specific to PR only agencies or different, you know, specialties within this business.

Um, but I'd like to I'd like to look at that. I think that would be an interesting number to see if and how those are different. I think I know the answer to this question, and it's going to be uh the answer is disappointingly small. Um, but of that one percent, how many are women of color? Oh, yes, I don't know the number either yet, because we're just gathering the data, and actually, I don't um I think we'll have to build into the way that we're capturing data um a mechanism to be able to capture that specific data.

There are women of color that I know are a part of this list, but I don't I don't have the specific data or even the field to capture that right now. But I think that's an ad. And honestly, Chris, I was really excited to have this conversation because you do this better than I do. And I would love your thoughts on how I should be thinking about capturing and also growing the data and what I should be looking at in order to see these numbers go up because that's the whole point. We want to see, we want to get that accurate read, but then we want to grow it.

And some of that is going to come from community, but I also want to know what to do with this data in order to make sure that we see it go up. Are there legal or structural hurdles in the way of women becoming owners? Obviously, there's the cultural uh bias that you mentioned already, but what about the legal and structural hurdles? I would say more than legal or structural, it's going to be financial. Um, and so there was a woman that was on the podcast a few weeks ago.

Actually, I don't think I have uh pushed that one live yet, but it's coming in two weeks. I think it will go live. She is more focused on uh she has a foundation uh that is connected to her agency, and they work to help women secure more funding for their businesses. Now, that said, she doesn't only focus on funding agencies. Actually, when I asked her, have you had any agent, have you had any agency pitches?

She they have pitch nights and then they also have grants because they recognize that so much of the funding is still given to men, a largely disproportionate amount, especially anything over a hundred thousand dollars. Um I think financially we've got to get to more equity, a more equitable place. Um, but I think a lot of that is she was saying is just women going after that funding and know how, knowing how to secure the funding, how to pitch their business. Um, and so that's why the pitch piece is a part of her foundation in addition to some of the grants. Is it easier for someone uh easier for a woman to try to acquire and purchase an existing agency or to be a founder and start a brand new one in terms of becoming an owner?

I don't know if it's easier, but it's certainly different. So for me, purchasing the agency, there's obviously a more significant financial cost to that. Um getting the valuation of and determining the value of the company, and then which form of funding you want to uh to use in order to purchase the company. So and there are some, there's a lot of different ways you can go about that. Uh you I looked at the SBA was one.

Um so you can get one option for me was a hundred percent funding uh to come from the SBA, but I ended up doing a different path um through a bank and then also a note. Um but there's a lot of different ways you can go about funding if you're buying an existing agency. So I would say the cost financially is higher if you go that path. Starting from scratch though, you don't have the revenue to really secure some of that funding. So again, it was easier for me to take on that funding and the debt because I knew that I could pay it because I have revenue and establish relationships.

Um but if you're founding it, you don't necessarily have that. So I think there is a different challenge in having to build up that revenue. And also your team. I have a big fantastic team, a team that's been here a really long time. I've got a leadership team.

And then, you know, nearly 50 people here. So I think starting from scratch versus buying an agency, they're just really different. Can you talk about the valuation process and how that goes? Because there's obviously been a number of articles talking about how agencies owned by people of color, agencies owned by women, uh companies owned by uh both categories, uh typically undervalued for when they when they do come up for sale. Um, I wasn't buying at the time an agency that was owned by a woman or a person of color, but the valuation process is pretty straightforward.

Now, I mean, you there I would say the most important thing is to get a partner that is going to be doing the evaluation that you trust and really read through the details of how they value different parts and how they get to the value. Okay. Um, because yes, they can it, it's not as much as I say there is a formula, and there is, there is a range that you can use for each different component of the business that you're evaluating. So that's why you've got to have a partner that you trust. Um, because you could you could have a partner that is looking out more for building the value of the owner or building the case more for the buyer.

So you just want to really make sure that you've got somebody that you feel is looking out for both. Ideally, right? I mean, even as the buyer, you want to make sure that the that the company, like that it's fair. It's fair for both parties. So I would say that is one of the most critical factors is who's doing the evaluation and get multiple.

Um, and then also have some outside counsel. I had some folks that I turned to to better understand it from a financial side that weren't involved in this business or industry that could help me understand it and take a look at the valuation as well, just as an outside set of eyes, and make sure that they felt like it was fair too. It sounds almost like a real estate transaction with a buyer's agent and a seller's agent and stuff like that. Um just like a real estate transaction where you have the land, the building, and all that stuff. Could you talk more about what those components are of an agency and and how they're valued?

Yeah, well, an agency is is an interesting one because an agency really is just its people, and also the relationships and the contracts that you have in place. So for us, a lot of that is it's the evaluation is based on the business, the business that we've had for a number of years, but also the relationships, the how long have we had those. We got to look at the contracts that are in place, what are the terms of those contracts? And then also just yeah, the stability of the of the business. There's a lot of different factors that they're looking at.

And honestly, I'd have to it, I'd have to go back and refresh my memory on all the different parts of that evaluation. Um but it is, it is it's it's detailed, much like that, you know. Um, and they verify all of that information. And it's also a really interesting and important piece when you're taking on the ownership to really understand all of that and to make sure that you know exactly what you're buying and all parts of it. So it is it's a big undertaking, but it should be.

So let's say you've got a a new woman owner. She's you're starting out her agency. If you were to counsel her on building an agency that has strong value based on all those different components that you just talked about, where should she be investing her time? How should she be growing her agency for maximum sustainable value? Yeah.

So I think the biggest thing is just to focus on your team, the team that is working to secure and build those relationships, um, making sure that they know where you're going, what your vision is, and the values of the business. Um for me, I'm really open. You know, it's really important to me that every person here knows what this agency is about and where we want to go, right? We've all got to be going towards the same thing. And so I build a business plan, which is a also part of the requirement, um, as you're going to get any sort of funding.

So that's really helpful too. And you have to know where is the business, like what is the growth path and where is it going to come from, and then sharing that and make sure people are behind you and they are committed also and really bought in to being able to grow in that way and see the agency and participate in that vision and the path. So I share the business plan. Every year. I update it and I share it with the leadership team, the folks that are going to be a part of, or whether or not we get there.

Can you talk about so you were a leader for a long time before becoming an owner? How did your relationships with other leaders within the agency change when you became the owner? That's a great question. You know, I think I have said a few times that I felt like it would be, I felt like it before I purchased it, like it felt like such a big deal. And in my mind, and honestly, I think that that is going back to your question, like what is really holding people back.

A lot of it is that women don't, you know, they don't know what if they can do it. You know, they doubt themselves. If you look at some of the the data, there isn't any data that supports that women-owned agencies are less successful than men. In fact, that there's the opposite, you know, there is data that supports that um that they can be more successful. But there is data that shows that women don't believe they will be as successful.

If you ask women if they can do it, and you ask men if they can do it, the percentage of men who say they can do it is is greater than the percentage of women. And that, and that was true for me. So I wanted to make sure that I could do this well because I love this agency and I love this business, and I love the people here and I love the clients that we have and those relationships, and they're really important. And I didn't want to take over anything that I couldn't do well with. So I I felt like in my mind it was like this huge, like, oh, you know, um, it was going to be this big difference, but really I think at the other on the other side of it, I was like, oh, it doesn't feel that different.

Um, and I would tell you, I feel the weight for sure. I do. Um, and I knew that, and I wanted that. I wanted to feel the weight of the decisions, but um, and the responsibility for you know, 50 people and their families and their life, like you should feel that. But I don't feel like I became a much different person, you know.

I mean, I feel like you could ask a lot of the team, and the way that I was leading it before is still the way that I'm leading it in many of in many ways. Except I would say that I continue to be even more transparent and even more forward thinking. And here's where we're here is where we're going, and just constantly keeping my eyes ahead and making sure that everybody knows where we're going. And as things change, because in this business they change a lot. Every day our business is changing, and we've got to be able to adapt.

And so constant communication is a P is a really important piece of that. So they've got to trust me, and a lot of that trust is built little bit, you know, one step at a time and one little piece at a time. Every decision I make can either build or you know really lose trust. So I try to really stay connected and open in a lot of different ways. And that's from the leadership team all the way down.

You know, I really want to make sure that I know how the team is doing too, that they feel like they can share with me anything that they feel can be improved because as an agency, I want every year for us to be significantly better than we were the year before because we've got we got big goals to be at the top of our business. Um and we only get there if we know what's going on within our agency and how we can get better. What changes, if any, um, have you made as an owner that are different from what the previous owners uh you know, how what decisions they made as owners. So a couple of things that I would say off the top of my head, one is I started a profit sharing program. Um and that profit sharing program is a is there's a a team uh that is a part of that, and we have goals for the agency.

Um, and if we hit those goals and we exceed those goals, then we all share. Um, and that and again, that kind of goes back to really making it more of a team effort, and that we're all headed and working towards the same thing. Um that's one, and then another piece right away, and I have four kids, I'm done having children. But I changed our maternity and paternity leave policies right away. That was really important.

And yeah, I mean, I think just fair compensation. I did an audit of how every every person is compensated and building and continuing to evaluate and make sure that people are paid fairly and even get them, you know, paid well. That's a really important piece. And we have gone after a number of things like best places to work. And we do that not as much, although I do love being able to say we are a best place to work in Kentucky.

We were named a best place to work in Kentucky last year, and then we're recently named it again. So two years, both years that I've owned the company, but but we do that because you also get a lot of data. It gives you we work to you know, have as many people in the agency submit their information, and we do that because that helps us know how we're doing across a lot of different parts of our business. How do our people feel they're compensated? How do they feel?

Do they have everything they need to be successful here? And if they don't, we'll we'll have a better understanding of of what they don't feel like they have, um, and then let's work to get it. So it helps us get even better too. So those are some of the things, but um I'm sure there's more. After you became a women-owned business, um, did you pursue any of the state and federal certifications as a women-owned business?

And if so, did that change the kinds of customers and business you were able to win? Great question. Yes, we are certified by WeBank. Um, so and like I said, that process was cumbersome, but it's important. Um, I do want to be a part of that community, and um and there are some contracts where that is important for us to be able to show that certification.

Um, but in terms of going after additional business and that being a I would say um contributor to wins, I I really I can't show that yet. Um but it is a piece of how we communicate about who we are as an agency. We do say in every introduction um and capabilities presentation we make, we say that we are proudly independent and female-owned for uh women who want to go the founders's route, how do they go about getting funding given some of the the issues that that are in the funding space? When for example, when Trust Insights was getting started, Katie and I um we're approached a number of investors, and two of the investors told us to our faces they would not invest in a company that had a woman CEO that just flat out said that to our faces, and we're like, um it's 2020. You know, well, 2018 at the time.

Um given that culture, how should uh aspiring women founders be going up to looking to fund their businesses? That's hard for me to say because I didn't I'm not a founder. But I would say talk to other women founders. That would be step one. Um if you want to purchase an agency, if you are currently leading or um considering buying an agency, talk to me, talk to other women who have done that.

If you are thinking of starting your own agency, that's part of why I'm building this community too, because every per every one of these women that I have talked to, um, they want, they they want to help. They want to see more women come into these positions, and they want to see them be successful. So they're there and they will give their time, reach out to them. There are um there are women that are on the podcast that are founders. Uh, Valerie Mosell.

She would she it would be a great resource. And as this community grows, we're gonna have more. So identify some of them. Come to this group, come to me, and I'll you know, help you find somebody too that you can talk to and that can help you. And like I said, Kim Lawton with Enthuse Marketing Group, uh, she'd be another great resource because she not only found it, um, but she is also working with other entrepreneurs, and she would be a far better resource than like I said than I would, but get connected, get somebody who has done it and also believes in what you're doing.

Mentorship is I think absolutely critical. Having a community around you when you step into a position of ownership is really important. Terrific. Where can people find out more? Uh learn more and hear more about all this.

Sure. Go to until you ownit.com. That is our site where we want to hear and are capturing information about current owners, but we also want to hear from women who are not yet owners what's holding you back. So as you go through, there's a there is the home page which talks about where we are currently as an industry. Um, and then it says stand up and be counted within there.

It for it will ask um if the agency is what percentage of it is female owned, and if it's not, if it's zero, or if you are not currently in a position of ownership, you can say what's holding you back. And we'd love to hear from you. I would also say reach out to me on LinkedIn. I'd love to connect uh with you or connect you with somebody else who could help. Um, and yeah, be a um be somebody who can come alongside of you and as you build your dream and see it come to life.

All right, thank you very much. Thanks, Chris.