Today we’d like to introduce you to Wendy Navarro.
Hi Wendy, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve always been driven. Even as a young girl, I was knocking on neighbors’ doors and pitching the sale of my services as a dog walker or babysitter. I even sold drawings for 25-cents. I’m sure this characteristic helped when I entered the workforce. I advanced rapidly up the corporate ladder, and at 35, I was living the American Dream. I had two healthy children, a loving husband, and a beautiful home. However, my inner entrepreneur was begging to be released. So, with the support of my husband, I left corporate life to pursue the dream of entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship is not easy. We had to give up a lot, but what I gained was far more valuable. Two months after the birth of our 3rd child, I opened my first business, an upscale e-commerce boutique. My newborn was ten years younger than our middle child, and things had changed dramatically. There were new ideas about everything from strollers to crib bedding, car seats, clothing, ways to feed your child, and the list went on. With so many changes, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to venture into my dream.
In September 2005, I opened. Saige Nicole’s (named for my firstborn). The majority of the collections I carried were unique and created by women who were exactly like me – they’d climbed the corporate ladder but wanted to get off and be present with their children; but, they wanted to pursue their dreams, too. It was a perfect symphony. We played well together, and best of all, we supported each other’s ambitions. But, just as I thought things could not be any better, In 2008, we faced a devastating incident that left my family in financial despair.
During the peak of the economic downturn, we lost our home due to a tragic incident. It’s not something that I like to relive, but for anyone curious enough, you can watch the whole story on Investigation ID, Episode: Murder on Memory Lane. I was doing everything I could to hold things together and keep our life as normal as possible for our children. We had depleted our savings, and inside I was falling apart. I wasn’t sure how long I could maintain the facade or if I could hold on to my dream. I questioned if I was selfish to try or just let it go and go back to corporate life.
But, through prayer and with the support of family and friends, we persevered. We had to make drastic changes and rebuild our finances, but we did, and in 2012 I opened a brick-and-mortar store in Costa Mesa, CA. My online store survived and was more vital than ever by now, and my children were old enough to participate in the business. They were learning what it meant never to give up.
Today, I am the proud Founder and CEO of NAVARRO CREATIVE GROUP, a digital marketing agency I opened in 2015. We help businesses find their voice, refine their message, and tell their story through beautiful website design and online social media platforms. In addition, we provide Search Engine Optimization, PPC, and FB Ads services, skills I learned during my decade as an online business entrepreneur.
I tell people that NAVARRO CREATIVE GROUP was a happy accident. I was not searching for it, but it found me. Thankfully, I listened when the opportunity knocked. Being an entrepreneur has given me many opportunities as a business owner and as an advocate and supporter of the small business community that I love so much.
I am especially proud of my involvement as a mentor and adviser to other business owners and use my influence as an active voice in the business community. I am also the founder of Sumner Women in Business and serve on multiple Boards, lending my expertise.
One of my favorite things to do now is host Success by Design, a business podcast I started before the pandemic but had to pause until recently. During the weekly podcast, I talk with local businesses and successful business leaders to peel away the layers of what led them to success. My guests are inspiring, and I learn so much during every single interview.
Navarro Creative Group continues to grow, and today I am joined by my daughter, who manages our social media accounts, and my husband, our Director of Website Development and SEO. Growing a successful business as a family is beyond any dream I’ve ever had, and that’s exciting because it gives me great joy to know that there is no limit to the dreams that are just waiting for us to make them come true.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Entrepreneurship is not easy. We had to give up a lot when I left corporate life, but what I gained was far more valuable. However, even with great success, we faced devasting setbacks. At one point, I was doing everything I could to hold things together and keep our life as normal as possible for our children.
We had depleted our savings, and inside I was falling apart. I wasn’t sure how long I could maintain the facade or if I could hold on to my dream. I questioned if I was selfish to try or just let it go and go back to corporate life.
As you know, we’re big fans of NAVARRO CREATIVE GROUP. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
NAVARRO CREATIVE GROUP is my second business. I tell people that it was a happy accident. I was not searching for it, but it found me. Thankfully, I listened when the opportunity knocked.
NAVARRO CREATIVE GROUP is a digital marketing agency. We help businesses find their voice, refine their message, and tell their story through beautiful website design, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), PPC, FB Ads, and social media. All skills I learned to build my online business during my decade as an eCommerce entrepreneur.
Our commitment to our customers and the belief that sound business happens when relationships form is what sets us apart. As an entrepreneur, I know first-hand the struggles companies face when looking for reliable resources and partners. We are not only their marketing agency. We are their trusted partner. We make it a point to learn about their operations, talk about goals and desires, and what that means to their future success.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Businesses need digital marketers – Every business needs digital marketers to attract and retain customers. With the recent pandemic, businesses were forced to pivot and digital marketing became a do or die for any business that wanted to survive, This change alone has caused new strategies towards marketing during a crisis, social media and email marketing trends, artificial intelligence use, and better ways to approach customer service.
The demand of the consumer now dictates how businesses need to show up online. Platforms like Google and Facebook are the industry leaders and they lead the way when it comes to how to cater to those demands. This means that online marketing will change regularly and businesses have to keep up or perish. Over the next 5-10 years NAVARRO CREATIVE GROUP will provide multi-tiered service levels to meet the demands on businesses. This transition has already started and we are slowly adding services for business at almost every stage. New services include/will include coaching, consulting, and SaaS products.
We will also expand our workforce by opening satellite offices in cities where there is/ or expected to be high entrepreneurial activity. We will also continue to mentor students from local high school DECA clubs and college graduates who are focused on building a career in marketing.
Contact Info:
- Email: wendy@navarrocreativegroup.com
- Website: https://navarrocreativegroup.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/navarrocreativegroup
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/navarrocreativegroup
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/navarrocre8tive
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAwF3E3GV1Fq3BBGRdpa4Yg
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/whinradio/sets/success-by-design-a-business
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendynavarro1
