Meet Marist And Andrew Lamson of ACTUALIZE

Today we’d like to introduce you to Marist And Andrew Lamson

Hi Marist and Andrew, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?

We have quite a unique story and I’m excited to get into it throughout this interview! For the sake of consistency, here is our story as I wrote it on our website ActualizeLifestyle.com:

We’re Marist & Andrew Lamson, the dynamic duo behind this entrepreneur’s community. If you ask us, we’re living proof that mixing business with pleasure isn’t just a saying—it’s a lifestyle.

So, who are we? Picture this: life partners who’ve been on this crazy journey together for nearly a decade. YES, you read that correctly, almost 10 years of learning each other’s quirks, sharing dreams, and chasing goals together.

We are marketing experts who find passion in learning new skills, habits, and mindset hacks that enhance our daily life, and bring us closer to the best versions of ourselves. We have found that steady and consistent daily focus on personal growth massively enhances our peace, joy, and fulfillment in every area of our lives. Whether we’re practicing new cooking skills, running (literally) around Nashville, or plotting our next creative projects—we’re all about growth. Personal growth, professional growth—you name it, we’re chasing it.

We’ve been running our own marketing agency for over eight years now, helping people like you find their voice in a noisy world. Branding is not just about uploading a logo on a website and calling it a day. Establishing your personal (and/or professional) brand is about so much more than that! Building a successful brand can create a massive impact in the world when your mission aligns with your messaging, and your brand presence attracts your target audience. We believe it all starts with diving into what makes you, well, you. Our ultimate goal is to help you live a more fulfilled life and attract the right people + opportunities to you. ACTUALIZE creates the structure to pour into yourself first, and your brand second.

Why? Because we believe that everyone’s got a story worth living—and we’re here to empower you to live it. Wonderful things happen when the healthiest version of you is pouring back into the world through your creative and professional endeavors. Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, a seasoned pro, or just someone who wants to live a more fulfilled and passionate life, ACTUALIZE will help you do just that.

Contact us for all of your branding, website, photography, or 1:1 mindset coaching needs!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?

It’s not easy to start your own business, or to develop a referral-based business that stands the test of time. I, Marist, had many obstacles starting a marketing agency in Atlanta, GA at the age of 23, then expanding it (organically, zero Ad spend or marketing investment), to ultimately work with businesses all over the country. All from building a reputation for quality of service and personally helping bring other entrepreneur’s visions to life.

My husband (fiancee at the time), left his full time job to work with me just 3 years into the business. That came with its own set of struggles, especially being his boss and having to train him while we planned a wedding. But our story is a huge part of what draws people to working with us. A lot of people can resonate with our struggles as business owners, or family-owned businesses, and we can empower them not only by building them an awesome brand, website, or giving them stunning branding photos, but also in their mindset and coaching them through those tough stages of growing a referral-based business.

We also had to face the struggles of moving to multiple states and cities over the course of growing our business. Which meant maintaining our current clients’ confidence in us once we were no longer local to them, but also building new relationships and trust in local businesses in each new city we moved to. We have now been in Nashville for four years and plan to stay here. So we are excited to get deeply ingrained into the local scene to help as many businesses as we can!

Important: We became sober in January 2023, because we felt that our alcohol habits were impacting our ability to expand our services and skills. Since becoming sober, that is when we had the vision for ACTUALIZE and the complete rebrand to target all small businesses vs. our niche real estate industry clientele. The transition to working with other small businesses had organically happened by referral, and it felt like a natural progression for the company. We have learned and developed so many new skills since becoming sober. And most importantly, our sobriety allows us to be the best possible versions of ourselves when producing work for our clients.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?

The easiest way to categorize us is a boutique Marketing Agency that specializes in organically growing repeat and referral businesses.

We are known for offering high quality, custom design, branding, website, and photography/videography services, at an affordable rate to small business owners. Because we are a husband and wife team, our clients really value our passion and desire to work together to take on the marketing needs of our clients so they can focus on running their business. Our clients love working with us because of our personable and professional attitudes and our ability to help them uncover their deepest desires and visions for their business and brand. We are able to seamlessly and quickly bring visions to life in a way that supports the heart of the brand and business, without putting too much pressure on the business owner. We aspire to go above and beyond for our clients, and find that most people’s feedback is “I can’t believe you guys exist!” Which is a huge compliment to us. We want to feel we are providing a service that people feel does not exist outside of us and that they felt the universe aligned them with people who truly care about their business as if it were our own.

We have rebranded our previous known brand (Marist Inc.) to ACTUALIZE because of the strong brand awareness Marist Inc. had tied to the real estate industry. For years, we specialized in Real Estate branding and marketing for large teams, brokerages, and independent agents all across the country. We have enjoyed expanding this to all types of businesses over the years. In addition to offering branding, website design, photography, and consulting services, I, Marist, travel to teach strategies for brand development, both personally and professionally, to help small business owners to build referral-based businesses.

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?

Yes! People’s acceptance of working virtually had a massive impact on our ability to expand across the country. We found local and small businesses, now more than ever, found appreciation in referral-based marketing which allowed them to stay in touch with their current and past clients/customers even when their businesses were not open (or also forced to be virtual). We found an even deeper passion for making marketing services affordable to small business owners during times of financial uncertainty as well as the importance of digital systems to ensure streamlined support was available to properly execute the needs of each client.

Pricing:

• Website Design starts at $5,000
• Full branding packages start at $2,500, a la carte options available
• Social Media – custom solutions
• Photography – custom solutions
• Videography – custom solutions

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ActualizeLifestyle.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @ActualizeLifestyle @ActualizePhotography @MaristLamson @Sir.Lamsalot
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maristschulte