In August of 2018, we started VAUN.

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Although we came from marketing backgrounds, the challenges of starting a business are real. We made $130 our first week for editing an Instagram video. Then we went eight straight months without a dime. Despite endless effort of pitching business, we were legitimately f*ing broke.

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Late in the summer of 2019, we finally landed a client. A startup agreed to let us shoot photos—for free. We were on the edge of calling it quits. Our personal savings and morale was on empty.

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When starvation sets in, you start saying yes to any and all work you can, even if that means performing tasks you don’t know how to do.

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Our first real project was a brand redesign and packaging design. No joke—we had to teach ourselves Illustrator on the spot. I’ll never forget looking up what "Pantone" meant when we sent our design file to the manufacturer.

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Next, we landed a job building out a corporate digital asset management system (DAM) to house and tag hundreds of thousands of images. Again, no experience, but again, we made it happen.

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Then more work came: email design. After that, paid advertising.

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Our first official film production was a 15-second social edit. The client wanted the product shot on a white background. I laid a white sheet over my daughter’s dollhouse and lit it with sunshine from the window. If we didn't have the means to do the job, we would do it anyway. And we would do whatever it took to get it right.

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I share all of this because this challenging road of having to say yes has given us the privilege of providing services in every corner of the marketing and media world.

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Over the last six years we’ve:

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• Built podcasts.

• Built brands.

• Designed merchandise.

• Written, produced, and directed films.

• Managed influencers.

• Managed social media accounts with millions of followers.

• Produced full-length music albums.

• Managed hundreds of thousands of dollars in paid advertising.

• And literally everything in between.

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The struggle of the lows sharpens skills that the highs never could. And because of that I have nothing but gratitude for this journey.

 

We are a collective of creatives inspired by the stories we get to tell, the companies we get to support, and the opportunity to work on things that matter.

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Thanks for your time,