Hannah Carlson is the CEO/Founder of Fifth Bull Agency, a female based creative agency operating from the UAE and the East Coast of the USA. Fifth Bull Agency specializes in PR, Marketing, and Talent Management.
Why Fifth Bull? The Founder, Hannah Carlson’s world-renowned story started in Pamplona Spain on July 12, 2014. She decided to have a once in a lifetime experience and Run With The Bulls. Unfortunately, she was struck by a 900 lb. “teenage” bull directly in the stomach. She blacked out instantly, was tossed into the air, landed on her head, and woke up 8 hours later in the Pamplona ICU with a fractured skull, a bruised brain, concussed, and lost her sense of smell for 14 months. She survived a traumatic experience, something that she would never forget. With this she leverages her motto, “We create legacy experiences with positive impact” for all that work with Fifth Bull.
Tell us about who you are and what you do.
I am the Founder of Fifth Bull Agency but also the Co-Founder of Experience Events. Within Fifth Bull, I manage and run the PR/Marketing side while being the overhead on the Talent Management Division. I conduct write-ups for our clients in large publications like Bloomberg, Forbes, Entrepreneur, etc while composing brand campaign monthly strategies for e-commerce sales.
Our company is composed of in-house creatives, producers, and talent who come together to make our clients’ brand message come alive.
At Experience Events, I am the on-site producer for our client’s events. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, we are held off on conducting in-person events but our hybrid and virtual events are still playing a major role in corporations and small businesses that are trying to connect with their employees and customers.
Tell us how you created this brand and what was the sole idea behind it.
This company was started because I could not get a corporate job, that is the truth. I graduated with 3 degrees, I had a lot of experience as an intern for multiple companies. But, once I graduated, I could not land a job after 80+ interviews along the East Coast. A year later, I was living in New Jersey, working as a bartender and I started noticing I had a lot of networking power and was giving advice away to people for free. I decided I can turn this into a business, so I started drawing up logo ideas at a pool party, had a friend turn it into graphics and I started an LLC.
The purpose of this company is to help female business owners share their light a little extra. Our company is focused on leveraging voices with a purpose to bring back true philanthropic ideas for the next generation to benefit from.
Go in detail and tell us about how your brand works. You may keep this from the audience’s perspective.
Fifth Bull Agency represents in-house and network talent and creatives. We are a full-service creative agency, a one-stop-shop for a brick and mortar or e-commerce company to speak with. Developing a brand’s message from start to finish, and promoting it to social networks through commercial-style production. Having direct contact with creatives and talent is the hardest part, Fifth Bull makes it easy to control the outcome of our client’s brand image in the marketplace.
What is your giveaway idea through this interview?
I believe that someone can 10X their company. But, you cannot forget the network that got you to that point. I have had the experience of working with friends who built their own companies so large that they hand me off to a new hire within their company for new business inquiries. I do not operate our company like this. If a personal connection of mine decides to utilize my services and support my brand, then the least I can do is take their call myself and conduct business with them directly to represent my company with the best customer service. You are never too big to be humble.
Explain the challenges you went through while you were working on brand creation. What are the challenges you go through on an everyday basis?
The challenge for any small business, figuring out how to target new customers. It’s pretty easy for someone passionate about their brand to speak about their brand, but conveying that message to someone’s need, that is the tricky part at the beginning. Once you get the flow of your brand message, your next ongoing challenge is; developing your message across social platforms – retaining and creating new customers daily, monthly, annually.
How do you manage your finances through the services you offer. Any fundings etc received?
We started the agency through angel investors and raised funds for certain projects. Many professionals would not advise pursuing angel investors, however, I do. If you know your income and financial plan over the period that you had agreed with the investor and can be paid off in time, absolutely utilize this opportunity instead of potentially ruining your credit by using your own money.
Tell us your future vision about the brand. How far do you want to take it? What is your dream about taking it to the next level?
The future of the agency is to become a global opportunity to leverage women-owned businesses in the direction of success. Whether that is through hiring them as talent, helping their voices get recognized through the press, producing for their brand’s message, etc. Fifth Bull will go as far as possible to impact lives around the world and inspire women to take leadership roles in their industries. Fifth Bull Agency does not need to become a household name but a name in the marketing industry others can recognize and rely on for brand messaging.
What message would you like to give to anybody who has a plan of creating something of their own and making a living through it?
I would advise the young hustlers, the go-getters to risk it. You have one life. Go travel, go build that empire, go date that person. Take the risk because, in the end, we look back at the memories made and never regret them as long as you are happy doing it.
I tell my employees you are here to make yourself a better version. If the challenges stop in this field of work for you then by all means go and explore another avenue or company. Always be learning, always educated to grow yourself into the best version possible to impact the masses and leave that powerful legacy behind.
The worst thing someone can tell you is No… But never be that someone.
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