How and Why
Life doesn’t always go as we think it will. I had a large outdoor sporting goods store that had expanded and grown for almost a decade, then times changed and an opportunity to sell it came along. It left me standing there at forty years old looking down at my nine-year-old daughter (now nineteen), then looking up and asking Him what is next. He answered.
Within two weeks of one another, two unrelated business contacts of mine said “hey, you’ve been good at your marketing, will you come help with mine?” I had no idea what to charge them or how this consulting might work, but I did know that I felt a passion for helping them grow their businesses. I reflected on this with Stacy, now my bride of eight years. From all of that, Agora Company was born. That is our WHY, our purpose: to utilize our Given talents in client strategy services, design, web, digital marketing and social media to move our clients along their pathway. It is how we get to serve others.
Today
Fast forward ten years, and we stand as a six+ person agency with additional remote team members. We serve clients all over the metro area, as well as a fast-growing number throughout the Southeast. We now specialize in community bank and healthcare industries. We offer impactful marketing services on multiple modern digital spectrums and strategic services that are growing and expand the missions of our clients. That is the gift that we get to receive at Agora Company when we see our results helping others with their businesses.
By design we are a specialized, boutique marketing shop with no aspirations to become a corporate-feel large agency. I realize, very purposely, that when I walk into the office and collaborate with our team members or talk/text/email with any of them, they are part of the Agora Co purpose. We discuss our Core Values and try to operate by them. I get the privilege of being part of their lives, their families, and their careers.
Next
When I reflect on all the lives that have been small and large parts of Agora Co for these ten years, I am truly amazed. I believe firmly that our greatest challenges and mistakes can also be our greatest opportunities, and we have had our share of all of these. When we as people take what we have learned and march forward intentionally to do better each day, then we are in line with using the talents that we are given by Grace. This applies to every client and business we have worked with, as well as each Agora Co team member, resource provider, agency friend and cheerleader.
We have an ever-growing strategic partnership with The Eversole Group focused on community banks that is providing exciting new directions for the future. Our service offerings and the measurable results that we achieve are getting better all the time for our banking, healthcare and other industry clients. Our best practices and the platforms that we utilize are attributing to our increasingly valuable expertise. Our revenues have grown steadily each year. The list of lives that we come in contact with, internally and externally, grows every day in all that we do.
In 2009 it was a prayerful request for direction with nothing but an old laptop and some marketing experience, along with the support of my faith-filled wife (then girlfriend), my family and those around me. Now Agora Co is a provider, a guide, a workplace, a results-getter, and an ever-expanding mission. I ask myself all the time “what are we reflecting?” Proverbs 27:19 tells us “As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.” May your life and ours be filled with His Grace.
