S2 EP21 Why I Started Impulse Creative with Remington Begg

An Origin Story

Does anyone care why you started your company? 

At some point in the business relationship, your origin story matters to some of your audience. It could be early on when they're deciding whether your story fits into theirs. It could be further down the journey when they're deciding between you and a competitor. 

Whenever it matters to them, they should be able to find it. 

That's why it's time to dive into the origin story of Impulse Creative.

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The Beginning

January 2020 marks 13 years for Impulse Creative. 

In January 2007 Remington came home from a vacation and decided that it was time to own his career and "do this marketing thing." 

At the time, Remington was pursuing a management career in hospitality and the restaurant business. He'd gone to school for graphic design but didn't graduate.

"I didn't like the business of college and the business it had become. So I decided to pave my own way." - Remington Begg on his college years.

Because he likes working with people and was already in the restaurant business, he was on the management track. However, Remington realized that he couldn't have the impact he wanted. So he decided to turn his side business Remington Graphics into a full-fledged small business.

The transition was slow to start, with Remington as a solopreneur. Add into the mix the fact that 2007 and 2008 was a terrible time to start a business in South Florida—remember The Recession?—and you have a recipe for an overnight success story!

Want to know another reason why Remington started his own agency rather than joining an existing company? Listen to the "you're overqualified = you're a threat" portion of the episode at 6:44.

Early on and then throughout the life of Impulse Creative, Remington found that being nimble and innovative (early on it was because he had no budget and had to compete with bigger competitors) has helped differentiate the agency.

Because he had to know a plethora of skills, he was able to help clients early on with more than one thing. This would lead to long term relationships that could grow and evolve. 

We still do that today. Some companies call it upselling. We call it serving our clients better with more integrated services. 

The Middle

In the first year, Rachel joined the company back when Remington would have to create vinyl signs by hand and print business cards, and website were just an add-on to services. 

The evolution of brand went from Remington Graphics to Impulse Creative Studios to build the business beyond a one-person show. But it wasn't yet a marketing agency.

"I didn't want to be a quote-unquote 'agency' because of the box that put us in. We wanted to be though of as a creative studio." - Remington Begg on the evolution of Impulse

What's Our Why?

Remington says his why, which becomes the company's why, is that "There has to be a smarter way to help businesses grow." 

Before starting the company, Remington would have regular conversations with one of his customers. Phil was in management for a company and would often complain that the launch for a trade show was coming up and he'd have to have the same conversation each week with different people on the marketing, the launch, the promotion and the branding. 

This conversation Phil would have, feeling like it was Groundhog Day all over again, would happen with the trade show team, then the web designer, then the sales team and beyond. 

Remington saw an opportunity to help Phil's company grow with one partner handling all of the branding, marketing and communications. 

This all led to one of our original ideas in our mission being, "Helping companies create a consistent marketing message." That threads continues to this day, 13 years later.

"There's a difference between a company that can be remembered and one that can't." - Remington Begg on basic branding.

What's Next

Growth. Over the years Impulse Creative has evolved and grown with the needs of its clients. Sometimes that growth goes off the rails (see episode 2.17 The Chrysalis Effect below). 

More than a decade into our existence and we continue to grow and serve clients around the world. 

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