In a world where the corporate landscape can often feel overwhelming and impersonal, Samantha Wagstaff stands out as a beacon of hope and inspiration. After navigating the tumultuous waters of agency life and confronting the challenges of mental health, she took a leap of faith to create Neo Social—a digital marketing agency rooted in compassion and collaboration. Driven by her commitment to support small and female-led businesses, Samantha's journey embodies resilience and empowerment. Her story reminds us that when we align our work with our values, we not only uplift ourselves but also those around us. Join us as we explore Samantha's inspiring path and her vision for a more supportive and equitable business environment.
- What inspired you to start Neo Social, and how does it align with your personal values and goals?
I started out self taught in SEO and digital marketing, I worked my way up to Head of Digital for an agency and the closer I got to management, the more I realised that the company didn't have the best interest of clients. It was frustrating to have meetings with clients and have to stand by the agency, when I wanted to scream that this is not the way to treat clients and these strategies are terrible. I was implementing practices that I didn't believe in and I decided that morily I could no longer support the business. It was a turning point for me when I had a full breakdown and had to go on to antidepressants. I realised this is about as bad as it can get now, Im at a point in my life that I can take a risk and go out on my own. I had only just bought my first home so I did have assets to risk, but it was greater to risk that than my mental health.
When I started my own business I implemented a "we grow, as you grow" motto. After seeing SME clients struggle to keep up with ridiculous costs that just were not sustainable, unless we provided overnight success which at the best of times is almost impossible. I decided to create an agency that helped support SMEs grow and created a tier system that meant when the client makes profit so do we. It's a great system, it motivates my business to support the client and allows the client to gain equity without huge initial fees that eat away at their precious profits.
I removed having long term contracts, as I hated this at the agency I worked at. Why force someone who is struggling, to stay with you? I implemented a 1 month notice clause, as I only want to work with clients who want to work with us, because they value what we do for them! 4 years on I've managed to keep 90% of my clients because of this ethos. It helped build trusting relationships from day 1. Don't get me wrong, over 4 years I've had 3 clients move to other agencies, as it's a highly competitive industry, but out of those 3, 2 came back to me after an unsuccessful trial of other agencies. I feel this is a testament to what we offer and how we treat businesses. Most successful agencies want to work with 6 figure brands, but we want to turn businesses into 6 figure brands and we have! Multiple times.
I am extremely passionate about seeing businesses grow, watching the owners buy new buildings, expand their premises and continue to expand, honestly it's euphoric, there is no better feeling. Being rewarded for a job well done is just a bonus! - Can you share a pivotal moment or experience that significantly influenced your decision to focus on supporting female-led retail SMEs?
Over the years I've been majorly inspired by some of the women I have worked with and I realised that watching women thrive and become self dependent was a real passion. Speaking with MD's that were mums and still working every hour to have something that gave them financial freedom, supporting these women became a key focus.
Listening to their stories and having my own experiences with men in business, I felt like I could help empower these women and give them a foundation to believe in their strengths. I've been underestimated by male colleagues my entire career, being the head of men that were being paid more than me was an eye opener and another reason why I wanted to start my own company. Tech based roles, especially SEO is a really male orientated platform. So holding your own against a male dominated space is hard but there is no reason why women can't be as good if not better than men in these roles.
After the birth of my daughter this year, I decided that I wanted to continue to help build a world where women in business, especially founders are elevated, praised and championed. I wanted to show that having a business and a baby was 100% possible. Is it extremely hard to only take 2 weeks maternity, YES! I was back on client calls the day after I birthed an almost 9lb baby girl. I left the hospital and that day I was back catering to clients. Was it the right decision, for me, YES! I've kept my clients, my business is growing faster than ever as she has motivated me to drive this business for her! I am extremely privileged that I can work from home and have a great support system with my mother supporting me, and I support my mum by paying her for her time. It allows me to be around my baby girl and still produce amazing results for my clients. I'm sure it's not for everyone but it was right for me. - What were some of the major challenges you faced when starting Neo Social, particularly after the breakdown of your previous partnership?
When I first started NEO I had given my notice to the agency I worked at in Dec and had to give 3 months notice. When March came around Covid19 had just hit the world and the businesses I was about to start ,marketing were shutting the doors as most were manufacturers of their own products. It was a sink or swim moment for sure, I had no option B, this business was my only option and I think that's what kept me motivated. I was lucky that some of my clients did end up fulfilling orders themselves and I was able to get started and support them. During the next crazy 3 years we've been hit with Covid lockdowns, multiple wars in Europe and a recession. Somehow all of the businesses we have supported have made it through these challenging times which meant so did we well to a degree.
During this period, I actually left the original company I set up due to a breakdown in a business partnership. I set up with an older gentleman who was meant to help drive new business and be a mentor. I offered him 30% of my company as a thank you, which in hindsight was a terrible decision. I can't really go into why I had to leave but let just say once again the ethics in the business did not align. It was one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make and it was honestly one of the worst periods of my life. It was right before my wedding!
I remember not financially being able to afford a solicitor but was ringing round every solicitor i could find, as it was clearly heading in a bad direction. Someone took pity on me as I think they could hear just how distraught I was, they gave me a free piece of advice and said the easiest thing was to just walk away. So that's what I did. I sacrificed clients, what was in the business bank account and created a new company on my own the next day. - How did you navigate the difficulties of working with an older male partner and eventually transitioning to running Neo Social independently?
There are many advantages and disadvantages of having an older partner, especially a male partner. They can help share their experience and wisdom, but at the same time they can be extremely patronising and it can make you feel like a child. A lot of the foundations such as accountants and bookkeepers were brought in by him as I trusted him, but I would later live to regret that decision. One thing I would say to anyone looking to work with an experienced business partner would be to ensure you source your own financial team. This is so important and something I was naive to.
I felt that in the end I held myself well during the business breakdown, I never got personal, kept it professional and made decisions based on facts and not emotions. I'm actually so proud of sticking up for myself and listening to my intuition so early on. - How has your mental health been affected by the challenges you've faced in building and growing your business?
I was so hurt from the experience I could have just stopped and given up, but something inside me wouldn't let me quit. Within 2 months I had made more profit than what was in the bank account that I had walked away from. I was happier than ever, I was financially free and able to take the business in the direction I wanted with no one loitering anything over me.
I knew the intent of the partner so I made sure I got on top of making clients aware as soon as I could and tried to do as much damage control as I could before slander started.
I suffered from major anxiety for almost a year following the breakdown of my business, I'd never been in such a stressful situation ever before and having to deal with this on my own, with no one who really was able to understand what's going on, was honestly horrific, I wouldn't wish it on anyone. However it's been the best decision I've ever made and NEO Social was born and is doing better than ever before. - What strategies have you used to build trust and drive new leads for Neo Social, especially when starting out?
I have really strong working relationships with my clients. I've built every inch of this business on trust and transparency. This has allowed me to gain most of my new business through recommendations. To date I've spent £50 on advertising. Due to this I've never actually serviced my own socials, which is crazy really when that's a service you are offering to clients. So I've made the active decision to dedicate more time to this, this year and use my own social presence to help drive new leads.
For anyone starting out I'd really advise using your network thats how i got started, if you dont have much of a network yet then use Instagram to build awareness. It's still a great platform for this and using reels and personal branding you can drive customers to you. Don't get put off by rejection, it's a natural part of business, you are never going to be right for everyone, you just have to find the ones you are right for. Just because you do not get 100's of likes on your posts doesn't mean people aren't taking notice. A no isn't a no forever, it's just a no for right now. - Can you discuss a specific instance where you faced significant self-doubt or setbacks, and how you overcame them?
I was working with my biggest client and when we started the business went from £40k annual turnover to over 1 million in 9 months, it was amazing and things were great. Over the next couple of years, the business did not do as well as the owner predicted and I think some doubt started to creep in about if someone could do a better job, which inturn had me doubting my own capabilities, during this time a lot of the businesses i worked with were not thriving like they had previously, there were alot of changes on meta and GDPR cookies which made gaining this magic results increasingly harder. I lost one client during this period and I started to really doubt if this was right for me. I struggled after the first business broke down and I was still recovering from that so my anxiety was already rife. I started to crave a creative outlet again as my degree was in fashion and I started to miss the high that creativity gave me.
So I actually set up a business which I ran on weekends creating bespoke events, it gave me the creative outlet i craved, it proved to me I can grow another business from nothing and gave me another focus. It then gave me the opportunity to say to the client try this other agency and see what they can do, without worrying about losing the financial income.
I wanted to see if this really was the business model that was right for me, or should I be doing something else. It thrived and I actually ended up turning people away and had to make a decision: do I stick with NEO or focus on this new side hustle and make that my main focus.
To cut a long story short, i persisted with NEO, i thought after everything ive been through i'm not giving up now. I went back to the client an negotiated trialing building a second business for him from scratch. Within 3 months the new venture was thriving and I started to get my confidence back, he actually ended up giving me back my old account and i kept the new account means is doubled my income. Both sites are doing incredible.
I guess my biggest take away was to stop stressing about what has not yet come to pass. Struggling with the anxiety I kept predicting the worst and couldn't see the amazing opportunities in front of me. Since managing my stress and anxiety ive been able to drive the business further, ive been able to ask for better payment terms and ive stopped worrying so much about failure. I guess you could just call it a mind shift. - How do you balance your personal well-being with the demands of running a business?
This one I am still learning! I typically find when the business is thriving the less time I have for this. I do actively make sure I take rest days now and I have become much stricter with working hours when it comes to communication. With being a new mum and working, it's maybe not the topic I can offer much advice on as I'm still working at this everyday, but I know how important it is. - What are some key lessons you've learned from your experiences that you think other women in business could benefit from?
Do not offer shares in your business ever! At least not starting out, partnerships are extremely taxing. Always assemble your own financial team. Ensure you are the only one with access to the business bank. Cash flow is so important especially if you have an invoicing model, where possible build that equity so if you do lose a client you're not scrambling and stressing about money. Relationship building is more important than immediate profit. Support other women in your field or in other leading roles, support their content, if they're doing a great job tell them, because most of us would love to hear it, it's hard and lonely running a business so to get a supportive prompt can be the difference between a good and bad day for us. Listen to your gut if it feels wrong, it probably is. - How do you stay motivated and focused during difficult times, both personally and professionally?
Setting goals keeps me motivated. Having a vision and ambition, and taking steps towards this. I am definitely financially motivated, so this is a constant motivation. Also looking at the businesses that are still going because of a direct result of our work is very motivational. I dont ever want to stop building businesses and seeing clients' dreams start to unfold. The BIGGEST motivation is being on the phone and the MD being excited about results and their own future.
I'm sales driven, being in performance marketing I guess you have to be. Watching sales after sales come in from working with a client turning over £1k a month to the client being at £80k 7 months later just made me realise wow i can really make a difference in this field. I want to leave this world feeling like i contributed to something, building businesses that will hopefully be here still when i'm not is incredibly motivating.. - How do you ensure that your business practices and mission reflect your commitment to supporting female-led ventures?
I have started creating courses specifically aimed at supporting female led businesses, these will be rolled out im hoping before the end of 2024. I just want to make sure they are the best they can be before launching them, so watch this space. If I can turn NEO into the place Female SMEs come to, to learn and grow and I can see multiple businesses become successful because of our support I'll leave this world fulfilling my purpose - What advice would you give to other women who are facing challenges in starting or growing their own businesses?
Network, network network. There are more people out there that want to see you succeed than fail. Go to as many networking events as you can, as you never know who you might meet or what you might learn. Connect and follow female and male leaders in your field, learn from their insights and experiences. Spend time every week harnessing your skills and keeping up to date with new technologies. Learning about AI is crucial, it's going to be a key part in any business, the sooner you adapt the better. - How has your personal journey and experiences shaped the way you approach and run Neo Social?
I employ only freelance women, it's controversial but I want to support women who want financial freedom, there are no bosses at NEO, we are all equal, everyone's point is valid and everyone gets a voice. I want the women I work with to be freelancers because that way they control their own future and their earnings are limitless. I love that my social director is also a mum, who knows maybe neo will be an agency for freelance mums! - What message do you hope to convey through your work with Neo Social, and how do you envision its impact on others?
I want to convey that there are good trustworthy agencies out there that are working with their best interests at heart. I want to help female led SMEs and offer support and guidance to women starting out in business. I want NEO to be a safe space for business owners to know someone else is routing for them and there is someone else willing to listen and motivate them to succeed. Ive always envisioned turning NEO into a consultancy rather than an agency. I am working on introducing more of this into the business structure. I have so much experience across so many sectors now, I feel I could be a real asset to these smaller companies.
IG: @neo_social_official
W: https://www.neo-social.com/
