Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelly Sundsvold.
Hi Kelly, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
In January 2019, my husband became very sick when an MSSA Staph infection got lodged in his spinal cord temporarily paralyzing him from the waist down. He was in Shock Trauma for 2 weeks and then in a rehab facility for another 2 weeks. After coming home, he had to relearn how to walk and other basic functions of life. He was in PT/OT for several months and also had an in-home nurse. He went through a month of IV antibiotics that were given to him several times over 24 hours. Every day he got a little stronger!
In July 2019, he was once again diagnosed with another MSSA Staph infection in his hip. He had his hip replaced and had another round of IV antibiotics and PT/OT. It was a really scary time for our family. He was unable to work and I was the only provider for our family during that time. Our 4 kids were 15, 13, and twins age 9 at the time. He was out of work for 13 months total and we accumulated quite a bit of medical and life debt.
In January 2020, I knew we had to do something different to change our financial situation. I had thought “If I could just make some business cards or do some graphics for extra money, we could crawl out of this hole!” This is where the idea for GoldBear Media was born and I got started! Little did I know that the world would shut down with a pandemic a few short months later.
In March 2020, we had the shutdown and every business was rushing to get online. During that time, I had several job offers and was asked for help by multiple businesses. I was able to step up and say “yes” through my new company (GoldBear Media) and my side hustle flourished! I was thankful to be able to help as many businesses as I did during that difficult time.
In August 2022, my side hustle grew into my main hustle AND my husband was able to join me full-time in our business in September 2022. Since we’ve both gone full-time, we’ve been able to grow our business by another 60%!
We feel fortunate to be able to do this together and also help so many small businesses in our community and beyond. Our passion is to help small businesses grow and thrive in the digital world. We specialize in organic social media engagement & management and also affordable websites for small businesses.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Some of the struggles we’ve had along the way have been building scalable systems for growth. We always want the best experience for our clients, and noticed some of our ways of doing things were not helping us grow.
One of the things we’ve added is a project management system for our team and clients. This was a game changer for our team to get projects completed on time for our clients!
Another area we saw as a weakness was in our communication. We also set up a solid communication workflow through Slack to ensure project, team, and client communication was seamless. We strive for open and quick communication with our clients – this builds trust. This tool has been another vital piece of our business.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
We are social media, engagement specialists! We’ve built our unique strategy for organic social media that ensures platform growth. One of our clients had a 48% follower growth in only 90 days. Several clients tripled their organic reach in only 90 days. This is done through our unique strategy of engagement, without paid ads!
Our social management packages are different than other companies. We create the posting and content strategy for each client. Then develop engaging content graphics and captions. Also included in our packages is our daily engagement strategy. Our formula has been a game-changer for our clients and their businesses!
The scheduling platform we use also is unique. We have a built-in approval system that allows our clients to see, approve, and have edits before it goes out on their platforms. They have full visibility but without the work. This is another way we’ve built trust with our clients – everything is done with transparency!
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Professionally: Meeting business owners and hearing about their struggles with marketing within their business – specifically around their challenges with their social media presence. Our strategy has been proven over and over and I know it works. It makes me happy when I can help them grow in that area they struggled with previously.
Personally: Spending time with my husband and 4 kids. They are my absolute favorite people! My husband and I enjoy taking walks together and trying new restaurants. My twins and I like to scooter around the neighborhood together or go find salamanders at Hashawah. My girls and I enjoy watching anime together or taking a spontaneous trip to the bookstore or Micheals.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.goldbear.media/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goldbear.media/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/goldbear.media
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/goldbear-media/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/goldbear-media-westminster?osq=goldbear+media
