February 5, 2025
By Molly Ruland

Six Years at the Helm of an Agency and 48 Trying Not to Sink My Ship

Well, here we are 6 years into Heartcast Media and I’m still here, mostly. What a wild ride it has been, pandemic and all. I figured I’d share the top takeaways with my usual brand of humor and coping mechanisms.

Location, Location, Location

Location matters, well it did before the great panini anyway. Remember when I had that beautiful studio in the castle mansion in Dupont? The OGs will remember that studio, in all its beauty and ridiculousness. The studio was in the heart of Washington DC, right on the Presidential Motorcade’s most favorite route, apparently. Remember that scene in Naked Gun when the guy falls off the building and then a marching band proceeded to march over him? It was kinda like that, it was comical how long that motorcade is when you are in the middle of a recording. It was also a historic building which meant that I couldn’t put a single mark on the walls. Any idea how hard it is to sound treat a space without touching the walls? It’s not easy, I promise you that.

Now. I run the business from Costa Rica so maybe all that effort was worth it after all. I couldn’t imagine how I could run my business remotely back then, it was a very brick and mortar business but here I am, and business is booming.

Referrals, Referrals, Referrals

I used to have a boss in the mortgage business who would drill into our heads that 90% of your business should be referral. Well, turns out ole Charlie was right after all. After being on 100 gabillion cold sales calls, a refer is worth it’s weight in the therapy Im going to need. I love sales, and I love people, so I truly enjoy those calls. Its the soul crushing lack of response from “cold” calls that really kicks me in the gut. Over the last few months I put effort into some strategic relationships with people whom I truly respect and value and it has been worth every bit of time and resources invested. Almost every meeting is a referral now and it reminds me of how important those relationships are. In fact, shoutout to Edward Segal, CAE , Shelby Joy Scarbrough and Amy Vaughan who have consistently sent us amazing clients since the day I met them.

Everything Changes, Even You

There is something about leaving the country, losing your mom, living through a pandemic and getting drugged and robbed in a home invasion that will change you, who knew? The last 4 years have been the hardest and most transformative years of my life. I have been a great leader, and an absolutely terrible one. I have shown up and done by best, and have I shown up barely breathing. Just when I thought I had a handle on a few things, boom, turns out I still need a lot of work. Getting older comes with wisdom apparently, Im still waiting on mine to arrive but Im sure one day I’ll get there.

I celebrated a birthday this week and I can’t help but feel like life has happened so fast, I don’t even know where all of the time went. I probably spend too much time working and not enough time in the sunshine but I like my clients and the work I do. It’s going to be a transformative year for me, I’ve got all kinds of tricks up my sleeve but all of them will challenge me and make the last few years look like a warm up.

So, here’s to personal growth, good friends, great whiskey and boat rides in the sunshine and of course, another 6 years of HCM packed with good stuff, hard lessons and lots of growth.

Molls