Cut The Tie | Success on Your Terms
1st - Define your success on your terms.
2nd - "Cut The Tie" to whatever is keeping you from that success
Cut The Tie is not just a podcast; it's a movement. Hosted by Thomas Helfrich, this highly impactful show features short-form interviews with remarkable individuals who share how they redefined success by boldly cutting ties with fear, doubt, bad habits, toxic environments, and limiting beliefs. You'll hear exactly what they cut, how they did it, what it felt like, and how their lives — and the lives of those around them — changed forever.
Each episode is inspirational, motivational, and — most importantly — actionable. You'll gain real strategies and mindset shifts you can immediately apply to your own life and career.
Plus, every day, Thomas drops solo short-form episodes designed to fire you up, challenge your thinking, and remind you that the only thing standing between you and your potential... is the tie you need to cut.
Join our free community at facebook.com/groups/cutthetie to connect with others on the same journey, and subscribe to our growing YouTube channel with over 1 million subscribers at youtube.com/@cutthetie.
Own your success.
Cut the tie.
Change your life.
Cut The Tie | Success on Your Terms
“You’re Throwing Money into a Black Hole Without Digital Audits”—Grace Clemens on Why Strategy Must Come First
Cut The Tie Podcast with Grace Clemens
What if your biggest limitation wasn’t strategy or skills—but the way you see yourself? In this episode of Cut The Tie, host Thomas Helfrich sits down with Grace Clemens, founder of SGC Marketing, to explore how stepping into your identity as a CEO can completely reshape your business—and your life.
After 13 years in digital marketing across global brands, nonprofits, and e-commerce, Grace hit a moment of truth: if she didn’t see herself as a leader, no one else would. What followed was a radical mindset shift, a rebrand rooted in purpose, and the kind of personal transformation that turns freelancers into founders.
About Grace Clemens
Grace Clemens is the founder and CEO of SGC Marketing, a boutique agency specializing in purpose-driven digital strategy, audits, and implementation. With 13+ years of marketing experience across major global brands (including XPRIZE and Royal Caribbean), fast-scaling startups, and nonprofits, Grace brings a rare combination of B2B, B2C, influencer, and agency-side perspective to her work. SGC Marketing is known for its custom-built teams, focused audits, and powerful strategies for e-commerce and small-to-midsize businesses.
In this episode, Thomas and Grace discuss:
- Why identity comes before strategy
Grace shares how the moment she saw herself as a CEO—starting with a photo shoot—everything in her business got easier. - The biggest tie she had to cut: disbelief
After years of saying “I’m not a CEO,” she flipped the narrative and finally owned her power. - How niching down multiplied her results
From 9 services to 3, Grace explains how narrowing her offer clarified her pitch, improved delivery, and boosted revenue. - Why every marketer should know copywriting
You can have the best team and tools—but if your copy sucks, your marketing will too. - From burnout to balance
Grace talks about slow mornings, boundaries, and systems that help her stay grounded and effective.
Key Takeaways
- No one believes in you until you do
You can’t fake leadership—you have to embody it. - Your niche is your growth lever
The tighter the offer, the stronger the results. - Slow mornings, strong systems
Create space to lead by designing your day—and your processes—with intention. - Audit or burn cash
If you’re not regularly auditing your digital strategy, you’re just throwing money into the black hole of the internet.
Connect with Grace Clemens
🌐 Website: www.gracieclemens.com
💼 LinkedIn: Grace Clemens
📧 Free 15-Min Social Audit: Available via her website form
Connect with Thomas Helfrich
🐦 Twitter: @thelfrich
📘 Facebook: Cut the Tie Group
💼 LinkedIn: Thomas Helfrich
🌐 Website: www.cutthetie.com
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Welcome to Cut the Tie podcast. Hi, I'm your host, thomas Helfrich. I am on a mission to help you cut the tie to whatever it is holding you back from success, and that success is something you define yourself. Today, we're joined by Grace Clemens. Grace, how are you doing today?
Speaker 2:I'm well. Thank you, thanks for having me today. Listen, I appreciate you coming on. I'm looking forward to this conversation. You're in a space, I guess, so it's fun. Why don't you start, though? Start introducing yourself and what it is you do, sure? So I'm Grace Clemens. I'm a digital marketer of over 13 years. I'm now the CEO and founder of SGC Marketing, and that agency does strategy growth communications, but, more so, digital marketing audits, with a full service team to implement and drive results. So every team that's built is customized and handpicked to the findings within that audit, and we serve e-commerce brands and small to medium sized businesses nonprofits mainly focusing on e-commerce brands and small to medium sized businesses, but we help anybody who needs help with this digital marketing.
Speaker 1:Well, and it sounds like you've already touched on it, but that is a very competitive space globally and AI is really threatening small agency in the next two years because of the idea of AI agents and the power of it, the ease of use and the value proposition of what an agency needs to charge to get stuff done versus what probably could just do themselves with VA possibly. So, in your world, what is your biggest defining difference? What's the unique hook that makes people pick you?
Speaker 2:I mean I think personally I've been in the business for 13 years. Over 13 years I've watched digital marketing grow from the ground up. Meta paid ads in social media did not even exist when I began this. You know career, so I think that's one factor. But also, if you look at my background and experience, I have really been on every side of the marketing team but also the business side of things.
Speaker 2:So I started off in B2B, working with large FMCG brands like Kagri and Oxfam and Royal Caribbean. I moved into B2C into fashion digital marketing and there was not a single hat that I didn't wear Did five times growth in four years. Then I went freelance and moved into a nonprofit and I worked on the largest incentivized prize in history with X Prize 100 million car removal. I've also been an influencer. I've also been on the agency side, managing influencer relationships.
Speaker 2:I also was the marketing lead at Process Driven for over a year and that really gave me an insight into how to build my business, what processes and systems and SOPs need to be used, and also really understanding what it's like to be a CEO of a small business and really bring build that brand from ground up. So I think that's something that really separates my agency from the rest is I can actually understand the pain points of who I'm speaking to and what it's like to build a brand and what it's like to start small and what do you, what happens as you grow larger and how those problems shift and all of that stuff. So I think it's a combination of my background experience and really knowing every side of the spectrum when it comes to marketing and who's involved with that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I would be now recalling our conversation online before about the X price that was.
Speaker 1:I know people know that's a huge deal and the risk that Peter Diamandis, who ran that and drove that, took is he didn't have any money and he was promising all this crazy stuff with zero capital behind it and he was on the hook for it. It was, if you guys want to read a really cool story if you were a part of that venture and I'm so glad you brought it up because, that's right, you were part of that and I was like that's huge, like that was like one of the biggest risks to take that because, because the the idea of getting in space was such a crazy idea, whatever 15 years ago or whatever it was 10 years ago when it started and anyway. So, like you're uh, I love that you've been on all aspects of it and you know around that, like you know you've you had a journey. But I want to start with how you define success for yourself and it could be for today or how you used to define it. But how do you define success?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean from a business standpoint, because my agency is a little over a year old revenue was an obvious one for me, so watching that revenue grow and being able to reinvest it into my agency I made my first hire last year, so I think when I'm able to start outsourcing more will be a form of success. Personally, I think it's slow mornings, you know. Being able to exercise and enjoy my mornings is something that brings me immense joy, fulfillment. So I feel like that's my key to personal success is being able to wake up and get myself ready to do what I love to do.
Speaker 1:I love that answer. You kept it in your own calendar kind of thing. So, uh, you know, in the in the idea like just same, exact like I could not find a slot in my life to consistently work out. A lot of excuses probably could have figured it out, but I could never do it early so I couldn't get to bed early enough. I can't do in the afternoons, I'm too tired to vote to everywhere kids, stuff, whatever and when I was spining and I hate going to the gym when it's busy, it's just like I might as well. I'd rather just not be there or just do anything else.
Speaker 1:I found this time slot right after the last kid goes to school, eight o'clock to about nine o'clock, that I write for my teams because they're in Philippines. I don't check emails. I might play a game or something between sets. The truth is it's super slow. It's just hit it for 35, 40 minutes. Get home and get into the day. Now I feel awesome. I've been doing that for a year every day, seven days a week. I can't take off a day because otherwise I get out of my routine.
Speaker 1:I love that answer Slow mornings for yourself to allow you to focus, to be successful, which allows you to chase the business goal and success, which is revenue. Otherwise, you're distracted, you're feeling guilty, you're pissed, you didn't work out, you feel lethargic. Love that Great takeaway. Anybody listening. That was a long answer. We're going to keep all that it because it is a formula for success. Love it In your journey. You've been around for digital marketing. You're not even that old, so you've, she's like a grandma, but not a grandma, but she's like the grandma of digital marketing. She may punch me she was me in person for saying such. The point is, you've been around a little bit for marketing. Uh, so you have a passion, for you clearly have some you some skills, potential in the area. What has been your journey, though, and what's been the biggest tie you've had to cut, though, to get that success you defined?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean my journey has been long. You know, I think one of the sort of blessings in my life was I ended up having to drop out of university for a couple of years and when I went back and decided to focus on digital marketing had I not had those two years off, all the courses towards digital marketing wouldn't have even existed. So I always felt like I kind of this career found me and it was meant to be so. I've always felt that way. But in terms of what I had to cut ties with, I think this is a really, really interesting conversation or question, because I was freelance for three years and I was doing all right, but eventually I decided to go full time for that one year, with Process Driven, and I got laid off in the end. So it forced me to really think what do I really really want to do? And the truth was I wanted to do entrepreneurship and be in marketing and live my life the way I want to live it. And the number one belief that I had to cut with was I didn't see myself as a CEO and I think all my life I really said, oh, I don't want to be a CEO, I don't want to be an entrepreneur. And then I sat with that. I said, well, nobody else is going to see you as a CEO if you don't see yourself as a CEO.
Speaker 2:And once I got laid off and I sat with this question, it all came together.
Speaker 2:Really, I couldn't come up with a really strong pitch when I was doing it for the three years before, but it was like an immediate light bulb that I just kind of came to terms with.
Speaker 2:I know exactly what my pitch is going to be. I know exactly how I'm going to lay it out on the website and how I'm going to pitch this to businesses. And in doing that, I decided to do a photo shoot to bring it all together and to brand a stronger branding. I always recommend this to my clients when they're doing a new website or a new campaign is to have a focused, objectified photo shoot. But I was doing two birds with one stone, because not only was I doing the branding for my business and my pitch, but I was solidifying seeing myself as a CEO and, honestly, everything in my business got easier ever since doing that photo shoot. So I'd say, if you're struggling seeing yourself in a different way, whether that's as a CEO or as an Olympian or whatever you want to be, have a photo shoot or do something that solidifies it within yourself, and for me it was the branding and the photo shoot.
Speaker 1:I love that. It's not a pick it till you make it. You're in imposter syndrome Like you're in this. I'm not sure I love that. It's not a fake it till you make it. You're in imposter syndrome. You're in this, I'm not sure I'm at. If you don't believe in yourself, no one else is really going to. Your parents might. Their best shot is parents, maybe a spouse maybe. But truthfully, no one's 100% behind you except you and that's a real thing. And if you feel that imposter syndrome, I love the idea that you're saying step out and just become it and you're growing. In that moment you are. And that's where growth happens is when you're like I don't know where. I am Great, because you're a new little tree growing in the forest. So congratulations on that. Do you remember the moment where you're like I'm doing this, I am going to become that CEO.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it was when I really, you know, I had the pitch, I had the landing page. It was when I booked that photo shoot and organized my outfits and, you know, got my hair done and there is something to be said about making yourself feel your best, and maybe it's the millennial in me, but for some reason, photos solidified it in my head where I could see it, and I say that's me, you know, that's my, that's. I am the CEO that I always thought that I, that I couldn't be so for some reason, I think whatever works for your mind, you know it doesn't have to be a photo shoot, but that having that photo shoot was really a game changer for me and also for my business, because my website looks so much better branded and stronger.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, you feel more comfortable in the role itself and I always tell people you know if you lose weight, you've been working out, you feel good and smiley. You got a great haircut. Do some pictures on the tripod for yourself. It'll go a long way. Just own the moment with that. What's been the impact for yourself since then?
Speaker 2:Well, I think, up-leveling myself. I think when I solidified that in my mind and seeing myself as a CEO, I got a lot more confident. I got a lot more direct in how relationships work within use and the systems that I use. I feel very confident and less stress in how I manage my clients and my day-to-day tasks and it allows me to shut off when I need to, instead of sitting around and worrying about oh, did I do this? What do I have to do tomorrow? I have it all centralized in a system, so I don't, I can actually shut off and focus on that.
Speaker 2:I think also, you know, and that trickles into every aspect of your life. When you feel more confidence, you feel stronger in your boundaries, you believe in what you're doing. That trickles into every part of your life and, I think, for my business. Again, my pitch came to me which I was offering every service under the sun. In my first three years I had nine services on my website. Well, once I made that decision and finalized that pitch and my view of where I was going with the business, I aired it down to three services and I've been much more effective in delivering what I can do for brands and actually signing on clients, and it allows me to focus on what I really love. And then, obviously, I have a ton of amazing freelancers that compliment my skills, so I don't have to focus on everything and it allows me to do better work really.
Speaker 1:It's a great point. So you know, as an agency owner that built a seven figure agency the moment. We, you know, and I coach people on like I created a system of how you kind of do this each month and the biggest piece people do is they don't niche enough. Very rarely does anyone go. You know their audience. There's only one person I've ever met. So if your audience is so small and they're just not buying, that problem that's only happened one time in four years, ever, and even then she, she was still selling stuff. But I was like you can come a little broader and do a little bit different problem. But you're spot on. If you can limit to what you do, not only is your delivery easier, your repeatability is easier, your profitability goes up. Because you can charge a little bit more, she'll do it a little better and you can be more efficient. As technology comes in, you can leverage that to give you further scale. So absolutely love that idea. On the grateful side of the world.
Speaker 2:What are you most thankful for? I think my freedom right now and definitely my experience. I've been very, very lucky that I moved overseas to study abroad, in London in 2010. And I ended up living in London for 10 years and I was lucky enough to get several jobs during that time. Who sponsored my visa and gave me the freedom to live overseas and in my 20s, this was extremely valuable for me From an education standpoint.
Speaker 2:Studying was more difficult in England for me, but I took a lot more from that education. It was priceless in terms of, you know, finding who I was in my 20s, rediscovering that and really being able to be my truest self and chase happiness, you know, expand my education, my career and that to me, the freedom of that, the privilege of doing that. I feel very lucky to have done that because it shaped how I view the world in a lot of ways. It expanded my network and I just know so many amazing people around the world. To me, about exploring other cultures, but understanding other cultures and respecting them, and not just going to visit as a tourist, but really immersing yourself in those cultures it's very, it's very important to me.
Speaker 1:I love that. Give me advice for the listener for their journey.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean from a business standpoint. You have to know what your mission is and how that's what problem that's solving for your audience. So know what their pain points are, know how to reach them in an emotional way and be very clear about what problems that you're helping with. On a personal and business standpoint, I would say you have to believe in your business, in yourself and in your mission. So, like we said before, if you don't believe in it, no one else is going to believe in your business, in yourself and in your mission. So, like we said before, if you don't believe in it, no one else is going to believe in it, and it doesn't matter who asks me.
Speaker 2:I feel so strongly about what I do and I really love it that nobody could ever make me doubt that. It's very clear to me that purpose-driven marketing means the most to me. And it's very clear to me that purpose-driven marketing means the most to me and I've been lucky to attract clients that have purpose-driven businesses. So know what you feel most passionate about. Digital marketing is such a vast landscape. So know your niche, know your audience and believe in yourself, because if you don't, no one else is going to All right Agreed and there are a lot of fish to catch in the sea.
Speaker 1:And the more niche you are, people will buy into you. Specifically, you can show some potential that you can actually deliver what you say you can do and it looks or appears this is what you do. People will pick you Because they'll pick the next person. But be like I. Like this person enough, I'll try them and you have a shot and then learn from that. So I absolutely love that. Just know your niche, know what to go do with it and go after it as a business owner, because the marketing piece is, honestly, I think, the heart's part of business. It's easy to do math and P&L and move money and do the things like that, but once you get revenue in, none of it matters. Quickfire, who gives you inspiration.
Speaker 2:So I've got three answers to this. In a general sense, I love Greta Van Riel. She is an entrepreneur who talks a lot about e-commerce marketing and I'm a big fan of the YouTube videos she's put out, the advice she puts out, and she's built about six seven-figure scaled companies. So I love her from a business standpoint and as a woman entrepreneur, I would say my LinkedIn community of digital marketers has been incredibly uplifting to see similar struggles, similar humor. I just find such solace logging into my LinkedIn and interacting with people in that community. I learn a lot from them and I just love that platform and the community I've built there.
Speaker 2:And lastly, not to be cliche, my mom. She obviously inspires me. She was a single mother raising two kids and gave up her love for horse training when I was born and went into PR and marketing, and she started as a receptionist and worked her way up to opening the NASDAQ with the CEO, all raising two kids on her own. She's the reason I've made it this far. So definitely her for sure. Her work ethic and her ability to really you know build everything from the ground up.
Speaker 1:I love that you gave her credit for everything you've gotten so far. I will say I think you should give yourself credit because you've leveraged what she. You didn't have to take that example. You could have ignored it, you could have been angry, but you took it. So give yourself more credit on that one Best business advice you've ever received.
Speaker 2:Yes, so this was given to me by Dave Poulos. He said to me with two targets, you'll hit neither. And before I launched SGC networking. But you get incredible advice from people who have been there and done that. And he said to me with two targets, you'll hit neither. Which seems so obvious. But at the time I was really saying, oh, I'm going to target e-commerce brands and nonprofits to be and he helped me really niche it down and focus on it, which again seems so obvious. But to me, for some reason, he used the idea of two fishes in a bucket. He said if you're trying to hit two fish, you're not going to get either of them. So that's one that really stuck with me and I've really implemented along the way.
Speaker 1:I love that. The two target idea is and it's also I'll extend it aim small, miss small. So you definitely want to aim very specific and then get things around it and sometimes you discover that it's not quite the problem they have, it's near its ancillary and then you change your marketing to say that's actually the problem I saw and you should adapt your. This gets frustrating. We have a website, I already do that, but you have to, otherwise you're always going to be missing slightly off target and then eventually that gets broader and broader. So I love that Give a must read book you'd recommend.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So one of my all time favorites is the ad week copywriting handbook. If you are a marketer, you should be studying copywriting. If you are not a copywriter, you can have the best strategy in the world, you can have the best tech team in the world, but if you don't have good copy it's kind of all a waste. I think we underestimate the power of great copy and what that really does for marketing. So if you're not a pro copywriter, read that book and at least just understand how to create good, impactful copy that actually leads to action. Personally I would say the Power of Now. That's just a book I hold close to my heart that always kind of resets my mind and to remember to be present and sit in gratitude every day.
Speaker 1:I love that. I will tell you I struggle with copy. What I find that really works well is I call positive polarizing. I'll give this advice meaning for one of our customers. They do franchise consulting and stuff like this, and we're like go to people who want you to get a better resume, better job, better career and better influencers in common Say I think there's a different way. Be a business owner Because you'll pull out people like you know you'd be respectful, but you're like I don't agree that you should go get a job. Like, go be positively polarizing and give the reasons why.
Speaker 1:And it's amazing how well that content works when you take a stand on something that's maybe not so charged. I did a post that I was literally smashing Grant Cardone because there's an image of him on Easter that he reposted for his and grabbing his wife's breast with his daughters around as their Easter photo. Now I understand that you would do that privately and that's your funny thing, but you go and do that. You're like demonstrating objectivity of women and like and it's and it's like so classless to me, and so it went a bit viral and I was like it's one of the few things that I've ever done.
Speaker 1:That's very polarizing, but I truly believe I don't give a shit if you don't agree with it. That's objective and you can just follow. And I unfollowed some people who disagreed because I was like I'm taking a stand on that. That's positive towards what I believe in. My point being is that works. You can't do it all the time, but you should. I don't know. Just I love to give little tips that I've learned along the way that you're positively polarizing to your brand or your niches you'll do really well in that and it makes it authentic.
Speaker 1:It's that well Agreed? Okay to have an opinion, just don't be disrespectful, exactly. If you had a star over today, what part in your time in your life would you go back to?
Speaker 2:And what would you do during that time? I mean, I love the way I've done my life so far. I don't think I would go back in time per se because I'm so happy with how it's all gone so far, even the bad parts. I definitely would have started networking a lot earlier for my business. I definitely would have started networking a lot earlier for my business. I had no idea how much time I would spend just getting on phone calls with people, researching, networking, building that clientele. But also your freelance network right, there's a lot of people that I've teamed up with. That allows me to grow farther and faster and larger. Allows me to grow farther and faster and larger.
Speaker 2:And you just can't always do that on your own, especially from an entrepreneur's set. It can be lonely at times. So making sure you have that network for support for growing, for bouncing ideas off and teeing up on projects as well. So starting my networking earlier for the business and then also taking things less personally I think that's something that I really struggled with in the first three years. You know I took it personally when a deal didn't go through or somebody delayed something or somebody moved a meeting. And it's not personal, it's never personal. You just have to understand that business takes a little bit longer. There's a lot of things moving in the back end and it's never personal. You just have to understand that business takes a little bit longer, there's a lot of things moving in the back end and it's never personal. So that's something that's made my life a lot easier since coming back to the entrepreneurial game.
Speaker 1:I'll give you one exception. I agree it's generally not personal. We had a customer at one point that was fine with me, was very racist and demeaning to our team and my team didn't tell me about it because for six weeks they're service-oriented. And then one of my leads said, hey, this guy's kind of this. And I was like, what do you mean? He's like well, he did this, he does this every time. And I was like, all right, hold on a second. And I was like, all right, hold on a second. And I got that guy on a meeting two minutes later, literally like, hey, you got two minutes. And I said, hey, this isn't working. What would be a fair refund? He's like what.
Speaker 1:I was like just, this isn't working for our team. We're working with you. What would you like as a refund? I said, well, maybe half of it back. And I was like, okay, done straight, I just want to wish you luck. You know it's just, this isn't working. And I killed it right there and we need to trust me, we need to do the revenue. But I took that as a personal offense to my team. That was in the early days when I made that move. My team was like, holy cow, you did that. I was like, yeah, I was like I know we need the revenue, but I'm they delay doesn't mean they don't like you. They just might have a different mark.
Speaker 2:Yeah, can I just add that that's a great exception to the rule, because I do think there are times in the business when you need to stand for your values and anti-Semitism and anti-racism and human rights. It is important. That's the exception to the rule, obviously.
Speaker 1:And so A there was a question I should ask today and I didn't. What would that question have been, and how do you answer it?
Speaker 2:Well, from a business standpoint, I would say why do people need to be doing ongoing digital marketing audits? And that is, for me, an obvious one. But just in case anyone doesn't know, you are literally blindly throwing your money at your marketing, which is like throwing your money into the black hole of the internet, which makes me nervous. I would never nobody would ever throw their money into the darkness without you know, some sort of knowledge, and not just doing them once a year, but you should be doing them consistently, month on month. You get higher revenue, higher engagement with your audience. There's it's a no brainer to me. If you don't want to be throwing your money into the darkness, you should be doing audits on the regular. From a personal standpoint, we kind of covered this one, which was what, what, what's made the most impact on my life, and I would say traveling, living abroad, studying overseas. That's completely shaped who I've become today and what I've ended up doing with my career.
Speaker 1:Love it, absolutely love it. Hey, listen, thank you so much for coming on today. Tell everyone who should get ahold of you and how they do that.
Speaker 2:Yes, so my website is wwwgracyclemenscom, that's G-R-A-C-I-E Clemens. Like rogerclemenscom, you can find my case studies, my client reviews and my intro form. If you're keen to just get started and hop on a call, fill out that intro form and we can get started right away. Or you can contact me and find me on LinkedIn linkedincom slash Grace Clemons. I'm also offering free 15-minute social media audits if you'd like to just get a taste of what that's like.
Speaker 1:I love that. Thank you, by the way, so much for coming on. Grace, you rock.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me. It's been a pleasure.
Speaker 1:Everybody listen. Get out there, go cut a tie to something.
