FXBG Neighbors Podcast
Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast
FXBG Neighbors Podcast
EP #42 Building a Brand That Feels Like Family
The entrepreneurial spirit runs deep in Anne Flythe's veins. As the daughter of two Fredericksburg small business owners, she witnessed firsthand the challenges of building and maintaining a local brand. Now, as the founder of Elevate Creative, Anne is transforming how small businesses approach their digital presence—with authenticity, accessibility, and genuine care.
Fresh from graduating magna cum laude with a marketing degree from Christopher Newport University, Anne brings both academic knowledge and practical insight to her work. Her approach is refreshingly straightforward: social media success isn't about going viral or posting constantly. Instead, she advocates for consistency, clarity, and thoughtful strategy. "You don't need a massive budget," Anne explains, "you need a strong brand, the right message, and perhaps a little bit of strategy behind it."
What makes Elevate Creative stand out is Anne's deeply personal approach. Having grown up watching her parents manage their businesses—her mother's Native American jewelry enterprise and her father's Virginia-style barbecue sauce company—she understands the unique pressures facing small business owners. This perspective shapes her client relationships: "When you work with me, it's like I'm working with family," she shares. Through services including social media management, branding, campaign creation, and website design, Anne helps business owners feel proud of their brand while alleviating the overwhelm that often comes with digital marketing.
Anne's journey hasn't been without challenges. Launching a business straight out of college meant pushing back against expectations to follow traditional career paths. But she's found that building something meaningful in a community she cares about has been profoundly rewarding. Her advice to aspiring entrepreneurs? "You don't have to have everything figured out to start." Sometimes, the perfect time is simply now.
Ready to refresh your brand's digital presence or just need some quick marketing tips? Connect with Anne through her website at elevatecreativeva.com or follow her on Instagram or TikTok @elevatecreativeva to see how she's helping local businesses thrive online.
Anne Flythe
Elevate Creative
elevatecreativeva.com
elevatecreativevirginia@gmail.com
+1 540-272-8756
This is the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Dori Stewart.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to another episode of the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast, where we share the stories of our favorite local brands. Today I'm excited to introduce you to a fantastic neighbor. Anne Fleth of Elevate Creative is here with us, Anne, welcome to the podcast, Hi thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 3:I appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Yeah well, I'm excited to dive in and learn all about you and your business. So let's start there. Share with us a little bit about Elevate Creative.
Speaker 3:So, as you all know, I have a marketing and design agency, elevate Creative, and it's where I help small businesses kind of establish and maintain a very clean and confident online presence. My services include social media management, branding, campaign creation and website design, and I kind of just work one-on-one with business owners and kind of create designs and visuals that match what their passions are and who they are as a person.
Speaker 2:Amazing, what a great service. So tell us, how did you get into this? Tell us your backstory.
Speaker 3:Okay, so I am the daughter of two local small business owners. My mom owns a Native American jewelry business, Abby Can Fly Fine Art. She has a booth in the Antique and Clock Shop in downtown Fredericksburg, and my father owns Uncle June's Virginia Style Barbecue Sauce, which you can find at the Made in Virginia store and the Butcher and just lots of places around here. So after kind of watching them manage a small business, I started Elevate Creative because I noticed that a lot of business owners in the area were spending so much time and often too much money just trying to figure out how to manage their online presence and their social media without having personal or meaningful guidance. And that's kind of where I came in.
Speaker 3:I wanted to be somebody who they could trust to lead their brand and support. That actually made sense for somebody with a small business. So I've done projects for a variety of different industries like fine art, counseling, the food and beverage industry, nonprofits and so so much more, and I also just graduated this past May magna cum laude from Christopher Newport University and I majored in marketing and minored in leadership studies. So that kind of gives me a way to merge what I love with what I'm kind of able to produce and what to do.
Speaker 2:Amazing Well congratulations. First of all, that's amazing, graduating and starting a business. That's so exciting, so happy for you. So, as you're entering into this industry, are you finding that there are any myths or misconceptions?
Speaker 3:I would say that one of the biggest myths that I've heard so far is that social media is kind of strictly about going viral or constantly having to be on your phone or just be online. I think it's more about being consistent and clear, and just showing up for your audience is the biggest way that you could build trust. So you don't need a massive budget, you don't need to post every single day, you don't need to be glued to your phone. I just think that you need a strong brand, the right message and perhaps a little bit of strategy behind it, and you'll be great out there.
Speaker 2:Amazing. That's great advice. You don't need to go viral, especially if you're a local business, because those people are not necessarily the people that are meant to connect with you and will be your customers. So that's really good advice, thank you. So tell me clearly you're working hard building your business. When you're not busy, what are you doing for fun?
Speaker 3:So I'm really romanticizing my time back here in Fredericksburg after college. I love going on walks downtown but who doesn't? I love to visit art museums and I'm a big thrifter and antique, so I love to go to all those local spots. And I'm also a total foodie, so I'm always trying new restaurants in the area and going to the farmer's market on weekends. That's where you can meet a lot of good people and just connect and enjoy.
Speaker 2:It's great I love that you said that you are romanticizing your time in fredericksburg. I love that. It's so fun. So tell me, when you started your business, I imagine you got plenty of advice from your parents. You're a family of entrepreneurs. What is some advice that they gave you or that you would give someone who is thinking about starting their own business?
Speaker 3:So this is advice that I didn't initially take, but it's something that I just wish I could spread out. There is that you don't have to have everything figured out to start. Oftentimes, when you have a business in mind, you're kind of all over the place wearing all the different hats, so you could just kind of have to stop waiting for the right time and just kind of go for what you've been dreaming about and, you know, also surrounding yourself with people that believe in you and that support you can make even your most outlandish business ideas or dreams possible. So just having that network there that supports you and just starting when you can, it's the best advice I could give.
Speaker 2:The perfect time is now right. Yes, exactly. There's no time like the present. Exactly, and you'll figure it out along the way, yep. So what is a challenge or a hardship that you have faced that you now feel like, now that you're on the other side of it, you're better off for it?
Speaker 3:Well, I'm kind of in the midst of a challenge, but I'm getting over to the other side.
Speaker 3:I mean graduating college and starting a business at the same time, as you said, is definitely quite the challenge.
Speaker 3:I mean especially with my generation and the job market right now there's a lot of pressure to kind of fit into those traditional career paths like the traditional nine to five corporate job, because you know, everybody wants to make money. But I think that building something of my own in a community that I know well and that I care about, I think it's kind of pushed me beyond what if I had taken a corporate role. It pushes me beyond what I would have done there. So it's kind of given me the resilience to keep showing up and, even when things are uncertain, just being a friendly face and making meaningful connections and just be there for people. So that's something that I've kind of overcome. I've overcome the judgment from that. Oftentimes when you tell somebody I started my own business, you get a mix of different reactions. But being confident and just continuing to show up is something that I've done to overcome that and just continuing to show up is something that I've done to overcome that, and it's been great ever since.
Speaker 2:Yes, what a great message. Just keep showing up. I love it, I love it. So what is something that you wish the listeners knew about your business?
Speaker 3:So I think oftentimes it's kind of hard with marketing agencies, like I feel like.
Speaker 3:Feel like the overall vibe around it is that you're selling services that people don't necessarily want or need or you're asking too much money for something, and that's kind of why I'm here is that I'm not here to sell people services that they don't need.
Speaker 3:I really want to help business owners feel proud of their brand and less overwhelmed about all the other things that they have to worry about on the digital side of things. So you know, regardless of what happens between one of my interactions with the client, I just want to be able to give a few tips or perhaps just cheer somebody on. I just want somebody to feel like they have somebody in their corner that's able to help them out without it feeling too much like a business transaction corner, that's able to help them out without it feeling too much like a business transaction. That's where I come in and that's where my strengths are is creating those meaningful connections and making it personal. I often say that when you work with me, it's like I'm working with family, because I have two small business owner parents and I know how hard it is. So when you're working with me. I put my all into it, like I'm working for my family.
Speaker 2:That's a great message. Thank you for sharing that. Relationships are everything. Yes, for sure, awesome. Well, thank you so much for joining me, anne, on the podcast today and sharing Elevate Creative with us. If the listeners are interested in connecting with you and learning more about you, where can they find you are interested?
Speaker 3:in connecting with you and learning more about you. Where can they find you? So you can check out my work and contact me. See my services by reaching through my website, elevatecreativeva. com, or you can follow along on Instagram or TikTok at elevatecreativeva. So whether you need a full brand refresh or just want a few quick tips to kind of strengthen your online presence, I would love to connect with any of you. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Amazing and thank you so much for joining me, of course, thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to fxbgneighborspodcast. com. That's fxbgneighborspodcast. com, or call 540-534-4618.