Heidi Van Dyke is the co-Founder of SEE IT SIDEWAYS, a boutique marketing agency here in Scottsdale. Like her business partner, we were impressed with her courageousness to leave the security of Corporate America to pursue her dream.
Hometown: Chandler, Arizona
First job: My mother’s delivery business. My mother owned a flyer delivery service for realtors. At the time, she was the only business doing it and we had all of the top producing realtors. I started working for her at 12 years old and by 16, I was meeting and working with new clients, doing payroll and helping to manage the other employees. Watching my mother run this business taught me a lot about hard work and how to run your own business.
Favorite AZ restaurant: Si Señor Restaurant. If you love Mexican food as much as I do and haven’t been to Si Señor Restaurant, you’re missing out. It is absolutely amazing. Their food is spicy and their red & green sauce is to die for. The staff is so friendly and fast and I give them 5 thumbs up! 🙂
Person who has impacted your life the most: My mother has impacted my life the most. She was a single mother who gave up so much of her life for my sister and I. She pushed us to always do better, further our education, work hard and do good for others. My mother was a very charitable person and even though she didn’t have a lot at times, she was always giving to others. She now runs a pet rescue called PAWS Fur the Cause. They take dogs who are about to be euthanized at the pound and get them adopted out. They also rescue unwanted dogs in the valley. She has over 100 volunteers who spend hours a month helping these precious dogs.
Your biggest accomplishment in your eyes: My biggest accomplishment is starting my own business – SEE IT SIDEWAYS. After spending almost 20 years in Corporate America, I finally made the plunge to go out and do business on my own. Managing my own business has allowed amazing flexibility in my schedule so I can do work well and have a little extra time with my kids before/after school. SEE IT SIDEWAYS has already done some amazing work and has helped numerous small businesses grow their business. Leaving Corporate America has been the best decision of my life.
The biggest obstacle you have overcome: Money! Yes, money. The main reason of holding me back from starting my own marketing agency was $$. It was tough to walk away from a 6-figure job to the uncertainty of not having a confirmed paycheck. If it wasn’t for my husband Mitch, who has been so supportive and encouraging, I may have never made the best decision of my life. Being able to help businesses truly grow, being able to choose the work that I want to do or not, the challenging projects, the creative projects, the list goes on and on about why I just love what I do now. I now partner with one of the most creative talents and it’s amazing how much I learn from her every day. And, the best part about owning my own business is that it grows every day and with it, I get to grow too!
Someone who inspires you: My old boss Ann Ueno has inspired me throughout part of my career. You may have heard the saying “Great Leaders Make Other Great Leaders.” I truly feel Ann’s leadership made me a better leader. One of the career lessons that she taught me was to not just lead but lead with love. I think there’s a lot of advice out there to not be friends with your employees. Which I don’t agree with. Ann taught me that its important to get to know your team and to truly love them. And I don’t mean love like you do your spouse but when you truly love what you do and your team, and show that through your leadership, your team will do amazing things. Take time to really get to know your team. It can be hard when you have so many things to do at work but when you make this effort, it will pay off. Ann now works for Handshake, a partnership agency that is doing amazing humanitarian work that is truly going to make the world a better place. What isn’t inspiring about that?
Favorite Quote: Nothing worth having comes easy!
Advice to someone pursuing a career path in what you do: Marketing has so many different opportunities. I think most think of designing ads or that marketeers need to be strictly creative. There is so much more than that. With the digital age, marketing tracking and analytics is imperative to doing this profession well . We can now literally track users that interact with a marketing piece on their phone and then go to their desktop to take action. Analytics play such a big part of marketing today and there are a lot of avenues you can take if you’re more of the analytical person (like myself) or the creative person (like my partner at SEE IT SIDEWAYS, Stephanie Cross). From social media, advertising, design work to looking at the data, there is an array of opportunity if you’re interested in being in this ever so changing industry.
Learn more about Heidi’s business SEE IT SIDEWAYS at seeitsideways.com.
