VISIONARY SPOTLIGHT
Photo: Lauren Murdoch, murdochmarketing.ca
Some of the best connections start completely by chance. Lauren is proof.
We both opted into a matchmaking session through a B2B marketing community we're part of, got randomly paired on a Zoom call last spring, and quickly realized we lived within an hour of each other (and had a ridiculous number of mutual friends). Since then, we've shown up to events together, and I was so excited to finally have her on the Rain or Shine podcast. Lauren spent 15 years in corporate marketing, helping scale companies with millions in revenue, before taking a leap that included four months in New Zealand with her family. So for this Visionary Spotlight, I'm pulling from our conversation to bring you her journey, in her own words.
Tell us about your business and how it started.
Lauren always knew, somewhere in the back of her mind, that she wanted to run her own business. She spent 15 years in corporate, and going into her 30s she felt the pull. "But I was terrified and didn't really know anyone in the entrepreneurial world to ask what it was like."
When she finally made the leap, she spent five or six months genuinely not knowing what she was doing. So she said yes to almost everything. She loved marketing and she loved travel, so she took on a few small projects, and through an introduction she met a woman who runs service trips. Within 45 minutes of their first call, they'd decided Lauren would help plan a trip to Ecuador, happening that April. It was February.
After her family returned from New Zealand in March 2024, she started offering fractional marketing services. "The timing of everything was crazy, but it all started falling into place when we returned."
How did you navigate a major setback in your career?
While Lauren was on maternity leave with her son, her company was acquired by a US firm. She came back to a very different job and culture. She stuck it out for eight months, working crazy hours and waking up between 1:00 and 3:00 a.m. in a panic, knowing she could never catch up. When she talked to her husband about quitting, his response was clear: "The state you're in, you need to quit tomorrow."
After leaving, she started interviewing again, and by January she was near the end of a hiring process when that panicked feeling came back. "My husband said, 'So just don't do the interview, what are you freaking out about?' And I realized: I don't want to do this at all." That realization was scarier than quitting. "It meant making a decision to fully change my life."
She didn't do the interview.
How did you make four months in New Zealand happen?
What started as a joke became a real plan within six months. Lauren's kids were two and five at the time. "Looking back at videos, we sometimes ask each other, 'How did we do that with a two-year-old?'"
There wasn't a perfect path. Her husband discovered his company had a Work From Heart sabbatical program for employees who'd been there seven years, and he had just hit seven years. They timed the trip with year-end vacation, rented out their house for four months, and handed back their leased car early. "It's not like we had a big bank account. We just figured it out."
The payoff? "I truly believe my kids have a better relationship because of that trip. They're each other's best friends."
"It's never a good time. You will always find reasons not to do something."
-Lauren Murdoch
How did you land your first clients?
At first, everything felt new: how to format a proposal, how to send an invoice, while second-guessing herself along the way. One early mistake was walking into events and positioning herself as a newbie. "I completely discounted 15 years of career capital, which wasn't fair to myself."
Her first client came from a total fluke. Less than a week after getting back from New Zealand, on her dad's birthday, she ran into an old high school classmate at a golf simulator. Years earlier, they'd had a casual lunch about marketing ideas. That conversation turned into her first fractional marketing client a couple of months later.
Her takeaway: let people know what you're doing. "People don't know what you do, and they might need exactly what you offer, but they don't even know to ask." And don't wait for perfect. "I'm in marketing, and I literally just launched my full website two weeks ago. You don't need a website to get your first client."
Photo: Lauren Murdoch, murdochmarketing.ca
Why do you make events and community a priority?Trying to go it alone. "If you could do it alone, you would have done it already."
For Lauren, there are three big reasons. First, entrepreneurship can be lonely, even when you share an office with your husband. Having friends in the entrepreneurial world who understand the challenges is invaluable. Second, seeing how others run their businesses helps when you feel like you have no idea what you're doing. And third, those rooms might be full of potential clients. "Not going in and pitching yourself, but building genuine relationships and getting your name out there over time."
She also started hosting her own workshops, including a full-day 2026 marketing planning workshop she co-hosted. "It was a ton of work, stressful, honestly, but it was deeply valuable for my own growth." She'd managed teams and hosted panels, but she'd never taught a room for a full day.
And if events feel intimidating, start smaller. "I'm not the loudest person in the room. I'm not an extrovert." Reach out to someone local you follow and invite them for coffee. One-on-one connections are just as powerful.
Where do you start when building a marketing strategy?
With your business goals, not your marketing. What revenue do you want to hit this year? Is there a new market you want to enter? If someone's been in business a while, Lauren looks at where leads have actually come from. If they're brand new, the priority is getting crystal clear on who they're talking to and what they're offering, and then telling people.
She sees the same mistakes again and again:
Not being explicit. Do you have a pinned post that says who you are, what you do, and who you work best with? And are you telling people what to do next, like "I have two openings for next month"?
Being everywhere. Pick two channels and get really good at them. Pick one or two services and get really clear on them.
Not repeating yourself. Posting about something once or twice is never enough.
Adding before optimizing. One client already had four-week, eight-week, and ongoing programs. They simply added a one-week trial, and she got seven new clients that week.
For most service-based businesses, going viral isn't the goal or the fastest path to revenue. A solid foundation is.
What’s something you always do?
Move her body. During the family's time in New Zealand, Lauren was 39 and about to turn 40. "I wanted to go into 40 strong and maintain that as I get older, being able to run around with my kids and grandkids someday." So she hired a personal trainer, something she'd never have done before. On days she can't get to the gym, she and her husband drop off the kids and go for a walk.
She knows she's a "class person" who needs someone waiting for her. So when she was running 15 minutes late one morning and her trainer offered to reschedule, she said no. "I won't do it. I know I won't. 45 minutes is better than zero minutes."
How do you wind down after a busy week?
Pizza, a glass of wine, and a movie on the couch with the family. "If I can just sit down and not think for five seconds, that's the best."
Advice for other entrepreneurs having a rough day?
Don't sell yourself short. Lauren's biggest early lesson was owning her experience instead of treating herself as a beginner. You don't need everything figured out, polished, or perfect to start. Tell people what you do, take one small step (like a coffee chat), and let the momentum build from there.
“I hope I don't go viral.”
-Lauren Murdoch
A resource that’s added value to her journey?
The B2B marketing community where Lauren and I met is a perfect example. One random match turned into a friendship, shared events, and a whole web of local connections. For Lauren, communities and masterminds are a powerful way to find your people, learn how others run their businesses, and feel a little less alone.
Lauren's full story, including her marketing audits, VIP days, and upcoming events, can be found on her website and Instagram.
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