Q&A: Hite Digital Manchester CEO Logan Hughes

Logan Hughes, CEO of Hite Digital Manchester

Founded in 2017 by JC Hite, Hite Digital is a digital marketing services company with 16 locations around the U.S. As CEO of Hite’s Manchester franchise, Logan Hughes is putting his creativity to use, working with businesses on their digital strategy, including SEO, web design, logo and branding services, pay-per-click and more.

On a recent episode of NH Business Review’s Down to Business podcast, Hughes sat down with me for a one-on-one about how he broke through the 9-to-5 mold to become an entrepreneur in New Hampshire, and what it takes to succeed when going solo.

Q. What has your career journey been like?

A. I always was bouncing around jobs, and I’ve always been envious of my sister because she knew as a senior in high school what she wanted to be: a dental hygienist. I was always envious of that because I just always thought, how easy is that? I’m a very creative person at heart, and graduated school with a graphic design degree. I ended up getting a completely opposite job with my cousin doing medical device sales. It was a great job, and I was able to buy my first place and get my family established.

But towards the seventh year of it, I started feeling I needed to do something else. And being a creative, I really needed to do something where I can be creative and at the same time help business owners.

So, I wrote in my journal every day for a year saying, I’m leaving my 9-to-5 job. I’m going to make this work every single day for a year. And come January, that’s when I’m going to leave.

Now January comes around and I was stuck. I didn’t make that move. My boss and his partner bring me into a meeting, saying, ‘Logan, your job is phasing out within three months. We’re going to hold you on here for a little bit, but just so you can figure something else out.’

In the meantime, I was doing a little bit of a side hustle, doing some social media posts and so forth. So I had a little bit of income built out, but that to me was the universe being like, ‘Logan, you’ve been asking for this. It’s time to make the jump.’

So I did, and left a comfortable job with benefits and everything to go all in. Luckily, I had the support of my wife, and now here we are 4 or 5 years later now doing some really great work.

Q. How does one become an entrepreneur?

A. I never thought of myself as an entrepreneur or a business owner. I was always pushed to go to school and then get a job, and that’s sort of where I thought I was going to be at. But it wasn’t until later in life — only 30-something years old — where I was thinking about what my family and I want, what really matters most to me and my why. At the time, (my wife and I) were thinking about having children.

(Growing up), I saw my father worked his butt off in the corporate field, and always saw that there was a little bit of a disconnect when he got home — he worked early hours, got home late, and there was just that disconnect of something I didn’t want to be. But at that point, I knew I had to give this a try.

I started with social media management work, posting online for businesses and being creative, and then it steamrolled into website design, and that’s where things sort of took off.

Q. What are the newer trends in digital marketing?

A. The shift that we are seeing — and this is something that we talk about internally at Hite — is personal branding. Being a business owner is not just being a business owner anymore. You have to be able to show out for your competition. And doing that is by branding yourself as the owner and creating content around that. Because ultimately when people are buying your services, they’re talking to a sales person that’s a direct reflection of you and your business. And that’s where people will actually purchase.

For any of my clients that are working with us, I tell them that it’s okay for you to get on camera; it’s okay for you to talk about personal things, because that’s the trust and personal approach that’s going to make someone take that next step and purchase. We’re been crushed with so much spam and false advertising that people are looking for a more personal approach. And that’s how the personal branding can reach a better audience and really culminate that.

Also, with TikTok and reels and video content — the short-form video content — is really where it’s at right now. If you can combine both personal branding with the short-form content, you’re going to be in a good spot.

 Q. What digital marketing services do you offer customers?

A. With Hite, content creation is key. I try to do at least two to three short-form videos a week, posts at least once a week. It takes a lot, but dedicating a day or a Sunday and getting in a couple hours to be able to create, that really helps.

And you need a strong team to deliver an amazing product. That’s just my opinion, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen that in a lot of different companies. That’s the way to go. Yes. Um, now, when you were first starting, you were by yourself essentially.

 Q. What challenges did you face when you first started out?

A. Fulfillment, but more on the customer service side of things. So, onboarding, what that looked like. A mentor of mine told me that, within the marketing world, you want to be able to establish a Disney-level experience during the onboarding phase, and it always killed me because I was servicing every single person you could think of. So, anyone who was coming my way wanting any type of digital marketing services, I was trying to do while also having to juggle the customer service side, which is the most important part of it.

The reason why I merged my business with Hite was because they had a secure onboarding strategy in place. We just hired a client success coach that makes sure everyone is really taken care of, and then we have an amazing fulfillment team. It made my life a lot easier going from having to wear multiple hats. And another big thing, too, is the financial part of it. I had a rude awakening after a year or two years of not doing my books correctly and having to make all that up.

Q. How do you manage a work-life balance?

A. I wish it was a little easier at the start, because it was just me and my wife, so obviously there were weekends that I had to put in some hours. Now, we have a two-and-a-half-year-old crazy boy at home, which brings in a whole different scenario.

Work-life balance is something that I always work at on a day-to-day basis. And I think it just comes down to being conscious around certain things. For instance, phone use. My wife and I are on our phones throughout the day, and it’s knowing when to shut that off and put it down and being conscious of it.

For me, I like to have a transition from work to family sometime around like 5ish. That transition could simply be taking my dog for a quick walk, or maybe going to the gym, doing something active, but it allows me to kind of work through the work part of my day and then mentally transition into family. That way, when family time comes, I’m all in. Obviously, emails and text messages pop up, but I think just being conscious of it is one thing. Being present is really a big importance to me.

Working from home, you have to set really hard boundaries, because it’s so easy to kind of roll over and watch some Netflix or play some video games and not get work done. It takes a different type of person, I think, to be able to do that and hold your hold yourself to those standards.

I’ve been using a lot of these like 30 minutes on and 15 minutes off type of spurts. I feel like I’m able to get more work done within a quick 30 minutes of just getting things done, and then taking 15 minutes off and doing another 30 minutes. I think that kind of helps break it up a little bit.

Q. Do you think New Hampshire is a welcoming state for entrepreneurs?

A. Just starting off as a one-person solopreneur and establishing an LLC at the time was pretty easy to do.

I live in Exeter, so being a part of the community as much as I can and attending networking events and talking with other entrepreneurs, I’ve noticed everyone seems to be doing the right things and having some success.

Anything that you can do to involve yourself within the community is absolutely key. And that kind of goes back to marketing. Here’s a great example: A painting business that we worked with was doing really well online, but there was something missing from their messaging and their branding. So, we wanted them to start attending networking events and getting out there in the community.

I think, from an economic standpoint, there’s going to be a shift. Everyone’s very tense and there’s some apprehension out there for business owners. And one way to get through that is the community aspect, really focusing on a community, being a good partner in there. And I think that’s really going to help you wade through any troubling times or whatever you may call it.

Q. Where is the Hite team generally based?

A. Hite is based in Nicaragua actually. In terms of joining the business itself, I flew down there for a week and met the team and the owners. I got a good look at their culture and who they are. They’re amazing people, hard-working, and have a ton of knowledge and skill sets.

What’s great about Hite in general is there’s a lot of stuff behind the scenes that they do in terms of making sure the children go to school and providing a lot of economic resources for them. It shows there’s something more to this. Yes, it’s marketing, but to be part of something bigger is really where that passion and the purpose and the getting up every day really comes in.

Q. You host your own podcast, “Get a Job.” What topics do you cover?

A. The name “Get a Job” comes from (a phrase you hear from) some parents. You’re trying to do different things, dabble in different areas, and “why don’t you just get a job, man?” So that’s where it stemmed from.

A lot of my guests are full-time entrepreneurs and business owners. What I love to do is go through their journey of where they were. If they did have a 9 to 5 and really what caused them to go all in on their entrepreneurial journey, and along the way hopefully shed some advice for the younger audience who might be listening. If they’re on the fence, they’re really not sure if they should make the move or not, to be able to do so. It’s been an absolute game-changer for me, so it’s a value that I want to provide for the younger audience that listens.