Launching TarenTooten Marketing - Taren Tooten Taren Tooten

In March I decided to step into the entrepreneurial world officially and register my business, TarenTooten Marketing. After building a portfolio and fine-tuning my skills in website design and digital marketing, I decided to make the leap.

Side Hustle to Full-Time

I started dabbling in website design for my church, Harvest Christian Ministries, on the side. From that point on, I knew I finally found my niche. At the time I was working full-time as a credit insurance underwriter and in school for my MBA at Loyola. Over time, through exploration and trial and error, my skills continued to improve. A couple of years later we moved the church website to WordPress where I was able to learn more about plug-ins and design. Shortly after, I had the opportunity to update the website for the salon where I work part-time as a nail technician, and from there, I began to build a portfolio. It wasn’t until 2016, when I started working in digital marketing as a digital marketing coordinator full-time, outside of the part-time side hustle.

Building My Brand

To represent my business and my brand, I had a logo designed and a professional photoshoot with SarahLu Photography. I wanted my website to serve as a platform to showcase my website designs and content for future clients and blog readers. I credit a book called Influencer: Building Your Personal Brand in the Age of Social Media by Brittany Hennessey, for helping me identify and build my brand. This is a great and quick read – check it out!

I am blessed for the growth in my portfolio spanning from non-profit, event planning, podcast/media, and salon services. Check out the websites below:

I am excited to see how TarenTooten Marketing evolves over the years to come, from guest blogging to website design, consulting, and more!