Chamber Insider Blog

SBA Finalist Spotlight: 37 Media and Marketing Group

Thank you to 37 Media and Marketing Group for answering a few of our questions.
Congratulations on being named a finalist in the Superior Service category!
The 24th Annual Loudoun Small Business Awards will be on November 1, 2018 – Tickets/More Info Here

1. Tell us your story of how your company got to where it is today? 

HARD WORK & HUSTLE! It has been a crazy, fun, interesting and very cool ride to get here – I started this business when I retired from managing Tysons Corner Center in 2010. I just had a few small clients who has been tenants of my shopping centers over the years. I was building another business at the time; but wanted to keep my passion for small business and entrepreneurial marketing alive, so I just never let go.

We later became sub-contractors to other firms before I decided we should go back out on our own. We needed to be a little more free to live to create for our clients in our own unique way, through our own core values and ideals and to truly love the clients we are trusted with. I love more than anything what it means to be a small business owner – it means you are taking the world by storm, it means you are a fighter and I LOVE that spirit. Our job is to cultivate that through being creative and strategic. It’s a competition and we thrive on that. So we gave up the safety of the sub-contract and forged back out on our own without a safety net!

It was so so scary but you have to believe in yourself, your abilities and your tribe if you want to make your dreams come true!

3. What would it mean to you and your company to win a Small Business Award?

Everything!! I grew up in Loudoun County – literally, my whole life. I was born at Leesburg Hospital, attended Leesburg Elementary School and graduated from Loudoun County High School – GO RAIDERS!  Owning a successful business in my hometown and giving back to the community who raised me means the world to me. Winning an award for doing what we love would honestly be a dream come true.

I have an amazing team who have COMPLETELY bought into this crazy 37MMG culture. They are creative and smart, tactical and brilliant, hardworking and tough. They give more than 100% every single day to our clients, they always go above and beyond. They deserve every single award and it would mean the world to me for them to see that the hard work, leadership and energy they devote to 37 MMG and our clients is being noticed and appreciated.

4. If you weren’t running your own business/working at this business, what would you be doing?

I would be an elementary school teacher. My husband is a high school special education teacher (and a coach) and I am sometimes jealous of the fact that he truly has a positive impact on the lives of our children each and every single day. That is really amazing. What he does is deeply meaningful and incredibly important. I love the relationships he builds with his students and his players and they love him. I cannot tell you how many letters, emails, tweets and snaps he gets from former students as they move through their lives, thanking him for being the coach and teacher he is. It makes me very proud to be his wife. I think being a teacher is one of the most important professions in the world.

5. What book are you reading right now? / What is your favorite book?

My favorite books are anything that I can read in the fiction aisle! I love to read but never really have time to do it. Reading is such a wonderful escape (and it makes me feel like I am exercising my brain)!

6. If you have 24-hours off, and your family was out of town, what would you do?

WORK – no question about it. I LOVE TO WORK and I never stop… unless it’s family time. I would work with my hair in a bun and in pajamas with big slippers in front of the fire with my dog, Max. Definitely eating junk food and drinking wine!

7. What is the smallest thing that has made the largest impact on your business?

My small humans😊 I have 4 kids and they make the largest impact because I want them to be proud of me. I want my kids to see that if you work hard, give back, do the right thing and make good choices; great things WILL happen. I want them to not be afraid of working hard and I want them to see what happens when you do. I want this to be my legacy for my children. A legacy of confidence in their choices, doing for others, working hard to help other people and being a good person overall. Probably not the way you wanted this question answered, but true!

8. What did you want to be when you grew up as a child? / What was a childhood dream that you had?

I wanted to be a football player in the NFL, just like my dad. I wanted to be a quarterback for the Redskins but would have been ok with being drafted by the Dolphins so that I could live in Florida….

 9. Who is the one person that has influenced you the most in your career?

No question about it, my dad, Pat Fischer. My company is named in his honor, he was a football player for the Washington Redskins and wore the number 37. He is my hero. I grew up idolizing my dad and I wanted to be exactly like him. My dad is amazing and inspiring, he is funny and fun, he is smart and logical, he is a mentor and a hero and he taught me hard work and life lessons by watching him work. My dad played football in the NFL, he was a cornerback. He is not a big man by any stretch of the imagination, so to be successful he had to fight the odds, work his ass off and never let anyone tell him no. He beat all of the odds and played for 17 years, crushing men who were twice his size. My dad was truly an example to us growing up. Once he retired, he owned a horse farm which is now Raspberry Falls, he did EVERYTHING himself, breaking horses, feeding all of the animals (we had 75 Thoroughbred racehorses alone!), baleing hay, mowing, he worked sun up to sun down without complaint and when he was done; he volunteered and did for others and the community. The only way to be successful is to work hard, always be honest and kind and to give back to the community through service…..every minute of every hour of every day. There was (and is) no exception to that rule. Our core values directly reflect the core values and lifetime lessons my dad taught me.

Even now, as he struggles sometimes to remember things; he does everything with dignity, with all that he has – 100% effort; well-intended, no cutting corners with integrity and grit. He is the best.

10. What is your favorite thing about running a business in Loudoun County?

Our clients. Our Clients. Our Clients. We have the BEST CLIENTS in the universe. They trust us with their dreams… Honestly, they do; and we take that responsibility very seriously. Our clients are truly our family and that makes them absolutely our favorite part of running our business; getting to know them and watching them realize their successes and dreams- it is so amazing. We are very fortunate to get to do what we do!

11. If you’re not in the office where can we find you?

With my family, no doubt about it! Playing or watching sports. I am obsessed with my family. My husband, Mat, and my kids, Madison (15), Kamryn (12), Landon (11) and Brody (4) and my dog, 37 MMG’s Chief Barketing Officer, Max.  They are truly awesome and so so so incredibly cool.

12. What is your favorite weekend activity in Loudoun County?

We spend a lot of time on sports fields, so by default, I would have to say watching my kids play sports or my husband coach the Stone Bridge High School baseball team – GO BULLDOGS!

Outside of that – I love to go out to eat WAYYYY TOO MUCH, so eating at The Conche, Social House Kitchen & Tap, Velocity Wings or Solo NY pizza, of course!!