Featured by American National Bank: The Story behind H&H Marketing Team
Originally published by American National Bank, Greenville, Texas. Writer: Maranda Spencer.
From Corporate Marketing to Entrepreneurship
In Cade Hart and Nikki Hatfield’s history as business owners, they have learned that one is often so intimately linked that the owner and business become synonymous, or more truly, one in the same. It becomes difficult to separate the individual from the work they do. Being a business owner may be the hardest job they have had, but it may also be the most rewarding.
Nikki began her marketing career in 2018 at Diamond C Trailers, where she started as a generalist handling various tasks and gradually took on more specialized roles in graphic design, social media, and email marketing. She successfully grew Diamond C’s social media following from 5,000 in 2018 to over 100,000, eventually progressing to the role of Marketing Manager; starting with two direct reports and ultimately managing a team of ten, which allowed her to gain experience in the various facets of marketing and team leadership. Cade began his career in marketing working with IFI, then on to Diamond C where he met Nikki. He worked for a few other companies in his career where he expanded his abilities and honed his skills, giving him over 11 years of experience in the field.
Seeing an Opportunity
While working together at Diamond C, Nikki and Cade started traveling to dealerships to understand the challenges they faced with marketing, and they quickly realized that marketing services in the trailer space were lacking and that dealers were often being taken advantage of. Cade suggested starting their own company to help dealers and Nikki was immediately enthusiastic about the idea.
Cade characterizes their partnership as dynamic, “the yen to each other’s yang,” highlighting that their individual strengths and weaknesses perfectly complement one another. Cade handles the financial side while Nikki lets her creative side flourish; Nikki notes that this arrangement creates a peaceful work environment where they can both excel in their natural strengths, making them both feel like starting the business was the right decision.
The most challenging part of the startup was that the two eased into it while still employed, focusing first on what services to offer, pricing, and deciding on a company name. They say they went into action mode, immediately buying a domain and email, and started planning their target market. With a small initial investment from each of them and a lot of time and energy, H&H Marketing Team LLC was filed at the end of July 2024, and the two of them left their jobs and began to work full-time in the business in October of that year.
Building a Business Together
As an independent business develops, it moves through many life stages — Start Up or Inception, Growing and Expanding, Maturity, and Exiting or Declining. Such is the nature of business and of life. Businesses pass through each stage at their own speed and can stay in some stages for a considerable period of time. These cycles are defined by the issues the owner will face and the strategies to be considered at each point.
As new strategies are implemented, a business can actually experience some of these stages more than once. Therefore, it is very important for a business owner to understand the current business stage, know what challenges could arise, and what actions will be necessary to negotiate the next stage.
Growing H&H Marketing Team with Intention
H & H Marketing Team is in the growth life stage, and Nikki and Cade are proud of where the business is thus far. They are excited about the future but are cautious about growing the company too fast.
Vision as a business owner is much more closely aligned to foresight. Through all life stages the owner must be able to envision the future and see the path to the next stage. The owner must have the knowledge and confidence to conquer challenges and seize new opportunities while managing growth.
Cade says the key to their success is their strong alignment; from the inception of the business, the two have seen things similarly, stating that their lack of constant conflict is a positive sign for the future of the company. Their initial goal was to secure fifteen customers by the end of year one, and they ended up reaching that in less than three months.
For now, with current staffing, forty customers is their “sweet spot” for them to provide excellent customer service and maintain a proper operating budget; in time, to grow beyond forty, more staff will need to be hired.
More Than Revenue
Revenue is very important to a business owner. Revenue gives the business livelihood, allowing the business owner to hire, market, reward, and of course, to dream of what is to come. Almost every business owner has an idea or belief about what revenues should be each month or quarter. That belief guides a tremendous amount of decision-making.
When it comes to their 5-to-15-year revenue goals, Cade states that they do not hold themselves to specific career projections, insisting that they rely on faith that things will work out while also maintaining a competitive drive for excellence. Like many small business owners, they would love to become a million-dollar company in the long haul; however, they feel that scaling up the business may not be best if it compromises their happiness, noting that the “life in between” is more important than just a dollar amount.
Cade states that the biggest struggle is managing the ebbs and flows of the customers and the financial hits that come when clients drop off, citing a recent instance where they lost two customers representing over $30,000 in annual revenue. However, both Nikki and Cade are enthusiastic about their business and feel that they are on the right track; they are not currently ready to expand and add new customers but know that, eventually, that time will come.
“The life in between is more important than simply chasing a number.”
Building the Right H&H Marketing Team
Staffing is a significant factor that impacts how an independent business owner thinks about the business. Most likely during the start up or inception stage the focus will be on the founder’s areas of expertise. The owner’s main efforts will hinge around creating, promoting, and establishing the product or service.
With growth and success, tasks become more extensive and more complicated. Outside influences start to take greater effect. Competition becomes more intense. The financial aspects of the business become more critical. The need for more formalized processes and recordkeeping arise which the owner may not have the skills or simply the time to handle, but are business needs that require additional staff.
As the size of the staff continues to grow, there are additional pressures and demands on the owner’s time which is consumed with managing. As staffing changes occur, the business owner needs to progress to a role more strategic in nature which focuses on the big picture and planning for the business.
Despite initially planning not to hire anyone in the first year due to financial caution, Nikki and Cade quickly had to re-evaluate that decision due to workload. Their first hire, Avery, was someone that Cade had wanted to recruit previously, as he worked with her at a prior company and knew her talent; she came to work for H&H in November of 2024 as their first, full-time employee.
With the business continuing its rapid growth, Nikki and Cade went on to hire two more employees in 2025, Alli and Katelyn. The team culture values high motivation and talent, and they each embrace the importance of what H&H offers their customers.
Giving Back
The need to network, to find others like us, is universal. Humans often define themselves by the groups in which they are involved. Social, religious, political, and professional affiliations — all of these networks give individuals a sense of identity and purpose. Finding the time to meet other like-minded individuals can be very challenging.
In the business world, networking with groups that have common goals and experiences is important. Sharing ideas and ways that similar trials were conquered not only facilitates the individual’s personal learning; it provides an opportunity for the individual to help others. Through these associations, knowledge and confidence are gained and used to face any business crisis or issue that lies ahead.
The company’s growth has been largely organic, with many customers coming to them unexpectedly. Local involvement has been limited in the first year to small sponsorships due to financial caution about growing too fast. However, Cade is heavily involved in the community through non-monetary ways, such as coaching and church activities, while Nikki recently volunteered to teach fifth graders how to edit videos.
For industry networking, Cade says they have significant involvement in the trailer industry, specifically by attending and speaking at one main show for trailer dealers, which has generated good contacts and customers; Nikki also serves as a mentor for the North American Trailer Dealers Association (NATDA), mentoring a marketing manager at Delco Trailers.
Looking Ahead
Entrepreneurs start their businesses for many reasons. Personal goals and aspirations have dictated why they initially started their business. Additionally, continued goal setting is the key to long-term success. Just as important are the milestones along the way that contribute to achieving the American Dream. Milestones mark progress towards the goal where each step brings the business owner a little closer to achieving the dream.
Cade Hart and Nikki Hatfield have achieved the American Dream of business ownership. This duo went from working together at a prior employer to partners in their own marketing firm in a very short time. By leveraging their individual strengths, the pair complement each other, and that has made for a successful partnership.
Looking to the future, Nikki and Cade are excited about the growth of their company and have no plans to step away anytime soon. They are ecstatic at how fast their business has grown and plan to continue to expand when the time is right. For now, they are proud of what they are building, and they look forward to many years of success ahead.
Source: This article was originally written and published by American National Bank, Greenville, Texas. Writer: Maranda Spencer.