Kassidy Bogle, Texas Tech University Student
As people, we are made up of building blocks that define who we are and what we love. Our personalities and our livelihoods are built using these blocks, but it takes the right kind of person to build a business from their blocks. Lauren Bogle took her blocks of an agricultural background, a love for sports, resourcefulness and overcoming adversity and built the Bogle Agency.
Bogle, a graduate of Texas Tech University with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural communications, established Bogle Agency in 2017. Four years later, Bogle Agency has grown into a full-service advertising agency complete with a list of notable clients.
The Building Block of Agriculture
Growing up in New Mexico, agriculture played an important role in Bogle’s life from an early age, with Bogle saying she “cut teeth on it.” For her family’s farm and ranch operation, Bogle Ltd., she drove the swather, weaned cattle on foot and hoed weeds for pecan orchards. When not working for the operation, she helped her dad flip vehicles and watched NASCAR and football with him on the weekend. It was her background in agriculture that led her to the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Texas Tech University and, ultimately, led her to the agricultural communications degree field.
“I didn’t even know ag comm existed until orientation,” Bogle said. “And my dad was like ‘You grew up farming and you like to talk a lot. Perfect. Boom.’ Turns out there was a lot more to that degree than I realized.”
The Building Block of Sports
Before resorting to Texas Tech University, Bogle had plans to play Division II volleyball, but this dream was cut short due to a foot injury. Luckily, Bogle’s love for sports began to play an important role in her academic and professional career, even in a different field of study. Within her first semester, Bogle landed an internship as a sports broadcaster with Ramar Communications. The internship turned into a full-time job with the company, ending as a sports reporter for Fox 34. From there, she went to work as a track and field coach in New Mexico.
“I love sports, and to be able to be involved in it without, you know, being able to play anymore, I jumped at that opportunity,” she said.
The Building Block of Resourcefulness
After realizing she no longer wanted to coach, Bogle worked for PBS as a reporter, Red Productions as an executive assistant, 2930 Creative as a social media manager and Warren Douglas as a social media specialist. A year after being hired, Bogle was let go by Warren Douglas, so she quickly learned how to “take control” of her circumstances. Using a whiteboard to make a list of every skill she possessed, from walking a dog to designing a website, Bogle began reaching out within her network. She began to build work for herself by offering her skills. Throughout her time freelancing, Bogle was referred to multiple clients and vice versa and ultimately realize “bringing them in house” would be a lot easier, leading to the creation of Bogle Agency.
“When life gives you lemons, you make sweet lemonade,” Bogle said. “It may be rotten for a little bit, but it gets sweet eventually.”
The Building Block of Overcoming Adversity
Bogle’s ability to overcome adversity has been largely a contributing factor to the success of her business. Over the past year, Bogle had to fire not only one but three people then turned around and faced letters of resignations from three other employees. Add this to a near-fatal four-wheeling accident and sexual harassment in the workplace and anyone else would have thrown in the towel. Bogle, however, says owning a business is what made her more tough than before, and it was this toughness that allowed her agency to earn its largest scope of work (at the time) despite being restricted to a hospital bed.
“I could’ve easily been like ‘hey, this year is not our year, please call us next year’ and I’m way too stubborn to do that,” Bogle said. “It meant that, literally, my agency can go through the toughest thing possible, where I am out of the loop for a couple weeks and still come back and do it justice.”
The Bogle Agency: Built from Blocks
Turning her personal experiences into building blocks, Bogle has built a full-service advertising agency, complete with its own employees and interns. While the road has not always been easy, Bogle found her fit career-wise, and continually strives to make her business a place at which she enjoys working. Today, Bogle Agency works with many notable clients, including Smarty Roping and country music artist Aaron Watson, and is approaching the fifth anniversary of its founding.