EVERY DAY IS GAME DAY AT

CREATIVE QUARTERBACK

Whether your organization is brand new to Creative Quarterback or if you’re an existing client whose roles and responsibilities have changed, welcome to the team. We’ve put together a summary that’ll help you get up to speed quickly and understand who we are, what we do, and how we’ll work together. If at any point you have questions or feedback, we’re all ears. After all, no one is bigger than the team!

Ask a Question via Teamwork

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WHO WE ARE

As a 100% virtual marketing agency that’s driven by freelance talent, we have to be intentional and creative about how we build relationships with our clients and our fellow teammates.

Though we won’t be attending meetings in conference rooms together, catching up at the water cooler, or running into each other on the way to Starbucks, building authentic and deep “virtual relationships” is still possible. Let’s begin by introducing a key folks you should know.

ABBY, QUARTERBACK

Role at Creative Quarterback
Think of me like a general contractor on a home renovation — except for all things creative. I take care of the following:
- Act as your single point of contact.
- Draft an all-star creative team using our team of proven freelancers.
- Work with you on the assets or feedback you need to provide (e.g. logo files, mailing lists).
- Manage your project budget.
- Manage all vendors and freelancers.
- Manage all milestones and deadlines.
- Coordinate client checkpoints, reviews, feedback, and approvals.
- Ensure payment of freelancers and vendors on your behalf.
- Handle any issues or questions that arise.
Professional Life

Like many of you, my career started in the tech industry. While at ExactTarget (acquired by Salesforce), I was fortunate to lead various programs, including college recruiting, leadership development, and new employee onboarding. I also worked on several high-profile events like Connections and our 10-year employee anniversary celebrations.

My transition to freelance began with Creative Quarterback in 2015, and I’ve been with CQB ever since!

I’m proud to be a Boilermaker (Purdue University) with a degree in Business.
Personal Life

Abby calls her family farm in central Indiana “home,”along with her husband and two little boys, Carter and Eli. After a couple stints of big city life, she rediscovered her passion for agriculture and a slower, quieter pace filled with family, cattle, crops, and gardening.

When she isn’t busy chasing after two toddlers, Abby enjoys touring wine country, trying out new recipes (gluten and dairy free), exercising, and volunteering with the local 4-H program and community foundation board.

So if you’re ever up for a virtual HIIT workout, discussions about your favorite California Cabernet, or sharing a new must have recipe – she’s your gal!
Contact Information

[email protected]

https://www.linkedin.com/in/abby-hobbs-7b998313/
Everything Else

Having worked with virtual team members my entire professional career, I’m a true believer that even if you never meet in person, great working relationships can be built through open communication and a shared commitment to success.

You can count on me to keep you informed every step of the way and to help every project stay on time and on budget.

NICOLE, HEAD CREATIVE COACH

Role at Creative Quarterback

As Founder and Head Creative Coach at Creative Quarterback, Nicole’s responsible for our agency’s strategic direction, creative deliverables, business development, program development, and high-level customer success.
Professional Life

Nicole spent the first decade of her professional career at ExactTarget (acquired by Salesforce) in a variety of self-made Marketing and Human Resources roles.

During her time at “ET,” she served as the company’s sole copywriter, managed the graphic design team, created and led a creative sales support team, co-founded the internship and new grad rotational programs, managed external agency relationships, worked as Connections main stage assistant producer, and led global employment branding and creativity in HR.

In 2015, Nicole left Salesforce to start her own virtual creative agency 100% powered by freelance talent. The rest is history!

Nicole earned a B.S. in Business Marketing from Indiana University Bloomington and an M.A. in Philanthropic Studies from IUPUI.
Personal Life

Shortly after Nicole started Creative Quarterback, she packed up and moved from Indianapolis to beautiful Bozeman, Montana.*

When she’s not dreaming up new programs, she can usually be found working cows or jumping with her horse Rem, exploring with her dog Penny, meeting friends for tea, tending to her little “yarden,” satisfying her sweet tooth at The Coffee Pot, volunteering for Cowgirls vs. Cancer, chipping away at one of her always-in-progress novels, doing yoga, or binging political and true crime podcasts.

You will not find her hiking. Or skiing. Or cooking. Or watching sports. #sorrynotsorry

*Visitors always welcome!
Contact Information

[email protected]

https://www.linkedin.com/in/creativeqb/
Everything Else

Having experienced freedom, joys, and challenges of freelance life, Nicole loves encouraging and supporting people who pursue non-traditional career paths.

Thank you for doing the same as a CQB client!

MALLORY, GUEST SERVICES & STADIUM OPERATIONS

Role at Creative Quarterback

Mallory is responsible for making sure our team functions efficiently and effectively behind the scenes and ensuring customers get the focus they deserve.

She runs CQB hospitality and operations, which includes all client billing via Quickbooks. If you have any billing questions, feel free to contact Mal directly and copy me so I’m in the loop.
Professional Life

Mallory spent the first decade of her career building a diverse skill set in the nonprofit sector. This includes management of a contact and support center for 5+ years, supervising a team of 13+ staff members, volunteer management, event planning, travel assistance, writing, and editing.

Her career is backed by a Public Relations Major and a Journalism Minor from Central Michigan University.

Mallory also owns and operates a virtual assistant agency that helps entrepreneurs check off important items every day from never-ending to-do lists!
Personal Life

While there are a lot of roles Mallory fulfills, her role as wife and mom mean the most to her!

She’s a Midwestern-made mom of two has a wanderlust habit, has lived in 5 states as an adult, and has an obsession with the magic of yoga, wine, and human connection.

Mallory and her husband have made “collecting experiences” their favorite hobby. They met in Western Australia, have lived in four states together, and currently reside in Phoenix, AZ.

Besides her passion for domestic and international travel, Mallory is a certified yoga instructor, retreat leader, and avid read-for-fun enthusiast.
Contact Information

[email protected]

https://www.linkedin.com/in/malloryunderwood/
Everything Else

Mallory is passionate about human connection and believes the key to finding fulfillment in your business relationships is through exceptional customer experiences!

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

HOW WE WORK TOGETHER

Our collective success depends on one thing … teamwork! While our team will work diligently to ensure we deliver on everything we have promised, we need your help to do, too.

Please respond to Teamwork (i.e. our project management system) messages in a timely manner, meet your deadlines, provide consolidated written feedback, and pay invoices on time. It’s a winning approach!

CQB PLAYBOOK

Communications
As a virtual agency, there are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to communication:
- Virtual Communication: We use Teamwork (our project management system) to communicate with clients 99% of the time. Phone calls, one-off emails, and meetings are few and far between… and the world has yet to end! You’ll get details on how to join and use Teamwork from me in a separate email.
- Systems: We love technology and use the latest online solutions for billing (Quickbooks), proposals and contracts (PandaDocs), reviews, and project management (Teamwork).
- Availability: Our team is 100% virtual, which means we aren’t sitting in an office together from 8-to-5 every day. We’re morning people, night owls, day-timers, weekenders, and everything-in-betweeners.Our freelancers set their own schedules based on their life and work demands, and those demands change daily (if not hourly!). Virtual communication (via Teamwork) keeps our team on the same page whether they’re working at their computers or dropping their kids off at football practice.As long as work gets done well and on time, we believe #lifecomesfirst.
Project Management

The secret to our success is our experienced, dedicated Quarterbacks (i.e. creative project managers). Day-in and day-out, QBs manage dozens of people, hundreds of tasks, and thousands of files so you can focus on the activities only you can do.
Culture
Technology makes it possible for today’s talent to work anywhere, anytime, and stay connected to virtual teammates and clients every step of the way. So, why aren’t more organizations leveraging freelance talent? Why do they continue hiring full-time overhead, one-off contractors who never talk to each other, and expensive traditional agencies? Because freelancers historically worked in silos.

We believed someone should bring together powerful teams of freelancers, coordinate their efforts, and provide clients with all the benefits of freelance creative talent — without all the hassles of finding and managing individual freelancers.

We looked. We came up empty-handed. So, we decided to do it ourselves.

Our Core Values = Rules of the Game

Building a 100% virtual and 100% freelance team takes intentional and constant focus on culture, client experience, and communication. What’s that mean at Creative Quarterback? We play by our own rules and hold each other accountable.
- Life Comes First
- Work As a Team
- Assume Goodwill
- Own It
- Pass It Forward
- Throw Red Flags Early
Requests

New project requests can be sent to me via a Teamwork message or email.
Pass It Forward

We believe great creative can impact more than our bottom line (and our clients’).

That’s why we support the innovative Cowgirls vs. Cancer initiative from CQB client Big Sky Yoga Retreats. After volunteering and teaching natural horsemanship on this annual retreat for several years, CQB Founder Nicole Ross wanted to do more.

In 2018, Creative Quarterback began providing travel vouchers to each Cancer-Kickin’ Cowgirl to alleviate the financial burden of getting to Montana. Given the immense healthcare costs these women already endure, we want every deserving cowgirl to say “YES!” to this amazing opportunity free from financial stress and worry.

Want to learn more or support the cause? Learn more!
Escalations

Should an issue or question arise, we encourage you to embrace one of our “Rules of the Game” and raise a red flag early.

Contact me via email or Teamwork so we can work together to make adjustments as needed.

We also encourage our freelancers, product vendors, fulfillment partner, and Guest Services staff to raise red flags early. All concerns are communicated to the quarterback and, if needed, Nicole, is brought in to help figure out the solution.
Revisions

You receive two rounds of consolidated written feedback for each creative deliverable.

We require written feedback (vs. over the phone, in a string of emails, or in-person) so we can reference exactly what was requested and ensure revisions reflect your wishes.

You are responsible for gathering feedback from each of your internal stakeholders, consolidating their feedback, and providing it to me via Teamwork.
Scope Creep

We get it, sometimes projects take on a life of their own!

As your Quarterback, I will ensure that we stay on target with our original, agreed-upon proposal and course correct where necessary.

Should we need to expand the original scope of work, I will provide you with options for the additional project components and/or support.
Payment Terms

Your payment terms will be outlined in your service agreement. Please note that all invoices have a 30-day term and unpaid invoices by their due date will incur a 1% late fee which will compound monthly.

Depending on what package you have purchased, timelines may be delayed and work may cease until payment is received.
"Off Seasons"
“Always on” is a great goal for software, but not for people.

As a virtual agency, we highly value flexibility, balance, and rich personal lives. Dedicated “time outs” help our team return to the field recharged, refreshed, and able to do their best work.

“Life comes first” is one of our Rules of the Game, and we thank our clients for supporting a healthy work/life balance by:
- Paying attention to reminders about upcoming holidays and off-seasons.
- Submitting new requests by communicated cutoff dates to ensure work can be finished on time.
- Being diligent about your deadlines and tasks so projects don’t get delayed into a holiday or off-season window.
- Holding non-urgent communications and requests until CQB staff returns.
- Using the communicated emergency contact during breaks.
Yearly Holidays & Off-Seasons
- MLK Day
- CQB Anniversary (March 5)
- Memorial Day
- Summer offseason (First week of July)
- Labor Day
- Columbus Day
- Veterans Day
- Thanksgiving + Day After Thanksgiving
- Winter Offseason (Friday before Chirstmas holiday through Friday after New Years)

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WHAT WE DO

Our current services include the packages below. Learn more here!

Learn More

GAME ON

Getting to know a new agency (virtual or otherwise) takes time, and we’re here to do everything we can to hit the ground running. I can’t wait to work with you!