Meet Angie Hofer | Director of Brand Strategy

We had the good fortune of connecting with Angie Hofer and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Angie, how do you think about risk?
My whole life has been about taking risks. However, I don’t think that has been truer than in the past few years. Being in the education field most of my life, I was pretty much set with my retirement for whenever the time came. As long as I continued doing the same thing I’ve been doing, my retirement path was good to go. The question I asked myself was, “Is this going to be enough money?” I want to travel, see the world, reach some goals–is a teacher’s retirement really going to allow me to reach those goals?! In all honesty, it would not. By the grace of God, I was presented with the opportunity to invest in an up-and-coming company named IOOGO. I decided to pull out most of my retirement savings and invest it in IOOGO. I took a chance on this opportunity and went with it. The company is doing well and is even growing more than we all thought it would. It was a huge risk, but I took it.

Not only did I take a risk with my retirement and future, but I also took a risk with my career. As I explained earlier, I left a secure job as a bilingual/ESL teacher to take on a career that is totally new for me. Before my job change, all I knew was how to teach. I worked a little bit in the banking industry, but nothing that taught me how to do the job I’m doing now. I decided to take the risk, and I went for it. What’s the worst that could happen? I end up in a job that I hate, and I fall flat on my face? And so what? I could always fall back on teaching. So, I did it. I took another risk, and the rest is history.

In the end, I’ve ended up taking a huge risk with my life but if you don’t take risks, you will never know and always play the “what if” game. I was tired of playing that game. Life is a game of chances. Take them–you just never know where they will lead you!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Believe it or not, I started out as an educator. I did that for approximately twenty-three years and realized my heart wasn’t in it anymore. I felt there was something else out there calling me, but I didn’t know exactly what it was. While teaching, I took a few business classes of my own as the business world always seemed intriguing to me. Shortly after the pandemic, I decided to take a leap of faith and reached out to Josh and Kristy Alballero about joining the IOOGO team. IOOGO is a tech-enable accounting and tax company that focuses on small businesses, as well as helping startups take their companies to the next level. It is extremely different from teaching a classroom of children.

Knowing my background, they didn’t want to set me up for failure but wanted to make sure that the job they found for me would be something that would help both the company and I grow. It was scary. I was leaving behind something I’ve done for the majority of my life that was comfortable, and a “sure thing”. TI decided to take this leap of faith and made things happen. I was asked to be their Community Outreach Organizer where I would set up events, sponsorships, and networking opportunities to build relationships with founders, startups and the entrepreneurial community. I had my challenges as this was a new department, and I was the only one in it. So, if I made a mistake, I had no one to blame but myself. After about seven months, I had a meeting with the CEO, and he told me that the department was doing very well, and it was time to take it to the next level. I was promoted to Director of Brand Strategy and hired a few team members. As a teacher, I was never challenged in this way. It’s different. Now, I was out in the public and representing a company that put their total faith and trust in me. I took baby steps at first because I didn’t want to “mess up”. But Kristy and Josh always pushed me, but in a good way. Josh would tell me, “Let’s try it. If we mess up, it’s okay. We learn from it and know not to do it again. We never know if we don’t try.” I often remember that in all that I do. I now mentor my team members the same way.

Throughout the remainder of 2022, I worked extremely hard building our brand, making connections, and figuring out what was the best way to work with those startups, founders, entrepreneurs, and small businesses. By the end of November, we would go out and hear, “Man, you all are everywhere!” We’ve come a long way from literally a non-existent department to where we are now, but we still have a long way to go. In 2023, we are taking things further. The leaders of the company have dealt us a challenge and we’re striving to meet it. If there’s one thing, I can leave you with is this: You’ll never know if you don’t try. Take that jump. What’s the worst thing that can happen?

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

I’m a history nerd, so whenever I take a trip or people come to visit, I immediately think about the historical places. Many people don’t realize that the DFW area is full of history. My favorite place to go is the Fort Worth Stockyards. I love to learn about how the cattle drive started, and what a huge impact the city has made in the progression of the United States. I will also stay to watch an actual cattle drive. While I’m there, I like to hit up the many small stores there and finish off the day eating great BBQ. If BBQ isn’t quite your thing, there are a variety of different restaurants just ready to serve you. At night, go check out the ghost tours. You can catch one in either Fort Worth or Dallas but do it! They are so much fun!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Being in the working world for about a quarter of a century has given me the chance to work under a variety of leadership styles. A while back I was listening to a podcast by Craig Groeschel called “Lead Like It Matters”. In the podcast he was talking about leadership styles and what sets a good leader apart from a great leader. He stated that a great leader has opposite extremes, what he calls the “Leadership paradox”. These are contradictory leadership qualities that together create a synergy of undeniable leadership impact. For example, a great leader is very confident yet very humble; optimistic yet realistic; leads with urgency yet patient; and focused yet flexible. He describes several qualities, however as he continued, I noticed that he was describing one of my bosses and mentors, Josh Alballero. I used to get extremely nervous right before our weekly meetings for no reason at all–and forget it if it was a random meeting. I don’t know if it was because he always presented me with challenges, pushed me to the next level, or if it was the direct way he spoke. But I found, one hundred percent of the time, being nervous was all for nothing. Those meetings are not easy, don’t get me wrong but it was his approach that was empowering–and still is currently. I come out feeling “I can do this! It’s not going to be easy, but I know I can do it and I have the support if I need it.” Josh has taken the time to mentor and guide me in order to be a better person and leader myself.

Website: www.ioogo.com

Instagram: @angie_hofer71

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angie-hofer/

Twitter: @hofer_angie

Image Credits
ETM Portraits