Today we’d like to introduce you to Marci Loehner
Marci, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’ve been an entrepreneur since I was 19. I started off by hiring over-the-road truck drivers for over 40 companies. The economy crashed in 2008, the year I had my first daughter. I held on to the business as long as I could before I decided the income I was producing didn’t justify losing out on raising my daughter, so I became a stay at home Mom!
Over the course of that next year, I wasn’t being fulfilled. I wasn’t producing income, felt like I wasn’t contributing to the household outside of taking care of our daughter. Once she began eating solids, I started creating my own baby food recipes for her, playdoh and everything else that I can possibly make at home. In addition, this when the coupon craze was in it’s peak! So, I started my first website on blogger. It was dedicated to all the deals, how to get free products, coupons from companies, matching weekly sales with coupons, etc.
I got pregnant with my second daughter in 2011. By the 12 week mark I was diagnosed with hyperemesis, put on bed rest at the hospital as I had lost 15 pounds in two weeks, was vomiting, constantly nauseous and quite miserable. I posted as much as I could, but was completely exhausted! After I gave birth to her in October, Reach magazine approached me and ended up buying the website.
I again didn’t have anything that was fulfilling me outside of being a Mom. Sure I was volunteering at school, raising my girls, but I just felt like I wasn’t serving my purpose and that is to serve others. I started my second website and this time it was dedicated to recipes!
I love cooking. Anyone who has ever eaten anything I’ve made they fall in love with whatever it is. As my second daughter began to get older, I noticed her behaviors were off. I had been making a lot of my own foods, but started realizing that when she had blue or red food dye, she was out of control, wouldn’t listen and had sleep terrors. I removed all dyes from everything in our diet, along with sugar and processed foods. The change is her behavior was incredible. I also began living a keto/low carb lifestyle during this time. So sharing all those recipes on my website is what I did to help, inspire and motivate others.
On October 31, 2013, I gave birth to my third child, my son! During this pregnancy, again was diagnosed with hyperemesis. I was on 24/7 zofran and IV fluid. I let the website take a back seat and did what I could, but the smell of food and even touching food made it very hard to work!
I started feeling empty, overwhelmed, lost in who I had become. I essentially lost myself to motherhood. I needed an outlet, something outside of being a Mother to fulfill me. To continue to serve others. I got back to the recipe website, was working with a handful of clients with social media, creating websites, photography and felt complete again!
However, in May 2017 I went to stay with a client of mine and got hurt! After visiting with 3 doctors, in and out of casts, on crushes, multiple x-rays, 2 MRI’s, in November I finally had exploratory surgery. I ended up tearing my posterior tibial tendon (the tendon that holds your arch in place). The surgeon fixed it, placed a cadaver bone on the top of my foot and lengthened my achilles tendon. I came out of surgery devastated! I was non-weight bearing for 3 months and gradually could add weight over the coming months. Needless to say, I didn’t do a lot of cooking or a lot of anything during that time.
Around September 2017 I finally got back to my recipe website and started shooting recipe videos! I’ve always had a passion for creating videos as I started out back in 2007 filming my friends and (ex) husbands cars at the race track! It was fun for me, it allowed me to be creative! In November 2017, I got my first viral recipe video! With millions of views in just a week, I was hooked and have been since!
I had recipe bloggers and food brands approaching me to create recipe videos for them as it wasn’t really a thing. Nobody was producing recipe videos. However, I was also not only able to shoot recipe videos, but I was capturing the photography of the recipe at the same time. That’s when Creative Content Systems, LLC. was launched.
Shortly after I launched CCS, I asked for a divorce (that’s a whole other story!). In August 2019, I sold the recipe website to finance my divorce. In September 2019 I left the marital home, healed myself from a lot of past traumas, focused on my physical self and was in the gym more than I should’ve and most importantly, was spending quality time with my children while running a very successful business.
Since that time I have branched out from shooting recipe images and video to recipe development, website design for small business, content creation and social media. I truly have a passion for helping others! With my knowledge of business, I love thinking outside the box!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No!
I tell anyone who owns a business, there are perks and there’s disappointments along the way. I don’t take things that didn’t work as a failure, I look at them as lessons learned and then adapt. Technology changes every day. You have to change with the times or you’ll get left behind.
During Covid, my business began to fall short. My clients were afraid to spend money as we didn’t know what to expect, what was going to happen, how long the lockdown was going to last.
After Covid, ad revenue fell drastically. My clients generate income for their own families with the ad revenue. They don’t have a lot of extra funds to continue to pay me at the rate or the amount that I had been used to. I’ve lowered my prices by hundreds of dollars to keep my business afloat and still be able to work with my clients. It’s been a struggle, but am hopeful that things will begin to look up again!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Creative Content Systems is a in house marketing agency. I started the business in February 2018 and haven’t looked back! We are known for producing high quality recipe videos that are shot in natural light, recipe development of keto/low carb recipes as well as bright, crisp and clean images.
What sets us apart is we shoot in natural light! We pride ourselves in that as our images and videos can easily be noticed!
What I’m proud of with my brand is the fact that I stand behind the quality and quickness of delivering content. Whether it’s recipe images and videos, a website for a small business or anything else, work is done quickly and beautifully! In addition, I can execute ideas and bring my own ideas to the table! If I don’t know it, I will learn it. For example, I had a client last year that wanted to sell a MTHF pill on Amazon. He didn’t know where to start. So I found a supplier who white-labeled the product for us, and created the logos, bottle label, website, Amazon listing, and all social media for the client. Needless to say, it’s been a huge success for him and his company!
If you own or operate a small business and need help with anything, I’d love the opportunity to work with you. I can work within your budget and create beautiful content that will captivate and sell your product and/or services.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
Never give up on your ideas to start a business! Whether it’s a small side business to provide additional income, you have a brick and mortar or offer services, just take the step forward. You never know unless you try!
Business owners are free to visit my website at: https://marcirenee.com/pages/work-with-marci
See my Pricing & Services Guide at: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0613/8452/3912/files/Marci_Renee_-_Services_and_Pricing_Guide_2025.pdf?v=1735504203
Grab recipes at: https://marcirenee.com/pages/recipe-index
Pricing:
- Logo Design, Starting at $250
- Website Design, Starting at $1,500
Contact Info:
- Website: https://marcirenee.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Marci.Renee/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarciRenee23
- Twitter: https://www.tiktok.com/@marcirenee23
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbN_3F8ZvNevN8gWUmrV9xg
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/marcirenee23/
