THREE FORKS, Mont. - Karoline Rose has a heart for small business owners and those who have what she calls a side hustle. Rose, 25, of Three Forks. Mont., is the owner of KRose Cattle Company and KRose Marketing and Consulting. While she admits she may not be the oldest or most experienced in a sea of cattle industry and marketing experts, her hustle is second to none.
Rose grew up in an agriculturally minded family and her father is well-known cattle buyer, John Rose. Livestock judging at Montana State University was a springboard for Rose into the cattle industry. As a Superior representative, Rose has found her niche in bred cattle marketing through KRose Cattle Company. She uses social media and a text messaging system to streamline and make the process as efficient as possible for her customers on both ends of the purchase. Knowing that selling calves is often the one paycheck per year for many ranchers, earning the trust of her customers has been paramount.
"I noticed that we were getting requests for marketing services for their ranch or purebred operation," she says. "I started to take some of those on and they didn't really fit under KRose Cattle Company, so KRose Marketing and Consulting began."
The company concentrates on providing marketing services to agricultural companies and helping small business owners find success. Sale management, photo and video services, design and social media management are a few of the services Rose offers.
"We have a do-it-all mentality," she says. "We are huge believers in giving people the information and knowledge to do it themselves so they don't feel like every change they want to make in their operation means they have to hire us."
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Website and graphic design is one aspect of the business, but where Rose shines is in social media management. She is an expert in the algorithms that make Facebook tick, and she is generous in sharing the tricks of the trade.
"There is so much misinformation out there and (small business owners) feel like no one will give them the honest answers without trying to sell to them," she says. "We have a mentality about providing free information to our customers so they can be empowered to do it themselves."
Studying the constantly changing Facebook algorithms and rules is a significant time commitment for Rose, but her expertise pays off in spades for customers who are trying to declutter the online space.
"We try things first so customers don't have to waste their time and money," she says.
There are a growing number of people, especially women, who have what Rose calls a side hustle, and she created a Facebook group specifically to support these business owners. The group is a community to interact with other entrepreneurs, share tips, receive guidance from Rose and be supported no matter how rural or isolated their location.
Common challenges business owners face are pricing and the fear of profit. Rose gave the example of an entrepreneur who said she's been too busy to complete all of the work she has committed to, albeit a positive challenge.
"I asked her to raise her prices, and she told me that everyone would then not be able to afford her," Rose says. "I told her, 'Why don't you raise your prices a little bit, hire a woman, a mom to help you, and she'll be better able to put food on her table. Recirculating income is something I'm big on."
Rose has a home office and an office in Three Forks, but her employees work remotely. This allows her to hire experts to serve her customers, create jobs in multiple communities and benefit her business and clients alike. Rose has one full-time and four part-time employees spread across the country.
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"I try to get the people in my group to think about making a profit from their small business as an obligation," she says. "If they think about it from that standpoint, then they don't put it all in their pocket but can then give back to family, church and community."
Valuing services and establishing prices is a challenge that Rose guides business owners through, and her expertise comes from her own experience.
"I undervalued my services for a long time," she says. "Think about education. My team and I are constantly taking classes and learning to become better. The more demand there is for a service, the price can be raised. We have enough work to keep us busy, but I never want us to have too much work that we can't do a good job."
Overcoming doubt is a perennial challenge for small business owners, and Rose has overcome her fair share as she has built both KRose Cattle and KRose Marketing.
"I'm doing what I love every day," she says. "But I'm also providing an opportunity for my employees to do what they love and what they're really good at."
