The ability to talk to anyone and everyone about anything is Marcus Styles’ superpower. He and his business and life partner, Brian Andry, launched their own branding agency, VZNCY, back in 2020. Through their own experience of growing their business and working with over 75 small businesses, they realized more help was needed than what was available to support the growth of small businesses. As he will tell you, small business owners don’t get enough support, and he and Brian decided to address the need that existed. They created Heyven an inclusive online directory of Minnesota’s creators, small businesses and nonprofits that have deep roots in the communities they serve.

Bringing People Together

When Marcus was in middle school, his parents got called into a conference with his teacher. She explained that he was talking nonstop and needed to focus on his studies and paying attention in class. Marcus describes this time in his life as his attitude era, and he took exception to what his teacher was saying about him. But she explained that she admired his natural ability to talk to anyone. In fact, she referred to it as his superpower, but he needed to learn to harness it, because she needed him to talk less and pay more attention in class. She told Marcus and his parents that one day he would realize his gift for bringing people together.  

In addition to being a talker, Marcus inherited his father’s creativity. When Marcus was little, he dreamed of being a fashion designer. But by the time he reached high school, he thought he wanted to be an actor. Attending the Performing Institute of Minnesota Arts High School, he took a lot of acting classes, but his grades did not meet his parent’s expectations. His mother gave him the ultimatum of improving his grades or switching schools. Marcus switched his focus from acting to dance. Studying dance helped him expand his creativity in new directions and unlock new sides of himself. He worked hard and managed to graduate with honors. This experience made him realize that he knew how to work hard, especially when it mattered.

Welcoming and Safe Place to Be

After graduating high school, Marcus got a social media internship doing analysis and development for a local jewelry company at a time when social media was becoming a job. The internship was an introduction to small businesses and taught him that they need more help than most people realize.  Around the same time, he created his first logo for his dear friend, Sabrina Adams, the founder of Fierce and Flawed, a Black woman-owned fashion boutique. He was full of ideas, and he agreed to create the logo, which is still used today. With a smile on his face, he says she got an incredible deal. 

Marcus started as a freelancer and business grew. When he met Brian, they clicked and realized they complimented each other, with Marcus working out front and Brian working behind the scenes. Together they created their branding business. But they also wanted to create a place where small businesses could be found. The only problem was they didn’t know what that meant or what it looked like. The only thing they had for it was a logo, which Marcus created. “Haven” was a word that really appealed to him, but he didn’t know how they could use it for what they were hoping to create. While at a cabin with his family and Brian, inspiration hit. He realized they could use the word “haven” but change the spelling to “Heyven” as in “Hey” as a greeting to mean a welcoming and safe place to be.

Hyper Focused

Heyven exists to fill the void that resulted from the loss of the Yellow Pages and other business directories that were printed and delivered to people’s homes or available for pick up at area businesses. These directories provided people the opportunity to discover businesses in their communities, including new and smaller ones, and patronize them. Now the information that was in those directories has moved online. Sites like Yelp, which provide crowd-sourced reviews for a variety of businesses, aren’t always a good fit for small businesses. As Marcus points out, it seems a lot harder for people to discover small businesses in their communities and for small businesses to be found.

Heyven was informed by Marcus and Brian’s own experience of doing everything they could to make it easy for people to find their branding agency and not getting the impact they wanted. It was frustrating and gave them the motivation they needed to commit their time, energy and brain power to making Heyven a reality.

They settled on creating an online directory that was hyper focused on small businesses in Minnesota. They spent six months working really hard to figure things out and build the version of the website that exists today. They got help from the community of people who use the same web platform as them, and they connected with people who created similar online business directories. It was a steep learning curve but totally worth it.

Heyven recently celebrated their one-year anniversary, and they are growing. Their community is currently filled with three types of businesses: 

• Creators - “Individuals with personal brands whose face and given name is at the center of their brand.”

• Small businesses - “Offering products and/or services for profit.”

• Nonprofits - “Organizations for purposes other than generating profit.”

Nonprofits can sign up for free while creators and small businesses can become a member for $25/monthly or $250 annually.

In addition to being listed in the online directory, members are highlighted on Heyven’s social media platforms, and they get free admission to Heyven networking events. Marcus remembers attending networking events that felt more like endurance contests than something that would lead to new connections and business. They took all the things they didn’t like about the networking events they attended in the past to create ones that are fun, interesting and where people can create genuine connections. Since it is currently just the two of them doing the work, a lot of their networking is done locally. They encourage businesses from all across Minnesota to join Heyven, and one day they hope to have a very large and diverse group of members for people to browse.

Marcus can look back now and see that his teacher wasn’t being mean when she told him he needed to pay more attention in class. She helped him realize the superpower he possessed. Today he is using it along with his creativity, strong work ethic and passion for small businesses to make it easier to find the creators, small businesses and nonprofits that make our communities stronger and more vibrant.

Learn More

Click on Heyven to learn more about its members, upcoming events and more.