Today we’d like to introduce you to Jewels Clark.
Jewels, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
How to be Social circa 2017 is completely different from what it is today. Today, we are a creative talent management agency backed by AI technology. But let me tell you how I got my start…
It all started with a blog called How to be Social. I was looking for a way to inspire others to believe in themselves and reach their full potential (actually I think that was pretty close to the original tagline!).
Around the same time I was starting the blog, I was also writing for a couple of different publications in Dallas as well as doing a lot of creative photography and modeling. I found myself in this community of extremely passionate, fun, and talented creatives. While my network was growing, I had a thought… “it’s pretty hypocritical if How to be Social never comes offline.”
That’s when I threw my first How to be Social event; Succeed at any Age.
It was completely incredible and set me on fire for events. Over the last year, we’ve been known for throwing rad creative events that help creatives treat themselves like a business! We believe in eliminating starving artists and replacing them with creative entrepreneurs. There was a lot of hype around How to be Social but if you’ve ever thrown an event you know it doesn’t pay the bills. That’s around the time I started thinking about how I could make How to be Social my full time and looking into different business models.
That combined with a variety of other factors led to me quitting my 9-5 digital marketing job and going solo-preneur. I still didn’t have the full vision of what HTBS could be but I figured I could pick up marketing clients in the meantime. I actually did really well at that and quadrupled my income from my previous job.
One of my clients was actually Tech Wildcatters; a VC fund and accelerator. That was a pivotal moment in my story. I began picking up on business just by osmosis and my acumen shot through the roof! I was finally able to craft a real business model and I got the finances figured out on what it would cost to actually run the business.
Now that I had a game plan, I needed to focus on it. I started offboarding my marketing clients and decided I would go, full-time Founder. Since then, it’s kind of been one synchronicity after another. The alignment that has shown up in my life since I made that decision has been radical.
I now have a six-person team that are on fire for what we’re doing! It’s also confirmed my passion for leadership & management. I absolutely love going into work every single day because I’m working with my team, creatives, and clients who care about being fun and relevant!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Definitely not. There are people constantly demeaning my dream whether it’s in public or private but I’ve learned it’s not about them. It’s for all the creatives that can’t pay their bills cause they can’t figure out sales. It’s for the creatives that want the be the ABSOLUTE BEST. It’s for the client who wants to with work creative talent that is fun and exciting that bring big ideas to the table!
I don’t like to focus on the bumps in my road because it’s about the journey and what you learn from those bumps. How are you moving forward with this new information?
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about How to be Social – what should we know?
How to be Social connects the most talented undiscovered creatives to companies who care about their image. Our talent pool contains photographers, videographers, graphic designers, and models. We also manage the entire project from beginning to end.
We take care of creatives so they can take care of you. That’s what makes us different we’re finding diamonds in the rough and polishing them up with business acumen. We started with educating and connecting creatives and that’s what gives us our edge.
We specialize in creating creative content that reaches and hypes up the masses! Need a 30-sec spot for Instagram ads that makes your consumer swipe up? Or maybe you’re looking to capture the luxury and essence of your product with an entire graphic design buildout.
I’m really proud of my team; they’re learning so fast and are dedicated to our mission of eliminating starving artists.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I’ve learned it’s about being balanced in everything. The moment you tip the scales in one direction you need to focus on the other. Here are some runner up qualities that have also transcended my career.
Resilence
Ability to adapt
Consistency
Networking
Contact Info:
- Address: 1601 elm st. Dallas, TX 75201
- Website: HowtobeSocial.com
- Phone: 4693387576
- Email: Jewels@howtobesocial.blog
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howtobesocial_dfw/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HowtobeSocial/
- Twitter: https://www.Twitter.com/HowtobeSocial/
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