We were lucky to catch up with Dennis Quijano recently and have shared our conversation below.

Dennis, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Before we talk about all of your success, let’s start with a story of failure. Can you open up about a time when you’ve failed?

It’s not success until you try, and it’s not moving forward without learning after failure. I’ve told myself this after every instance in business where I tested the waters with my idea(s) and have fallen short of my expectations. So many stories about business ventures starting when I was 18 until now. Some have thrived but most have failed, but the take away has always been the same…Perspective is key! In the many instances of failure, being able to understand the why and accept it to better your business is the goal.

I absolutely feel that “failure” is a part of the path to success. The hard part is realizing that it’s part of the journey and to look at it as a positive move forward. You are always moving forward if you’ve failed, since the idea is that you actually “did” something instead of nothing at all. That alone is a step forward. Ideally with all the failures I have experienced in my past in business, have become in actuality essential parts to moving forward and creating something towards success.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

The idea of my new project Cre8ive Fuel was born from my love of the creative industry, the artists, and the trouble of connecting with locals to provide assistance. I have been a freelance digital artist (everything from the web, graphic, to video) for over 18 years and also a traditional artist for hire. I can really related to the struggles of trying to find work and networking to find potential clients. I know so many creative professionals looking for work or freelance jobs for supplemental income. Everything from 3D printers, creative design, interior design, woodworking, muralists and much more, have been hard to make connections with real potential clients.

In 2011 I embarked on a business as an art gallery owner, for the love of art and as an artist myself, I learned much more about being the bridge from artist to consumers. I eventually learned that a lot of the artists had day jobs or also offered their creative services on the side. This lead to connecting clients with these individuals and creating amazing opportunities for the both to achieve their goals.

For several years I saw a rise in social media with local groups asking for help from everything from photographers, graphic designers, web designers and much more. It ensued with tagging of people and the use of “word of mouth” via social media…I thought to myself “there has to be an easier way”. This resulted in the idea for Cre8ive Fuel, to help build a community of creative professionals and connect them with potential work. The key work was community as in we all worked together to achieve. I feel sometimes this is lacked in the idea of competitiveness in any job market. I feel that there is more than enough work available and so many talented professionals that can benefit.

A Youtube channel is in the works to enhance the creatives and gives the potential consumers more insight as well.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My particular goal for Cre8ive Fuel is to help others, both the creative industry professionals and entrepreneurs/businesses/individuals. Being able to join both parties in a mutually beneficial way is key. For all the hard working creative professionals to have an opportunity to show their skills to clients that really need it and can appreciate it is the intent. There’s more than enough work to go around and so much talent to fulfill those needs.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

Since graduating college I always had a side hustle and freelanced. I felt like working my day job wasn’t enough so when opportunity revealed itself I jumped on it. Doing this did two things for me to really move forward as an entrepreneur. For one I gained perspective as the boss and making sure the client was happy and the work was done right. Building expectations that I’d need to be able to “be my own boss”. Working for someone was essential because it helped build a foundation of discipline and also how things work in business. Seeing failures at work with business allowed me to still earn money in the process but help fix what didn’t work.

The side hustle taught me appreciation for working hard and resilience because the realization is, yes you can do what you want since it’s your business BUT that means you will do whatever it takes to make it since you have nothing to fall back on.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.cre8ivefuel.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fuelcre8ivity/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557920030300
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Cre8iveFuel-channel