We recently connected with Justin Reeves and have shared our conversation below.
Justin, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?
In order to be successful, one must first define what success looks like for that person. I know that sounds extremely cliche but it’s true. I had to find my definition of success and while finding that definition I found that it’s actually fluid! Success in one season of my life can look completely different from another. As a tour manager, the most obvious view of success would be obtained by sold out shows and happy artists/talent. In reality, I learned that success really looks like overcoming the obstacles leading up to a show and making necessary challenging pivots. Most recently, I’ve had the pleasure of being Jasmine Sims’ tour manager. She is an amazing writer and spoken word artist who specializes in freestyle poetry. I had the great honor of taking her out on her first solo tour this spring and it has been amazing! The majority of her shows have been sold out or at least 90% capacity which shows the demand for what she brings! However, we did have to cancel 2 shows. I could have easily seen those as failures but honestly, I saw them as successes for my organization because instead of taking logistical hits and encountering financial failures I decided to pivot and cancel the shows – give those individuals a refund while over communicating so we save the reputation of the brand. This allows the profit and loss statement to continue to look good while also not damaging her growing reputation.
Justin, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I went to school to study engineering while on a pre-med track. I’m not doing either of those things and I doubt I ever will – I don’t regret learning and pursuing those paths because nothing is wasted! My best friend as a teenager was a drummer and one day we were talking and I realized how frustrated he was. I asked why and he said something along the lines that he really wanted people to hear his original music and he wanted to put on a show. I asked him why didn’t do he do it and he said he didn’t know how. Realistically, I didn’t know how either but I figured it out! In the process of figuring it out for him and producing his debut concert that same summer I discovered my love for music and the creative arts and in particular producing live events. From then on, I found ways to get involved whenever I could at my church or any other community organizations that needed help putting on shows, conferences, concerts, or any sort of event. I started looking up opportunities online and applying to internships on social media. Eventually, I landed an internship with Life Room Label, a Christian label started by Jonathan McReynolds where I was able to work on his social media along with his Jonny x Mali Tour. I reached out to anybody who would listen to learn such as a growing artist manager, Jermaine Hill, out of Washington DC along with a church member’s music group DRK2LGHT. Continuing to network led me to meet Ezekiel Azonwu of the Poets in Autumn and I became his assistant and later his project manager and finally his tour manager for all of his events. Since then I’ve worked with Jackie Hill Perry, Preston Perry, Jazer Willis, Jasmine Sims, NobodyGHY, and other artists and creatives.
Overall, when it comes to events I’m a jack of all trades and have truly mastered most of them. My company provides tour management, road management, project management, event production, creative direction, and all other hands on event related services to solve the pain points for creatives, artists, and entrepreneurs. What sets me apart is that I’m not the event manager that will just sit back and watch the event, I know how to delegate, but I also know how to get my “hands dirty” and work the event. There’s no role at this point that I don’t have knowledge on in order to complete the needed tasks making me an essential asset to any and every event. I also learn quickly and learn how to use my transferrable skills in any industry whether it be a conference, a concert, a book launch, product launch, or anything else. I know how to make cool stuff happen anywhere.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
The act of actually breaking into this industry has been a huge test of my resilience! I’ve faced rejection after rejection. One of the downsides of the entertainment industry is that they keep it pretty small. 1 person can have multiple clients and those clients will tend to refer that same person for upcoming jobs keeping the talent pool relatively small. This makes it harder for newer talent to break in because there is a feeling of a lack of open spaces for new businesses. Another way that I’ve had to show resilience is breaking out of being type cast. Once someone deems that you are good at one role it is hard to advance your career in their view because they really love you provided that particular set of services and find value in it. Promoting you would lead to them having to train someone new or even learn someone new altogether and due to the fast paced nature of entertainment people typically want to keep their strong resources in position. It takes confidence and resilience to keep getting rejected for gigs that you know you would crush because only see you as one way. I’ve had to constantly work to reinvent and reintroduce myself to my peers so they would see me in a different light.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
I absolutely love solving problems. That’s probably the latent engineer within me. I’ve learned over my time in entertainment that most of the talent just wants to be the talent and nothing more. They don’t want to figure out logistics and all of the “boring tasks.” That’s where I come in. My mission is the alleviate the pain points of creatives and talent so that they can flourish in doing the things that they just want to do. I’ve seen creatives of all levels becoming instantly relieved once they see that I’m handling a portion or the entirety of the details of their vision so they can remain solely at a high level. It brings me joy to solve these problems and be involved in the reckoning of the final product.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.the-jr-group.com
- Instagram: @_thejustinreeves_
- Facebook: Justin Reeves
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@thejrgroup?si=gU8SK7mLkl-5ywkS