We were lucky to catch up with Jennifer Kravassi recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jennifer, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

Betting on a sports team, or a career change when you’re working for someone else, always comes with the easy out. If things don’t end up the way you thought they should, if team X loses the game you put money on, or if you don’t like your boss or your job description… there’s someone or something else that can help you justify why you failed.
But when you’re a business owner and things go cattywampus, it’s just you. Ultimately, failing when self employed means you haven’t done what you needed to do in order to keep moving forward and upward. You have to figure out a way (or many ways) to keep growing and becoming financially stable, even when the chips are down and there’s one out left in the bottom of the 9th.
11 years ago, I jumped. I left a good paying job with solid benefits and a decent retirement plan, cashed in my 401K and began a life changing adventure that has taught me how to succeed against all odds, while at the same time has taught me how to “fail better”.
I bet on me and haven’t looked back since.

Jennifer, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Growing up in a single parent household, my mom held down two jobs and put herself through college while I was still in elementary school. She would get off work, pick me up at the bus stop, and i would ride with her to her college classes. She majored in fine arts. Some of my best memories were sitting in the backs of classrooms and halls doing homework and goofing around at the college radio station with the DJs. By the time I was in 5th grade I knew how to work in a photo lab, develop film and use a variety of SLR cameras. What was really neat was that most of her classmates and even some of the professors, treated me like another student. It was a kind of kaleidoscope glimpse into my future without me even realizing it. And as that little girl grew up, I also fell in love with the outdoors, specifically, with fishing. As I got older, I held the arts close to me while working “normal” jobs, but always craved more. My sense of adventure led me into the Army as a combat medic, into inshore oceanic contract work as an ecological fisheries field supervisor, and into almost 7 years with a major retail company as an Asset Protection Manager and internal theft investigator, and even a vice mayor (Brentwood Maryland c. 2014-2016). I was also a performing artist and wrote and recorded 2 albums.

Now, this reads like either a whopping fish-tale, or the backstory of someone who seems like they’re restless and aimless in life. But really, it’s the life story of a woman who still has that little kid in her heart and the unquenchable thirst to EXPLORE.

It’s given me an insight into so many different aspects of life and career, that the only thing that’s ever made sense to me was to go into business for myself. And believe me, starting a company answers every “what if” question I’ve ever had. And 10 years later, painting and designing custom colorways in the bass fishing industry is still one of only two things in my life that’s ever continually held my attention and passion. The arts, and FISHING. I started my very tiny airbrushing business in a big garage in Jonesboro Arkansas, and moved to Georgia roughly 5 years later as the in-house painter/designer at Bull Shad Swimbaits while still maintaining my independence Jekyll Bait Company.

To date, I’ve painted thousands of baits big and small, both crankbait and swimbait, and for countless anglers from novice to elite pro. I’ve worked with Mystery Tackle Box, Catch Co, Googan Squad, Bill Lewis, and mentored under the design lead at Strike King. I paint full time and use the revenue as my primary source of income. I’m grateful to the guys like Mike Bucca, Ross Gordon, Teeg Stouffer, Sig Finley, Kelly Barefoot, Mike Russell, Crispin Powley and Trey Epich for their support through the years as I continue to grow in an industry I absolutely LOVE coming to work for every day. It’s a community I cannot deny has had an everlasting effect on my life. This is where I belong. It’s the best workplace I know.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

Currently I’m selling everywhere I can. I think that relevancy is critical and in today’s instant gratification consumer world, it’s not where you sell, but on how many platforms …and varying your technique. I’m a firm believer of both website based (mine is https://www.jekyllbaits.com) and live social shopping (whatnot, drip, twitch, TikTok and eBay). I am not quite at the ability as a one woman show of being able to work in the mass volume level I would need to produce for entities like Amazon, but we ARE rolling out a “direct to retailers” in custom resin swimbaits this fall with Bull Shad Swimbaits. And as I move into mid-life, I want to concentrate more on the design aspect of things and not cranking out hundreds of hand painted items a month. The possibility of Carpal Tunnel has thankfully illuded me thus far, but it’s a very real inevitability no matter how much care I take of my hands and wrists.

How did you build your audience on social media?

As before mentioned, social media is CRITICAL. There are so many FREE opportunities to grow and become more relevant to the audience you’re trying to reach through these platforms that if you’re just starting a business, or even if you’ve been at it for a while and feel like you’ve hit a plateau, this is a way to reach your target market. Collaboration is also key here, especially when your beginning.

The key here? Just DO it. And then do it again and again and again. Repetitive consistent posts, storytelling (both visual and vocal), and hit as many per day as you can. I started this business in 2015, and then when I became proficient enough, started teaching airbrush basics and techniques on YouTube (Jekyll Productions). That led me to self teach myself editing, videography, post production and multiple software platforms. Today I have over 1,000 videos in both short and long form, and a growing subscriber count (almost 18,000 and going). I post on social media daily, sometimes 2-4 times on multiple platforms. Understanding how to schedule out posts is a gamechanger too.

Yes it takes time, but part of any solid business model is playing the long game and having the grit and patience to stay there. Don’t waiver when things get rough, and they will, and never give up if it’s something you truly love doing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jekyllbaits.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jekyll_bait_co
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennifer.kravassi
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-kravassi-02499a25/
• Twitter: jenkravassi
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Jekyll424
• Other: 2nd business: Jekyll and Card – https://jekyllandcard.com/
  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jekyll_bait_co?lang=en
  eBay: https://www.ebay.com/usr/jekyll424
  Etsy: https://jekyllproductions.etsy.com
  Whatnot: https://www.whatnot.com/s/2YPURqak

Image Credits

All images property of Jennifer Kravassi aka Jekyll Productions (they are mine).