We were lucky to catch up with Clarrie Johnson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Clarrie, appreciate you joining us today. Often the greatest growth and the biggest wins come right after a defeat. Other times the failure serves as a lesson that’s helpful later in your journey. We’d appreciate if you could open up about a time you’ve failed.

I remember growing up in the South Suburbs of Chicago. The population of my high school was 99% Black students. I remember one class when a teacher I admired stated that he had quit Corporate America to become a teacher. I thought to myself, “Why would this White man quit Corporate America to teach Black students?”

At that moment, I’d decided that he had made a mistake. Surely, he would be so much further along and much more successful if he had continued working at his corporate job. As a first generation college student, I had no preexisting roadmap of what a successful corporate career looked like. Both of my parents worked blue-collar jobs, and while I never experienced a moment of scarcity, I knew that I wanted more.

Young, Black students are told, “To be successful 1) go to school, 2) stay in school, 3) go to college, 4) graduate from college, 5) get a corporate job, 6) stay at that corporate job and make a lot of money.”

We don’t learn until much later on, like I did, the journey is not linear and success is relative to your perspective, mindset and experience.

My story of failure begins with the belief that to be successful, I had to get a corporate job and maintain that job. I thought that I would move up the rankings, become CEO and make a lot of money. And while that story is true for a small percentage of people in America, it doesn’t represent the experience of most minority professionals.

My identity was wrapped up in the idea that Corporate America was the way to wealth. I manifested my first corporate job at the age of 24 after graduating with my Master’s degree in Strategic Public Relations from the University of Southern California. The total sum of my education had amounted to $150,000 of debt.

I worked for five years in that role as a Corporate Communications Coordinator making $63,000/yr. I worked long days and nights — sometimes I left work so late the security guards would escort me to my car. I was the last one in the building.

For five years, I poured everything into this dream that I began to realize was a facade. I could become CEO of someone else’s dream, but that wouldn’t make me wealthy. In those five years, I did not receive a promotion. I struggled with food scarcity. I faced an eviction. I stopped driving and started taking the bus to make rent. I racked up $15,000 of credit card debt, on top of my student loans.

At that moment, I felt I had failed. My identity was shattered. I had followed the script, but the promise of wealth and success had not come to fruition. That’s when I decided to create my own path and define success in my own way.

Clarrie, 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?

In 2014, a classmate approached me about starting a business. After some thought, I had this idea. “If each of us were willing to spend $100,000 for our education, the information must be worth at least $200,000.”

We were studying Strategic Public Relations at the time and as part of our curriculum, we’d create public relations strategies for local businesses. We decided to take this strategic model and turn it into a business. TapThat Public Relations was born.

After five years in business, we realized all of our clients had something in common. We would create detailed strategies about how to work with reporters and newsrooms to amplify their stories, but they really wanted to develop their social media and digital presence.

We introduced one client to LinkedIn and she fell in love with the platform. To this day, she’s still using the platform to scale her business. Our strategy and guidance helped this client make the decision to quit her 9-to-5 and take her business full-time.

In 2019, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, everything changed for our business. I moved back to Chicago, and my business partner’s heart was pulled into a different direction. We shuttered the business in California, and I took the business solo. We rebranded as TapThat Digital Marketing, a content house that delivers digital strategy and implementation.

We help our customers implement systems that streamline effort, create content that delivers value, spark conversations that create cash flow and organize communities that build wealth. We achieve results by optimizing websites, establishing social media platforms, implementing email marketing automation, deploying digital advertisement and delivering creative content. Our industry calls this the “done-for-you” model.

Additionally, we’re invested in developing the next generation of digital marketers – one of the fastest growing professions today – through training and development.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Our mission is to develop digitally savvy small and minority business owners.

During the early years of the business, I served as a corporate communications professional for two major automotive and technology brands. As a junior operating at the executive level, I gained insight into how business strategies are developed and how money decisions are made.

I also recognized the power that technology plays in helping big-businesses scale with ease and efficiency.

Black women are the fastest growing demographic of entrepreneurs in the United States (JPMorgan), yet eight out of 10 Black-owned businesses fail within the first 18 months. Twenty percent of small businesses fail by the first year, 30% by the second, 50% by the fifth, and by the 10th year, a staggering 70% of businesses have shut off their lights (CNBC).

Top reasons why small businesses fail include: poor strategy, financial mismanagement and poor marketing (Forbes).

We use the power of technology to help small and minority business owners stay in the game for the long haul by implementing automated systems that help them generate revenue. We craft detailed strategies that help them establish a vision for their organization. We deliver the marketing that makes them feel like a million bucks. And we provide the education that empowers them to embrace digital tools that can help them scale with ease.

Our mission is to use the power of technology to enable small and minority-owned businesses to keep their doors open for years to come.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I used to believe that Success = CEO, because that’s what society teaches young, Black children. When I say “society,” I’m talking about our schools, our communities and the media. CEOs are praised as being the ultimate title in the professional heirarchy.

How often have you stopped to think about what the acronymn “CEO” means? Chief Executive Officer.

Chief, meaning “leader.”

Executive, meaning “the power to make actionable decisions.”

Officer, meaning “position of command.”
So when we break it down, a CEO is a leader in a position of command who has the power to make actionable decisions.

When I considered this, I realized anyone can be a CEO if they’re a leader who has command to make actionable decisions.

We have the power to be the CEO of our own dreams by granting ourselves command to take action.

This is the lie that is taught in public schools. “Sit down.” “Shut up.” “Follow orders.” “Think within the box.” “Become the CEO of someone else’s ideas.”

When I left Corporate America, I changed my title from “Corporate Communications Manager” to “Founder” on LinkedIn.

“Founder” is a power word, because it means you’ve put your dreams into action to create something meaningful for yourself and for the world.

Contact Info:

• Website: tapthatdigital.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/savvycmo
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087362045613
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/clarriej
• Twitter: twitter.com/savvycmo
• Youtube: youtube.com/@savvycmo

Image Credits
Personal photos taken by Jeremy Germain