We were lucky to catch up with Jha Allen recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jha, thanks for joining us today. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.

One piece to my success in scaling my business was networking.

I have a list of actions and tactics that helped me scale, but when I think of the core of those things, it was all because of the connections I made. My connections have either given me valuable information that I applied to my business or they directly helped me scale.

Those connections have helped me develop my business, services and programs that I provide for my clients. From networking events to getting advice from mentors and coaches, all of it has taught me what I needed to scale.

And while I made those connections, I worked vigorously on my expertise and skills. As a content strategist, my job is to help other small business owners scale their businesses online. I’ve been mastering the internet for the past 6 years, and I am always keeping up with the trends and changes of the digital world. I’ve boiled down the scaling method to a few simple formulas that simply require consistency.

When I digitally started showing up in front of my audience because of the content strategies I put in place, I scaled almost unexpectedly. I’ve been consistent in posting on social media, meeting clients at events, keeping in touch with my audience and so much more. It just took some organization of thoughts and content to really scale as much as I have. And once I had a solid strategy and operation in place, I began hiring people on my team that just helped me accelerate even faster. We’re taking it step-by-step, but we’re scaling up!

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

I’m Jha Allen, a Content Strategist and Coach serving small business owners mostly in the Houston area. I teach entrepreneurs how to create a profitable content strategy to grow their impact, influence and sales online. For the past 6+ years, I’ve been defining (and always redefining) the key elements to building a solid brand in our fast-paced digital world. We’re at a point where you need to be online to thrive. Whether my clients are a new business or have owned a business for years but haven’t transitioned to the online world yet, I’ve helped many business owners learn how to represent their brands online and develop relationships with their target audiences.
The one thing that sets me apart from other coaches is that I practice what I preach! I’m able to easily help my clients because I teach them how to do exactly what I do every day. My clients get 1-on-1 coaching sessions with me every week so that we can customize their content strategy and so that I can help keep them accountable for their work.

I’ve had many odds stacked against me: I don’t have a college degree; I’m the one of eight children; my father was in jail most of my life; and I’m a Black, lesbian woman with dreads! I’ve had almost every statistical odd stacked against me, but my passion for business development, discipline and consistency have directed me to the path of success.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Just recently I had to take a good look at the direction of my business and the work that I was delegating to some of my team members. The workload and generated income just wasn’t adding up! With that, I had to take a look at everyone’s tasks to see where the disconnect was and pivot our focus and tasks. I had to have some transparent conversations with my team members and also look at myself as their leader. Once I was able to clarify what was needed most, I unfortunately had to let a team member go, even though they were great. Their skills were amazing, but it wasn’t what I needed in my business at that time. And after a period of clarifying what my business really needed, we were able to get back on our feet and start running again.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

The key to building on social media is to not only be on social media! People should be finding you through Google, their email inbox, from networking events, etc. And once they find you, they can connect with you on all platforms.
I just reached 11k followers on Instagram ORGANICALLY. No, it wasn’t overnight but they are all real followers. I’ve never paid for followers– all I’ve done was keep consistent in my content plan and that built trust between me and my followers. They know who to look for when they have any questions about content creation, planning or strategizing because that’s what I represent on my social accounts.

When someone opens up your Instagram page, for example, they should immediately know who you are and what you do. Your profile should say it and your content should show it before your audience ever even reads a caption.

And I’ve heard many people say this before: “I don’t have time to post on social media” or “I don’t know what to post daily,” and that’s why I created a simple method that I use every single day. I created a tool called the “Create More Content Bundle” that helps me organize the main topics that I want to talk about on my social media page so I don’t have to come up with ideas last minute.

Lastly, I highly recommend working with an expert in the social media marketing field. There are so many tools, apps, and tricks that they can show you that can help your specific business strategy, and the internet doesn’t slow down. There is always something such as an algorithm or social media feature, so connect with an expert if you’re not making any profits from the content you post. Why would you not make money from your social media if you use it everyday?!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://workwithjha.com/content
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/jha.allen?utm_medium=copy_link
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/jhaallenllc/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jhabriel-allen-658141a8
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCIdGf1Xb1pwUCg4xxWTJ0pQ
• Other: The Connections Hub Podcast: https://theconnectionshubpodcast.buzzsprout.com/ The Connections Hub YouTube: https://youtube.com/channel/UChI_AALC3XzxHKa5wXz674Q The Connections Hub Instagram: https://instagram.com/theconnectionshub?utm_medium=copy_link