We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Clarene Mitchell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Clarene, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with inspirations and heroes. Are there any historical figures you look up to?

I have a lot of historical figures I look to for inspiration on a personal basis. As a business owner, I have a great deal of admiration for A.G. Gaston. He had humble beginnings, but he became a very successful businessman in Birmingham, Alabama. His first business endeavor was as a young child when he sold rides on a tree swing. He went on to actually become a multi-millionaire in the middle of the 20th century from his various business endeavors. This was a significant achievement for a Black man.

I was introduced to one of his quotes in 2017 when I was in the midst of a nearly year-long unemployment period. This quote is what got me to switch my focus from being a job seeker to becoming a business owner:

“Find a need and fill it. Successful businesses are founded on the needs of people.”

At the time, people in my job seeker networking groups were asking me for assistance with how to leverage LinkedIn. Initially, I would provide them assistance in exchange for a cup of tea at coffee shops. It was very gratifying to see many of them quickly go on to secure jobs and know that I played a small part in their success. I began to realize they represented a much larger percentage of people that had the same dilemma of not knowing how to use LinkedIn. I’m not a multi-millionaire like Mr. Gaston, yet, but I absolutely love being a business owner.

Gaston is my business role model in many ways because as a Black man during his era, he had very limited opportunities. He became an iconic businessman based on his internal drive to succeed. Prior to starting my business, I never had aspirations of becoming an entrepreneur. The world of entrepreneurship chose me, I didn’t choose it. This meant I had limited business knowledge and no financial resources. The focus of my business has made the process even more challenging, as I’m in an emerging sector. I have built my business with Mr. Gaston’s quote always on my mind and with determination. Like Gastson (change to Gaston), I’ve had setbacks along the way but quitting is not an option. When doors are closed to me, I keep going until I get to the next open door.

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

There are approximately 900 million LinkedIn members. Yet a small percentage of the members fully understand how the platform works. Many still believe that is just for job seekers. The platform has evolved over its 20 years, it offers a wealth of opportunity to everyone, no matter where you are in your professional journey. This includes executives who can use the platform for brand ambassador purposes and business owners who can use it to generate sales.

My business exclusively focuses on changing the trajectory of lives and businesses, one LinkedIn profile at a time. I accomplish this through results-driven coaching, corporate training, event speaking and content creation. I empower my clients to Shine Online so they are able to generate organic results from LinkedIn. My background as a print journalist and public relations professional allows me the expertise to guide my clients through the process of building their brand on LinkedIn. Additionally, I practice what I teach. This means my clients benefit from me always having the most up-to-date perspective about LinkedIn.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

One of my favorite marketing stories is when I gave myself an overly ambitious goal…and achieved it! My professional background includes print journalism, but becoming a book author was never a top priority for me. In June 2019 I attended a business expo in Chicago. One of the speakers offered a book writing masterclass the following month. It was reasonably priced, so I signed up. My entrepreneurial journey has been about seizing opportunities. The book writing masterclass was actually the weekend of my second business anniversary. My thought was that maybe someday I would write a book, but it seemed like a great way to spend my business anniversary.

Long story short, I got so motivated by the book writing masterclass that I committed to writing and publishing my book within a very short timeframe. The training was in July, I had my book written and in my hands in September. Yes, in less than 60 days I had written and self-published my book. I still think back to that time and wonder…what was I thinking? This was a marketing success story for me because having the book helped to further establish me in my industry as an expert, I added author as a title and it generated a stream of revenue.

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

I started building my audience on social media by first identifying the platform that would put me in front of my ideal clients and generate the best return on my investment of time. Then I would show up consistently and provide value-based content.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tcm-communications-trusted-creative-marketing-and-communications/?viewAsMember=true
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tcmcomms/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clarenemitchell/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChKHy25pjn1hUC3J7OeanfA