Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Justus King. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Justus, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?

In the wee early morning hours of March 17, 2018, I drove to a quaint AirBnB cabin in the forests of Evergreen, Colorado. After parking, I walked up to the wooden AirBnB where I met the director, photographer, and assistants of the photoshoot I was modeling for that day. The photoshoot was to get generic stock photos of friends hanging out at a cabin. When signing into the photoshoot, I was asked what my rate was. Here was where I made the rookiest of rookie mistakes. To not come off as snooty and pompous as I was still early in my modeling career, I decided to humble my rate for a half-day photoshoot to a whopping … drum roll please…. $120! To my green-behind-the-ears surprise, the assistant quickly accepted my terms. After successfully completing the photoshoot, I was on cloud nine texting my family that I had my first paid modeling gig! I was so happy as I finally felt like a professional model bringing money to my on-a-college-budget wallet. This high lasted a few days before dying out as I believed there would be a low possibility that anyone would purchase stock-photos of me. From then on, I did not hear nor think about the photoshoot until a year later.

During Summer 2019, I interned at a company in a different state where I met this other intern and befriended her. After the internship ended, I was sent a message from her as she was visiting New York City before returning back to school. Opening her message, I saw a video of myself on a T-Mobile ad in Times Square! I immediately recognized the video was taken from the photoshoot in Evergreen, CO the year prior. Excitement came over me and then oddly transitioned to a feeling of betrayal as I realized T-Mobile most likely made millions off an ad that I made $120 for. I was disappointed to say the least, but agreed with myself that I would move past it and count it as a rookie loss. Unfortunately, this would not be the only loss that I would experience from my rookie mistake.

Fall of 2020, I received a DM from an old family friend asking me,” IS THIS YOU?” I then opened their message to find a picture of me from the shoot as a “Living With HIV” advertisement in a show on Netflix. This was my Joey Tribbiani moment in Friends, if you know you know. And yet again, my thought process concluded with that of… “I ONLY CHARGED THEM $120?!! “ More instances periodically occurred after, such as when my friend sent me a video of an episode of Good Trouble where my picture from the same photoshoot was used front-and-center in a booklet. Being said, the moral of the story is know your worth and do not undervalue yourself. Remember, people will take you as serious as you present yourself and more often than not, you are worth more than what is initially offered. Do not be afraid to claim what is yours, because someone might take it and benefit a lot more from it.

Justus, 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?

Hi, my name is Justus King and I am an Entertainer and Content Creator. On any given day, you can catch me singing in a lounge, dancing for a music video, modeling for a fashion magazine, acting in a movie, photographing someone for their birthday, or editing video clips together for my social media audience. While these might seem like many feats, I have deeply enjoyed gaining expertise in these areas ever since I was a kid. If you are looking for someone to help you out in any creative way, feel free to contact me because I would love to help you out!

How did you build your audience on social media?

My audience on social media has mainly grown through either a viral video that brought humor to someone’s life or teaching a hack that improved someone’s life. It is quite challenging to give a one-and-done strategy to grow a large audience on social media as different social platforms constantly change their algorithms, however, I’ll say that a factor that can drive growth is consistency. While an algorithm may pick and choose videos to put in front of new people, the magic happens when said people become loyal to your content and begin to naturally return to your page(s). So, always always always shoot and post content because you never know what could happen.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

If you are a non-creative and curious as to why creatives often allow themselves to be in low-income situations to pursue their interests, please know the weighty angst a creative feels when they are not expressing their talents. When you are born with an artistic skillset that you believe is powerful enough to make an impact on society, you cannot help but to let it shine. Americans were taught that the only careers that are valuable are ones that are stable and lucrative, but as we have learned through the pandemic, life is short and time should not be wasted on fulfilling someone else’s dream. Being said, to my creatives, you have everything inside yourself to start living the life you want to live.

Contact Info:

• Website: Linktr.ee/JustusKing
• Instagram: Just.Us.King
• Facebook: Justus King
• Youtube: @kickingitwiththeking
• Other: TikTok: Just.Us.King