Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Caleb Blassingame. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Caleb, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with talking about how you serve the underserved, because in our view this is one of the most important things the small business community does for society – by serving those who the giant corporations ignore, small business helps create a more inclusive and just world for all of us.
I offer help to young entrepreneurs that grew up in broken families who are eager to change their situation. As an individual who grew up in a broken household, I have firsthand experience of the many effects and disadvantageous teens face as they grow up in broken homes. Broken families earn less and experience lower levels of educational achievement. Worse, they pass the prospect of meager incomes and family instability on to their children, ensuring a continuing if not expanding cycle of economic distress. I was forced to grow up at a young age to survive. Everything I have done to build my brand I had to do it myself. No parent support, no mentors, no investors, just the will to keep failing, learning, and creating a better life for myself. People born into poverty tend to stay in poverty unless an outside force is willing to help. As I grow older, I realize that one of the most valuable things you can have when building anything is other people’s support. I had little to no help when building my business, therefore I had to learn hard lessons to keep making progress. I find fulfillment in helping younger entrepreneurs avoid the same mistakes I made when I was building my brand.
Caleb, 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?
Originally from California, my family moved out to Arizona in the summer of 2013. I will never forget the time I was introduced to the Arizona heat. I remember it being so hot, my mother had to pull over and unpack a pair of mitts to finish the rest of the drive to our new home. After high school, I attended the Art Institute of Phoenix, where I spent over 2 years learning about Graphic Design & Animation. My experience there was nonetheless a disappointment. After attending the Art Institute for over 2 years, the school decided to close down due to the lack of students enrolling. I was offered the option to get complete student loan forgiveness or to finish my degree online with a robot teacher and keep my student debt. Which do you think I went with? Duh! Loan forgiveness of course. With my school going out of business during my senior year, I convinced myself that I was ready to be a full-time Freelance Logo Designer. Boy, I was wrong. My school had taught me the skills I needed to be an entry-level Graphic Designer, not to run a business. Selling logo designs weren’t making ends meet. I had to think of a better way to sell my services so I could make more profit. I took it upon myself to learn how to fully brand and market businesses and offer it as a package deal. I now help small businesses get more qualified leads using valuable content creation & strategic digital marketing campaigns. With my experience in creating valuable content for my clients, I have been recently working on creating value for my brand’s community. I decided to start my own graphic design Discord community where creatives on Instagram and other social media platforms can connect and familiarize themselves with each other. I customized the server for creatives to use as a resource. On my server, I have created helpful tools like peer-to-peer critique rooms, YouTube tutorial links, social media marketing tools, and much more. After receiving encouragement from my community members, I have recently started sharing my knowledge and experience on video platforms like YouTube & TikTok. Seeing other people benefit from my help has made me passionate about becoming a resource that creatives can go to when they need answers.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
The most effective strategy for growing your clientele is changing your mindset of how you view getting clients. I would suggest that instead of spending time trying to get clients, why don’t you find ways to attract them? The moment I started getting the clients I wanted is when I asked myself, “How easy is it for clients to find me?” For example, when I was hunting for clients on Instagram, it took me two years of posting QUALITY portfolio work to land a gig over $1500. I recently started posting TikTok tutorials at the beginning of this year. One of the tutorials went viral and I ended up landing a $10,000 project from it.
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
Most people don’t realize how much work it takes to properly manage and maintain a team. As a manager, you need to hold yourself accountable to the highest standard if you want a team with high morale. This means performing above normal standards every day. I would advise studying industry leaders that you respect and pick up on their habits. For example, a leader I studied was Kobe Bryant. Kobe made sure to maintain personal and healthy relationships with each of his teammates. his made it easier for the teammates to respect Kobe in their regard. These are one of the many things I do to help build personal relationships with my team, audience, and friends. If you are serious about developing your leadership skills, I recommend reading the book “The Mind of the Leader” by Rasmus Hougaard.
Contact Info:
- Website: westlogoaz.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/westlogo/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/westlogo
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjlS2gH7JhGp0fdbfa67G4Q
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/westlogo-phoenix?osq=westlogo
- Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@westlogo