We were lucky to catch up with Devin Brinkley recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Devin, thanks for joining us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

I AM happier as a business owner because I have the ability to make my own schedule, work from anywhere in the world, or not work at all. I have control over which clients and projects I take on, if my workload is too much, and when I wrap up for the day.

Don’t get me wrong, there are times that things get slow and I have considered going back to a full-time corporate job. I do miss the steady paycheck, but the work was not fulfilling. I just felt like a number and knew that I was easily replaceable. Also, my work life-balance was nonexistent.

Now, I have time to volunteer at my son’s school, practice yoga regularly and take mid-day naps which are the best! So, YES. I am much happier as a business owner.

Devin, 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?

I am the Founder and CEO of Creative Gravity Social Media Agency, a micro-agency that specializes in social media marketing, strategy and training. We pride ourselves on helping business owners achieve authentic and organic growth. We also create innovative content that’s impactful & engaging for fellow business owners.

I have a team of three amazing women who support me with content creation, engagement and operations (thank you Amshi, Gisela and Lyndsay!)

I have 13 years of experience in Corporate Healthcare including: data and analytics, operations, marketing, and training. When in my corporate role, I was asked to start social media marketing as “other duties as assigned.” I learned as much as I could because I don’t like to fail…and grew to like it A LOT. Social media is such a powerful tool. A colleague suggested that I start freelancing and Creative Gravity was born in February 2020.

I worked my corporate job and ran Creative Gravity (both full-time) until I resigned in March 2022 to run Creative Gravity full time. It was a scary leap becoming a full time entrepreneur, but it has been very rewarding work.

I have helped a broad range of businesses including restaurants, podcasts, graphic designers, wedding planners, musicians, venues, a sommelier, a distillery and more. I am proud that I am able to apply my business and marketing knowledge (yay! that MBA actually came in handy) to help other business owners achieve their goals.

We currently offer a number of services to meet entrepreneurs where they are as far as needs and budget wise. Our services include:
Social Media Audits
Social Media Calendars
Content Curation
Full Social Media Management
Organic Growth & Engagement
Team Training

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

100% networking. During the pandemic, I began attending virtual networking events to get my name out there. I joined an organization named District Bliss which hosts networking events, workshops and it’s just an all-around great community. Through this community I’ve met many of my current and past clients! People I have worked with continue to share their success with others and I get referrals regularly. The CEO of District Bliss, Sara Alepin is basically a professional matchmaker and puts people in touch with one another for collaborations and other business opportunities. She has shared my business with basically the world. I highly recommend joining communities like District Bliss to have like-minded people to connect with and to build a reputation.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

In the fall of 2021, my world shattered when both of my parents passed away. My dad died in September and my mom in October, both very suddenly. Before my mom died, I shared with her that I was considering quitting my full-time job but that I was afraid. That I thought it was crazy to just walk away from 6-figures. She told me “Do what makes you happy.”

When she died, I could barely function. I was diagnosed with anxiety, depression and PTSD after their sudden losses. The past year has honestly been a blur. But I made a plan and worked toward going full time with my business which I officially did on March 3, 2022.

It has been EXTREMELY difficult to manage and grow my business, raise a family and grieve the loss of both of my parents, but I didn’t come this far to fail. I have worked so hard that I have nearly replicated my income from my full-time job. I am very proud of that and the business that I have built. I’ve grown so much that I’ve been able to bring on an additional social media manager, Amshi, an engagement specialist, Gisela, and a virtual assistant, Lyndsay.

Though I have faced a number of obstacles, and there are some days I don’t want to do much of anything, I continue to push through. I am now a huge advocate for mental health, as a lot of people struggle with mental illness alone and in private. It’s so taboo and it shouldn’t be.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.creativegravityllc.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/creativegravityllc
• Facebook: facebook.com/creativegravityllc
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devinbrinkley-mba/