We recently connected with Ian Kersey and have shared our conversation below.

Ian , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later?

In retrospect, I wish I had an earlier start in my business and creative career. Specifically with the boom of social media in 2020 and the start of the pandemic. I am grateful for the time that I had started creating on social media; specifically within my niche.

During the rise of TikTok during this time, I was lucky to be one of the first creators within the men’s fashion and sneaker niche. I had a competitive advantage being one of the first creators which gave me a head start.

If I were to go back with an alternate trajectory of this time, I would have dedicated more time and energy as I believe now is much harder to build a following online than it was a few years ago. While my perception has changed over time, I’ve realized that thinking too much about what could have been different is impractical.

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 am an entrepreneur and fashion/streetwear content creator based in Colorado. I started my journey creating short-form content through social media platforms including Instagram and TikTok focused on men’s style and sneakers.

I documented the tips I had learned and aimed to inspire others to find their own style. Throughout my time as a creator, I have built relationships with many brands and have worked on projects for companies like Nike, Meta, Amazon, Ralph Lauren, and YSL to name a few.

As a content creator, I have built a social media marketing company and have had the opportunity to turn my passions into my job. I hope when people work with me and watch my content they will be inspired and find their own style and personality through fashion.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is getting feedback from my supporters and reaching my personal goals. The men’s fashion/streetwear community and the sneaker community are really supportive and I am inspired by my peers.

Receiving comments or DMs from followers who reach out to tell me their stories of their journey finding their style has been very fulfilling and I always try to help others out with tips on how I have achieved success so they can emulate it.

Setting goals and achieving them for me has been very rewarding and is a challenge for me. At the beginning of this year, my goal was to reach 500k followers on my TikTok account (@originalparadigms) for the end of the year and I ended up reaching this goal by September. Always setting goals for myself with the intention of providing value has been the key to my own personal fulfillment as a content creator.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I have always enjoyed creating content but the key for me was taking it seriously. You need to treat content creation like a full-time job to see notable success. I believe the biggest key is consistency.

When I work with clients and peers asking for advice, I always tell them to find a creator who is doing exactly what they want to do and model after them. Consistency and wanting to get 1% better every day is important.

Apart from practical skills like taking daily action, I think it is important to follow success principles and set goals. A lot of it has to do with being intentional about what you want to create and envisioning your future. Create with a goal in mind and you will find success.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/originalparadigms
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/originalparadigms/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@OriginalParadigms/shorts
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@originalparadigms