We were lucky to catch up with Jarek James recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jarek James thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I have been doing social media influencing full time for four years now. I was lucky enough to see the potential TikTok had early on and obtained a first movers advantage in the space. At the time, there were no musicians or singers on TikTok. People would just lip sync or dance to the sounds that TikTok uploaded to the platform. I noticed that a few people were blowing up from original audio/sounds from their own videos so I decided to try out a remix of one of my favorite songs/trends at the time, Boys by Lizzo. I switched around all the lyrics and made it appeal more to girls so that they could do the trend as well. I was an overnight sensation once I uploaded it. I fell asleep right after I posted and woke up to 1.5 million views on the video and 75k followers in a few hours. TikTok has changed so much since then. I do wish, knowing what I know now, I could go back and post more consistently. The algorithm was so much more forgiving with videos. Todays day and age you really need to have a strategy for virality. I was kind of a guinea pig at the time because everyone was trying to figure out TikTok and I had it figured out. I definitely do think I could’ve sped up the process knowing the information I have now about TikTok . Who knows I could be at 10 million instead of 3 million followers!

Jarek James, 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?

I’m a TikTok/instagram influencer and full time social/digital media consultant. I’ve obtained 3 Million followers across TikTok, have been the poster boy behind 10 billion sponsored ad impressions, and have amassed 100s of millions of views on my account over the past few years. I’ve achieved my dream of becoming a social media star and now I’ve started to help brands and influencers do it full time. Turning your passion into a full time business is so hard today because no one understands how much goes into content marketing. They just see a finished product on their FYP or discover page. Each piece of content takes a viral worthy idea, an understanding of trends, research into the social algorithm you’re posting on, consistent quality, video/editing skills, business skills to monetize correctly once you have that content success, and so much more. Most social media advisors/consultants are only popular from telling YOU what you should be doing. They don’t test out their theories themselves so why trust them? I have an active account I post on that averages around 500k a video so the advice I give each one of my clients is real time and based on what has recently worked for me. For brands looking to get into the influencer marketing space I have a lot of insight on how to get your product/service to go mega viral because I’ve done it countless of times in the past. I have worked with companies such as Amazon, American Eagle, Converse, Pizza Hut, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Chobani, and many more big gorilla companies. I have also blown up very small businesses. Influencer marketing is where the entire world is headed right now so I would try to prioritize marketing your product/service there before it gets even more oversaturated.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Tiktok has been known as the platform to be on if you want instant success. Times have changed since they were handing viral videos left and right though. Now you need a good content strategy. Saying all this, lets say you do have a video that blows up and gets 10 million views or more. That’s great… but what now? You’re still not making any money. You need to understand how to take advantage of your success and create revenue streams such as applying for the creator fund, posting consistently enough to get brand deals/sponsorships, responding to commenters to create a fanbase, creating a product you can consistently push your fans now that you have them, and much more. Your social media account needs to be looked at as an asset because there are so many revenue streams that can come from it.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

About two years ago I had 1 million followers and was making around $700 a month. I was struggling mentally and financially. I felt burnt out because I was posting so much and getting so many views but I couldn’t figure out how to make money from my socials. I was looking at jobs in finance (because I have a finance degree surprisingly for a tiktoker) and was genuinely thinking about calling it quits an an influencer. I decided to give it one last shot so I went to a coffee shop in downtown nashville and put together a business plan for Smalltownhollywood. It was the first time I treated my social media account as a business and researched revenue streams. I created a press kit, sent over a hundred emails to brands/influencers/record labels, applied to digital media agencies for sponsorships, and created a merch line. A few weeks later my inbox was full of deals left and right. I just had to leverage what I had that others needed. I created an engaged audience for music and reached out to brands that made a product/service that targeted that audience.

Contact Info:

• Website: Smalltownhollywood.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smalltownhollywood/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jarek-eldridge-39b852224/
• Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@smalltownhollywood?lang=en

Image Credits
Silas Deane Jacob Reinmiller Bryan Ware