We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jason Robinson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jason, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How do you feel about asking friends and family to support your business? What’s appropriate, what’s not? Where do you draw the line?

upport your business is such a slippery slope in my opinion. Most people are eager to support you once, but it’s a false sense of what your business’ true customer will look like. Oftentimes, people are just happy to see someone they love trying something new. They are less honest about how to hone in on how the product can be better, or if they truly even plan to use it. More often than not if you are starting out when they tell people about your products, it’s going to be some sort of mediocre story told.

To anyone looking to build your business with family and friends in mind, here’s what I would consider a sure fire guide that I wish I could take back to the beginning with me.

1.) Make it an event, make them feel special and VIP. Doesn’t need to be expensive, but it does need to feel intentional.
2.) Give them the story to tell and make it simple. They do not need to be making up their own story, give a clear concise message for them to run with.
3.) Request their feedback. This is key! It’s scary to solicit feedback when you’re not sure if your products are good enough for the world, but in my opinion that is the best time to garner feedback.
4.) Keep them in the loop as you grow. They need to see progress, date them!
5.) Ask for Referrals, This is after everyone agrees you have a good product.

To me, this is the best way to build a tribe from family and friends, and what I have used to turn strangers into family and friends after goofing it all up at the beginning. Tag me in your work and make me a part too, I’ll become a supporter/family/friend.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hello readers,

I’m popularly known as Distinguish’d Jason, originally from the Bay Area. I have spent quite a bit of time traveling across the US building a brand you may have heard of, Distinguish’d Minds. I started this business around the age of 17, simply looking to develop my resume, and it has blossomed through the years into working with countless notable celebrities and retail chains, and popups across the country.

Through this channel I have also gone on to help manage and build several other powerful brands large and small. I’ve worked with notable brands beyond even my wildest dreams. I took my dealings and built both a strong photography brand @ASVPYEEZUS, and Marketing agency, Quid Pro Quo Agency, who both do, I guess you could say pretty decent for themselves =).

It’s interesting I didn’t realize Distinguish’d would become my life’s work, and a springboard to build other businesses. It’s a proven tried and true brand, which gave me the skills and understanding to build not only other businesses for myself, but for countless other individuals behind the scenes as well. I’m a well known factor in the industry and who people come to, to get their brands tightened up.

Where many agencies and brand consultants are one sided, I am able to operate within culture, tech, fashion, fitness, and almost any other space, because I have built brand and social currency for myself in these spaces. It is truly a blessing to be curious about the world, because before it worked it definitely felt like a curse. If you match that with a strong analytical skill set….well, you get Distinguish’d Jason.

I love working with new people, I love seeing people wear Distinguish’d Minds and understanding the true meaning behind the essence of the tag line ” Distinguish yourself from the rest.” It really is a quote that explains how to be successful and carve out your own lane. I do my best to stay true to my brand daily. It is an understatement to say that, even in trying times, I can always have a mindset and skill set to fall back on.

If anyone out there needs help growing please connect with me, I don’t miss! lol

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

When it comes to growing your clientele. If you are small it’s pretty simple, keep getting yourself in front of people is a perfect mindset. It doesn’t need to be perfect, but it does need to be intentional. Create a really good product and give it away until people request it from you. When I started out this was really hard because I needed my money to survive. What you learn is, give it away anyways, Quid Pro Quo (Hence the agency name).

Make great content
share it with people you think are cool
attend events that fit your niche
make friends
develop meaningful relationships
present a good offer.
rinse and repeat.

If you struggle with any of those steps, hire professionals. I know we live in a super do it yourself everyone’s an entrepreneur era, but trust me the people who are winning and doing it the best are making sure they are getting the best at every corner they turn. Collaboration is a key and a lesson I absolutely learned the hard way. Soon After I learned it I created Quid Pro Quo Agency to assist others on their quest. Quid Pro Quo Agency has also been a key stable in the growth of every other business I developed!

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

To help build my reputation in the market was actually a really tough feat. Let me walk you through it. I grew up in the Bay Area ( all Over), and eventually landed in a small town called Vacaville. When I got started, social media was on the newer side of things, and me being a techy kind of kid understood it pretty quickly. I was way out ahead of everything people do today to build brands online and grow their brands. We are talking about automations, brand image, placements, etc. What’s often called SAAS or One-Person Businesses today.

I was considered weird and often told what I was doing was either immoral, unsafe, or simply just wouldn’t work. I had to travel to larger cities to create notoriety for myself, often getting banished for being an outsider to communities built there already. This happened for years, but I told myself as long as I wasn’t bleeding money, I would continue and that it would pay off. Also, that if I didn’t spend it building, I probably would’ve spent it on a fancy dinner anyways.

When things began to pay off, It was obvious that I was right, many people began using my way of doing things, but I didn’t know how to stake claim. I sat patiently as I watched a lot of people approach fashion, the internet, amongst other things incorrectly (still to this day), and knew that tides would turn in my favor, I’ll save you the suspense. It worked out!

Sometimes you’re the first one to a foreign land. When you’re there alone it is really easy to feel like you’ve been exiled, and feel alone. Also to be fair sometimes that’s even true, lol. But if you take two seconds and look around, what you will see is space to build, and honestly if you’re the only one there, you get to build whatever the f*** you want.

And in the words of one of my favorite movies, “if you build it, they will come!” My twist is, “…and if what you build is really good they will stay.”

Contact Info:

• Website: www.distinguishdminds.com
• Instagram: @distinguishd_jason (additional links in bio)
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-robinson-689a79b2/
• Twitter: https://www.threads.net/@distinguishd_minds
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/distinguishdmindsclothing

Image Credits
@asvpyeezus (Instagram) Dev Anglin (photo in Gray Blazer)