We recently connected with Jeff Hare and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jeff thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

Growing up poor in Ohio, it was pretty certain that path the most kids would take. We’d make it through high school, maybe even a 2 year trade school education after that, enter the workforce, start a family and live the same life our parents did. Maybe a little better off, maybe not,…but there weren’t many options available.

Without that optimism of a bright future, I never really had the direction or even interest in pursuing something big. I always dreamed about it, but kids like me didn’t have the guidance or opportunities other’s had, so I like to say I just let my life lead me. After high school, some friends wanted to move out of town (about 4 hours away) so I did. I was miserably lonely and homesick at first, and didn’t have a job or any money, but I made it work. I slowly got my footing there and stayed for 5 years when the idea to move back to my hometown came up, so I did it. Not for a reason, but because my life led me.

After a few years being back there — something snapped in my head and I decided that I really was going to follow my dreams and I packed my car, had $400 in my pocket and I drove to California. The dream that got me there didn’t work out the way I thought it would, but the dream it became has been so much more fulfilling than I could have ever imagine. Pretty quickly I got a job in feature film publicity and never looked back at my dream of being an actor. I didn’t just get a job then…I got a career. I was leading my life finally and the progress forward never slowed down.

Now, I have a lifetime of stories, amazing experiences and such pride in my career that the poor kid in Ohio could have never dreamed this big.

So yes, I wish I would have started this all MUCH earlier. If only something snapped earlier, I can only imagine where I’d be now.

Jeff, 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?

From as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be an actor. The most exciting part of that career was that I could be someone else….if only for a little while. Looking back, I wouldn’t really trade my childhood….it made me the man I am today….but it was really rough. We were extremely poor, lacked any kind of guidance or even any supervision and survived, not lived. I was different from the rest of my family. Everyone knew that from the start. While sports was the outlet for my brothers, it was music and theater for me. As I got older and started doing plays, I started really transporting myself to bigger and better places. I knew that’s what I wanted to do.

When I moved away, I started doing community and semi-professional theater which landed me a commercial contract with an agency. I did some local tv ads and became a bit of a big fish in a TINY pond. I moved back to my hometown and landed a job at the Cleveland Play House in the ticket office and later in the marketing department.

When I moved to Los Angeles, I had dreams of being discovered. I wanted to be an actor, but realized also, I didn’t want to be a starving actor, so I went to a temp agency the day after I arrived. They saw that I worked in marketing at the theater and put in me in a one week job at the Walt Disney Studios. I stayed for 7 years! And a career was born.

Once I realized that my new career was what I had been missing all along, I changed EVERYTHING about my life. The way I approached work, the amount of time and energy I gave it. The dedication and loyalty I had for it. It really paid off and I climbed the ladder, ended up at Warner Bros for a number of years and then ran the publicity department for DreamWorks for a number of years.

Now, I have my own boutique PR firm and love the work I do. Still in Entertainment, but a very large focus on Philanthropy. It became time for me to give back to the career that gave me so much.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

The Entertainment field is one that comes with a lot of uncertainty. One movie flop could upend the entire studio and heads start rolling. I think as I was climbing up the ladder, it was a given that we were all pretty expendable, so it wasn’t enough just to do your job, we had to do it SO well that if layoffs came (they were always looming) your job would be safe because of how much above and beyond you went on a day to day basis. Luckily, I loved the job so much that I always gave more than I needed to. And it paid off. The first time I was laid off was when the studio I was head of PR for was sold that that studio already HAD a head of PR, so I became redundant. That was a full 21 year career of avoiding the ever present layoffs.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

My pitching history is an interesting one. I started my career at the Walt Disney Studios. Because of the brand name and reputation, there were strict rules to abide by. The stories we pitched had to protect the Disney name, so we couldn’t go to far outside the box, but had to make it so impressive that people paid attention. It was a challenge, but proved to be very worthwhile when it worked.

When I went to Warner Bros, I didn’t have the parameters to worry about. Put one of the actresses in Playboy topless to sell the movie?? OK…let’s do it! Things like that broadened the playing field and gave so much more creative thinking, but as I look back….it might have felt more like quantity over quality. Either way, the campaigns worked and the jobs were done.

When I got to DreamWorks, I got to have the best of both worlds. There was certainly a brand name to protect, but the studio didn’t take itself so seriously and we got to play a whole lot more. I found that perfect balance between the strict and the lax. I think that’s where the sweet spot was.

Over my career, there were a number of campaigns that were just plain fun to work on. Coyote Ugly, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, How to Train Your Dragon. These films were big in scope, big in campaign, and certainly creative and fun.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeffharela/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jeff.hare.9
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-hare-5a11666/
• Twitter: @jeffharela

Image Credits

Images provided by Jeff Hare