We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jennifer Hutchings a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jennifer, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?
My answer might create some newfound enemies, but that’s nothing I’m afraid of. lol. I think the focus is entirely wrong in the “indoctrination” I mean educational system. In so many ways, I don’t see the difference between prison and K-12 and beyond. The pressure to make good grades seems only to be able to get into college or scholarships to pay for it. Not to retain valuable knowledge or gain particular skill sets that would set someone up for current and future success. The incentive just isn’t there imo.
This robot-like atmosphere is sold as a utopia when in fact it’s just the opposite. I pray one day there would be more focus on life skills- personal finance, managing a check book, making a budget- sticking to a budget- emotional intelligence- self-esteem- strong work ethic- time management- personal hygiene- leadership skills- home economics/cooking/baking/grilling/canning- gardening- resourcefulness and what that means- personal responsibility- accountability- simple automobile maintenance/checking oil/tire pressure/changing a tire- self defense- self awareness- <–these things- these are what I wish our education system would focus on.
Personal, political and woke agendas and teaching kids to masterbate are not meant for the classroom. It’s destroying and confusing our youth and I’m afraid that is “their” mission. We are seeing future generations grow up and still living in their parents basements, entitled, afraid, on multiple RX’s- it’s so sad to watch folks deteriorate. I myself grew up in a single parent, low income household. It sucked. It was hard. However today- my siblings and I are the most hard working, awesome people I know. Both my brother and sister graduated college- I did not. It wasn’t for me- and that’s ok. I found a different way and while it might not have had it’s own set of directions and a boss instructing my path- luckily I was raised by a kick ass mom who taught me to figure it out. Trial and Error. Good God did I make some errors! I had lots of wants as a kid- and the money for those wasn’t there- so I found ways to make money. I got obsessed with the concept “if I work- I get paid! wow!” That was easy for me. I knew work wasn’t about having fun- but I could have fun doing it.
I like to work- I see the incentive. We need that incentive put back into the hearts and minds of the youth and young adults today. I doubt if I was given trophies for last place and atta-girls for half-assing it, that I would have any drive to be where I am today.
Jennifer, 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?
Alotta Action was my roller derby name when I skated for OKCRD. 24/7 was my number. I’m always on the go, and always making things happen for other people. As I was helping brand OKCRD, and working for a local print broker- it organically happened. I wanted to keep that money I was making for everyone else, so I modeled my business after whom I was working for at the time- and named it after my roller derby name, “Alotta Action Advertising”. I continued to sell printing for other people while I was building my business. Once I felt confident and saved enough money to go on my own, I did! I’ve never looked back.
Our tagline is “We Make YOUR Ideas Happen!” It’s not about us. It’s always about the customer. Yes, we have good ideas, but usually the customer has better ones! It’s their babies they come trusting us with, and it’s our job to make sure we produce a reflection of them. People buy from people. Period. In 15 years I’ve switched CPA’s 3x. I’m now with my old coach from rollerderby! I love her! I will give her my business til the day I die. People buy from people.
I’d consider Alotta Action to be a boutique agency with a wide variety of clients. Some we serve weekly and monthly, others once a year. Some that require lots of R&D, and others that know exactly what they want and we git r’ dun! Branding is fun for me. It’s important to me that business owners are proud of their brand. Designing logos, creating taglines, promotional material, swag, apparel, printed collateral, signs, labels, websites, and even vinyl wrapping smokers and vehicles are all services we provide our clients.
Self-employment isn’t for sissies. Burn out can happen when you work 80+ hours/7 days a week for months on end without a day off. This was my life for the first 10 years of Alotta Action. I’m a huge believer that good things come to those who work their ass off. It gets easier. But you have to put in the work. I have some of the most loyal customers. I’m so thankful for them. They send me referral after referral because they know how hard I will work for them and not let them down.
I’ve learned you gain and lose all the time in business. That’s just the nature of this world. I’ve been involved in multiple lawsuits, some dragging out 4+ years, currently in one actually. You gotta be bulldog tough and have enough fight in you to keep digging plus enough heart to keep smiling. If you don’t grind, you won’t shine!
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
When the “plandemic” hit, I was at my peak. 5 employees, renovating a massive garage/shop for our new location – and I was watching life crumble for everyone overnight. I began speaking out on social media about these injustices. It wasn’t fair we were being forced into this dystopian way of life. Well the “powers that be” did everything possible to annihilate me. My employees and I were bullied, cyber bullied, my vehicle and newly renovated building were vandalized, my name and business were smeared into some evil monster because I vocalized my critical thinking skills. Then I became banned. From it all. IG, Twitter, FB- shut down overnight. BLM and Antifa had me on their radar for months- I couldn’t go outside without being cussed at, spit at, posters with nail glue and eggs smashed all over my windows, all for expressing my constitutional and inalienable rights.
If you don’t have a backbone and stand up for what you believe in, the world will either take you under or make you join them. I will not conform. I will not comply. No matter the cost. I lost it all. Lost my employees, my home, my car and was literally left with floods of work coming in and no one to work. It then became me, myself and I inside that huge garage- and I went back to working 80+ hours a week to rebuild. I’m still working on crawling out of that massive hit- but the risk vs. reward is such an awesome feeling. One person can accomplish so much if they really want to. A little bit of want to goes a long way to getting it done.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
“Good ol’ boy/girl style doesn’t work in a successful business”. …..no matter how much you trust someone, no matter how long you’ve known them, no matter what- listen to your CPA and get all their information, payment info, credit info, address, contracts signed, all of it in writing first. I’ve been taken advantage of by so many people and lost so much money from being a trusting “good ol’ gal”. No matter how uncomfortable it may seem to ask for all that info and payment up front- ya gotta get over that unless ya wanna keep getting burned!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.AlottaAction.com
- Instagram: banned but… AlottaAction247
- Facebook: banned but…AlottaAction247
- Linkedin: Alotta Action Advertising
- Twitter: banned but… AlottaAction247
Image Credits
Christopher Larwig