We recently connected with Jerome Haygood and have shared our conversation below.
Jerome, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.
The year 2020 took the world by surprise. I when from working in an office to working from home to terminated 5 months into the year. I had just purchased equipment for printing shirts for myself in March to cut cost for producing my clothing line. I spent all of April learning how to properly use what I bought. By the beginning of May my employer had advised they would be doing cuts for the business. I had to decide at that moment if I was to go on the job hunt, or bet on myself and use what I learned with printing to survive. I started offering printing services for other people. It started off as “well, let’s do this until something pops up” to “well let’s figure how to double and triple this so we don’t have to clock in for anyone anymore”. I’ve gotten to a point now that the company I bought equipment from will send me free products now
Jerome, 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 am a self taught photographer and screen printer. I didn’t plan on turning professional on either, however, I had a personal need that turned out to be more people’s personal need also. I have involvement with street wear and fashion start up locally. I try to be a one stop shop. I print the products my clients need, I do their product shoots and I help style their lookbooks.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
So I told myself I wanted to learn how to do video editing on Premiere Pro. Being I didn’t have anything to test shoot on I to just record myself working. I recognized that people actually want to see businesses be busy so I started posting myself on YouTube. I didn’t realize at the time that people who look like me in the screen printing field was low, so, this turned into a following. I then started an Instagram page for just the photography aspect…and the following that found me on YouTube started to follow me there also.
Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?
Between email blast and text blast I try to do follow ups with all past and future clients.
Contact Info:
- Website: aerogantprints.com
- Instagram: aerogantprinting
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@JeromeKnowsNothing
Image Credits
Shot by Jerome Jeffrey Photos