We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jessie Andrews. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jessie below.

Jessie, appreciate you joining 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?

I don’t have any regrets in my life. However, I wonder where I would be now if I had more clarity about starting my business at an earlier age.

I remember being young and having the thoughts of what I wanted to be when I grew up.
I never had a clear image of exactly “what” I wanted to be but I always knew I wanted to work for myself.
I found the aspect of business ownership so fascinating and I was driven by freedom. The thought of living a life the way I wanted to was so much more appealing to me than the typical college and 9-5 experience.

I am a self taught artist and business owner and still learning a lot along the way. When I started, I really just had a passion and a lot of determination. I had no idea what working for myself would look like. I didn’t know what to teach myself or what to prepare for. So, I’ve really been learning as I go. Now, I’ve been working as a muralist and abstract artist full time for 3 years. I can confidently say I’ve made the correct decision, only wish I’d done it sooner. ;) But, I believe it all worked out as it was intended to.

Previous jobs gave me experience in other areas of life which I now apply to the work I do as a business owner. I feel now that I am more of a creative problem solver for the community.

Clients come to me when this blank, empty space and, more often than not, not much of a sense on how to fill it.
I love what I get to do with my life now. It truly is a dream come true. A dream that, at one point in my life, was just that – a dream. Now, it is a reality and I am hungry for and in love with this life. Starting sooner would have only helped me to live more in alignment at a younger age. Really though, I’ve always been this way. I just didn’t know how to turn it into a full time thing or a business when I was younger. I’ve always thought this way though.

When I was in high school I would create online shops to sell all of my clothes I no longer wore and I’d auction them off to my class mates. Between classes, we’d meet in the girls bathroom where I’d give them their package in exchange for money. I can remember the feeling of satisfaction when I was able to do this for myself. I loved it.
I think even further back to 3rd grade when I can remember making these paper spinners which were decorated with markers and quite popular for my school at the time. I’d make these whenever I could and then sell them for a quarter in between classes. I did this up until my teacher took them all from me because it began to become more interesting to the students then the teaching ;)

I think once we become adults and figure out a little bit more about how we want to do it, when we look back at our life all of the signs were there…

Jessie, 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?

My name is Jessie Mai Andrews, I was born in Huntsville, AL and raised mostly in East Limestone and on the Elk River. I moved to Huntsville after I graduated High school and have been here since.

I have always been a creative and entrepreneurial minded individual. I’m strong willed, hard headed, and very inventive.
I get so excited and inspired by coming up with new ideas and figuring out how to execute them. I love working with the community and connecting with new people over art. I especially love making beautiful things.

I am a self taught muralist, artist and creative consultant. I went full time in January 2021.

My business is a literal dream come true. And it’s a dream that I didn’t really even know I had until to happened.
I knew I wanted to work for myself, my friends growing up would often tell me things like “you’re the most creative person I know”, I’ve always been content and happy to go off and do my own thing or be alone. So, it just organically formed into my being an artist. I really believe it was inevitable.

My first mural I painted was in my bathroom when I still lived with my parents, It’s still there over 10 years later :).

Once I moved to Huntsville, I had a job as an executive director for a non-profit. We focused a lot of our efforts on community projects which allowed me to use a lot of creativity and learn about how to create programs and “something” out of nothing. After that, I took a job as an marketing director where I had 5 businesses to manage content for across all platforms, so I learned a lot here about getting your services out the the community and letting people know what you do.

During these jobs, I began to paint in my spare bedroom after work each night. Simultaneously I was studying to become a yoga instructor and was training to be a life coach from Integrative School of Nutrition. So, I’d come home from work, do my studies, and then paint in my studio. The painting was just such a selfish thing. I did it purely for the joy of the flow state. I felt so present and really inspired to just paint. I did not put any agenda on the purpose of painting. It wasn’t to sell or to start a business. It wasn’t even really for anyone else at all. It was simply a daily meditation.

I began to share my work on social media and pretty instantly people began to ask if they were for sale.
I can remember being in Costa Rica at age 23 and sitting at a small cafe in Montezuma and selling a piece of art. It was the first real time in my life that I felt like…”yes, this is what I want to keep doing. This is the dream I’ve been dreaming”

I continue to sell my art and work my day job for a few years. Then, in 2019 I got my first “professional” mural. (I had done a smaller installation in Downtown Huntsville a year prior which had received a lot of great feedback from the community)

This 1,000 sq ft mural really set the stage for my mural business and a year later I took the step to relying fully on myself and my abilities and I quit my day job. This was also at the tail end of Covid and it was a really big decision to make!

I remember thinking to myself, if I can make_____ x amount of $$ by the end of the month then I will quite my job. And I did, and each year has been better than the last.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Social media is of course a wonderful tool in modern society for growing a clientele. But it’s important to keep in mind that numbers alone don’t really mean much. I’ve known more than one business owner with a large following but who was lacking sales and confirming clients. Numbers look great, but building trust, vulnerability, and relatability with people really helps you to connect to the clients who are actually looking for what only you have. Sure, there are plenty of people doing everything, and it sounds so cliche to say, but, they are not doing it how only you can. The more that we can lean into the uniqueness of what we alone offer, the more we can connect with people in a deeper and more lasting way.

Have you ever had to pivot?

This is more of a lesson than a story. I’ve learned that the pivot is a crucially important aspect of life.

It’s imperative to have a trajectory and goals, so we know what direction we want to go in.
We also have to have consistency of showing up day after day, believing in ourselves even if no one else does and having discipline to finish what we start. Otherwise, we will never see the results we want. Also, when we’ve given things an honest go and they aren’t working, we have to be strong enough to let them go and pivot. This does not mean abandon any project which is not immediately bringing rewards. It does mean that having the ability to pivot in life can keep us sharp, relevant and more resilient to failure. Sometimes they are small pivots, other times we have to take more drastic ones.

Contact Info:

• Website: honeyblood.art
• Instagram: Honeyblood.muralco
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessie-andrews-a6a781125/

Image Credits
Eddie Hurskin