We were lucky to catch up with Kristina Johnson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kristina, appreciate you joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later.

If I could go back in time, I don’t think I would have started my business any earlier than I did. I do wish maybe I would have started it a little later with a bit more funding behind me. I am happy with myself that I had the courage to do it when I did in August of 2019, but looking ahead and had I known that a global pandemic was around the corner, maybe I would have waited, but of course we cannot see into the future!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I landed into social media back in 2010 in my hometown of Las Vegas working at a local magazine. I always enjoyed social media for personal use, as Facebook started my freshman year of college. When Instagram began in 2011, I was really interested in it as I saw it as a way to be creative and it reminded me of what I wanted to do and went to school for which was journalism, or more specifically photo journalism.

My first official client I obtained in 2014. The Golden Steer Steakhouse, the oldest steakhouse in Las Vegas, was my launching pad of social media for businesses. I provided help with their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. I helped them create an engaging audience and with Facebook targeted ads. They retained a loyal following on Facebook and that soon transferred to Instagram. I am most proud of creating that target audience of loyal fans for the restaurant. They were my client when I moved to Denver in 2016 that I had remote and I worked with them for 5 and a half years. They now currently have 55K followers on Instagram! I used a lot of what I learned with that first client into creating my company, Amuse Social in 2019.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

During the pandemic, my business Amuse Social, had over 3 clients and although it was hard times, I felt confident that I was helping these brands soar. I continued working with these brands until late 2021 and then my largest client asked if I would like to come on their team full time. It was a hard decision to leave Amuse Social behind, but I was enjoying growing their brand so much and loved working with their teams, that the decision was also an easy one. I became the Social Media Manage for Ascent Living Communities in late October of last year. Ascent Living Communities is a local Colorado senior living company that offers Independent Living, Assisted Living and Memory Care in Denver and Lakewood. I love capturing the lives of the seniors at each of their three communities

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

When I started Amuse Social in 2019, I had decided to leave my full time job in Boulder. I was pretty scared to take the leap, but I also felt like I finally had the resources to go off on my own. I created Amuse Social’s website by myself and although the main goal of creating that was to find new clients, I actually received my clients all by referrals and word of mouth! I think my reputation was built by the work I had done with my previous employer as well as the employer before that. Results were shown in gaining audiences for these previous employers as well as the creative content I created for each of them. I am very grateful for my PR team I worked with that recommended me to many of the clients I landed as well as a colleague I had worked with in Boulder that helped introduce me to clients.

I am very grateful to now be the Social Media Manager for Ascent Living Communities and had it not been for starting my company Amuse Social in 2019 I may not be where I am today!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.amusesocial.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amusesocial/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amusesocial
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristina-johnson-625a5131/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/AmuseSocial

Image Credits
Blu Hartkopp