We were lucky to catch up with Victoria Jones recently and have shared our conversation below.

Victoria, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you walk us through some of the key steps that allowed you move beyond an idea and actually launch?

First of thank you for this opportunity.

So for years I’ve had this idea, more like a mission to create opportunities and to add value to others. I write down EVERY idea and passion that comes to mind. It’s like the full picture comes in pieces like a puzzle in a box.

For example, my company BleuJay.Co LLC started unofficially in 2018 under a different concept that I called Nudge Basics. The intention was to give the dreamer that nudge to start. I wanted to create a starter kit for small business owners, musicians/artist and influencers which consisted of web design, basic logo design, social media consulting, content creation and so on. Still writing down every single thought and structure that came to mind I started practicing and creating websites and logos for each business idea I had.

Fast forward a little to March 14, 2020, I came to work and my manager told me we were only going to be open on weekends amid the rapid spread of the coronavirus. After about 8 seconds of crying and worrying something in me shifted and I was absolutely ok with it. That Monday, we all received an email that we’d be closed indefinitely. It was in that moment I knew I wasn’t going back. I promised myself I wasn’t going to sit around while we were on lock down but that I was going to learn this skill and run with it.

I wrote the vision, started to take courses, refined and crafted what is now, “The Startup Kit.” Which consists of brand identity design, web design and content creation. Essentially we build brands from scratch. (Which is our slogan). With that established service structure I changed the name from Nudge Basics to BleuJay.Co. From there I built and launched our first website on my iPad with Google’s site builder and the word started to spread. We got our first client which turned into two clients which turned into 4 and so on.

We’ve been able to get our own platform that allows us to not only build websites but host them as well. Since then we’ve went on to build a little over 20 brands from scratch and we’re just getting started. We’ve also been able to add services to now include social media management which is also performing very well.

So what my company BleuJay.Co does is connects with the dreamer. We work with people who are ready to go main stream and build their brand from scratch. We walk through the idea and bring it to life through brand identity design. Unlocking the brand’s personality, creating its style, giving it a face (aka logo) and develop their brand’s message. We then take that and design their website and create the content surrounding it through graphic design, photography and videography. It’s so much fun. I love what I do.

A lot of people have an idea and either don’t know where to start because they can’t articulate it, they’re scared or started blindly. Either way, that’s where we come in. We talk through it and we get you started and write out a map to get you to your destination.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Well my name is Victoria. Though I wasn’t born in Georgia, I was raised here. By New Yorkers. In Alpharetta to be exact. My background is in music. I was in the performing arts magnate program at North Springs High School where I was in drama, chorus, the band and  guitar classes. After graduating, I went to Atlanta Institute of Music for Drum Performance. My goal is life was to be a famous musician, singer/songwriter. Some time ago I was studying audio engineering at The Art Institute. One of my electives happened to be intro to graphic design. I absolutely LOVED it. Ever since then, I knew I wanted to at least do graphic design as a hobby since my first love was/is music.

I’ve always been a dreamer and would be up late making music and building websites for business ideas I’d have. From a cleaning company to a music production company. I’d try out different platforms and built up a skill and didn’t even realize it. It wasn’t until I started having conversations with people and giving advice about websites, existing in a digital space, social media and the like that I realized, this is a whole thing I’d like to explore more.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When I was in my early 20s my family went through a great loss that caused me  to become very unstable and ultimately homeless. It was quite an experience. I call that time of my life the wilderness. While it was traumatic in a lot of ways, it was like I was enrolled in the school of life and I willingly accepted every lesson life gave me.

During that time, I worked as a waitress at a near by roach infested restaurant and dedicated my life to serving at a particular church. For me at the time, because of all of the bad things that I was experiencing all at once, I’d unknowingly made that place my refuge. Like my safe place. Not a good idea but we live. We learn. We grow. While I was in the wilderness, I lived in my imagination a lot. Dreaming of a life on the other side of it. I’d dream of having a stable home, having my own forks and cups, my own bed, my own bathroom and the like. I’d go to department stores and walk around the home section and just touch the towels and the linens and imagine what it’d be like to be in my own place. I’d dream of owning my own business. Creating jobs for other people. Seeing a need filling a need.

Amongst my peers, I was never considered “present.” I would get picked on for “not being present” and was often called an airhead. Which in turn caused me to create a narrative that I believed about myself in which I eventually worked through. Shout out to therapy. But in recent reflection of those times in the wilderness, I realized that not being “present” was my saving grace. Because had I’d been “present” in what I was actually experiencing, I’m certain I wouldn’t be… well present. We definitely wouldn’t be having this chat.

Growing up, life was the complete opposite. I was raised by successful business owners and I was very well provided for and was blessed to experience “the finer things in life.” So this wilderness, in the beginning, was like being thrown in to the deep end of the deepest pool with no prior training and no life jacket. BUT GOD! Amen..

One of the greatest hands on lessons I’ve learned over the years is that the higher up you go the less people you bring with you. And that’s ok. Forgiveness is more about your freedom and less about the person/people who who need to forgive. If you’ve been burned, you don’t necessarily avoid the fire you just need to change your behavior around it. Aka set boundaries.

I’m actually very grateful for my time in the wilderness. It shaped me into the woman am today. It didn’t kill me. It only made me stronger and wiser. For that I am very grateful.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Stop giving people the benefit of the doubt.

If I’m honest I’m still unlearning this. I believe in second chances and try to show grace but it’s been to my detriment. A large part of my mission in business is to shift the culture of the work force by developing a space where people feel safe and valued at work. One of those ways was to not be so, for lack of better words, tight. However, that doesn’t mean that I should accept partial work or that work ethic should be compromised. I did my first batch of hiring this year and found myself doing the work that the people I’d hired was supposed to have been doing. Instead of me immediately eliminating their job, I started making excuses for them which cost me time and money. Which in turn added more work to my plate by having to pick up the slack. My dad told me I should be quick to fire and slow to hire. While my mission is still in full effect, how I do it has to be different. It’s not about being unkind and not showing grace, it’s business and maintaining integrity.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.BleuJay.co
• Instagram: @bleujay.co @nvjones85
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/bleujay.co
• Twitter: @BleuJayCo
• Yelp: www.yelp.com/biz/bleujay-tucker-2

Image Credits
Victoria Jones – Self Portrait