Diane Moca: Welcome to our creator economy entrepreneur learning series. I'm Diane Moca, a reporter at Talk Lab, a media incubator in Aurora, Illinois. I'm with our CEO, Jimi Allen, who went from a photographer to a business owner who's employed more than 100 people in the last 20 years. Wow. That is a big step. It happened over time, but how did you make that transition? Jimi Allen: Well, the objective was I would witness something out in the world that I felt like I was seeing. I could feel it in me that I wanted to bring that back to somebody, to a group of people. The first trip for me was I was in West Africa and I thought, "Man, everybody in Middletown, Ohio, my mom, my family should see this. They've got to witness this." And really, that played out and has continued to play out where you go out and you get information that you feel like is going to impact an audience. So that's really where the photography part of that came from and has just continued to grow that same sentiment of really looking at, where is the information coming from, and is it being done well, and who are you providing it to? Diane Moca: So as a photographer, you worked on your own, but eventually you own this marketing company. So how did one lead to the other? Jimi Allen: Yeah, I've said this many, many times, but business isn't an entity. A corporation isn't an entity until it really has a purpose. And a purpose is providing some type of product or service that's meaningful. And generally from the founding group who does it, that carries that out into the group that buys at the market that buys that product. So then business is a definition around that system. So I didn't try to create a business. I tried to create purpose. I tried to have a purpose for getting good information to what I believe are folks that need it in the business sector, but also young people that can create that in basically the cycle, the environment, the economy that will happen, what we call the knowledge economy today. Young people building digital communications and powerful motivational production with great marketing reach and good conversion stuff that you're doing on landing pages and whatnot. But then also, the businesses that need that, and connecting those two. And especially in a local community like Aurora, this is the city I wanted to build this in because I believe this city has so much potential, but you've got to connect those two parameters. You got to make sure that we do that. Diane Moca: I understand as a photographer, you started doing more design work. Jimi Allen: Yeah. Diane Moca: And that led to marketing. Did you know, "Well, I'm going to just own a marketing agency. I'm going to be the head of this company."? Jimi Allen: No, and it never occurred to me. It was just again, a lot of times I break it down to busyness. It's busyness. And what are you busy about? The busyness was the purpose and the meaning in how, as a young person growing up in an under-resourced environment where there wasn't a professor standing on the corner when I was 10 talking about something that drew me in that I wanted to learn. And so the evolution of getting an education and then opening my eyes to what other issues were, and not becoming a zealot over issues, but basically saying everybody needs a balanced philosophy of life, a worldview that says, "I can get up and do things." Steve Jobs is famous for saying, "No one in the world is any smarter than you." So just go after it, get it done. And I want to instill that in our community because that's what makes vibrant communities. It turns people on when they know their ideas can be accomplished, and you need people around you mentoring, you need people feeding into that. You need everybody that can provide resources towards that end goal to be involved. Diane Moca: And there is so much information out there. Sometimes it can be overwhelming. It sounds like the best step is to just take action, put things out that you believe in, and work with people that you believe in. And one step leads to another. Jimi Allen: That's right. The last point is there's a great book by Donald Miller, just out, called Hero on a Mission. And that's his point. His point is that you can find the meaning in what you're doing, or stay acquainted with it and keep that momentum going by motion, by moving. So if you're a creator, create, create, create, create, and show people what you're doing, get feedback, take that into consideration. Look for good mentors and just keep creating, keep motivating yourself that way. Diane Moca: Wonderful. Thanks for joining our creator economy entrepreneur learning series. I'm Diane Moca with Talk Lab.