Diane Moca: Welcome to our creator economy entrepreneur learning series. I'm Diane Moca, reporter at Talk Lab, a media incubator in Aurora, Illinois. And I'm with our CEO, Jimi Allen. He owns a digital marketing agency that grew out of your work as a photographer. Creators worry about starting a business. Is it going to make money? Here in Aurora, there's a lot of businesses that are struggling, but you're thriving. So what's your secret sauce? How are you doing it? Jimi Allen: It's being resourceful. So when I started, it was I co-worked with another digital agency, a person that became a mentor of mine. And he really showed me the ropes on everything that he knew, while I was exercising the craft that I knew, which was photography. And there were other people in that co-working environment that I gleaned ideas from. There was a musician and a missionary, and it starts to sound like a joke, but it was basically being resourceful and listening to people and getting ideas and always being open-minded, and essentially waiting for things to fit. You have to have work as a creative, and you look for those opportunities. When somebody has a problem, you try to fill that void for them. Diane Moca: A lot of creators, they love what they do. They're very passionate like you are about taking great pictures and videos. But when you start a business, you've got to balance that with all these other things: hiring people, managing people. How did you keep that balance without losing yourself? Jimi Allen: Well, there is the trick. And we talked about that another time where business is really not what it is that you start out doing. You start out with a purpose and a meaning. And so you're trying to serve people and then you're building a team. It's kind of like when I was younger, I always loved being the captain at recess where I could pick my team, because I just had an awareness of what people's abilities were or skill sets. And I love picking teams. I think we all know that. You want to pick the group that you want to work with to solve the problem that you've identified. And so that's how we've built the business over the years. Diane Moca: A lot of experts say you are the conglomeration of the five people you surround yourself with. So those people, you want them to be creative like you and goal oriented like you and have a similar vision and mission that you do. But as you're doing all of that, did you worry that it took you away from your passion? Did it take you away from photography, which is the whole reason you started? Jimi Allen: Yeah, I think that I had to make decisions along the way, where I realized that I had to stop growing in that specific area and going after it, because I gained new appreciation for other people doing their craft. So a lot of times, people don't see this, but I spend most of my time, last night I was here fixing a doorstop and cleaning up an office for a new employee that was starting, and Kate was making a sign, a welcome sign. And so you do, you end up learning to serve people. And I think that's ultimately what the goal is, is that creativity serves other people. You're doing it to say, "Hey, I see the world this way. And I want to create something that shows them how I care about them and reflect." And to me that comes down to photography and it goes all the way to making an office for an employee. Diane Moca: Is that something that came natural or do you think it was a mentor who led the way and helped you to see that was meaningful as well? Jimi Allen: Boy, I think you can't measure the appreciation that you get from each individual person and then expect to feel very good about yourself. You have to take a balanced approach to that. And you say, look, you're going to serve a ton of people in your life. You're going to serve people in your house. You're going to serve friends. You're going to serve allegiances all over the place in customers. And you have to take the balance of all of that and know that nobody's going to appreciate you a 100%. I think that's what's happened with younger people is they feel like there's sort of an existential vacuum going on. Where do I fit into the world? Where do I have meaning? Well, expose yourself to lots of people. Go try a lot of different things. Get into different relationships. I mean, I always think it's funny that we have these retirement homes all over and there are all kinds of older people sitting in there that don't have anyone visiting with them. If you want to know who you are and what you do in the world, visit with as many people as you can. And for me, the camera was the tool that I use to get around and meet people. And I think that's how you ultimately grow in who you are, find your appreciation, and then a lot of times, a business comes out of that. Diane Moca: Wow. Well, thanks for your perspective and thank you for joining us for this edition of the creator economy, entrepreneur series. For Talking Cities, I'm Diane Moca.