The Shit No One Teaches You with Jesse Rubenstein of Hello There Collective (@jesse_gre)

Today we’re speaking with Jesse Rubinstein of Hello There Collective . As the granddaughter of prestigious fashion designer Anne Klein, Jesse was exposed to the fashion industry from a young age. Today, Jesse runs Hello There Collective, a female-owned and operated LA-based social media, influencer and content agency. She started her career at Authentic Brands Group and climbed the ladder to become their Digital Director for their fashion division. Hello There Collective offers a 360 digital marketing suite to clients looking to expand outreach to resonate with the social media savvy Gen Z and Millennial audience Jesse leverages the Collective and has established an internal Viral TikTok team, dedicated to supporting brands in launching their TikTok strategy to the next generation of consumers. Since implementing a TikTok-focused team in December 2021, the team has generated noteworthy sales and supported brands with viral results across the platform. Jesse is now the Anne Klein Ambassador, hosting the weekly Woman Who Do series, a social segment dedicated to honoring her grandmother's legacy. Notable guests have included Patricia Field, Alana Hadid, Pat Clevland, and Samir Nasir.

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00:00:00] Jessy: Hi everyone, and welcome to the WIIM podcast. Women in influencer marketing is a first-of-its-kind exclusive networking group made up of inspirational women.

This podcast is where we explore influencer marketing and get real about women in business. Find us wherever you download podcasts, and of course, you can always find us at iamwiim.com. That’s iamwiim.com.

Hey guys, and welcome back to the Women in influencer marketing podcast. My name is Jessy Grossman, I’m your host, and today I’m joined by a name twin. our guest today is Jesse Rubinstein. spelled differently though, spelled J E S S E, not the traditional I E so I can appreciate a unique spelled Jesse, but beyond having the same name, she’s incredible, and I was so happy that we were recently connected.

So the title of this episode is the shit no one teaches you for a few reasons. It’s actually the title of her upcoming book. And if you listen to this podcast long enough, you know, that the more familiar I am with a guest, we curse. And so the fact that she’s talking about the shit, no one teaches you, that’s the name of her book, it really like resonates. It really hits close to home. I have such, issues with just, my upbringing in terms of how I learned the industry-academia, like what I studied in school and how I actually made a career because no one taught me the real practical skills that I needed.

I’m, thankfully, I’m enjoying the process of learning it all along the way and learning as I’m doing. Could have been nice to have a little bit of a leg up. So that’s what we talk about today. It’s the title of her upcoming book, but we also talk about more of that in depth. So a little bit more about Jesse though, before we dive into the conversation. So she’s actually the granddaughter of the fashion designer Anne Klein. Obviously, she was exposed to the fashion industry from a really young age. Today she runs an agency called Hello There Collective, which is a female-owned and operated LA-based social media influencer, and content agency. She started her career at Authentic Brands Group and climbed the ladder to become their digital director for their fashion division.

So, Hello There Collective though. They offer 360-degree digital marketing suite to clients looking to expand outreach, to resonate with the social media savvy gen Z and millennial audience specifically. So we talk a bit about TikTok on this episode. So stay tuned for that. She also leverages the collective and has established an internal viral TikTok team dedicated to supporting brands and launching their TikTok strategy and taking it to the next generation of consumers. Since implementing a TikTok focus team in about like, I think it was like December of 21, their team has generated noteworthy sales and supported brands with viral results across the platform.

She hosts the weekly ‘Women Who Do’ series social segment dedicated to honoring her grandmother’s legacy. So a few notable guests, you may have heard of Patricia Fields, Alana Hadid, Pat Cleveland, and Samir Nasser. So very cool guests on that. She was a great guest on this show, and I’m so excited for you to hear from her today. Before we get into this week’s episode, a friendly reminder to check out our membership. Why? Because it’s the best thing you can do for your career. So we not only talk about influencer marketing, but we share contacts. We are also a community of women who support the heck out of each other, cuz it’s in our ethos. It’s what we believe in. So, if you have been sort of like feeling stuck, stagnant, just really are looking for a community sort of feeling. Looking for comradery, looking for inspiration, or just looking to generate some new business? WIIM is absolutely the best community and probably the only community for you. So we’re really like the only premier influencer marketing networking organization. Not only do we have a mentorship program, career services, we’ve got also a membership directory for like one to one direct searching and connection opportunities. We also have the ability to post jobs to look for jobs.

But in addition to even the continuous education that we have in awesome master classes, in a library of 30 plus educational resources for you, when I ask people like, what’s the best part about WIIM? They just say it’s that they wouldn’t have met the people that they’ve befriended if it weren’t for WIIM.

It’s really a powerful thing to meet other people who are going through the same things that you are. And that was really like, the initial idea of WIIM. So if you are driven and if you are obsessed with influencer marketing and you love to learn, and you’re a little bit of a workaholic, but you also think big picture, maybe you want a family someday, or maybe you just wanna like live in Ibiza and like live that like single life and, you know, working from the beach, but you’re living like fantastically, this is the group for you. It really truly is. We have women who are represented in all different communities, all ways of life, but the main thing is they’re living well and they’re being so successful in their careers.

[00:06:11] Jessy: So with that being said, guys, I hope that you check out our website. iamwiim.com. Check out the community, check out the membership, hear some testimonials on there. And I know that once you join, you will be thankful that you didn’t wait another day. All right, guys, we’ve got Jesse Rubinstein here for you. I’m so excited for you to hear from her and, let’s get into it. All right. So I have been looking forward to this conversation transparently for a couple weeks now. Not only because we’re named twins spelled differently, but also just because I’m like fascinated by your story. And I just wanted to get to know you. So this is our first time meeting, so it’s really nice to connect with you, Jesse. How’s your week going so far?

[00:07:15] Jesse: Yeah, thanks for having me other Jessy. Great name. Week’s going well. Yeah, it’s always this like weird time for us because it’s like the end of summer, but we’re oftentimes doing like holiday photo shoots right now. So our office is currently filled of Christmas trees.

[00:07:33] Jessy: That’s nice. Like Christmas in August. That’s actually really lovely. It could be way worse, right? So, first question, hard-hitting question. Are you a Jessica or a Jesse?

[00:07:44] Jesse: Just Jesse.

[00:07:45] Jessy: Oh, you’re just a Jesse. That’s cool. I love that. Do you have any siblings, like, did your parents name, I’m curious if they named your siblings, anything sort of unique, like Jesse

[00:07:56] Jesse: Just me.

[00:07:57] Jessy: Just you. I love it. I’m technically Jessica, but like, if anybody calls it, like, I don’t even respond. , it’s like, if I’m in trouble with my parents or something, they call me Jessica. So do you prefer that people call you Jesse or Jess?

[00:08:16] Jesse: I honestly, I get everything. Yeah. It’s usually a lot of me jumping onto calls and people are like, oh, you’re a girl.

[00:08:22] Jessy: because you spell it with an E.

[00:08:24] Jesse: Yes.

[00:08:24] Jessy: Yeah. Do you find that, like, I mean, we’re gonna get into that. That’s interesting. Do you like, this is a women’s focused organization, like how do you feel about that? That some people hop on a call with you and assume you’re a guy cuz of the way you spell your name.

[00:08:30] Jesse: I don’t know. It’s kind of fun. It’s a little nice to have a surprise factor.

[00:08:43] Jessy: Right, right. I could see that. I could see that

[00:08:46] Jesse: It’s a starting point to start a call, you know?

[00:08:48] Jessy: Yeah, no, absolutely. Like, do you find that, do you feel that in any way gives you any sort of advantage or disadvantage in, in any way?

[00:08:58] Jesse: I mean, since everything is digital these days, I feel like maybe years ago when I was, I don’t know, you’d be brought into a meeting. Maybe you didn’t even organize it. And someone would be like, oh, wow. I don’t know, but these days everything’s done over digital and I have my photo as my, you know, little Gmail pop-up. So it happens less and less unless someone’s coming very unprepared to a meeting. And then sometimes it’s a red flag.

[00:09:23] Jessy: Totally, a lot of red flags in this industry and we’re probably gonna get into chatting about some of them, maybe Before we get into any of these questions that I’ve got for you and conversations and topics that I really do am excited to dive into. I wanna hear a little bit more about you, like tell us a little bit more about, you know, your upbringing and like how you think that influenced how you got to where you are today.

[00:09:49] Jesse: Yeah. So I grew up in New York City and I was there pretty much my whole life until three and a half years ago. And I moved to Los Angeles, but I think definitely growing up in the city shaped me a lot, just cuz you’re exposed to so much and also growing up with a family that has always been in the fashion industry. My grandmother was the fashion designer Anne Klein. My parents both always worked in fashion. So from a very young age, I was always kind of eager to get my feet wet. And I’ve never been someone that really like loved school. I always did okay but I was always way more interested in, you know, the internship that I was doing after school or during the summer or the retail job that I had. It always kind of felt like more of an exciting opportunity. And I think growing up in the city with all of that, just so accessible, I started working at 14 and was working in retail. And then when I was 16, I was at a luxury brand working on the upper east side and was making the highest commission in the store. And I was 16 years old. I don’t think they even knew how old I was. But that was kind of like the early on, which really got me excited about making my own money. And I think that kind of early taste of what it was, you know, like to really forge my own path, got me very excited and eager to kind of get ahead and start my own business.

[00:11:29] Jessy: And so I am excited to start or to talk about your own business because, you know, it takes a lot of fortitude to be able to grow up in New York City in a well-known family and then have the audacity to like, do your own thing. And that that’s like, said it with like so much respect. Like there are people who just sort of like rest on their upbringing or, you know, ride that ride, but you went a different route. You’re not directly in fashion although I’m sure. You know, there’s definitely influences there. And like you are in the gritty world of entrepreneurship having your own company. So talk to us about like, how that decision came to be and like how you ultimately decided to launch your own thing in the first place.

[00:12:23] Jesse: Yeah, so before I started Hello There Collective, I was the digital director at a brand called Authentic Brands Group. So they own, you know, Barneys, Aeropostale, Juicy Couture, Sports Illustrated, a lot of different brands. So I was overseeing their fashion pillar at the time. And their business model is very much about kind of like reviving brands. They’ll purchase them when they’ve been around and they have this like very great and rich like brand story. And then it’s really about like the marketing and getting people excited about the brands again and how to reposition them for, you know, what the modern consumer was looking for. So it was such a role that was like so heavy on marketing. You know, I absolutely loved it. And at the time I was always talking to other agencies, hiring other agencies, and I was always feeling that there wasn’t the same like strategy. I felt like I was always kind of reaching outside of my job versus, you know, speaking to anyone that really felt like they wanted to be side by side, working with me.

[00:13:34] Jesse: And after kind of getting a lay of the landscape and like really hearing about how agencies can often have a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths. I really wanted to go forward and start an agency. Would really take a new approach. So, from the very beginning of starting Hello There, you know, we really have stayed true from having this, you know, since we started. And it was just me to today having 25 employees that you have a great pitch call for me and I don’t just disappear. Like I am always in the client relationships. I oversee everything before it goes out. I have my hands and all of the strategies across all of our clients. So it was really born out of my frustration with seeing what else was out there that made me excited to start something that, you know, I hadn’t had the opportunity to find.

[00:14:28] Jessy: And would you say that that’s the reason why you are continuing to do this today? Like, I feel like, especially for CEOs and Founders, like, there’s always something that drives the hell outta them. and the hell outta you, right? As a business owner. So like, tell us more about what drives you and gets you excited to come to work every day and like face all those challenges that inevitably you experience pretty regularly. I would assume just by the nature of being a business owner. What are those drivers for you?

[00:15:02] Jesse: Well, anyone that knows me would probably the first thing they’d say about me is I’m someone that just like, can’t sit still. Like I need to be busy at all times. And I think that kind of just like outlook of just like always like really wanting to be productive. Goes very much hand in hand with social media because it’s moving so fast. You have to constantly have your finger on the pulse every day. There’s something new launching and you really have to adapt or you die. So what propels me forward is really, you’ve never learned everything. I think ways that you can kind of become bored in life is when you feel like you’ve kind of turned back every last page, you know, uncovered every corner and you have learned everything in the industry. And I think this is one that you could never learn everything, because there are constantly just more updates coming out, different ways that influencers are utilizing different channels. And it’s just always like test learn, test, learn, test, learn. And I, I really do love this element of you’re never gonna be at perfection because there’s always something new to look forward to.

[00:16:18] Jessy: Absolutely. No, I love that. And there’s a lot of testing that can take place with owning a business for sure. But not a lot of people do. Not everybody does that, right? The smart ones and my humble opinion do because they want what’s best for the business. And you can like check your ego at the door and just say, we’re only doing what we know to do based on the information in front of us. And so how do you continuously get a gut check on what needs to get done? You test and you learn and you respond and you listen, and it’s awesome that you’re at like a 25-person company right now, like that’s such a good place to be, to be able to still be nimble enough to be able to like evolve and change with what your business is telling you. So I’m curious, like I’ve obviously checked out like your website and I’m familiar with you, but like tell us what Hello There Collective is best known for.

[00:17:18] Jesse: Yeah, so we’re definitely best known for our viral TikTok campaigns. We’re an agency of record at TikTok, so we have a really great relationship with them, and really utilizing influencers and creating content for TikTok has been something we’ve truly excelled at across all of our campaigns. We’ve experienced viral content. We’ve driven, you know, over 180% in sales for a lot of our clients. That’s kind of like the norm and across the board, we’ve really utilized a lot of this UGC content as well that’s being produced to kind of edit and curate a lot of our client’s top-performing ads. So, this has really been like the niche we’ve developed. We also do have a full content production team here and social management. But I think with this kind of explosion of TikTok and so many people knowing they have to break into it, but not really knowing how that’s definitely been an area where we’ve really found ourselves excelling.

[00:18:21] Jessy: Okay. I would love to get into that a little bit more because I know that a lot of people listening to this show are saying exactly what you just described. They’re like, I know that. So much potential in TikTok, but you know, what should I be doing? And I wanna hear from an expert and Jesse is an expert at TikTok. So not me, the one I’m talking to. Cause I am not an expert at TikTok. So I’d love us to learn from you. So can we talk about like TikTok ads for a second? I’d love to know a little bit more like if you had someone who was coming to you and you know, they were like, I wanna run ads and TikTok seems to be the place to be. What questions would you start by asking them to figure out what direction and strategy they should go with?

[00:19:10] Jesse: Yeah, so. It’s been interesting because a lot of the creative that we have produced, that’s made out of either, TikTok influencers or creators. These are often people that we’re pulling from our collective, which is basically a vetted group of influencers that we’ve been collaborating with for a while and have, you know, long-term contracts with. But, you know, looking at that group, what’s interesting is the content that they’re creating, even though they might have their bigger platform on TikTok and the content might be in ways like TikTok first, we always like to say, you know, we totally understand that even while TikTok is a trending platform right now, This content has also seen massive success for our clients on Instagram and Facebook as well. So when we kind of get started like first, we think about things for more than one channel. So even though we’re usually gonna be looking for TikTok creators, cause they just aren’t the best at video content, and they just kind of come to the table with that very like genuine organic like raw energy, which is best for UGC ads. The first few questions that we ask our clients are one, like what makes the product unique? So the first thing we do is we try to identify one key value. So it’s really important in ads, not to try to sell like five different things about the product or the service of the brand. Like it’s critical to nail down a one-for-one ad set. Let’s say maybe there are additional problems, but those can be kind pushed in other ad sets, but for, let’s say one piece of content we’re looking at really the goal is to get across a clear problem and a clear solution and highlight like how the brand is presenting that solution. So that can obviously feel really like formulaic. So the best way to do that is to look at other trending transitions. Look at just trends that are going on on TikTok in general. And also really looking at like what the brand’s demographic is, because if they wanna use that content to target a mom versus like a Gen Z, influencer or demo that’s interested in beauty per se, the kind of transition we come up with, or, if it’s a testimonial like that content type is gonna look very different depending on the demographic.

[00:21:31] Jessy: And how do you feel in terms of like working with people on strategy in terms of organic or paid ads? Like, should it always be a blend of the two, should it be heavily skewed in one direction or the other based on some sort of criteria? Cause I’ve spoken with people who have very polarizing views on this and they’re like, “Never spend on paid ads, just like do what you do organically and the views will come.” And I’m like, that’s very idealistic, and if that worked every time, like, hell yeah, I’ll just do everything organic, but that’s not how it works for everybody. I’m curious what your views are on organic versus paid.

[00:22:14] Jesse: Yeah, I think it’s true. I definitely have polarizing views. I think, I mean, maybe in another time I would’ve said something different, but I think right now, obviously, the economy is not in, you know, the best place it’s been. So I recognize that. And I think for brands, if they are even spending on the production or that internal person or an agency producing content for organic like it needs to see ROI and I think like that does sound like an idealistic view. And if this person is crushing it and doing all organic, then please put me in touch with them. I need to hire them. But, I think that paid is definitely necessary, because there’s so much competition these days that, you know, while I would say on TikTok, like you can get really great organic momentum. It’s good to allocate a portion of the budget to pay, to ensure that you’re getting those initial eyeballs on. So you can start getting viewerships, start getting new followers. Otherwise, you know, you, you can have a viral video and we’ve definitely seen it happen. We’ve made it happen. But I think it’s always good to kind of like have that safety net and anytime we’re like given a budget, we always carve out a portion for paid.

[00:23:31] Jessy: No, I appreciate that. I’ve also heard a lot of people, you know, most big brands they’re diversifying their ads, right? Like maybe they’re B2B. So they’ll do a bit more on LinkedIn sometimes, which are hella expensive. But if you’re getting in front of the right person, the value of each person is like infinitely more, just there’s more to spend there. So there’s a reason there’s obviously Facebook ads, there’s Instagram ads, there’s TikTok ads, and of course, there’s not even subtle nuances, but lots of differences between each one. So for TikTok, which is like, everyone’s been just talking about TikTok and it’s still not boring to talk about how cool TikTok is it really isn’t. So like, who’s gonna perform best on TikTok? Like if somebody has already established themselves on other platforms and they haven’t made the leap yet, if they have X, Y, Z criteria, like, what does that look like for them in your estimation, who would be like a prime candidate to like get on TikTok yesterday?

[00:24:36] Jesse: Yeah, I would say I get asked this question a lot and I think that is honestly, like one of the things I really love to talk for is I think there’s like truly a place for everyone. And there’s just so many different niches. I mean, I use it all day for work so like my, for you page is just like a confused jumble of like client searches, but there’s, I mean, seeing really like what runs the gambit is like, there is something out there for everyone. I think really like whether you have a big personality, you know, you’re more reserved or you really wanna just educate people. Like there is a place for everyone. I think the biggest thing is just consistency. So when looking at like, who is TikTok right for, and if, you know, you’re committed to wanting to grow a community on that platform, the biggest thing is, is really just posting frequently. So it’s right for someone that’s willing to make that commit.

[00:25:32] Jessy: And how frequently are we talking here? What would you advise someone?

[00:25:36] Jesse: I mean, I know we’re all busy, but like, if you can, multiple times a day, like, I think very much unlike Instagram, where everything is very polished and perfected TikTok is about abundance and getting as much content out there as possible. If it’s possible to share multiple times a day, like go for it. But really I would think about like what feels like an uncomfortable amount for you and then like, push that a little further.

[00:26:05] Jessy: So if somebody is wanting to grow on TikTok and like, just really see what’s out there and the possibilities. Would they hire an agency like yours? Like you guys are creating the actual content for them. Is it like a marriage between like, well, they need to be the face of the content and you guys, like, what are possibilities for, you know, whether it’s like a person or a company who like really wants to make a killing on TikTok, what partners should they be looking for in order to like, really go hard?

[00:26:39] Jesse: Yeah. So I would say my biggest recommendation is like starting out with what not to do, because we have internal TikTok creators who are doing like a lot of content at photo shoots so we can be like maximizing time with models. Our goal is like, if we’re having a photo shoot, there should never be a second where like a model isn’t doing something, if we have multiple models on set. So we have a lot of like, in-house people that are creating TikTok content, but you know, since we’ve hired for a lot of these positions, I’ve interviewed for a lot of these positions. And I have so many times had someone sit down and show me like how they’ve built this brand’s TikTok, and it’s like all videos of them and I’m like, that’s awesome. But I’m sitting there feeling terrible for this brand who just built this following around one person. And they’re about to lose that. So with that being said, like, what we do at Hello There is it’s in our name, our collective, basically, we diversify our content as much as possible. Not just because we want multiple faces, but there should be diversity being brought to every brand in different ways. So we’ll work with a range of creators, whether this product is a product that’s servicing everyone from like moms to gen Z to millennial, to whichever the demographic is. We try to pull a bunch of kind of different people to make sure that the content feels not just like one-sided. So for a brand that’s like looking to build their presence, I would say, the biggest way to engage an agency, or if you’re kind of growing this in-house is, find a couple of great people and have them consistently creating content for you.

[00:28:20] Jessy: Cause it is like what you said, consistency is key. We’ve heard that, you know, on the other platforms as well, but it does definitely seem like TikTok is like that on steroids. So I know we’ve all experienced that I always like to dig into like the nitty gritty of, okay, but like how, you know, like how do we actually do that when we’re all so busy. I wanna hear a little bit about, we’re talking about your client’s TikTok, I wanna talk about like your social media and your personal branding, because I think it’s great that you put yourself out there as a business owner. I talk about this a lot on the podcast. I think that more business owners, or even like employees of companies need to build their own personal brands and get your story out there and your vision and things that are important to you. So. What has been your strategy there and what have you learned along the way?

[00:29:19] Jesse: You know, it’s really interesting that you brought that up because I’ve been sending some, TikTok videos back and forth with some other friends that own agencies or are entrepreneurs, and there’s been this like viral. I don’t know if we’d even call it a trend, but like a big conversation going on, on TikTok where founders and entrepreneurs really feel this like pressure to become influencers themselves. And that, you know, it’s really like kind of expected today that as the CEO or founder of a brand, you also have your own presence, which I think is like really interesting and I completely feel that pressure as well. So on Instagram, I have like 10.5K followers, not a huge audience, but honestly, like this is something I wanna focus on and something like I recognize, you know, I need to make the time to do, completely because even myself, like, oftentimes. In our like content briefs, I’m very comfortable like talking to cameras. So oftentimes like the girls on my team will either come in and be like, can you just like, do this brief for me? And some of my own content has been, our clients like top performing content, which is a little, like, feels almost like cringe and embarrassing, but, I know that I can do it. And I’m like, I gotta push myself and just like carve out a Saturday and just create a ton of content.

[00:30:42] Jessy: Well, no, I so appreciate you saying that because it is a conversation that a lot of people have been having lately. This pressure exactly what you’re describing. Like it’s almost expected that like if you are a founder of whatever like you automatically need to feel comfortable and enjoy cranking out all this content of your own, even if you own like an agency where your job is to do all these other things that have nothing to do with your own content has to do with other people’s content. So I appreciate the conversation, but I also appreciate your perspective on it. So my, like my question to you is like, how are you then holding yourself accountable to doing it? And is there a part of you that enjoys it? Are there certain platforms that you enjoy more than others? Or do you just see this as like a necessary evil emphasis on the evil?

[00:31:33] Jesse: I mean, I think like I’ve thought about what my space should be, especially on TikTok. I’ve definitely put an emphasis over the years on my Instagram platform. But, I would say when it comes to TikTok, I’m currently working on writing a book called ‘The Shit No One Teaches You’, and it’s kind of like about how everything I’ve learned has never been from like my schooling. It’s kind of just things I’ve picked up over the years. And I’ve really started writing that because, you know, social media agency with an emphasis on TikTok. Like of course we have a lot of really young people on our team so I often see them come in with kind of like a fresh perspective on career and like the workplace. And we’re oftentimes like shaping that first experience for them. And I often give very unwarranted advice but, I think that’s kind of like what I’d love to see my platform when I sit down and create a million videos in a day, is something along those lines of just giving like little snippets of advice and information that I’ve learned from trial and error over the years.

[00:32:43] Jessy: I’m obsessed with the title of your book, ‘The Shit No One Teaches You’. Wait, no, like I’m obsessed. Dude, it’s like such a gripe that I have. I don’t know about you, I graduated the degree in theater and if I even wanted to pursue that, which I learned very quickly, I didn’t, I still had no tools to be able to actually make a career out of it and be able to survive in New York City. They’re like what I learned in schools, how to like roll around on the ground and breathe in a certain way. Like, how is that gonna let me have a career? It’s not, and even if you study marketing or advertising, I don’t know, I have so many gripes with academia. So I think it’s fantastic that you’re writing a book about all the shit that you learned after school and on your own and just by doing it. So what are like, give us a little preview. What are the couple things like the most important or like most impactful things that you think that you’ve learned? Just on your own, just by doing the damn thing?

[00:33:48] Jesse: Yeah, I would say a big one is no one is ever gonna just give you anything in this life. So if you want it, you have to ask for it and you can’t just ask for it once. You have to ask for it again and again and again until you’ve exhausted it and you either get it, or you know that you’ve really tried every single avenue to get what you want and a new path is worth forging or there should be some other areas looked at, but I think that’s a really big one and something I often see. And even here, you know, of friends, I think it’s really important to speak like what you want and not feel that you should be ashamed or that it’s unwarranted to want the things that you do. So I think that’s a really big one. And something I’ve definitely learned. And I think moving up really quickly in my career, before starting Hello There, I was in my previous role for four years and moved up in about two from being a coordinator to a director. And it was just because I went to my boss and I kept saying like, I deserve this, I want this, I want this. And I was either gonna leave or he had to give me what I was asking for. So I think that’s a really big one. And when I really suggest to women who are, you know, working their way up in their career.

[00:35:11] Jessy: Absolutely. Like in this life, like there are some people, I don’t know, those people who are really fortunate enough to just get things handed to them. I don’t know what that’s like. It sounds like you don’t necessarily know what that’s like either but I appreciate some people, they’re like, okay, then what, like, what do I do to get the things you gotta put it out there into the universe? Like, that’s what I’m hearing you say. And not just once, but to like anybody and everybody who will listen, like I’m a huge proponent for networking. I own a fricking networking organization, right? So, but like to just put it out there because it might not be that person that can get it for you, but it will be that person who knows that person who knows that person and, you know, doing for others. So that, you know, eventually it’s all cyclical and you help each other. But I love what you’re saying, like don’t ever be quiet, like make noise about what you want. Put it out there in the universe. I love that so much. One of my last questions for you for today, I’m so curious, like you’ve had a lot of success in your career and I feel like you’re also just getting started. So I’m just personally stoked to see like everything that you’re going to achieve. Success looks so different to everybody. I’m curious what success looks like to you.

[00:36:28] Jesse: That’s a good question. And I think that’s something that’s definitely evolved for me over the years. And with every year, you know, you’re a little wiser. And I think that has really changed if you asked me that, like, even, I’d say three years ago, you would’ve gotten a very different answer, but I think what success looks like to me is of course you have to have like your base level, I want on a, you know, monetarily to be moving up every year and for the business to be thriving in a more general sense. But I think, really striving for continued happiness at work and in my personal life, I think it’s a really big challenge for, entrepreneurs to have a work-life balance. So I think success for me is having a thriving business while also having a thriving, personal and social life.

[00:37:23] Jessy: I appreciate that. I mean, it’s cool to hear that, like, that’s your version of success. That’s like, there’s no right or wrong answer to that and it will continue to evolve. It should, you know, some people, they grow up with parents or, you know, people who they look up to that knew exactly what they wanted to do from super early on and they stuck with it and they worked at a job for 40 years and, I’m not gonna knock that if that really genuinely is your path and that is what you like, feel successful by doing, go for it. But most of the people that I know, myself included, it’s been a windy path. And the thing is like, you learn so much along the way, and you can take so much with you and that’ll arm the hell outta you to be able to like, kill it with whatever inevitably you end up doing. And the cool thing about the fact that so many people are so entrepreneurial and there’s so many more resources to be entrepreneurial these days, is that like success like you might define this thing as what success is right now, and then you achieve it and it’s like, oh my God, I’m here already? Like, well, like what next? And there is a next chapter like there’s a next step. Like the goal isn’t really, there’s no end goal these days it feels like. Like people are reinventing themselves in their forties, their fifties, their sixties, and imagine like everything that you’re achieving now, how much more you’ll be able to achieve, you know, later on, every single decade, because of all the connections and great work that you’ve been doing in the prior time and the prior decades of your life. So I appreciate the heck out of that. I have a feeling that a lot of our members are gonna wanna get in touch. Our listeners are gonna wanna follow you on your awesome Instagram account. See what cool stuff you’re doing on TikTok, and just generally like, keep in touch with you. So for those of our uh, listeners who would like to get in touch with you and shoot you a follow where’s the best place for them to do that?

[00:39:31] Jesse: Yes, please follow me. Get in touch if you have any questions ever. Slide into my DMS, my Instagram is @jesse_gre, so please get in touch, and then our agency’s Instagram is Hello There Collective.

[00:39:50] Jessy: Perfect. And of course, we will link everything in our show notes. So check that out. Jesse, thank you so much for not just being born with a cool spelling of Jesse and like I’ve got the Y you’ve got the E like we’re like repping.

[00:40:07] Jesse: The power duo.

[00:40:08] Jessy: The power duo, but also like Jesse’s who are just like, we’re different from each other. We’re different from the other ones. Like, you know, paving your own path. I love it. I’m super impressed with everything that you’ve built thus far. And just thank you for this awesome conversation today.

[00:40:22] Jesse: Yeah. Thank you so much, Jessy, for having me.

[00:40:25] Jessy: If you enjoyed this episode, we gotta have you back. Check out our website for more ways to get involved, including all the information you need about joining our collective. You can check out all the information at iamwiim.com. Leave us a review, a rating, but the most important thing that we can ask you to do is to share this podcast. Thanks for listening. Tune in next week. 

JESSY GROSSMAN

Founder of Women in Influencer Marketing and CEO of Tribe Monday

Jessy Grossman is a long time entrepreneur in the digital media space. She’s passionate about supporting women in business and being at the forefront of innovation. She’s been quoted in Forbes and was awarded a spot in the “Influencer Top 50” by Talking Influence. In less than two years she created one of the fastest growing talent agencies in the country. Amidst unprecedented growth, she sold the multi-six-figure agency and pivoted to focus on her long-time passion project: Women in Influencer Marketing (better known as WIIM). Founded in 2017, today WIIM is the premiere professional organization for those who work with influencers. The community offers networking and new business opportunities, career services, continuous education and more. Jessy also does consulting, advising and influencer marketing recruiting with her company Tribe Monday. You can find inspiring stories and more about Jessy on the WIIM Podcast. Check out iamwiim.com and tribemonday.com for more information.

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