In celebration of Small Business Month, we are elated to shine the spotlight on visionary entrepreneurs across the United States thanks to our Visionary Sponsor, SwagHer Magazine and Media!
Today, we introduce you to Antoinne Duane Jones!
Introduce yourself to the Visions of Greatness audience. I'm a 17yr photographer with background in Marketing and management. By personality, I'm a bit silly, awkward and different. It works well in photography as I get to paint the world with my camera.
Who or what inspired you to pursue entrepreneurship? Me. I've wanted to be a business owner as long as I can remember. Even in middle and high school I was always figuring out ways to sell things to make money.
Tell the Visions of Greatness audience more about your products/services. Currently, I do pretty much every genre of photography. I have a fashion photography base but am just as proficient in wedding, product, family, senior portraits and my fastest growing segment is the sports photography division.
Let's switch gears briefly and discuss the COVID-19 pandemic. What adjustments have you made in your life and business since the pandemic started? Well safety increases during covid but not much from a logistical standpoint. We added a sanitizer spray gun to our equipment list so customers were much more comfortable shooting knowing that the entire area was sanitized and we cared about their health and well being. On a business end, business quadrupled. Everyone was pivoting to entrepreneurship or secondary income so they all needed imagery for advertising, social media and so forth.
What advice would you give to entrepreneurs struggling to balance their life and business?* You don't have to be the doer of all things. Find smaller parts of your business that you can allow others or another business to do. Just before covid hit, I hired a photo retoucher. I had contemplated it for years but finally did it. I save around 6 hours a day, every day by using my retoucher.
Share with us one ingredient in your secret sauce for success. As I outlined in my book, The Down Entrepreneur, your best friend should be NO. Be so use to hearing the word NO that it doesn't bother you or discourage you to keep pushing every day until you get to your YESSES.
How can the Visions of Greatness audience connect with you? Instagram is a fast way to see my most current work: instagram.com/antoinneduanejones. Otherwise, adjmedia.co or text/call: 4044219111