Jaiden Robinson (00:00:10) –  You guys. Welcome back to The Rave Social Podcast. I know it’s been a minute. And here’s the thing. Life got crazy. I’m normally such a consistent queen, but literally I was gone for like four months this spring, and I moved, and there’s just so much stuff, I’m not even going to go into it. That was chaotic and out of my control. And you know what? I had to take a break from the podcast. But I thought about you so much, and I thought about what I want this podcast to be like. And I’m really excited to bring you a fresh new perspective because we’re about to get real. We’re about to get real, real. Okay, so here I am. I’m in yesterday’s clothes and I have no makeup on. And you know what? That’s just the way that it is. Because sometimes you have to just do the freaking thing and stop thinking about it. Okay? So that’s where I am. I’m so happy to be back. I’m so grateful for all of you.

Jaiden Robinson (00:01:05) –  So many of you still listen to old episodes while we took a little break. And I just I appreciate you so much. So here we go. This episode is going to be my villain origin story. I really feel like opening up and sharing a little bit more about my life and my background and my history, and I’m really excited to share that with you. So let’s get into it. I’m Jaden. I’m the host of The Rave Social Podcast, and I started my marketing career when I was 14 years old. Honestly, probably before that, but before that, it maybe wasn’t like the most ethical business of all time. So I have always been extremely entrepreneurial, like from the day I was born. It does help that my dad’s an entrepreneur. But I swear I came out of the womb and I was like, let’s make some money. And also I’m a Capricorn, so maybe that’s why. But I was the kid in the neighborhood that was like stealing rocks from the neighbors and selling them to the other neighbors.

Jaiden Robinson (00:02:07) –  I honestly don’t even think I painted them, which like, girl. You need to like, differentiate in some way, but that was totally me. And yeah, maybe that was illegal, but I was just a baby. I didn’t know at the time, but that just goes to show like I was. I wanted to be an entrepreneur from like the day I was born. and then as I got older. Well, maybe. Maybe this was before the selling rocks. I don’t know, we’re going to have to get my dad on the podcast to give us some, perspective there. But as I got older, or maybe while I was younger, I would go to work with my dad and I would pretend to be sick because, like, why would you want to go to school when you could do, like, adult things, you know, like go to work? Like I always thought work sounded way more fun than school. I wish I could go back and like, tell myself what being an adult was like, but I’ve got to work with my dad, and he was a contractor, a general contractor.

Jaiden Robinson (00:03:05) –  So I’d go with him and I’d sit in his truck and I would steal his tools, the ones I knew he needed the most valuable tools, and I would hide them. And then he would be like, where? The afternoon my tools go. And I would be like, oh, you mean this one? Well, I would hold his tools for ransom, and then he would have to pay me to get them back. So again, maybe not my most like ethical business practice, but I will be honest, I’m a lot more ethical now. I have morals, I promise. Just not as a kid, I guess. I don’t really know. Your girl was just trying to make a buck, so. But slay go her right. Okay. Then as I as I did get older. For real? For real. in my house, we were very highly encouraged to get a job at a young age. My parents did a really good job providing for us, but they were like, you’re going to have to work for your money, which I really appreciate because it taught me to work hard.

Jaiden Robinson (00:04:08) –  And I’ve always been like a girl who likes the finer things in life. Like, I want the nice car, I want the nice clothes, whatever. I’ve been that way since I was a child. And what working at such a young age taught me was that, like, you can have nice things, like, you can totally have them, but they’re not just handed to you. And I really appreciated learning that lesson super young because it made me into an adult that like, will work hard. And I also don’t like let myself not get what I want. Like I’m always going to do the extra work. I’m always going to hustle where you need to to get the things that I want. so yeah, shout out to Tam and Dave, who raised me. They did a good job and I appreciate them for that. But that leads me to my next thing. So I was on a competitive All-Star cheerleading team, and I was also on my high school cheer team. And if you know anything about cheerleading, it is extremely expensive.

Jaiden Robinson (00:05:11) –  Not only are the uniforms expensive, but the tuition and the travel like. We were literally traveling every single weekend going to competitions, and my parents were like, we love you so much and we want you to be happy, but we can’t pay thousands of dollars a month for your trophies. And I was like, that’s okay, I’ll help pay my cheer fees. So I got a job working for the cheer gym that I cheered at when I was 14, and they paid me, I think like $9 an hour, which was like, so slay back then, like I was rolling in it. And also they gave me, I think they got free tuition or maybe I got like half off tuition. I got a deal on tuition as well. So all around a screaming deal. And I was obsessed with cheer, so like, hell yeah, I was stoked to have this job. but I am from a small town, and we kind of we were like the last to know about things. So we’d go to these big cheer competitions, we’d see everyone’s uniforms and everyone always had like the next coolest uniform.

Jaiden Robinson (00:06:18) –  And we were kind of like lagging behind. But like, can you blame us? It was Saint George, Utah. Like we were doing our best. Okay. But anyways, part of where I started marketing at 14 was when I started working at this cheer gym. I realized, like, their website was kind of like not a good representation of, like the quality of the gym because they were kicking ass and their website just really didn’t like show that. So I learned literally how to build websites on GoDaddy circa 2000. This had to be like 2000. Well, probably. Yeah. So somewhere around there a long time ago, I’m not that old, but still And I literally learned how to make these websites. My history with Tumblr really helped out because I had learned some coding on Tumblr. We all remember those days. And anyways, I learned how to like, build a website and I built their website for them. I also learned how to create Facebook pages. So like I made Facebook pages for each of the cheer teams.

Jaiden Robinson (00:07:18) –  and then me and my dad would record all of the cheer competitions and take all these pictures and upload them to the Facebook pages and keep the communities updated. And then I also made all of their, like, flyers and stuff like that for upcoming events that they were holding or cheer tryouts, things like that. which is really me, like dipping my toes into marketing for the first time, but I just really I had no idea. Like, I didn’t even know what the word marketing really was at the time. But it’s funny to look back and think like how naturally that came to me and how clear it was to me when I started working there. Like your online presence matters, which is so funny because now look at me. I had no idea that I was going to be doing, but that’s so funny. And actually from there too, we would kind of circling back, sorry, I lost my train of thought, but circling back when we’d go to these competitions, we’d see all of these people wearing, you know, the next coolest thing.

Jaiden Robinson (00:08:16) –  And we started seeing the girls wearing these really beautiful cheer bows that had, like, rhinestones and like, they were, like, customized with each person’s team name. And we were just like, bro, how are you guys doing that? And Etsy was really the only place that like made stuff like that. And the bows on Etsy were so expensive, like $30 for a freaking hair bell. And in our small town, we tried to keep the cheer fees low. Everything we were like. Ain’t no way the people are going to be paying that for a year. But so I knew that my dad had a heat press, like a, you know, the heat press is like it hears like adhesive to fabric. So, yeah, he had a heat press and I knew that I had the wits about me. So I searched up on the internet and I found a factory in China that would create the rhinestones for me on a heat transfer in whatever design I wanted. I gave them dimensions, everything, and then they would make them ship them to me.

Jaiden Robinson (00:09:14) –  And then I would cut the ribbon, assemble the bows, do the heat, transfer all of the crazy stuff. And then I ended up selling the bows to the chair gym that I worked for. So she’s a hustler. If she’s one thing, she’s a hustler. And I honestly made such good money on that. It was crazy. Like, I was pretty, pretty self-sufficient, like in high school. Just could pay for my own gas, my own lunch. Like, I don’t know, I think I was even, like, buying shit that, like, you don’t really need to buy when you’re in high school. And I was also just like, saving my money so much, which ended up helping me a lot when I moved up to college. But I took that bow making gig and I marketed it to the other tier gyms, to the high school cheer teams, like everyone around. And I actually, like, made a freakin side hustle out of it. While I was working for the cheer gym, they let me sell the bows there, and I think I would bring in like $300 a month or something, like on the low end.

Jaiden Robinson (00:10:13) –  And then I think that I had better months than that too, which is just crazy. but yeah, like that is 100% my villain origin story as far as like my childhood and how it set me up to be a marketer, which, like I said, is just so funny because I knew nothing about marketing. I hadn’t read a marketing book like at my high school. They didn’t teach you business stuff, so like it was just my own brain being like, you need an online presence. Like, how are we going to differentiate ourselves? How are we going to set ourselves apart? Like, what is the solution? And that’s actually just like one thing I love about myself is that I will find a solution, a creative solution. So yeah. And then, from there I moved to college and I still actually was making hair hows while I was in college, but I got a job when I was, I think I got the job when I was 19. Yeah, I got a job working for a promotional marketing firm in Salt Lake City when I was 19 years old.

Jaiden Robinson (00:11:23) –  it’s still a miracle today. I don’t know how they hired me, but I must have sold myself well. And I got the job, and I was straight up. At minimum, I think I was ten years younger than, like, the next oldest person, like at the company. I was extremely young. And I remember when my boss, found out how old I was, he was like, What? And I was like, yeah. So anyways, that we got started off on a really good foot when he was like, oh, you’re 19, you’re a baby. Like, how do you know what to do? Well, one thing about me is I’m going to figure that shit out, okay? I’m not going to let you down. So I started working for this marketing firm, and at the time, I was hired on as a production manager. So my position was basically to make sure that everything people ordered delivered on time. Like, that’s pretty simple. I just was in charge of communicating with the factories and our clients and saying, like, okay, this is going to get delivered to your place on time or it’s not going to get delivered on time, that type of a thing.

Jaiden Robinson (00:12:32) –  But immediately upon my hiring, I was like, I was in school for marketing, by the way. So my brain is like firing on all cylinders of what the hell can we do to make this company better? So I grinded my ass off as a production manager for a couple of years, and then I got promoted to being an account manager, which was so fun because then I had one on one, contact with these really big clients that I was working with at Toyota, Lexus, Genesis, all of the major car brands I was working with. I also worked with like Adobe and some of the really big tech companies around here, which was so cool. And like my first experience, really understanding like people’s marketing behind their business. and at that point to I was like, you know what? This is a marketing firm. Like, literally the name of the company is like blank marketing, and they don’t do any marketing for themselves, is what I noticed while I was there. And I was like, hey guys, why are we not doing any marketing? Like they’re only like marketing funnel was really like referrals or like word of mouth, marketing, which is great.

Jaiden Robinson (00:13:50) –  We all know that, but not really. That’s not really a sustainable marketing strategy to just have long term. Like you need to have multiple lead sources because then when you piss somebody off, you’re not relying on them for all of your referrals. Right? Like you, you can’t have all your eggs in one basket. so I was like, do do do you guys need to do marketing? So again, kind of a repeat of what I did when I was 14, which is so funny. I was like, we need to update the website. So I worked on their website. I worked on some of the SEO on it, some of the back end things, and also scheduled and created an entire content shoot for them. And then I was also the photographer and these pictures slayed, honestly. but that was yeah, that that was me and some of my friends that work there too. We all kind of like partnered up on it and we’re like, let’s do this. and then I, I shifted that into their social media and their email marketing.

Jaiden Robinson (00:14:49) –  So they had no email marketing going on. I think they would send like one email a year around Christmas time, but they like didn’t have MailChimp. They had no, like email hosting platform. So I pulled all of the client emails that we had from the archives of our CRM and got them all transferred over into MailChimp and started a monthly email campaign where it was actually really awesome. We would send out this email with like a product feature for marketing, and then we would allow them to order a sample for themselves, which was crazy. And the budget they gave us for this was honestly awesome. And it worked. I mean, we would get these samples into the hands of our clients, and they would even if they didn’t want that specific product, we were staying so top of mind for them, because not only were they getting an email, but they were getting like a physical product delivered to them. And so it was like, this marketing firm is the marketing firm that I’ll be using. Like, we were just so good at it.

Jaiden Robinson (00:15:54) –  and we’ve connected it to the social media as well and had that running. So I, did eventually quit that job as you make us. And part of the reason I quit that job was definitely because of all that work I was doing for them. I mean, I, I literally did an entire email campaign monthly for them. that or maybe it was quarterly. I actually don’t remember. But regardless, we did. An email campaign wasn’t paid for that. the website stuff, they’re planning their photo shoots, actually being their photographer or stuff like that. Like I wasn’t being compensated for it. And at the time, I was okay with that initially because I really wanted to prove my value to the company, which I do not regret doing. And I actually think that’s kind of like a problem that we have in society, which I won’t get into that right now. But, I think that we have like an aversion to working hard and going above and beyond, but that’s really what shows people like that.

Jaiden Robinson (00:16:54) –  You’re a valuable person and you’re valuable to their company. So I don’t know. Anyways, I won’t get into that right now because it’s kind of a hot take and I don’t want it to be taken out of context. But eventually when I did say, like, hey, I’m doing all these things like, could I get a raise? It was kind of like, no, no. And then eventually I was just like, you know what? I don’t want to do this. It’s not that fun for me anymore. Like, I don’t want to do this for my whole life, and I’m not even really being compensated for the work that I’m doing. So I don’t want to, do this anymore, so I quit. And it’s actually really funny because that is the boss that, like, when I quit, you asked me what I was doing, and I, I had gotten a job doing influencer marketing, and he was like, yeah, that industry is like, dead. Like, that’s a dying industry.

Jaiden Robinson (00:17:42) –  I’m basically like said that I wasn’t going to be successful. I can’t remember his exact words, but they were super rude, definitely made me cry. And I took that as fuel. But also, I’m not dumb enough to think like you’re just wrong. Like I was like, well, I knew that the influencer marketing industry was blowing up and getting bigger and bigger, but I was like, there’s a chance I’ll hate it. And he was right, I hated it, I really hated it. granted, I was doing micro influencer marketing and the company I worked for was, in my opinion, not the best company. So I did quit that job and I guess in his eyes, you, I guess my boss, if you’re seeing this, I guess you could say that I did fail, but honestly, it’s exactly what I needed because it showed me what I did not want to do, and that was work for somebody. I wanted to be my own boss. And so that is what led me here into social media, where now I literally am doing my dream job every day.

Jaiden Robinson (00:18:50) –  And that feels kind of crazy to say, because even just a couple months ago, I was very like, oh, what am I doing? Like, why am I doing this? I was kind of frustrated, and some of the clients I had were just really draining and kind of whipping me around, which at the end of the day is not their fault. It’s my fault for not setting boundaries. But I was really struggling and I was like, why am I doing this? And so now to be here and say, like, I’m literally doing my dream job is kind of crazy. And all of my clients are gorgeous people, humans on the inside and the outside. They love working with me. I love working with them. It’s like finally what I’ve manifested did come true. And it feels so good to say, like I’m doing my dream job. But I also think it’s really fun to look at where I came from in my history and honestly, like my villain origin story. And I know that is mostly to do with my history of marketing and and my work and job history.

Jaiden Robinson (00:19:55) –  I also have a marketing degree. I forgot to mention that, but it’s something that really matters. But I think it’s interesting to see that, like, it was always kind of written in the stars while I would be doing. And I knew like online presence is key and now I get to help brands have and build an online presence that feels good for them and helps them grow their business and grow their revenue and do all the awesome things that they want to do. So I’m really excited and thank you so much for listening to this podcast today. I’m really excited to get back into it and have some new, really good episodes for you, so stay tuned. First, I want to say thank you so much for being here and listening to my podcast. It means the world to me, and I just appreciate this community more than you could ever know. If you love this episode or a previous episode that you’ve listened to. Go ahead and head to the. Leave a review link in the show notes and leave us a review.

Jaiden Robinson (00:20:54) –  We would really appreciate it and we’re so glad that you’re here. Thank you.