Meet Jawuan Freeman

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jawuan Freeman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jawuan, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?

Personally, I feel like I got my work ethic from being obsessed with progression, envious of success, and having the willingness to live a life making money for something that not only means something to me but something I can have fun with because at the end of the day doing what you love, places passion behind your work ethic and provides a sense of purpose because you’re adding to something you’re interested in and benefiting from. Firstly, being obssessed with progression has been something I’ve always been applying towards life but only recently have I identified it. I realized that I think very negatively about being stagnant and Ive always been a person to make tremendous efforts to be a top contender if not the best at whatever Im interested in. Within that comes a very high standard that I have held for myself that can also be negative as it relates to psychological rewards. For example, think of it as always achieving straight A’s in school but one semester you get 2 B’s on your report card. For me when I don’t achieve the high goals set for myself by myself, I tend to be hard on myself because of what I expected regardless of my effort. As I have now been recognizing, being that hard on yourself can be detrimental towards your view of your own work ethic so now I make many different efforts to “stop and smell the roses” because as a hustler it becomes very easy to get caught up in taking steps forward and we don’t actually stop, turn around, and recognize how far we’ve come and many miles we’re ahead of where we thought we were. So that’s my take on being obsessed with progression because while it’s very beneficial in holding yourself to high standards, its important to be proud of your efforts and recognize your work ethic instead of reprimanding it. Secondly, since I was little Ive always been envious of those portrayed as successful on TV. There were kids my age and even younger who were making hundreds of thousands if not millions without any manual labor. That always lit a fire under me because it showed me that I could be successful while doing what I love so long as I was good at it. Comparison can be the thief of joy sometimes but for me it honestly motivates me to go harder. Lastly, instead of having a dream job I’ve always had a dream lifestyle because my dream was never the traditional office job 9-5 work life, not that there’s anything wrong with it but me personally I never dreamt about it. I’ve always wanted to be able to just make money doing whatever I love as lazy as it may sound. One of my biggest points when I was in elementary school was that “I want passive income” meaning I just wanted to make money without any manual labor. I’ve always had an entrepreneurship mindset. I always used to play my games while I was young even though my wifi was always bad lol. This gave me my first idea of live streaming. I had a friend who had a friend that used to “get paid for gaming” and as soon as I heard it I had to try. Anything that remotely seemed to be in my grasp as far as “passive” income I was eager to try. These are just small examples of my drive and willingness to make a career doing something I love.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

Outside of being a Salesman and a Hustler, I also really enjoy creative marketing and increasing brand awareness because if I’m going to be working at all I want it to be in something that Im both passionate for and good at. With marketing I truly feel like Im able to combine my creativity skills as well as my analytical skills so Im able to create something visually nice for the consumer but still keep things brand focused and targeted towards the right demographic for that specific campaign. You may be able to tell but I am still wearing most of the hats within my business so Im also acting as my own designer/marketer/etc and it kind of feels like my own personal project because Im the one reaping the benefits from it through revenue making and being able to advance my craft.

What I love most about my business, is the message that comes with it. The message for my brand (Notorious Lifestyle LLC) is “Be You Until You Can’t”, it’s a message centered around originality and positivity and showing my audience that it’s ok to be yourself. Many people look towards others for more attractive and attainable traits but within the brands perspective, you’ll never gain that self fulfillment by looking towards others. Embrace being the best version of yourself and do it until you can’t. With the message of my brand, I am building a sense of community for those who relate to the message in any way, shape, or form. Building a community has always been a big goal of mine for both financial and societal reasons. For starters, building a community for your brand is like creating your own target market because these people are invested in the message and the attractiveness of the clothes to the point where they can become returning customers without any convincing because they convince themselves. Returning customers is returning money, and as long as I have these nice people willing to invest in my message, the business will virtually be able to run itself because to me a good business serves society and this is my way of doing it for now.

A thriving, lucrative business that runs on community is my ultimate goal for this brand. I want my brand to be one of the most familiar and be related to a lot of good memories. I feel like Im off to a good start but you all will truly see what I mean in the years to come.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

The three qualities, skills, and overall areas of knowledge that were most impactful for me would include:
– Being a sponge
– Have a work ethic no one can question
– Keeping a consumer perspective in mind

Firstly, being a sponge has been so beneficial for me as it relates to retaining ALL knowledge around you whether it’s taught directly or not. Be observative and learn as much as you can in any given occasion because you’ll never know how that insight could help you in the future. I would honestly say this is the best of all the skills because it truly forces you to learn and betters your ability to regurgitate information for instances when it may be more relevant. So yeah, being a sponge is very beneficial especially if you’re trying to get to a place higher/further than you are now because there’s going to be a lot to listen to especially from the people both “in front of” and “behind” you.

Secondly, having a work ethic that no one can question is very imperative in your ability to get things done. It’s easy to have a lot of great ideas but you have to really want it and go make it happen. “Tomorrow” to me is the enemy of progression because honestly how many times have we psychologically told ourselves “I’ll do it tomorrow” and years went by? Im a big fan of taking immediate action because opportunity waits for no one so the best thing to always do is TRY. I guess what I mean by all of this is that if you don’t work hard enough for it, then you don’t want it bad enough, and if that last part made you upset with yourself- use that fire to start something TODAY.

Lastly, in any consumer/customer based business, it’s very important to keep a consumer perspective in mind. You want to make sure that whatever it is that you’re offering, is actually wanted/desired by your target demographic and keep in mind how much they usually pay for it vs how much they’re willing to pay for it. Keeping track of supply and demand will ultimately excel your business because your main priority or questions should be “who wants this? what do they want it for? how can I help them feel comfortable while getting it?”

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

I’ve always been a person who likes to find the best in people and place them in positions to succeed based on my own capabilities as far as my network. Throguhout my years in college I have been compiling a list of people whose knowledge and potential, match the wants and needs of not only my business but my personal aspirations and who I’d like to trust for certain tasks in the future. I like to figure out how to create mutual situations, use other people’s strengths, and provide them my strengths when necessary. I make it a big thing to create organic relationships so everything does not become transactional so focusing on the intangibles has been a big factor in figuring out who would work best on my team and where. I like to observe my peers’ strengths and weaknesses, compare their work ethic to the societal values my brand offers, and figure out how I can get them integrated within my network if not my company itself (Now or in the Future).

Honestly this may be a vague answer but I want to collaborate with everyone (close to it). It’s probably easier to figure out who I don’t want to collaborate with in that sense. I want to work with consulting companies, models, marketing firms/teams, other retail brands, magazines, Black American conferences, HBCU’s, etc. I want to work with a lot of different people/teams for a lot of different reasons – whether it’s for leisure, exposure, revenue, marketing advancement, and more. I want to maintain a network and connection of people that turns into a legacy of bridging the gap between our demographic and others. Simply put- I want more connections, I want those connections to form new ones, and I want to find out how I can provide my own services to ensure a mutual partnership.

For those looking to connect with me follow my socials and contact information below:
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @10kfreeman
Brand Instagram: @notoriouslifestylee
Website: www.notorious-lifestyle.com

For best results in case I don’t answer the first time DM my personal Instagram AND send me an email 🙂

Contact Info:

Image Credits

@FocusonJosh
@TCshotit

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