Meet Jay Grammond

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jay Grammond. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jay below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Jay with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?

The foundations of my work ethic are built upon the lessons my parents taught me while I was growing up first of all. I continue to learn from them throughout adulthood. As an adult, I also learn lessons from other people whose work I admire. I have learned what poor work ethic looks like from supervisors and co-workers over the years; and at the same time have learned from good examples of work ethic from other past supervisors and co-workers. I believe in lifelong learning and so I am continuously working on improving my own work ethic. I learn from past mistakes and successes.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

Have you ever made a leap of faith, a BIG one, in the work that you do? It requires a lot of courage, belief in yourself, and a solid vision for the future. I have, and it has been quite a ride. I researched the idea for four years, I interviewed people that had made the leap of faith or mid career pivots; read all kinds of books on the subject. At some point I finally decided it was time to get off the bleachers and into the game. I had a successful career in lifelong learning and enjoyed the work I was doing, but I decided that it was time to go for this idea of being self-employed. I put my notice in one December and my last day in “the office” was Jan 3, 2020! I had this well thought out plan and that plan was turned upside down by mid-March.

This gave me an opportunity to pivot, again, and come up with a new plan! The first change that came about for me during the pandemic was that I signed a book deal in June 2020 which gave me a project to work on. My book, “Fading Ads Of The Twin Cities” published in February of 2022. A second thing that developed was that I realized that the industry I had just left, was going to need a way to deliver classes in lifelong learning for adults. I produced a dozen classes from my library of images and connected with my former industry to provide on-line classes and ended up doing that for two years.

I also organize and lead photography workshops that I refer to as Adventures. My first experience with this was in 2019 for an annual event called the “Black Hills Photo Shootout.” Again, the pandemic made this a challenge a year later. I ended up hosting a full photography workshop on-line, over multiple weeks, with multiple instructors. I had never done it before, but it turned out to be a huge success during a rough time. My “Adventure” events take us to places like Theodore Roosevelt National Park; Badlands National Park; the Big Horn Mountains, the North Shore of Lake Superior, and other locations.

One of the other cornerstones of what I do is create artwork for facilities, primarily in healthcare settings, right now, but also in schools, libraries, hospitality, small businesses and other facilities that need art on their walls. I have artwork all over Minnesota, Iowa, and South Dakota. I would love to expand this area of my business.

One other piece of the puzzle for my business is that I do public speaking. This has developed from doing the on-line classes in years past. I have developed about 15 presentations that I deliver at places like libraries, historical societies, churches, organizations, photo clubs, and more.

So while the pandemic squashed my original plans; it turns out that it alowed new ideas to grow and flourish. I now have several book projects in the hopper. As I travel around Minnesota to do public speaking I am mindful about creating images that will support the collections I need for books, other presentations, or wall art.

I am nearing the five year mark of being self-employed, and while it has been extremely difficult much of the time; it has also provided a level of freedom and creativity that has been very special. I have never looked back and am very happy with my decision to make the leap of faith.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Networking, Patience, Belief. These three things have been very impactful in my journey and path. I am an Introvert and in the beginning of my career path it was very difficult for me to connect, or want to connect with other people at work conferences, meetings, and in social situations in general. Over the years, I developed the ability to network, and get really good at it. I think it started with getting involved in different sub groups from my lifelong learning association. I was selected by my peers to serve as the groups leader for a year or two. This was in the Adult Enrichement area. That led to me serving on a committee a level up involving a broader range of people from the industry. After a year of that, I was selected to be the leader of that group for several years. That experience got me involved with the upper level of the association. I also got involved with my nationwide association. By that time, I had developed some good networking skills to the point where when my co-workers joined me at nationwide association conferences, I was introducing them to people that I had connected with on the national level. As the years went on and I was getting busier with my photography, I started to attend large photography related presentations and conferences. I went to my first really big conference in photography with a short list of photographers and creatives that I wanted to introduce myself to and make some sort of meaningful connection (remember that at the basic level I am pretty introverted.). I succeeded in that goal and even added one person who I hadn’t been aware of. I keep in touch with each of those people and have become friends with them; even to the point of working on photography things together. I encourage you to make yourself a goal of connecting to a short list of people in your chosen field; and figure out ways that you can meet with them in person! Start small if you are new to this. Join local and regional groups that support your field of interest. Give more than you take. Find ways to help others.

I am fortunate to have an extreme amount of patience. Things around us can seem to be happening a million miles per hour; and it is important to have patience. I have heard the advice that one needs to be prepared to fail, and that you will fail. Those failures help one to grow. It is important not to give up, and not to expect the results we envisioned to happen right away. Maybe things don’t always go as planned. Have patience and keep in mind that things can have a way of working out. You need to believe in yourself and create the future you want. I explained how this has worked out for me over the past four years. I have failed a lot over the years, but I haven’t given up. I look at the situation and think about what else might work, what are different ways I could approach something. I think about things that maybe could have been done different and make adjustments. All of this takes patience. There are a lot of people that expect instant gratification. If that resonates with you, maybe work on lowering your expectations on the timeline of things. Give yourself some grace to give results some time to develop.

It is really imperative that you believe in yourself, your vision, your purpose. In making my leap of faith, I had to believe in myself in a big way. I believe that my belief in myself has made surviving these crucial first several years possible. I believe in what I am doing and that in doing that – that I can bring other people joy, peace, and inspiration. In my experience, I have a strong belief that things always have a way of working out for the best. It may not seem like it at times, but in the end; sometimes I recognize the connection of events. For instance, the pandemic ground my business to a complete stop, at first. I believe that I might not ever have published a book if it hadn’t been for that. I love to read, I ordered a book on Ghost Signs/Fading Ads to read for something to do. That led me to an idea in wondering if there was a book in the series for Minneapolis/St. Paul. There wasn’t. That encouraged me to approach the publisher about creating a book for the Twin Cities…..one thing leads to another and none of it was in “the plan.”

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

I would love to connect with people who might be or are looking for artwork for their spaces. Healthcare facilities looking for Healing Art for hallways, waiting areas, office spaces, patient and exam rooms, etc. Nursing Homes and Senior Living facilities looking for way finding art, nostalgia, comfort, inspiration etc. Hospitality Businesses, looking for artwork for their rooms, hallways, lobbies, etc. Any other Business that is looking for art for their walls.

I would love to connect with anyone that might be interested in joining one or more of my Photography Adventures; or those that might be interested in being a Sponsor of an event.

If any of this resonates with you, please contact me: [email protected]

I hope that my thoughts in this interview have inspired you in some way. Jay

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jgrammondphotography.net
• Instagram: @jgrammondphotography
• Facebook: J Grammond Photography
• Linkedin: Jay Grammond
• Twitter: @JGrammondPhoto
• Youtube: @jgrammondphotography2618
• Other: TikTock: @j.grammond.photog

Image Credits

Images: © Jay Grammond