Meet Zach Webber

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Zach Webber. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Zach, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
If you meet somebody who tells you that they never feel imposter syndrome or that they have 100% overcome imposter syndrome…. then I want to meet them.

Feeling imposter syndrome is part of the bargain, especially in the creative space. The feeling that you’re going to get “found out” can sometimes drown a creative during the early stages of their creative careers. For those looking and hoping for a magic cure to imposter syndrome, I have bad news for you; there is no such cure and you will likely feel some form of imposter syndrome for years to come.

It is OK to be a professional in your space and NOT KNOW everything. You are not perfect, and it is ok to admit it. We like to have this conversation with new hires at Big Red Jelly and let them know that is totally acceptable for them to tell a client, partner, or coworker “I don’t know”, as long as it is followed up with the action plan to get the information. I have learned, the hard way, that most times people will respect you more if you recognize your faults and weaknesses, but provide a plan to come back better.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I’ve been working on helping to build Big Red Jelly for the last six years. Big Red Jelly is a digital branding and marketing agency that specializes in brand positioning, messaging, and creation.

I studied Public Relations in college, and love to apply the strategic thinking to the creation of brands and websites that help our clients to succeed in the long run. Big Red Jelly aims to be accessible and affordable for those companies that are looking for high-level brand strategy and execution, while filling an industry gap by providing practicable, and applied creativity.

We love to see our brands and clients in action. Setting up our clients for success and watching them take their marketing and advertising to the next level after forming a solid foundation is what gets me up in the morning. We get to work with some of the most passionate entrepreneurs and business owners and that really rubs off on you.

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?
We actually get this question a lot. Usually from new hires or interviewees, so I’ve had some time to think about it.

Assuming you already have a strong understanding of the fundamentals for your craft, the first thing that is required is the ability to sell your skills. I don’t mean you need to have sales experience, but you need to be able to communicate the passion and the work that goes into what you’re creating. Your clients or your audience have to feel the same energy that you feel when you are creating it. Presentational soft skills are everything. Although you might be the best of the best, if you can’t make people understand what goes into it, it doesn’t matter much.

Second, the ability to keep your projects and responsibilities organized. You can call this project management skills, organizational skills, or even time management skills. During the early stages of a creative journey, it’s fair to assume that at some point you’ll be juggling multiple clients, multiple projects, managing your own sales/marketing, learning new tools, and build your own business. Being able to manage each of your responsibilities as a project and keep deadlines is going to be crucial to getting where you want to be.

Last, fail hard and fail fast. Take on those projects that are going to push your skills. You can fail in private so you can win in public. In the creative space, you have to put a little bit of your heart and soul into each of your projects (if you’re not,… I have other concerns) and sometimes that can be scary, but you have to push yourself to grow and learn and that will mean that you will fail. The faster and harder you fail, the faster you will refine your skills and strengths.

We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
About three years ago, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Big Red Jelly made a pretty big decision to niche down in our service offerings. We used to offer full-service digital marketing services; social media management, social ads, google ads, SEO, graphic design, website design, analytics, etc. At this moment, we decided what would be best was to stop offering all of our services except for branding and website design. Essentially overnight we lost about two thirds of our revenue streams and had to focus on the being the absolute best option for our clients for branding and website services.

At the time, it was scary. The whole world was uncertain and we didn’t make it any easier on ourselves, but it did not take long for us to start to see REAL results from that decision. Our clients were happier with more refined deliverables and more knowledgable employees, hiring become much easier and more straight-forward, and revenues supported making Big Red Jelly a competitive employer with our culture, compensation, and benefits.

Focus on what you’re good at and forget the rest. If you’re the best graphic designer, don’t try to do copy writing for your clients. Do design! You will see much bigger and faster results by focusing on your strengths and finding partners or supporters to take your clients further in the areas you don’t want to do. You will be thankful you did and so will your clients.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
https://www.instagram.com/conleejanephoto/

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Confidence
Building Blocks of Success: Confidence & Self Esteem

BoldJourney is all about helping our audience and community level up by learning from the

Confidence
Champion Mindset: Building Confidence & Self-Esteem

Every day, our team is focused on how to help our audience and community reach

Productivity
Boosting Productivity Through Self-Care

When you have a never-ending to-do list it can feel irresponsible to engage in self-care,