Entrepreneurs and true icons in industries are hard to come by nowadays. The person needs to have the perfect combination of cunning and smarts with a hint of craziness in order to become successful. As many of my followers know, I travel the world to verify entrepreneurs that are creative and smart enough to make a real impact in this crazy world. I am happy to say that I have found one of these entrepreneurs and his name is Brandon Mimms out of Niagara Falls (located in Ontario, Canada).
It was actually by chance that I had met Brandon. I was traveling to Canada to give a speech about social media and its impacts on brands and how they develop into new strategies for marketing. After the conference had finished, I had stopped at a local coffee shop to get coffee. This is where I met a charming young man who was hard at work. I was intrigued by his style and what he was doing as he was the only one in the coffee shop seemingly driven by his work, especially in the quiet, slow paced town of Niagara Falls that I was in. As I sat down to talk to him to figure out why he was so encapsulated in his work, I saw that what he was working on was Instagram and social media marketing. As we got to talking, I learned that while most people in the small town were the traditional 9-5 workers, Brandon, deep inside, never saw himself as that type of person. As most of my readers know, I have never believed that you can build a spirit of entrepreneurship, you are born with it. Come to find out, Brandon started his whole entrepreneurship journey building social media accounts. His first social media account was a Twitter account that he grew to over 500,000 followers. Then due to the size of that account, advertisers, companies, and influencers all started reaching out to him to promote their services on his account. This is when Brandon realized he was on the verge of something spectacular.
Instead of sticking with Twitter, the major pivot in Brandon’s career began. He started creating social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram, including owning the official account of Niagara Falls. In the current day, Brandon has over 5 million Instagram followers, 1 million Facebook followers, and over 500,000 Twitter followers. With this massive audience, Brandon has been able to make a substantial living and support himself and his family. This is why I emphasize carving out your own path to my readers and Brandon reiterated the same message: realize that the traditional 9-5 will not achieve your happiness if that is not what you are destined to do in life.
For Brandon, the future is bright for him. As with anyone in Entrepreneurship, you can never guarantee anything, but it seems like Brandon has set himself up for success and he even plans to open up a Digital Marketing and Branding agency in order to spread his vast knowledge and experiences to kids and companies alike. Now that is what entrepreneurship means to me.