Meet Anthony Cass Clarke of The ACC Branding Agency, Thoughts Over Coffee in Fort Lauderdale

Today we’d like to introduce you to Anthony Cass Clarke.

Anthony Cass, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’ll try to be as brief as possible. Lol, I was born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, FL. I was raised by my Mother and Father. My Mother and Father are an unlikely pair but somehow make for an excellent team. My mother is a mild-mannered, sweet and kind woman that comes from a very small town in South Carolina, a population of about 2000. My Father is a steel-backed, principle-based man from Montego Bay, Jamaica. Neither one of my parents are entrepreneurs but somehow, I caught the bug.

I would say that my journey somewhat started in Middle School. In Middle School, I can remember writing books and attempting to launch a self-publishing company. I would come up with all types of concepts and get other students to invest. One that I can vividly remember is a go-cart manufacturing company that I wanted to start that would specialize in building go-carts for kids out of locally sourced material aka junk. I had a group of students donating a portion of their lunch money to my concept every day. The idea never went past the beginning stages, but it proved that I had tremendous creativity and the ability to influence.

Throughout my entire school career, I was never a good student. I was what you would call a curious learner. I would excel in classes that I was generally interested in but barely pass or fail the classes that I could care less about. I graduated high school with little idea of what I wanted to do with my life. At the time, I didn’t know any entrepreneurs or really see any besides rappers and athletes. I knew that I didn’t want to be an entertainer or a guy just hanging around the hood. I knew that I wanted to be in business I but I just didn’t know-how.

I got my start into business on South Beach when I was 20 years old. I met a guy named Jay Zoe who at the time was running promo street teams for most of the night clubs on South Beach. Jay gave me an opportunity to pass out flyers on the beach for him. The pay was small but the unseen potential was great. I knew that passing out flyers on South beach would lead me to develop great relationships and put me in a position to learn.

I distributed flyers for a while until I was approached by one of my best friends with a business idea. The idea would develop into my 1st business “Smash Zoo.” Smash Zoo was a media company that offered photography, videography, graphic design services. Having a camera would give me the opportunity to finally gain access into the night clubs that always denied me due to my age. Our USP (Unique selling proposition) was that we would let promoters, managers etc know that we would take photos in the club and have them edited and posted to Facebook the next morning before club-goers would even wake up the next day. People quickly started to recognize us as a go-to for media services and we began to grow the company that way.

Smash Zoo grew to a point where I felt as though my passion for it was exhausted. I needed something new. After attempting a few failed ideas, I was eventually inspired by the late great Combat Jack to launch a podcast with my Co-host Steven Dacres AKA Big Steve and later added Co-host Ransooo. We launched The 4th Quarter Life podcast in 2014 which was a podcast telling the detailed stories of local entrepreneurs and Creatives and covering business news in a young and fun way. The podcast went on from 2014-2018 with relative success. The podcast gave me the opportunity to reconnect and further my relationships with people who I met while running Smash Zoo.

While podcasting, I was planning, studying and learning how to eventually launch my marketing/branding agency. I officially launched The ACC Branding Agency in 2017. The ACC Branding Agency is a full-service digital marketing agency specializing in social media marketing, campaign management, and content curation. The ACC Branding Agency has helped businesses position themselves among top ranking competitors in the marketplace. We have helped some clients with almost double sales. I also launched my personal development brand “Thoughts Over Coffee” that features a daily podcast titled “Thoughts Over Coffee Daily” which is a daily podcast that covers the thoughts of an everyday entrepreneur. The brand also features a live panel/networking event titled “Thoughts Over Coffee LIVE.”

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has definitely not been a smooth one. Some of the struggles that I faced while on the journey was dealing with rejection, negative dollars in the bank account, and having family believe in me.

One story that I still talk about is using my last bit of money to travel to Atlanta to connect with an executive and to do some podcast work for him. My co-host Big Steve and I put our money together, rented a car, traveled to Atlanta just to be completely ghosted by this executive. No phone calls, No text messages, no emails just silence. That experience left my confidence dead and made me question if this journey was even worth it.

Attempting to chase your dreams with no money is HARD especially when you lose your job while already being broke. There was a time where I got laid off from my job that was my main source of income. I was in the middle of moving, I totaled my car and owed the insurance company and had to take the city bus for transportation, Life felt as though it was ending. I can remember constantly thinking to myself “How could I call myself an entrepreneur?” I felt like a complete fraud. Here I am podcasting about entrepreneurship and could barely pay my bills. Little did I know that the entire experience was a character builder trial. I came out on the other end stronger than ever with a new perspective on life. When life tries to crush you, you must never waver from the mission and fight back with every fiber of your being.

Tell us about your work. What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of? What sets you apart from others?
What do I do: I am a Digital Marketer, Brand Strategist, and Podcaster.

What I specialize in: I specialize in helping businesses find their voices online and building the connection between them and the consumer using a unique branding/marketing strategy.

What am I known for?: I would say that I am known for value. People find value in me when it comes to growing businesses and providing insight.

What am I most proud of as a brand?: I am most proud of the fact that my Thoughts Over Coffee brand is helping people in a real way. People reach out to me letting me know how much my podcast or event has changed their lives for the better. Knowing that I am helping people find purpose in this crazy world is a feeling unmatched.

What sets me apart from others? What sets me apart from others is sheer dedication. I am one that believes that we are blessed with individual talents and gifts but not everyone is blessed with the mindset of dedication. When all else fails, your level of dedication is what matters.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
My proudest moment has to be the day that I left my “career”, as a paralegal, to become a full-time Digital marketer, Founder, and Entrepreneur.

Contact Info:

• Website: Accbranding.com
• Phone: 9546730546
• Email: Aclarke@accbranding.com
• Instagram: cass4ql

Image Credit:
Photography: Bishop Dinham Photography, Bp Dre Photography, Livity Visuals, Kri8ed Visuals

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