Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Tolbert.
Jason, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My Entrepreneurial Journey started back on July 22, 2015. I started We Do Everything Cleaning Company (WDECC) because statistics proved that a cleaning company was the top business to start with the lowest amount of start-up money. This is where I learned the “art of entrepreneurship.” I didn’t know it at that time, but this is where I learned how to brand, how to market, how to network effectively, and how to literally run a business where I made every single decision.
When I was in Corporate America managing 4-1 Million dollar-a-year fortune 500 companies, I was always in some type of training. From sales to hiring and firing, to team building, to coaching and developing, to how to properly schedule payroll hours, to customer retention, I have a wide range of knowledge of how to effective run a business. I like to say that I was paid to learn how to run my own business someday.
Since starting my first business, I have started three other businesses, giving me a total of four businesses total. Tolbert Management Agency (TMA), which is a company that specializes in managing talent, events, and businesses with an emphasis on Brand Coaching and Business Coaching and development was born in 2018 and have been thriving ever since. When talent and people started to literally walk up to me out of the clear blue and ask me to manage them, I knew I had to start another business because I couldn’t have people write a check to me personally instead of an actual business name.
Blue Skies Foundation is the 3rd business that I started in October of 2018. The organization has four main programs right now: Survivors Unite!, Jax Entrepreneurs & Leaders, Authors and Art, and Jax Affirming Faith Interfellowship Sunday Dinner are the names of each. Each program caters to a different community within our community.
Jax Entrepreneurs and Leaders (2400 members in that group) aims to provide effective networking, workshops, and seminars by providing resources, tools, exposure, and advice to each of its members. Our motto is “If Serving Is Beneath You, Then Leading Is Beyond You.” Survivors Unite! is a program that directly serves ALL survivors of ANY type by putting on our annual signature event called the “I’m A Survivor Benefit Gala” where we do nothing but honor 5-7 local prominent survivors that are making a difference in our city. Authors and Art is where we get together the 2nd Tuesday of every other month to showcase 1-2 Authors and about 8-10 artists (of any sort or genre) to promote reading, writing, and literacy and also the ides that it’s ok to have this “thing” (art) inside of you that you MUST get out. If this “art” doesn’t get out, then that person is not quite right/ok. We believe that one MUST have an outlet to release their gifts otherwise they are unfulfilled and somewhat of an empty shell of a person. Jax Affirming Faith Interfellowship Sunday Dinner serves the LGBTQIA+ and its allies community and was born out of the need for members of that community who has no family (maybe they were disowned or had to run away for their own safety) to have a chance to have Sunday Dinner on or around the holidays. We chose Sunday Dinner because Sunday Dinners were the moments and memories were created that lasted a lifetime. We believe that every human should have those memories so this is our chance to help in creating them.
On January 24, 2019, I signed my contract with Praise 107.9FM as a radio personality, where I was affectionately coined “The Architect.” After a year of being on the air COVID-19 hit and I have not been able to get back into the studio due to the nature of my show. The name of radioshow was “The PLUG.” Our goal was to plug small businesses into Jacksonville and Jacksonville right back into its small businesses. There is always two guests and with the size of studio and the fact that there is always an engineer in the studio as well, we cannot properly social distance ourselves, so we will have to wait for some more time to revive our show. My latest venture is effectively branding myself as “the Architect,” Since I cannot go back into the studio just yet, I am gearing to resurrect the “Mind Your Business w The Architect” (a segment from my radioshow) segment where I will travel to local businesses to interview them and their businesses to spotlight them during these times.
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?
It has definitely not been an easy road. Some of my challenges were knowing where to spend my time, energy, and money before I knew what I know now. Other challenges were creating partnerships, learning how to fundraise, finding your target audience, learning how to create my own graphics, branding and marketing, and promotions, just to name a few.
We’d love to hear more about Blue Skies Foundation.
I am most proud that I am self-made. I moved to Jacksonville, FL in November of 2014 and did not have the testimony that my clients, partners, vendors, contractors, etc… were “people that I went to school with.” I had NO CONNECTIONS. Everything that I have accomplished here was built from the ground up (hints why I am known as The Architect”) while meeting people and learning the city as I traveled this journey.
What sets me apart is that I am very consistent and I am always professional and I operate with the client/others mind. If I always put them/others first, I will hit the mark every single time with every single person. Customized World Class Customer Service is what I call it. To do what I do is always “my pleasure.”
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite memory from my childhood would have to be the fact that I am a product of 10. Growing up with ten kinds and two parents in the house you never knew what kind of things would happen from day-to-day. The games that us kids would make-up, the holidays where we would just laugh the whole day through, and the thousands of inside jokes that us kids would laugh about were the best… it was before real life kicked in and I had no worries.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.BlueSkiesFoundations.org
- Phone: (904) 701-8774
- Email: info@BlueSkiesFoundations.org / BlueSkiesFoundations@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Jason_TheArchitect_Tolbert/?fbclid=IwAR3IVwmXBPBY5A1lFjjARsD0oZJvcVDoSkyEVflUksMf2mYoADFK_A7-6jw | https://www.instagram.com/blue_skies_foundations/?hl=en | https://www.instagram.com/tolbert_management_agency/ | https://www.instagram.com/107.9_the_plug/ |
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlueSkiesFoundation | https://www.facebook.com/groups/JAXEL | https://www.facebook.com/wedoeverythingcleaningcompany | https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlyArchitect | https://www.facebook.com/mindyourbusinesspage | https://www.facebook.com/TolbertAgency | https://www.facebook.com/107.9ThePlug
Image Credit:
All pics are events put on by Blue Skies Foundation and Adrian & Shakisha Bracy with Bracy Photos are who the photo credit should go to.
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