Millennial Entrepreneurship: Changing the Way We Work

Did you get an opportunity to read our first conversation on Millennial Entrepreneurship? I spoke with Rachel Ritlop on Why You Should Have a Life Mission Statement.

Next up in the Millennial Entrepreneurship Series I had a chat with Contrecia Tharpe, aka Trecie. She is the founder and owner of NeuIMC, a boutique PR, marketing and communications firm for small businesses, athletes and entertainers.

Trecie has had the quite the entrepreneurship journey, starting off with a bit of Architecture and Biochemistry, then transitioning to Make-Up Artistry and finally into her current role as branding guru to clients in Nashville, Tennessee and nationwide.

I was thrilled to get her perspective as a 30-something millennial in the branding and PR industry who has seen the rise of the millennial entrepreneur generation.

*Note: This conversation is summarized and paraphrased to communicate the essence of the ideas & topics discussed. Quotes from Trecie are highlighted in italics with quotation marks.

CW: Happy we could set up a time to talk Trecie! I know we’ve bumped into each other around the Twitter-verse, but we finally meet!

CT: Same here girl! Glad we could make some time to talk!

CW: Tell me about NeuIMC, how’s it pronounced? *laugh* And where’d the idea come from?

CT: *laugh* Neu as in new and IMC stands for Integrated Marketing and Communications, which says everything that we’re about as a firm. I really just wanted something different that described what I wanted to do for my clients in its entirety.

CW: How did you get into this industry? What was your entrepreneurship journey like?

CT: It definitely wasn’t a straight and narrow road. I mean, my very first degree was a double-major in Architecture and Biochemistry. But all through college I had this Make-Up Artistry side-hustle and realized that I really enjoyed interacting with my clients. They were entertainers, athletes, artistes, I came to love the PR and marketing world through interacting with them.

I went back to school for Marketing and Communications while I was still working in corporate America in Finance.  That wasn’t my passion, I felt unfulfilled…so I quit 3 years after starting my business and never looked back.  I have, also, grown the business into a brand coaching and consulting firm to assist those who need help with marketing and PR, but don’t have the budget to support contractual work.

CW: I can definitely identify with your journey because I started out in Biology, so we have that in common. Then my focus shifted to food and now I’m working in social media marketing.

CT: Yeah, it can definitely be challenging to figure out what you want to do at 18 or even 20, or older. I always tell millennials younger than I am, to just do the thing they love, especially if they have a safety net. If you can get by on minimal pay for a while, do the thing you love, get the experience, and build on that.

CW: For sure. Do you think the millennial entrepreneurship experience is different than that of entrepreneurs of previous generations?

CT: I think it is because in this digital world everyone is so connected. The 6 degrees of separation are now completely gone, and anyone can get to anyone.

“I also think that the stereotypes of millennials and dreamers and not workers, make it difficult for Gen Y entrepreneurs to build and business, be respected and collaborate.” But what GenX-ers and Baby Boomers aren’t quite understanding is the change the millennials are bringing to the world of work. We work differently; it’s not the blood and sweat (the tears are still there) kind of work, it’s more the sit in front of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram until 2 am kind of work.

CW: Oh yes. That’s something they don’t quite understand. It took my parents a while to come to terms with calling me sitting in front of a computer at home, more than likely in my pajamas, work.

CT: I know! My dad is a US Marshal and he would say I should get up and go find a job when he’d see me on Facebook for half the day. I’m like dad, this is my job. They don’t quite realize the different nature of the work we do, and I think they have trouble reconciling it as work.

CW: I definitely agree with you there. I know we talked about this a bit, but what are some of the challenges you had to go through as a millennial entrepreneur setting up and now running your business?

CT: I think that a struggle we all have as millennial entrepreneurs is the initial idea that entrepreneurship is easy. The barrier to entry may be lower, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. We end up trying to take these courses and learn from others who’ve already achieved their success, thinking that if we replicate the exact same thing, we’ll get success as well.

Now I’m not knocking courses, I’m in the processes of creating my own in August on effective digital communications regardless of industry or profession, but “I think that we fail to realize that entrepreneurship is a very unique journey for each person”. Then when we try to implement the strategies we’ve received, and we fail, we give up. We don’t realize that duplication isn’t going to bring us success, and entrepreneurship isn’t a copy-paste formula. You have to look at what’s out there and often times tweak it to make it work for you.

“So many of us have brilliant ideas, but are handed the wrong information. We have to be eager to make it work, and not expect it to be easy. Be aware of the differences, and know that you learn going through the process.”

CW: Yes, yes, yes, and yes. Thank you for sharing that, I recognize so much truth there, even for myself.

Final question, if you could have a sit-down-talk with any expert entrepreneur in their field, who would it be, and what would you ask them?

CT: I’d love to talk to Lilly Singh, aka IISuperwomanII. She is a prime example of millennial success. What she’s done in just a few years is really phenomenal, and because of her touchy subjects like depression are more spoken about because she’s had the courage to tell her story her way. I’d ask her questions about how she worked to developed her brand and what it was like building a team; I’d really want to know the little things too. What does she do, day-to-day, the small things that play a role in her success to date.

Check out Trecie on Twitter and NeuIMC.com! You can also follow her on Instagram and Facebook!