Today we’d like to introduce you to Erik Stafford.
Hi Erik, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I have been artistically inclined from a very young age, skills my parents supported with endless reams of paper and boxes of pens, pencils, and paints. I even sold pencil drawings recreated from Sunday newspaper comics sections (Hagar the Horrible, Andy Capp) door-to-door to my neighbors as a budding, seven years old entrepreneur.
Growing up in Chicago, I became interested in graffiti as a teenager and fascinated with the concept of achieving the “fame” (notoriety) that came with painting walls and trains across the city as a street artist.
Under the pseudonym “GEAR” I painted murals in dozens of different neighborhoods and inaccessible places throughout Chicago during my high school years. Yes, I was arrested a couple of times. I also sold airbrushed jackets to gang members in high school to finance my continued comic book addiction and the growing expense of purchasing more professional art supplies and growing interest in dating 🙂
I eventually went to college and earned myself a BFA in Fine Arts from The Ohio State University. As an artist, Erik I, self-promoted, organized and sold-out multiple solo gallery shows in Chicago, Columbus Ohio, Miami, and Los Angeles. I met my wife Wendy on a blind date in college, and we are still happily married 23 years later. Together, we have co-created two amazingly wonderful (and occasionally infuriating) children named Rowan and Evan 🙂
It was my wife who encouraged me to take my artistic and marketing skills online. In 1999 we moved to San Francisco, and I began learning to use tools like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Dreamweaver and Macromedia Flash to build websites and market products online.
While I still create artwork, in my more recent professional career, I have released several digital training products and consulted on high-profile launches and campaigns for the world’s biggest brands… I built my own marketing agency, and in 2020, I eventually landed my dream job as Creative Director at Aimclear.
After stints in San Francisco, Seattle, and The Cayman Islands, my family and I now live in the small town of Cape Coral, Florida. When I’m not working, I can usually be found painting, floating in the pool, reading, journaling, or ensconced in my kitchen perfecting various ethnic dishes.
I am fascinated by the strategy involved in tying audiences to objectives with a combination of direct response copywriting, design, storytelling, and brand strategy.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I think all of us face challenges in our personal and business lives, it’s just part of being a human. And so while the road has been smooth at times, there have also been some very dark times.
My mother is a perfect example of this.
My mom did not have an easy life. She was married three times, first to a man who was killed in Vietnam (imagine getting that news) then to my father, and finally to a contractor named Mark.
None of them lasted.
Most of my memories of my mom are not of her being married… Mostly, I remember her being single and struggling to provide for us.
My mom, at times, was a Tupperware saleswoman, a secretary, an apartment complex manager, and a phone collections agent. She donated blood and occasionally participated in weird scientific experiments for extra cash.
My mom drove a busted station wagon with wood paneling.
She went on food stamps when she had to.
Despite all this, my tiny little stressed-out, chain-smoking mom was literally ALWAYS SMILING. She always had a pot of soup going and was always bringing strangers home and feeding them.
This is her legacy.
It’s that positive energy in the face of overwhelming odds, a determination to make the best of any situation. And this is a story similar to one you’ll hear from most entrepreneurs.
Maybe all entrepreneurs don’t grow up struggling financially… But trust me, there’s struggle somewhere. A mentally tough period of time. A health challenge, or a pivot that caused real stress, worry, and unhappiness.
You won’t read about these on Facebook or in magazines.
Or if you do, they’ll be romanticized.
But believe me, there’s nothing romantic about not knowing where your groceries for the week are coming from. It’s stressful. It causes people to drink, or smoke, or overeat, or lash out in anger.
This is the struggle. We all have it. But just because we do, doesn’t mean it has to dictate your life.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Aimclear® is a driven, integrated marketing agency dominant in customer acquisition. We’ve won nearly 20 US Search Awards, including 5X most recent Best Integrated Agency. Aimclear integrates brand and performance marketing to help clients strike a balance between safe and stunning.
Credits include Uber, eBay, Airbnb, PayPal, Dell, LinkedIn, Etsy, Gumtree, Eurail, Firestone, INC Magazine, Amazon, Famous Dave’s, Martha Stewart Omni, Intel, Travelocity, Macy’s, GoDaddy, 3M, Siemens, Land’s End, and many more.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
No amount of money is worth being unhappy.
I started 2016 with a healthy mid-six figure income as a marketing consultant. We had several clients paying us $2,500/month for consulting but truthfully, I didn’t like the work I was doing for them.
And I felt like an ungrateful bastard for being unhappy.
Who gets to work barefoot next to their pool and workout whenever they want, eat lunch out everyday, and watch European soccer non-stop?
Well, I did… But I hated the work I had to do in order to live my life that way.
In 2016, I realized that if I was willing to settle for being unhappy and feeling unfulfilled, I might as well get a traditional office job and stop lying to myself.
So I realigned my business.
This took lots of (sometimes painful) soul searching and required me to re-think what I do, who I do it for, and why it matters. It led to us losing (or letting go of) almost all of our clients and pretty much starting over.
Same thing happened in 2019 when I realized my highly successful freelance agency wasn’t serving my soul. I was making great money, but I was unhappy, so I transitioned to an in-house job at Aimclear and haven’t looked back.
Each time we’ve checked-in with our soul and made a pivot, it’s been worth it. We’ve always made it through (of course) and let me tell you, what’s on the other side has always been completely worth it 🙂
Each time I do this it becomes easier and more rewarding…
So if you’re unhappy with your business or spending your days doing things you hate, I suggest you dig in here and find ways to outsource, automate, realign, get a job or new career, or even sell your business and move on to where you want to be.
Contact Info:
- Email:Â [email protected]
- Website:Â www.aimclear.com
- Instagram:Â https://www.instagram.com/aimclearerik/
- Facebook:Â https://www.facebook.com/erikdstafford
- Twitter:Â https://twitter.com/erikdstafford
