We had the good fortune of connecting with Jason Robinson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jason, have you ever found yourself in a spot where you had to decide whether to give up or keep going? How did you make the choice?

This topic very quickly put a smile on my face. Reason being, on many occasions in my life I thought about quitting, and truly thought it was the only option. Truth is, I’ve faced a lot of adversity in my life, much of which during the time of the adversity, I had no idea how I would overcome my circumstances. What I’ve learned through each and every issue I have ever faced in my life is this; If you really love something you’ll find a way to see it through. Now on a few occasions in my life, I didn’t know that, and I hold a little regret from each of those things. But that little bit of regret has springboarded me into a really tough and savvy entrepreneurs, and has made me tough in many other regions of my life as well.

I think that as long as you have a vision

and you can see your way to at least the next step, then you should persevere through your adversity. In order to do that; before you ever quit anything you need to give yourself some time to clear your head and vision. When you are boggled down with so many things it is easy to believe you can never achieve what you truly believe in, but trust me when I say this, you can! A lot of the time, the losses you think that are destroying you are actually playing a major role in why you’ll be successful and resilient later on in your career or life. Often times, we let those set backs break us down and make us quit before those things can even prove true. You have to stick it and see it through!

I also think that on the contrary, there are very clear moments that you know for a fact that it is time to hang it up. Sometimes things begin to effect your health, and the people around you. In my opinion, the purpose of a dream and/or a goal is to improve your life, not destroy it (but sometimes it does get dark before dawn). Be patient with yourself overall, and trust your intuition while using your best discernment, if you’re questioning yourself right now, you got this, really dig into why things may not be working, and begin correcting those things, you should see improvement. If you have exhausted all possibilities with no improvement, well then yes maybe it’s time to move towards something new, but more often than not we haven’t even began making the adjustments. That is the first step on a long windy road to success, enjoy the journey, it will be worth it.

-@distinguishd_jason
“Distinguish yourself from the rest.”
www.distinguishdminds.com

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Well today its hard to know if I’m an artist anymore, or if I’m a businessman. I’d like to believe I’m an artist, but I had to learn a lot about how to develop my art into a business, and you quickly realize that it changes the way you create. Art is very raw, and though I still leave a lot of the rawness in my art, I have also learned to polish it up, and put it in clean packaging so that it is enticing to consumers. This is a very typical hurdle for artists. It is very difficult to let go of the reins, but when we do it allows the business to flourish. As of recent, much of this learned throughout the process of developing the Distinguish’d Minds x Footlocker collaboration that will launch in late March, early April. Anytime you are dealing with corporate accounts you have to be exact and focused on the true goals and benchmarks. Sometimes in art that part isn’t as fun, but id you take the time to learn the landscape, it can be, and you can use the bigger platforms to make better impact with your brand and the way you story tell. I hope everyone loves what we plan to deliver it is very very good!

Another hurdle that is tough to realize and overcome is that business and clout are two different things. A strong business receives a lot of clout, but it is not clout that builds the business. I think I’ll leave that as a standing statement that hopefully gets someone thinking.

Overall nothing about being an artists and business person is easy. It takes time, passion, energy and etc to create, develop, and sell. Distinguish’d Minds, and 417 Agency are both true testaments to that.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

Well where I stay is right between Sacramento and the Bay. I’ve lived, grown up, and spent time all up and down 880 ( the major highway that connects Northern California), so we’ll do it like this:

Friday night – We’ll go to Sacramento and Hit Tiger. It’s a little more low-key on Friday nights, and you don’t have to wait in the extremely long line that is a popping Saturday there. Tiger is the hottest club in Sac as I write this, it gives you high end, well dressed swanky vibes, which is just what Sac had been missing. If you’re lucky you’ll get to check out the dinner reservations at Tiger.

Or we can hit First Friday Oakland!
Saturday Morning – We’ll do brunch and wine tasting overviewing the Napa Valley, Too many hot spots to name, just ride with me and trust that I’ll show you a great time.
We’ll leave from there and hit a Ramen spot, if you know me, you know I love Ramen. two of my favorite spots currently are Ippudo Berkeley, and Marafuku Oakland, I’ll let you choose which name sounds cooler to you, because both are bomb.
By Saturday night we’ll hit some fun vibes in the Oakland party scene, there are always great things to do, and Oakland has the best community of people. Trapsoul, anotherpartyfam, more vibes, and a ton of other event coordinators and clubs will always keep it poppin in the bay!!
On Sunday – we will do a nice brunch at one of the really beautiful food spots in SF my current favorite is Spark Social. My Buddy Anthony has Sundaze, so we definitely have to swing by after and grab a drink. and then we’ll head back into Oakland to check Out Hello Stranger day party.
If you’re lucky I might switch up the entire vibes and take you to museums and Foodieland. Depends on the mood and the time of year, But I always promise good vibes.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Man so many people here deserve a shoutout for playing a part in my ride to success, that its kind of scary that I may miss someone, so I’m going to speak more general. Imagine a hitchhiker going car to car as they travel across country. Well, I would play the role of the hitchhiker, and I’ve been in more cars that I could ever imagine, soaking up so much information, and love. I think so many people out there know when and where these times happened, while others maybe didn’t even know I was sitting in the backseat of their cars listening closely. I’ve been a sponge my entire life. I’ve enjoyed nerding out watching and learning processes all the way down to their most minute functions. I’ve never truly had a mentor, so I have spent my entire life piecing things together. I used to think it was a disadvantage, but honestly I think the variety of experiences I’ve come across, verses the few mentors I could have been exposed to has made me truly well rounded, and actually a much stronger talent than most. I was able to seek out what I wanted, and that in itself was a major lesson. How do you even do that?

I’d like to thank each and everyone of you and moreso God for placing you all in my life and giving me the where-with-al to always be up for the challenges of life.

Website: www.distinguishdminds.com

Instagram: @distinguishd_jason

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/distinguish%27d-minds

Twitter: www.twitter.com./distinguishd_md

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/distinguishdminds

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DistinguishdMindsClothing

Image Credits
Shot by @asvpyeezus (instagram)

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