Joseph ‘JoJo’ Simmons has advice for creators looking to diversify their income.

Carrying The Torch

As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Simmons is the son of Rev Run and has made several splashes on television through “Run’s House,” “Growing Up Hip Hop,” and “King of Newark.”

Simmons took a page from his father’s book and learned from the successes of other family members, including his uncle Russell — who founded Phat Farm and Def Jam — as he mentioned on the “Black Tech Green Money” podcast hosted by AFROTECH™ Brand Manager Will Lucas.

“Growing up and watching not only my dad perform for thousands of people and watching my uncle go in rooms and close deals that were amazing deals, not just like Phat Farm or Def Jam deals, but doing things where he was stopping gun violence in New York. He was really showing up in those type of spaces,” Simmons shared on the podcast.

“I think watching that, being inspired by the ones before me — like I said, my dad, my uncle — and the older ones in front of me showing me what was really important in life, really molded me to understand what was important as I got older,” Simmons added.

3isFor

Simmons founded the New York-based creative studio 3isFor in 2022 alongside his childhood friends David Dow and Kris Karl, its website reads. The studio exists to amplify people of all backgrounds and create narratives that reflect client experiences. Initially, its projects were solely within the cannabis space, but there was not a lot of revenue, prompting them to expand into other sectors.

“We were telling great stories, that’s what we wanted to do. A lot of the revenue wasn’t there. A lot of these cannabis brands didn’t have money for content,” Simmons reflected on “Black Tech Green Money.”

“They had more money for location and license and all that other stuff, and it wasn’t like we were ready to spend a nice bag on a good content piece of storytelling. So we had to diversify… and go into other spaces and say, ‘Okay, we’re not just good at storytelling in cannabis. We’re good at content storytelling and content strategy for anybody. We’re creatives, right? We’re not just creative in cannabis. We’re creative anywhere,'” Simmons added.

This realization pushed Simmons and his colleagues to diversity their work and expand into other industries while still centering 3isFor’s mission. It’s a lesson he encourages others to adopt.

“So I tell people, ‘Never put yourself in a box.’ You can do more than just one thing and you can do more than you envision, especially if you find your strengths and you lean into your strengths. Your strengths can lead you to so many different places, not just the place that you thought you could go,” he continued.

Hear The Full Interview with Joseph Simmons

Catch the full conversation with Simmons on “Black Tech Green Money.”