Meet Jess Jones of Neon Heart Creative

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jess Jones.

Hi Jess, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hi! I’m Jess and I own a small business called Neon Heart Creative. I’ve been many things over the years, but I think my design career started when I bought my house. I’d looked for the right house for YEARS, and finally I found it. It was a Mid-Century Modern Atlanta hidden gem, so I definitely wanted an Instagram for it – thus @tinymightymidmod began. I truly enjoyed posting the at home DIYs and updates I was making, but also how I was styling everything. Then the pandemic hit. I was the Culture and Events Manager for a digital marketing agency and LOVED my job, but alas, with no more events and no more people in offices, I was laid off. At this point, my home Instagram was kinda taking off. I was pouring a lot of my heart and soul into figuring out how to do things myself because we were still in quarantine and didn’t feel comfortable having contractors in the house. I posted all of my successes and all of my mistakes and just made it very educational and positive. Very “you can do it!” I was getting messages every day asking for advice on decor and design and sometimes spending hours with complete strangers on Zoom walking them through what I would do. And then I realized – hey, I can actually help people with this stuff! So in all of the chaos, Neon Heart Creative was born, and I found my new dream job – my very own little design business! I had GREAT mentors and amazing friends backing me, and it took off even more quickly than I could imagine. I think people were home so much that they wanted to make their homes look better. I loved being able to help them – and still do!

Alright, 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?
As far as actually getting business, it started off smoothly – almost too smoothly! I kept waiting for the shoe to drop, but the clients and work have just kept coming. The bigger challenges have been on the business side – I’d never owned a business – I just liked designing. Pricing is a great example: I’m still figuring out how to value myself in the marketplace, and I have to keep myself from giving everybody a discount. (Because I love doing this, and I used to do this for free!) I’ve definitely made a few mistakes, but I’m learning, and I think most people appreciate the way that I try to be up front about things. That’s why I have all of my pricing up front on my website – I want people to feel comfortable and confident, especially when pricing with contractors can get really confusing. I keep telling myself this is what the first year of business is for, learning and being proud of myself when I work out new practices for my business going forward.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk design. What should we know?
Neon Heart Creative is currently a small interior design, decor, and styling business. My approach to design is to pay respect to the original architecture and year your space was built with how we pick your design and decor – Pair that with things you truly love, and we’ve found the heart of your home! Lately, I’ve kind of become known for modernizing kitchen and bathrooms using what you already have and without having to gut the entire thing. Think $5K instead of $30K! I think people like working with me because I work WITH you. I want to make sure you’re loving every step and are finding joy in the decor and design that we’re implementing together.

What are your plans for the future?
It’s been almost exactly a year since I started, and so it’s a bit crazy to already be thinking of the future! I know that eventually, I’d love to build out a team – different designers for different styles for every need. I specifically picked the word “creative” instead of “design” at the end so that the business could morph a little if I ever wanted it to. In the long term, it would be great to offer not only design services but having go-to general contractors, muralists, textile designers, masonry, etc. – all under this umbrella of Neon Heart Creative!

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: neonheartcreative.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/neonheartcreative
• Other: instagram.com/tinymightymidmod