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

Hi Jonathan, we’d love to start by asking you about lessons learned. Is there a lesson you can share with us?
– Follow what feels good and is in integrity, because that is resonate work (aka. it won’t feel much like work). I have found that over my career I have tried to force myself to do and be things that I am just not wired for. Doing things outside of your comfort zone, learning, and problem-solving is the name of the game in Entrepreneurship and Design. I think those experiences are extremely valuable because they help us grow as individuals, but when those things because ongoing activities that drain you so much that you can’t even do the things in your genius zone then you start to have a problem. I found personally that when I powered through and did things to please or not disappoint others or because I thought “it was what I was supposed to do”, I often end up disappointing myself and being too drained to do the things that actually get me excited. – Not following these resonate activities and people have also had negative results beyond just not “feeling good”, it can have financial repercussions. For example, In the past, I have taken on dissonant clients and partners. They gave me a weird feeling in my gut and I even notice myself feeling fidgety or unable to communicate as clearly as normal. I would make a million and one excuses for the feeling to justify them with logic. I now realized I was working with these people or on projects that weren’t the right fit for me out of a scarcity mindset. I thought I needed the money and that work RIGHT NOW instead of being patient and seeking out the type of work, clients, and partners that made me feel alive when I worked. Consequently, the 2 times that have happened for me in the past with my design clients those clients have stiffed or ghosted me on bills and with partnership contracts for our other businesses. Trust me, the hindsight was 20/20 here and the writing was on the wall. Now I trust my gut and logic equally when making business decisions and since I have made that shift things have exploded.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
– This feels like a loaded question, haha! The challenges are to be expected, but I view them more as learning and expanding opportunities. I have learned to be a self-starter and if don’t know something or how to do it I know I can learn enough to be dangerous in just about any subject (I mean we have Google, no one has an excuse for not knowing something now, right?). I have always been a problem solver at heart and it is why I have been given the opportunities to be a designer for Fortune 500 companies like Chegg and had the entrepreneurial bug to make things in this world, even simple things like rolling your sleeves, better. – The main thing I want people to know across all my business is that I believe our purpose here is to make the world a better place. Through all of my projects, I always lead with Love, Light, and Integrity to provide the best services and products to help you be the best version of yourself.
– For CuffedUp, we have created an all-new category of fashion accessories with our products for purpose function, and fashion. We have had the pleasure of selling over 30,000 cuffs since we launched just a couple of years ago. We make all of our Cufflets here in the USA leveraging female sewers and leatherworkers. We also feature a Cuff of the Month where we give back to survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking.
– For Chameleon By Design, I have crafted my business into a sudo agency as I am building out my network with niche designers and illustrators, brand strategists, ad buyers, copywriters, and developers. I am proud to be able to provide a wide variety of skills to my client base from branding, packaging, collateral, environmental, and web design to name a few. I have learned a lot by pushing myself to take on new projects that push my skills and abilities, learning from books and the wonderful tool called the internet to hone not only my technical skills as a designer and keep my perspective broad and my imagination churning.
– For Spur Startup, what sets us apart is we have condensed the core of our entrepreneurship degrees into a digestible and affordable online course. We also developed a journal specifically designed for entrepreneurs called the Founder’s Journal. The Founder’s Journal is designed to allow entrepreneurs to visualize their progress, stay focused on the positive, quantify their impact, and track just how much they are growing over a 6 month period. We have been able to private label this journal tp large companies like Paycom.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
– For Food: – Tei-An for Japanese, it is where we had our wedding party and some of the best Asian in Dallas
– Origin Kitchen and Bar for amazing food all around, their ability to tailor to any food sensitivity makes it an easy pick for anyone
– Cafe Madrid for yummy tapas
– Bistro 31 for great European food and atmosphere
– Eddie V’s for great food and live jazz
– Chocolate Secrets for amazing chocolate and wine
– Steel City Pops for awesome popsicles
– For experiences
– The Dallas Arboretum for nature, gorgeous flowers, music events, and talking while we walk
– Bowen House or Atwater Alley for a cool speakeasy-style bar
– Punch Bowl Social/Deep Ellum
– Park House – My go-to workspace during the day and a fun place to entertain friends and family in the evenings and on the weekends.
– For Shopping/Walking
– Highland Park Village – great brand and always fun to window-shop at the very least
– Walking around Highland Park is an often go-to for us, I call it continued motivation, occasionally make out way onto the Katy Trail.
– Klyde Warren Park for walking and Food Trucks
– For the best time:
– Game Night at the Barton House – For a good strategy board game, cards against humanity, N64, and more with a home-cooked meal by my wife and I or delivery Pizza from i Fratelli, and you’ll probably not want to leave!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My amazingly talented and supportive wife, Maggie. She is a bad-ass entrepreneur, investor, and artist in her own right. Thank you so much for all your support on our unconventional career path together. All of our successes and growth would not be possible without her.

Website: https://chameleonbydesign.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jon.s.barton/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-s-barton-82465266/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jon.schick

Other: https://cuffedup.com https://spurstartup.com

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