Jamey Ice likes hats, both the real and proverbial kind. He wears a lot of both.
You may know him as co-founder of the 6th Ave Storytelling marketing firm and 6th Ave Homes real estate company, as co-founder of the Magnolia Avenue restaurant BREWED, or maybe as host of the popular podcast “Stories with Soul.” Going back a little further, you might know him as founding member and lead guitarist of the band Green River Ordinance. Then again, to some folks, he might be best known as the husband of Melissa Ice, founder and executive director of The Net, a nonprofit dedicated to helping survivors of sexual exploitation. For purposes of this story, let’s just call him Jamey Ice, Top 100 Entrepreneur of the Year.
Ice’s marketing firm, 6th Ave Storytelling, specializes in helping businesses grow by telling great stories. Jamey has a wealth of stories to tell and some sound advice to offer, starting with not waiting on others to lead you to your dreams.
“You create your own opportunities,” he says. “Success does not just happen or come to you. You have to work for it, put yourself out there and chase it down. I learned early on in music that there were far more talented musicians than myself, but it’s not about how talented you are, it’s whether you are willing to put in the work.”
Hunger and drive are the two qualities that are absolutely essential to success, Ice says, and it’s a formula he has followed ever since earning his first paycheck as a lifeguard.
“You have to possess an internal hunger and drive to succeed that is not afraid to fail or make mistakes,” he says. “When you want something bad enough, the rewards will always outweigh the consequences and hardships. Entrepreneurship, launching a business, is never easy and is always riddled with challenges. The ones that succeed are the ones that can not only endure problems and challenges, but also embrace them as lessons, learning experiences and opportunities.
High on the list of suggestions he would offer aspiring entrepreneurs: “The entrepreneurs and small business owners who succeed often succeed because they are willing to experiment and fail. You must be able to press into the unknown.”
And this: “Inspect what you expect and you are what you tolerate. Don’t be afraid to hold people accountable and have high standards. The flip side to that is that you have to make sure you are crystal clear as to what success is.”
Ice says one of the biggest challenges facing those pursuing business careers today is learning how to prioritize. He says most people’s default approach is generally to focus on things that are urgent, instead of on things that are important. A “yes” to one thing is always a “no” to something else.
“As a leader we have to constantly prioritize and refocus our attention on the things that make the biggest impact,” he says. “What is the one big domino you could knock over that would knock over several others? It’s far easier to answer emails and check things off a to-do list. But it is the big important projects, the big dominoes that make the biggest impact.”
So, with everything Ice has done so far, is there another profession he’d like to try?
“I have tried a lot of them,” he says. “I joke about going to law school and trying my hand at being an attorney. I love contracts and negotiations. I also studied philosophy in college (at TCU) and my backup plan was to go into law.”
