Meet Hans Fleurimont | Entrepreneur & Graphic Artist

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

Hi Hans, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Ever since I was a teenager, I always had dreams of building a family business. I didn’t know how I was going to do it or what kind of business I would create but I just knew that I wanted to do business. Back in 2008 when I was leaving the military service, I decided to give it a try. I started a company that focused on doing events and parties at first. I didn’t really have a solid strategy or a plan and so the company went through some issues while I was running it. Basically I didn’t have the right skills to manage and grow the business. Eventually I had to walk away from it because it just wasn’t working out for me and it became more trouble than it was worth.

Several years later, while I was working in the creative industry as a graphic designer, those aspirations of starting a business came back and I had a burning desire to try again and I did. I learned a lot from my first attempt and so this time I had more skills and experience. I decided to create a media company since I was a graphic designer and I really enjoyed creating graphic art. I was able to put a business plan in place and I got some traction at first but I couldn’t sustain the company due to a lack of funding. I was using my savings at the time, which I needed to take care of my wife and my two children. So the second time around was an eye opener to the importance of having some kind of funding available, especially if you are raising a family. So I put the business on hold and I decided to focus on developing my career as a graphic designer until I was able to get my family to a more stable position.

The third time around was in 2020. It was in the early stages of the pandemic. I felt more confident in myself and my skills and I’ve been studying and researching a lot of coaches and mentors in the business realm of things. Because of the pandemic and the fact that I moved from the west coast back to the east coast, I thought that having a media company would fit right with my skills and since things were changing in the business realm, content production and online products were high in demand. So I decided to get my license, incorporate my business and really make a commitment to stick with it no matter what and that is what I have been doing since September 2020.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Ever since I was young I had a talent for drawing and sketching. My mother used to take me to a draw class once a week at the botanical gardens when I was around 10 – 13 years of age. I kind of stopped pursuing my drawing when I started high school. I went astray for about 3 1/2 years of my life. I truly believe that had it not been for God protecting me and calling me in the midst of my rebellion (I was heavy in the streets and messing with drugs and alcohol), I would not be alive today.

So after I left the military and after my business went bust, I decided to go back home where I stayed for a few years trying to figure things out. I was going through PTSD and fatherhood all at the same time. I decided to go to college and get my degree in graphic design in 2010. That is when my love for art started to blossom once again.

I became fascinated with typography and since I was able to draw, I started to develop my skills as an illustrator and designer.

My art style is a bit unique. I love to create word art mosaics, where I take words and make images from them. I continued to develop this style over the years and I have become an expert at it. It’s a mixture of hand drawing and digital media. My first one I ever did was a portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I was given a project to do at the University of Washington Tacoma for MLK Day. I was working as a graphic designer and I was the lead on the project. I wanted to do something that they haven’t seen before and so I decided to try doing a word art mosaic.

I was inspired by graphic artists who have done them in the past like Paula Scher and a few others. After I studied what they did, I created my own technique of how I would do mine. It was a big hit. Everyone loved the illustration and the graphic worked really well. So well that they used the same graphic I created for close to 5 years straight.

So now I use this type of art to inspire and educate my audience. Because of the words, each piece has more substance to it. Because it’s not just a subjective image, but an image with an objective message that creates it.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Well I live in Maryland now (Very close to Delaware and Pennsylvania) I always liek to take people to Longwood Gardens. The scenery is just so lovely and its very beautiful to walk through. Depending on the time of year we would go up to Milburn Orchard. Or we can also drive to Baltimore and hangout near the inner harbor.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
First my relationship with God has been a big factor to bringing me where I am today. My mother, my wife, my big brother and younger sister, my father in law and mother in law, and the rest of my family and friends have definitely contributed to my success and who I’ve become whether in a big way or a small way. Even my children has influenced me to want to be better for their sakes. Building generational wealth is one of my goals and the only way to do that is to be successful at doing business.

Website: hansfleurimont.com

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/hansfleurimont/

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@theartoflevelingup