Branded Blog

Contrary to what many of you may think, I am not actually counting days to the wedding! Interesting as all that is, there are far more pressing things to focus on just at the moment.

So here is the count:

2 years, 2 months, 22 days

OR

814 days

The amount of time that I have officially been peddling my branded trade without the cushion of a corporate salary.

One of the most interesting pieces of advice I’ve been given on this entreprenuerial tight-rope walk between despair and ecstacy was by a fellow tight-rope walker who has been balancing for a lot longer than I have. “A thousand days,” she said, looking a little weary and quite serious, but from a place far past that 1000 days having expanded her initial dream of a coffee-shop to a string of very successful, very vibey coffee-shop cafes all around Cape Town. So she should know.

A 1000 days.

It’s a reality check. And for me both a relief and a reminder: a relief that I haven’t failed yet, in fact I’m not doing too badly just by still being here! And a reminder that time moves on & you have to work at it every day, just like anything that is worth doing, really.

Now normally it would make a lot more sense to wait for the actual fully 1000 day milestone and then write a blog about it, but two things happened at this juncture that (once i’d had a little time to process them), seemed worth marking, worth celebrating I suppose.

The first of those was that not only have I actually managed not to give in to the ever-tempting corporate valkyries that sing from the multi-storey islands in Sandton and CT central, but in September I will earn, for the first time, the equivalent to the total monthly package (not just salary post tax, the whole shebang!) I was earning when I left corporate. Serious! And that does not mean I’ll necessarily earn the same next month, or that it’s totally sustainable yet, but when I worked it out it did feel pretty good!

And the second of those things was that this past Saturday I took part in my first formal, grown-up, sponsored Literary event! As life goes, it was an unexpected segue into this arena and came in the form of a brief but authentic appearance at the “Versindaba” at the University of Stellenbosch, and involved me reading a poem of my own creation (in Afrikaans, no less!) to a lecture-room full of very informed and educated poetry enthusiasts. The project was a tribute to the wonderful reclusive South African poet Adam Small, and was a lovely blend and spread of famous and novice, old and young, and lots of different shades of South African poets. I was officially nervous for the first time in a very long time! If I’d had to get up and talk to them about brands and marketing I wouldn’t have thought twice about it, but the very idea of standing up for the 5 minutes it would take to read my poem out was enough to make me almost hyperventilate!  But amazingly, and with the support of a fabulous writer & professional publisher who is a wonderful friend to both the barefoot man and I (who will henceforth be known as the Literary Comrade since he also impressively did his first Comrades marathon this year), I actually managed to read the whole thing in fairly good Afrikaans and get some very generous comments of affirmation as a result! And while I don’t see my literary future in Afrikaans poetry, I am working on building on this little beginning and really making my literary dreams come true!

So two things (again, so many 2’s this  month!) in terms of learnings for the way we run our businesses and brands:

1. Mark the milestones: Sometimes we are so busy achieving them and working hard to get there and aiming high that we forget to stop and appreciate the moment! It’s worth the pause – for yourself; for all those who work with and for you; and for all those who love who you are with or without the business. It’s also important for the business & brand: if you never stop and reflect, if you never take the time out to enjoy what you’ve done and, importantly, figure out why it works and what makes it the special creature it is, you won’t benefit nearly as much from the achievement as you could. Stop, step out for a bit and appreciate and understand what makes this brand in this moment so very special, and so worth doing.

2. Make sure you have enough scope to grow, and still be true to who you are: This I firmly believe counts as much for us as individuals as for our brands and businesses. If our visions; our goals; and our parameters for defining who we are and what makes us tick are too narrow they will stifle growth and cause the business and personal equivalent of ingrown toe-nails. A gross image, I realise, but helpful! And conversely, if our definitions of these things are too broad we will waft around aimlessly and never actually focus on strengthening or growing or achieving any one avenue – there will simply be too many options all the time and then our risk, as people and businesses, is the classic Jack of all trades dilemma.

So make sure you stop to recognize and enjoy the milestones, but even before then make sure the road you’re on is just the right combination of width and length to make the journey stretching and rewarding.

And if right now you really don’t know where you stand on that road, get someone like me to help you! It’s so much easier from the outside, and it’s also one of the things I do that I love the most – so please, have a look at this brochure on my Value Proposition Workshops, and let me help you figure out what sets you apart and what defines who you are and can be!