Tiny moments that become a real brand.

Before we jump into this week’s article, reminder that my new book No Bullsh*t Branding is available for pre-order… and if you pre-order by the end of today (Sunday 31st May) you get a bonus freebie bundle, including the Book Club, the new MVB Course, limited edition MBJ merch, and digital downloads. Check it out here! Thank you all so much for your support.

Last weekend the weather was delicious.

So delicious that myself, Kate and Rocco went to the beach for the day to hang with our friends (Jamie & Mel) and their little kiddos… it was one of those beautiful little days that will live long in the memory bank.

We were down at West Wittering beach near Chichester. It’s this big, magical stretch of sand where, when the tide goes out, the beach becomes absolutely colossal. Perfect for kids because there’s endless space to run around and play… it becomes the worlds largest, sandy adventure space.

Scattered across the beach are these little pools of warm water left behind by the retreating tide… tiny, stinky lakes full of seaweed, shells, wet sand and mess. Basically heaven for a little dude like Rocco.

And he was more than happy exploring them completely alone while the rest of his friends sat further up the beach eating lunch and digging holes.

He was so happy, so I wanted him to just ‘be’… so I stayed and watched.

After maybe an hour of watching him play in the same giant puddle, I eventually wandered up to him and asked him to come back to “base camp” so we could put more suncream on, tag mummy back in and potentially allow me to eat some lunch.

But he was having absolutely none of it.

Everything I offered was ignored. Every negotiation tactic I’d learned in business was useless, and every attempt to reason with him about how the sun was really hot and he needed protecting from it was completely pointless.

Eventually Kate, my wonderful wife, spotted my slow descent into parental defeat from afar and wandered over with all the supplies we needed. And at that point, I just accepted reality and decided to play the waiting game until he was ready to move on himself… I mean, the sun would go down eventually, I was sure of that, and I also now had a sandwich.

But there was a lesson hiding inside all of this.

When you have very little to negotiate with, the situation you are in becomes incredibly difficult to win… and this got me thinking about the very beginning of my own business journey.

It was so difficult to find any money-making opportunities when I started because I had so little to negotiate with. No Leverage.

I had no real portfolio, no website, no testimonials and, in absolute honesty… very little knowledge. I wouldn’t have hired me.

As you know, for me, a brand is a recognisable reputation, and at that point I was neither recognised nor did I really have a reputation worth knowing… unless it was “having a good time down the pub” - I was real good at that.

And this got me thinking about all the newbies entering the world right now. All the junior creatives trying to find work and carve out a place for themselves while also navigating challenges I never had to deal with. Things like social media pressure, constant comparison, AI, tech and the heavy, heavy, heavy psychological weight of feeling like you need to live your life so publicly online.

Now, I’m not saying my era had it easy at all… every generation has its own struggles. But I do think it’s harder now than it was 20 years ago, mainly for the reasons I mentioned above.

So I want to try an answer this question today.

How do we build a business when, right at the beginning, we have nothing to be recognised for and no reputation backing us up?

So… lets chat.

Yes, you might not have the clients yet. You might not have the case studies, the swanky portfolio, the testimonials or the years of industry proof backing up your ambition. But what you do have is YOU.

That matters far more than many people think.

Because there are already so many things you are recognised for outside of your “business circles”. Your attitude, your energy, your humour, your kindness, your curiosity, your willingness to help, your ability to make people feel good around you, your ability to stay optimistic when everything feels difficult or half empty. What I’m trying to suggest here is that even if you do not yet have a recognisable reputation around your work, you already have years and years of building a recognisable reputation around your humanness and character, and that is a beautifully fun place to start… that becomes your negotiating power.

One of the huge advantages early stage creatives have is that they are not yet boxed in by the “rules” of the industry. They are not trapped by client expectations or weighed down by years of process refinement and predictability. They still have “all the raws”… raw energy, raw enthusiasm and raw creativity to boot.

In the beginning, it’s often your willingness to care about others and build relationships that sparks the most opportunity. Helping a mate out for freebies, offering your services to friends of friends in exchange for tickets to their latest gig… that scrappy little world of free crafty goodness is where most of us cut our teeth in the industry.

When I was starting out, I bartered constantly. I used my skills to build experience, and the more experience I gained, the more confidence I built. In return, I’d get free coffee, free jewellery, free food, whilst also building relationships with local humans… whatever people could offer at the time instead of money, I said yes to. Looking back, I actually think there’s something incredibly beautiful about that stage of the journey. I mean, bartering is how worlds were built.

When you’re starting out, you still have permission to try almost anything you can to keep the lights on and keep the dream alive. You can knock on doors, start conversations, help people, make things, experiment, build fabulous little ditties and push your creativity out into the world.

And over time, people begin recognising you for those behaviours. For your energy, your effort, your generosity, your consistency and the way you make people feel.

Almost without noticing it, those tiny moments become the foundations of a recognisable reputation.

A real brand.

So if you are at the beginning, listening to a noisy world telling you that “designers are fucked” or “the creative industry is doomed,” remember that most of it is just distraction… like a lot of news on the inter webs. Don’t fall into the trap of blindly listening to these people. Many of them have their own agenda too… which is often making sure they stay relevant and irreplaceable in a changing world.

Instead, use your creativity and your energy to build relationships.

Make cool stuff and send it to people. Write a little hand-drawn note thanking somebody for inspiring you. Instead of sending the same PDF portfolio to 400 people like everybody else is doing, start more real, human conversations.

Barter your services.
Collaborate with people.
Send a hand written letter.
Deliver someone a little product with your work on it.

Go above and beyond simply because you care enough to do so. Become recognised for how much effort you are putting in… that is a reputation that opportunities will eventually flow towards.

Stay Focused,
Stay Crafty…

Your creativity is your super duper power.

James
- The Peoples Branding Mentor