Hey! It’s Jen…
Quick question:
Are you someone who enjoys watching special features, deleted scenes, interviews with directors and producers on special edition DVDs of movies you like?
Do you love seeing the process, learning about the challenges they ran into and how they overcame them to make the movie?
If you are, then you may be in for a real treat.
See, I’ve always been intrigued by behind-the-scenes stuff.
As a creator, I love seeing how things are made, what materials and tools are used, the processes involved, but most of all, the thinking and decisions behind the creation to produce the final product.
The real action is always behind-the-scenes.
I came to realise that creating a movie or starting any creative project is no different to creating a business.
The creative process of taking any idea to a finished product is the same — no matter what it is.
Behind The Brand Newsletter is something I would’ve happily given my left arm in exchange to be a fly on the wall and peek into someone’s creative process when I started out in business…
But not just anyone, someone like me.
I created the newsletter out of 2 frustrations I had…
Frustration #1: Lack of people willing to share their ‘backstage’ and tell the truth
We live in a world of ‘external results’ — which means our default human behaviour is to judge a book by its cover.
We know we shouldn’t, but we do. It’s the human condition.
Fear of judgement, shame, embarrassment and a host of other reasons is why most people are not willing to share their challenges and their “mess” with others.
Social media is a great example of that.
The reality is that most things we see in life are someone else’s “front stage” — their best foot forward, the show they put on, their highlight reels, their final product… their ‘external results’.
My published articles and my website are examples of my results.
However, that’s a problem.
Because if you only see the results, but don’t see the work required to make the result a reality, it’s easy to think creating a business or taking on creative endeavours is easy when in fact it isn’t.
For example, you don’t see how many times I rewrite and repeatedly edit each of my articles or emails because it didn’t capture what I really wanted to say in the first draft.
When you sit your ass down on the chair and put your head down to do the work, you should know what to expect.
There are lots of people selling ‘easy’ in business and life, especially online.
Easy is a myth — it’s smoke and mirrors.
If we think the path to starting, running and growing a durable, thriving business is supposed to be easy, then we’ll believe that we are the problem when it’s simply not true.
That’s not OK — the only way to evaluate your progress (or lack of progress) accurately is to see the truth clearly.
Frustration #2: It’s hard to find ‘people like me’
From my years of observations in business, I found myself to be quite the opposite to typical “serial entrepreneurs”.
I’m wired differently to most, and consider myself in the minority.
The entrepreneurial space seem to have a lot of these people:
- extroverted (loud and love being around people) — 70% of the population are extroverted
- quick start (able to throw ideas out quickly to see what sticks)
- visionaries (love the big picture, don’t like details)
- have the gift of the gab (natural sales people)
- enjoy being in the spotlight (love being the “face” of something)
These are the opposite qualities I possess:
- introverted (quiet and love spending time alone)
- slow start (think through things before executing)
- detailed (love probing for information and seeking nuances)
- organised (naturally seek a sense of order and create structure)
- enjoy getting things right in the “backstage” (no desire to be in the spotlight)
For example, I don’t have 12 projects, or 3 different businesses on the go all at the same time. That to me is insanely stressful. I prefer to focus on one thing at a time to get things done properly.
I have no desire to grow my business fast, or ‘hack’ my way to success. Most people find ‘fast growth’ exciting, but I can’t think of anything worse.
I hate the chaos and mess created by doing things in feverish haste.
I’m an entrepreneurial turtle 🐢 — I prefer quality execution, rather than speed. I also believe slow and steady always wins the race.
If you’re anything like me, then understand that people like us take action differently from the majority. We don’t need to be like them in order to achieve our goals and dreams.
This is why I emphasise the importance of knowing yourself because when I didn’t understand myself and blindly followed other people’s advice, I ended up wasting so much time, energy, emotions and money on things that were a bad fit for me.
Simply because other people’s methods, pace and style was never meant for someone like me.
This is the reason why I kept finding holes in over $100,000+ worth of business education I invested in over the years, because I continued to discover things that didn’t make sense for me.
Let’s face it — people like us typically don’t like to be found. We don’t want attention and prefer to hide in our bat caves.
I eventually came to the conclusion that most business programs and courses failed at understanding the human who is trying to build the business.
Because I had such a hard time finding people like me that I can learn from and follow, I felt compelled to give my fellow comrade a “free backstage pass” now that I’ve trained my courage muscles long enough to do this.
This is why I started Behind The Brand Newsletter (on 19th May 2020) before I even had any clue what business I was going to create.
All I had was an inkling that I was going to create a new business from scratch again “at some point” — I had no idea when.
I just took the first step to creating something new for myself and continued to walk towards the life I wanted, not knowing what will come out of it and where I’ll end up.
It would be very remiss of me to wait until I had all my shit together because that would be painting a false picture of what reality actually looks like in the life of a creator.
The point of my newsletter is to share my “messy” (and sometimes random) creative process, my struggles and breakthroughs in real time, as well as the lessons I continue to learn in business and life.
This is what I wish I had when I started out in business all those years ago. I would’ve felt less alone, and felt better about my struggles if I knew it’s all just a normal part of the creative process and to better understand what it *really* takes to be an entrepreneur.
I won’t pretend to be a sage — I’m walking the same path you are and we’re in this together.
However, I’ve been walking this path since 2010 and seen far enough ahead that I know what to expect and what to avoid.
Over time, I learned to develop mental toughness and skills to manage my thoughts and emotions which allows me to recalibrate myself when I need to.
There is nothing glamorous about creating, building and growing a durable, thriving business aligned with who you are.
It’s real, hard work requiring *lots* of elbow grease (sometimes blood and tears are in the mix).
The journey can be a little more comforting and less lonely knowing someone else like you is also walking with you on the same path.
The next step is for you to take.
If you want to join me on the journey, then enter your best email address below.
I shall see you in your inbox.
My ethos is based on value and respect.
You’ll never be coerced, persuaded or manipulated to buy anything.
— Jen
