Embracing the fear and giving it a good cuddle

So it’s been far too long since I put fingers to keyboard and wrote a blog. Well, I have moved office; 100 odd miles back up to my home roots in Nottinghamshire, but that’s no excuse. The real reason is that I’m human.

I’m sure you’ve noticed how some days the drive, the impetus, the get up and go are endlessly flowing, and on other days, you’ll find every distraction in the world to prevent you from starting the one project you simply must do that day.

On these days, I wonder what holds me back? Is it a lack of serotonin, vitamin D, creative block or the distraction of creating a Facebook page for my blind dog?! It’s really good! Ellie the Wonderdog! And yes, here I digress again …

Or maybe it’s the age old affliction that is the fear of not delivering the great goods? It’s probably all 4, but this last reason is unique as it is also the essential ingredient for making the work you do a success. Without the fear of under-delivering; be it a design, piece of writing or campaign idea, we would never push that boat out to be the best for our client.

And where does most of this fear come from, apart for those pesky parents we often love to blame? Well, I saw it first hand this week when the budget came out. Strike that, before the budget came out. I am sure some newspapers were geared up ready to complain no matter what was announced. Now, I’m not going to start positioning myself on a political side of the fence, but I will say that it is getting all a bit tiresome, knowing that doom and gloom will hit the front pages no matter what.

Placing oneself in a mood, before anything has occurred to create it is easily done. This goes both for the agency or for the client. Sometimes we just can’t help but prejudge. And frankly, it’s just not healthy!

Today, I need a mantra to drag me from the impetus-lacking ditch I fall into occasionally. Perhaps it’s like finding a circus mirror that continually reflects back creative brilliance whenever I stare into it. I believe the first and most important step is to recognise what I’m doing, then start viewing the fear as enabling; seeing it as the first step to creating the best possible product. Turn that frown upside down and all that!

So, Ellie the Wonderdog, you’re amazing but so are my clients that pay for your premium dog food. So fear come get me and make me brilliant!

Accentuating the positive …

So it’s the 20 December and I am thinking about those fantastic, though one could argue, a wee cheesy song lyrics:  “You’ve gotta accentuate the positive. Eliminate the negative. Latch on to the affirmative. Don’t mess with Mister In-Between”.

This week a number of newspapers chose to dedicate their back pages yet again to the wonder and awe-inspiring story that was and is The Olympics. This time, however, the angle they chose was all about ignoring the teachings of that rather marvellous, joyous and mildly Stilton-like song. An 11% increase in sports funding following our incredible summer felt decidedly meagre when some of our UK press got hold of the story. Yes, some sports unfortunately lost some funding but let’s look at the stats: 5 had funding reduced whilst 18 increased. Now I have never claimed to be much of a mathematician (a superb triple-word scrabble square user, yes) but even I can see that an 11% overall increase and 18 sports’ fundings augmented versus 5 reduced equals a positive story?!

This then leads me onto thinking that at least it could have been worse … these are the same newspapers that publish articles written by journalists concerned about what will happen if competition is irradicated from our next generation’s education; worried that the future of England won’t be able to cope with the concept of competition, as schools are advised to not allow “winning” or “losing” as everyone’s a winner, and therefore when we hit the real world it’s a big surprise that we have to compete for jobs etc. So, thank Santa for small mercies and all that … at least we didn’t have a wishy washy (yes, the panto references are coming in) UK press that doesn’t dare show opinion (ok, so that’s never going to happen) but why is its mood sometimes so unreliable? It’s an absolute mystery as to know on which side of the bed it has fallen out of … Are today’s stories going to accentuate the positive or the negative?

Now please get me right; I am extremely pro journalism that digs and refuses to accept the gilding of PR and spin that can often surround stories everyday, it’s just that occasionally I do wonder at the pessimism that clouds us all from time to time, and how easy it is to get caught up in. Yesterday at a fascinating innovation forum I attended, I saw powerful people choosing to see their competition’s ideas as inspiring instead of belittling them and disregarding them through ignorance and pride. It was wonderful to see Industry saying “I wish I had thought of that; what can we do to top this?” instead of the negative “Well that won’t work for us so what’s the point, let’s just keep going the way we’re going and find fault in everyone else to make ourselves look better” – or something to that effect!

Ying needs yang, ping needs pong, win needs lose and Scrooge needs Cratchit – oh I just can’t resist … this year we’ve all had our ups and our downs; our boxing budget and our badminton budget but let’s sing that song (out loud or in our head – dependent upon your eccentricity and skill) and choose the affirmative to define who we are and how we do it. And let’s hope the time before the first journalist siting the number 13 in our new year as an excuse for seeing the ‘unlucky’ negative side of a story is a long and happy one.

Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year everyone!

What’s normal?

Well with the last remnants of summer shining on me and with a warm feeling of human (not just national) pride following both sets of Olympics I sit in my new feng shui(ed) office contemplating the next exciting move for Kinnear Creative.

When I set up this business nearly a year ago I had no idea how much I would learn and grow during the process. The variety of work and personalities I have enjoyed and met have been tremendous, and I sit here with a wonderful feeling of pride; knowing that taking the opportunity that many would have ducked has paid off.

Yes the year has thrown its challenges, but I have been keen to learn from each one, never giving up on my dream of having a successful business known for looking at things just that little bit differently from the ‘norm’. And here comes my point – and secret admission – I don’t believe that what I do is all that different! “Shock horror” I hear you cry, “Is she mad for dismissing her USP; her Competitive Advantage?!”

Well first of all calm down and stop being so dramatic, and secondly, my response is a “nope”; it’s just that as this summer of sport and games has shown us, ‘normal‘ just doesn’t exist! Humans that come in all shapes and sizes entertain, amaze and dazzle us with equal aplomb. The only difference is that somethings are just often overlooked in favour of the more obvious and therefore more trodden route.

And that’s where Kinnear Creative comes in; we simply find a way / view / look that is just as beautiful and efficient as the ‘norm’ but has that edge that makes it more exciting, enticing and ultimately creative.

So as we head toward our second year, I am faced with a dichotomy: I’m encouraged to see and embrace our world moving away from appreciating / acknowledging somethings as the ‘norm’, but I better watch out and keep on my toes, because being careful of what one wishes for; the competition is now just behind …

Looking back and smiling

In this fabulous moment of indulgent coronation-celebration reminiscing, I’ve understandably been pondering the past. Learning from our past and taking inspiration from it is great for personal, work and creative life. Emotional, financial and design decisions all take influence from past experiences of our own and those of others. Semantics aside, whether ‘inspired by’, ‘influenced by’, ‘imitated’ or simply ‘copied’, ideas and thought processes are recreated by all of us everyday. It could be a moral value that comes from parental or social influence, it could be a business decision found in a millionaire’s autobiography or it could be a label design bursting with homage to Great British regalia (so beyond ‘on trend’ right now …)

On the opposing side, when we’re looking to the future, can we have original thought or are we always influenced, no matter how hard we try not to be, by our past? Well I lean toward a Roland Barthes (ish) theory; interpreted into my own brain-dump: There is no such thing as an original idea, but when collated these unoriginal ideas can become brand spanking new combinations, and therefore, in a manner, become original.

That’s why when I find a few moments away from work, I like to truly ‘experience’ that moment and look around at whatever is there. This may sound trite but what I mean is, even when you’re sitting on a smelly, soggy train or stuck watching a film with too many advert breaks, read that newspaper (all the way through – even the boring sport bits) and watch the adverts (all the way through – even the boring mis-sold PPI bits), because every day I am surprised and influenced (in varying degrees) by at least one idea; be it a view point, a new fact or a new look & feel. So when I feel I’m lounging around, feeling lazy I can naturally just tell myself that I am educating and inspiring myself, and that’s the story I’m sticking to!

Wearing the right hat at the right time

Today I’m thinking about head wear – not in the sense of royals sporting polo-mint inspired versions (is that nearly a year ago?!) – no I’m thinking about the metaphorical hat we wear when approaching a task.

During a recent project I found myself perplexed as to why I wasn’t feeling I was giving enough to the client; though I was certainly putting the hours in, I just couldn’t get rid of the uneasy, unfinished feeling I had each evening – very much like being back at school at that moment when the teacher asks you in front of the whole class a question you know you know the answer to but just can’t seem to recall. And then I got it … I’d forgotten to congratulate myself on my head wear.

When starting up your own business, regardless of type, you have to juggle many different roles – such as those Michael E Gerber tells us about in the E Myth*: entrepreneur, manager, technician etc. These roles all play their part in making the business tick, however after a while you simply can’t keep all the wheels turning yourself; you have to relinquish some responsibilities to others in order to a) give your brain any sort of break and b) have any hope of bringing fresh and effective ideas into your company. Failure to relinquish some of these roles, Gerber informs us, will ultimately result in the failure of the business.

Since starting Kinnear Creative I have reminded myself everyday about ‘what success looks like’ – a great tip I learned from a great coach (she knows who she is). If I don’t remind myself, I don’t feel like I’ve truly achieved. And this is what I had forgotten to apply to this project; success in this case was knowing which hat to wear and when. In order to deliver on time, to budget and with absolute quality I needed on some days to take the role of project manager; making sure the team knew what was expected of them and how they were going to get there, whilst on other days being part of that team and delivering the goods myself. The project was a success because yes I was carrying out each role successfully but most importantly I knew which hat to wear and when.

In every project, in every company, we have our roles to play. Knowing which hat to wear and when is a skill you need to practise and congratulate yourself for. And of course recognising the hats being worn by others is important too;  quite often the quiet person in the room has a fab hat tucked up their sleeve just waiting to be whipped out (yes I’m mixing metaphors but I like it).

So Mrs Richards (my primary school teacher) when dumbstruck in class, I hadn’t ‘left my thinking cap under my pillow’**, I had simply decided to don a different one that day.

* Great classic business book – even better listened to on CD

** One of the kinder insults I regularly received from her

Misrepresentation – beware

Misrepresentation is front of mind today following a hilarious evening-in with a friend. The long story short? Well, an old flame of mine has been found by said friend on an internet dating site they went on. So what do two friends with an IPad and glass of Voignier in their hand do? Yes, we had a good gander at his profile.

 

What my friend had held back, for comedy value, was the fact that the words I had said to him 2 years ago, to explain why we weren’t going to trip down the aisle one day, were there in black and white – but twisted so the very things I said he lacked, he said he had! He had rebranded himself as the exact brand I had kindly pointed out he wasn’t.

 

Clever heh? Well only for a short while. Like any brand positioning and design – you’ve got to be honest about your strengths and challenges from the start. The consumer is not a fool … so don’t treat them like one; be honest and they’ll respect you for it. After close inspection the veneer can very quickly start to peel and the resentment the consumer will feel when they discover your hidden challenges will triple, compared to if you had been honest from the start.

 

So essentially, come on ‘X’, don’t try and be someone else; be yourself, warts and all and just let the consumer (?) know you’re working on any slight foibles you have and I promise you, the loyalty you’ll get will last a lot longer than if you had covered them up.