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What are you most proud of?
What’s the achievement in your business that you’re most proud of?
Not your biggest turnover.
Not your best month.
Not your biggest client.The moment that made you stop and think, “I’ve actually done it.”
Maybe it was your first sale, your first employee, surviving a difficult year, helping a customer, or simply keeping the doors open when it felt impossible.
I’d genuinely love to hear your story. Share it in the comments – let’s celebrate the wins that don’t always make the headlines.
Colin Slade, Rob Fryer and 2 others11 Comments-
Mine was probably the realisation that I could (and did) keep everything going and make a life for my son and me after my divorce. Being the sole provider actually made me try even harder to make my business work. I surprised myself with several months of a turnover that I previously hadn’t dreamt of. Obviously that kind of thing doesn’t last, but it was there when it really mattered – and I’m proud of that.
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@christinareal-word-com Thank you for sharing that. It sounds as though necessity became your biggest motivation. Looking back now, what do you think was the biggest change you made that allowed your business to reach those levels?
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@sl007 I think it was a mixture of things, Simon. The financial landscape was different (this was just pre the 2008 financial crash). Organisations of all kinds were working with freelancers and consultants. For example, local authorities were more naive about PR/marketing and more likely to use contractors. I think it was as much about spotting and taking opportunities as anything else. I also ‘backed myself’ (as our American cousins say) to take a punt on what seemed at face value like lower-paid contracts, while keeping my regular work going (hello, long hours). That turned out to be a good move because the quantity of work I got from those initially lower-paid contracts paid off a million-fold as I developed lucrative, long-term relationships with the clients.
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@christinareal-word-com I hope people continue to see the value of what you bring, because experience like yours is incredibly valuable.
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@christinareal-word-com well done, tough times can really make us dig in and find hidden talents and strengths.
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It went to my first ever employee.
She’ll know who she is.
I arranged the interview after a conversation with her dad. She arrived with her mum because she was so nervous. The funny thing is, I think I was even more nervous.
I’d never managed anyone before. I wasn’t sure how to share my workspace or whether I could trust someone else to care about the work as much as I did.
Within a few hours it was obvious she was more than capable. The awkwardness wasn’t about the job – it was just two people finding their feet. We listened to the radio, struggled to make conversation and quietly got on with it.
Over the next two years she became one of the most trustworthy, talented and caring people I’ve ever worked with. By the time she left for university, she had the confidence to challenge me, suggest better ways of doing things and tell me when I was wrong.
I can’t take credit for the person she became. She did the hard work.
But I am incredibly proud that, for a small part of her journey, I was able to give her that first opportunity.
She went on to work with Conran, Mulberry and Alexander McQueen, and seeing that has given me just as much satisfaction as any business achievement of my own.
Sometimes the thing you’re most proud of isn’t what you built.
It’s who you helped believe in themselves.3 -
My biggest achievement is the next one, and the next. One more day without a boss is all I ever wanted! 31 yrs in and still not “bossing” it… 🙂
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For me a key moment was taking the Level C Brand Specialist course and certification in 2020.
Up till that point I lacked something but couldn’t put my finger on it.
I had always been a designer and had always been involved in branding one way or another throughout my career. I could design a decent identity for a company, I could advise businesses on what branding was and why it mattered. However what I did not know was how to actually create a process of taking a business from ideas to completion with a strategic process.This course gave me that process. Not only that, it was the first time I had worked closely with industry peers that had come from all different career paths and at different stages. I learnt just as much from them as the course itself and BrandStorm was created off the back of this and all stemmed from there.
The cherry on the top and why I did it in the first place was that it was all run by a guy called Marty Neumeier. Some of you may have heard of him (wrote the book ‘The Brand Gap) He was someone I had idolised for years, had read his books and watched and read his content. I didn’t get to meet face to face (was during Covid) but had several online meetings both individually and as a wider group.
I am not sure if the course itself was the best moment or whether it was the first time I put it all in practice with a client that trusted the process and seeing the transformation it made to their business. Either way it was a pivitol moment
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@robfryer-brandstorm I love this… shows how investing in yourself can really help, perhaps I have avoided such things as I have not seen the value… I will do all i can to see you at your lunch meeting tomorrow!
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