Some of you will have read my articles about taking some time out to recalibrate last year, and the resultant mind meanderings that I went through as time passed and I became ever less connected to the world I had once inhabited.
On the anniversary of my recalibration year, I wrote an article describing the things that I had ‘learned’ (if that’s the right word), the things that would drive me forward and the things I hope I wouldn’t forget to do.
Things like ensuring a healthy life/work gear mesh, the gradual nature of my return to work, being less ‘empire building’ and more open to supporting others into the industry, ‘pushing’ less and managing the balance of contentment and ambition. All remarkably lacklustre and relatively mediocre in their own right, but remarkably difficult to maintain as a whole if you are not careful. There is a serious risk with our expected work patterns, that we return to a chase-chase, push-push, non-stop approach to engagement.
I also reflected on 4 aspects that were critical to my future, or even my ‘now’.
Fatherhood. Health. Honesty. And Accepting the Now.
Again, nothing ground breaking here.
However, when you start a new business, these things can soon vaporise. They become virtuous mist in the bright headlights of consulting. We can all talk a good game, but the things we think about when we give ourselves time to do so, scuttle down the list of priorities when faced with impending deadlines, cash flow issues or a bleak order book.
So whilst I’m in danger of becoming the manifestation of smug (the alternative title to Peter Jackson’s second Hobbit movie!), I want to try my best to maintain these things that I’ve reconciled and written about.
So why Four Beards?
When I sold my design business – Square Banana – I had to choose a new email address for all my personal correspondence, as I had previously used my SB one for everything. Now that it no longer belonged to me, I wanted to find something that not only I could use, but that my kids and my wife could use as they meandered through life. Something that wasn’t a gmail or an outlook. Something they could carry through life (which sounds scary when you say it like that) and use as they saw fit.
Something that reminds us all of the incredibly important family unit, but isn’t schmaltzy or stupidly complex.
There are four of us in our little family.
Four Beards.
We live in the UK….or at least we do right now. Yes, we have a cat and a puppy but they won’t require an email address I’m hoping!
Hence fourbeards.co.uk
At the time, I wasn’t even contemplating resigning from my current role. I just needed an email address.
But as I started thinking about rejoining the working world earlier this year, and the more I thought about what I might do and call myself, the more I kept falling back to this little email address.
If you’ve read my original article that announced the reasoning for my stepping back and recalibrating, you will know that the first domino fell when my daughter made an observation about my behaviour. She called me out and it made me think.
What better way to ensure that I constantly remind myself of the things I’ve learned and the way I should balance my time, than to use the email address as the platform for everything I do?
It reminds me of my family. The people that matter. The reason I’m here.
So there you have it. Four Beards.
It means nothing to anyone else. But everything to me.
As far as what I will focus on, I have decided to split my time and energy 3 ways.
Consulting. Mentoring. Educating.
These should be pretty self explanatory but I’ll elaborate for a moment.
Consulting.
Re-engaging with the parts of the industry I love, the challenges I can help with and the clients I enjoy working with. Wrapping my brain and skills around problems that need an answer. Working with clever and ambitious people to connect dots, explore realms and make sense. I plan to elaborate on this later in the year (October in fact), but this will be similar to the best bits of what I did before.
Mentoring.
I talked about this here. Working with individuals and small teams to help decipher, reflect, understand and define. Listening, supporting and sharing. I’ve been incredibly lucky to work with some amazing people already and look forward to seeing this develop over time. As and when people are ready to do so.
Educating.
Attempting to obliterate the ambiguous barriers between the professional creative industry and the people that want to be a part of it. Inspiring school students to think wider. Supporting undergraduates to feel more confident and relevant. Encouraging graduates to find their rightful place in the industry. Annoying the hell out of my peers by asking for their help. That sort of thing.
All under the FourBeards brand.
It’s not about fanfare. I’ve slowly worked out what the logo should look like. I’ve started an Instagram page (@four_beards), where you can see how many variations of the logo I played with! I’ve managed to work out how to change my Twitter handle to @four_beards. I’m working on a website – something that’s hopefully a little more trousers and a little less mouth. I still need to sort out an email signature. I’ve started a FourBeards LinkedIn company page (and this is the first content from it!). I don’t have any brand guidelines. It’s just happening slowly. The important stuff still gets done, behind the scenes. This less important stuff will eventually get done for everyone to see.
I’m not trying to hide behind anything. It’s just me.
But the brand serves as a reminder.
To me.
For me.
To ensure that I can continue to strike the right balance.
I still work hard. I’m still fully committed to everything I engage with. I still have the eagerness of a yappy puppy but balanced with the experience of a crag hopping mountain goat. Something like that.
I look forward to working with some amazing people and I have no idea where it will all lead.
That’s the exciting bit I guess.
As long as I maintain the right balance.
Until next time.
