Officially Damaged Goods
It is said that “Creative people have no business managing creative businesses”. Perhaps we can infer in the best knowledge of the proponents of this theory that the best people to manage creative businesses are “un-creative” people.
I started my first creative business in my sophomore year at the University, aged 18. Armed with little less than a vision to create clothing I would like to wear, I set about making t-shirts with varying themes and expressions until tongues began to wag. In retrospect, I’m not sure I was prepared for what was to come.
It was a semi-novel idea at the time, so it gained ground swiftly. I assembled a team of ‘believers’ made up mostly of my close friends and we got to work creating these beauties on cotton. Before long we started getting orders from within and without. Sadly, we kept experiencing serious setbacks. The design process was laborious to say the least when you consider we had to manually stencil the design before transferring to the shirts, also raw materials were proving hard to come by and the ecosystem (made up mostly of third party suppliers) was ill-equipped. To cap it all, most of the revenue streams were not properly documented, channeled nor reinvested so I had to ‘rest’ the business just before i graduated.
After graduation, my next experience was in setting up a studio that would cater to photography and film needs, another lifelong dream, but due to lack of funding, I approached a financier who was willing to provide the startup capital as he was looking for an exit from his pay job. I set out to draw a blueprint and plan for the business, detailing how we were going to attract the right clientele and quickly transition into the best studio that side of town. Lofty dreams that sooner came crashing after I realized that the said financier had been playing me all along. I couldn’t afford to hire a decent lawyer and my stake in the business (if at all) was little more than nothing. He took several critical decisions behind my back till I ended up getting frustrated, packed up and left.
I retraced my steps, got employed at a local advertising firm with global footprints, initially as a Graphic Designer with experience in Lagos, Nigeria and Accra, Ghana. In between, I applied for and was offered a British Council Scholarship to take a Creative Entrepreneurship course at the Pan-African University (Lagos Business School). It was here that I discovered the true essence of starting and running a creative business. I also met with several other brilliant contemporaries, shared and learnt from their wealth of knowledge and experience.
I returned to my day job. Infact I spent a couple more years there, rising to become an Art Director, honing my craft on several local and international accounts. After three years at this firm, I joined another firm in a much more senior creative role, where I was expected to provide creative leadership and at times, single-handedly drive campaigns and executions. This experience lasted 12 months till I was awarded a scholarship to study at the prestigious Miami Ad School.
A year before this however, I was finally inspired to start a new creative venture. I registered “BEDOUIN” in September, 2011. My vision was to create a ‘Creative media hub’ that caters to Advertising, Fashion, Film, TV, Multimedia and Tech. I found myself at crossroads in taking the next step into the unknown. I needed to decide if what was required of me at the time was to continue to learn how to be a better creative or finding out how to effectively steer the ship of a creative business. Be that as it may, resign from my day job I must and resign I did.
After weighing the pros and cons, I opted for the latter. Who wouldn’t? I could barely sponsor myself on the trip to Miami anyway. So I made several calls to some of my contacts to intimate them of ‘Le decision’. However unlike Lebron James, I wasn’t “taking my talents to South Beach”. For some, there was the unmistakable tone of despair, encouragement for others and in some cases, just plain aloofness. Thankfully I had my family and a few friends to support me through this period.
The first 24 months were particularly hellish. I occupied one of the rooms at my mother’s apartment and this effectively served as my live-in and work area. I had to manage every facet of the business. From Account Management to Business Development to Creative, even Administrative. The revenue was barely adequate to keep the business afloat and I could barely support myself, let alone the 2 young interns i had under my wing.
There were the obvious flashes of potential when we were hired to work on a project for a global franchise and what was supposed to be a one-off project for an indigenous oil and gas firm. Before long though and it was back to hoping for a breakthrough, that earlier claim constantly becoming the soundtrack of my now fragile existence: “Do I really have what it takes to manage a creative business? or any business for that matter?” It gets even tougher in these climes, where poor infrastructure, inadequate government policies to support the creative industries, unfriendly lending rates by financial houses, perceived lack of trust amongst peers and collaborators, an “I-can-do-bad-by-myself” entrepreneurial mentality, an undeniable attempt by “professional” bodies to frustrate small businesses with their unrealistic demands and lack of support, all this in the face of staggering competition, contrive to ensure that you have to constantly grapple with the idea of running a business in extremely harsh and severe conditions. It is well nigh impossible!
By the turn of the new year, with my ‘tank of hope’ almost on empty, I began to flirt dangerously with a possible return to paid employment. As fate would have it, the offers began to pour in. There must have been 5 of them. I was particularly attracted to the potentials of one. I met with the CEO and his team. We hit it off. Match made in heaven, or so I thought. Deep down though, I was hoping for a sign. Frankly I wouldn’t say I know exactly why but the discussions broke down. Turns out it was a blessing in disguise because I got a mail the following week from a previous client. A brief needed my attention. From then on, I could almost tell there was no going back. I was a man on a mission.
A number of successful projects we handled ultimately made the difference. First, the revenue we were able to generate on one of them helped us move into a bigger space and I reckon this represented a watershed moment from an operational perspective. Also, the work we did for the indigenous energy firm proved epochal.
Moving forward, in a bid to shore up the operational needs of the business, I identified special young talents that I believe would help transform the fortunes of the company within the shortest possible time but first I made it a point of duty to sell the vision to them. It remains my job after all to always give them a reason to believe. As I write, our young team is made up of a Business Development Manager, Graphic Designer(s), Writer(s), all strikingly brilliant at what they do, while I double as Account Manager and Creative Director.
From a personal perspective, I’m prepared to constantly equip myself with everything that would help in my attempt to dispel that obviously flawed assumption that creative people have no business managing their business.
I’d like to thank everyone that have in one way or the other contributed to and supported me on this incredible journey and to let you know that this is my lifetime passion and ambition and I shall continue to strive to make a difference till I no longer have the will. The journey has only begun and if you dream as big as I do, I encourage you to go on and #Startsomethingthatmatters and always remember that in the end, the future is whatever you choose to make of it. #WatchthisSpace #BedouinUnleashed #BFF #IWearMyHustleonMyHeart
Excerpts from my campaign speech.
Signed
Chief Nomad aka The One That Got Away
Originally published at bedouinnation.com.
