What is No Brand Like Home?
Article published on 05/01/2010
Hi, I’m James.
A little about me:
I live in Minneapolis. I drew a lot of dinosaurs as a kid. I also played a lot of basketball. When I was 13 years old I wrote an epic novel about the civil war. It was predictably terrible, and was never published.
In college I started designing stuff. And last summer, just for fun, I launched a small fashion line.
What do I do?
I am a creative professional.
I am currently partnering with a media and marketing agency focused on making the world a better place. My firm is very cause-driven. Our primary focus is on the business markets of health, community building, organic food and sustainability.
My partnerships are based in finding forward-thinkers. We do more than typical marketing, web design and online branding. For us, delivering a high market share is not enough. We help clients who want to change the world.
We get it.
We understand that the world is changing.
We understand that if you want your career or business to survive in the changing economic landscape, you have to change along with it.
And you have to start now.
This blog is about helping you make that change.
If you want to make yourself indispensable (and who doesn’t) you need to keep up with the game. Want a great career? It takes more than a college degree and a good resume. Want to grow an awesome business? It takes more than an office and some clients.
It takes more, but it also takes less.
The keys to good business are invisible.
Start investing in the intangibles that impact who you are and not just the bottom line.
The jig is up. You can’t fake it anymore.
It’s time to start thinking big instead of just acting big.
May I suggest the following:
• Be authentic. Make sure you actions are aligned with your values. Bullshit might have worked at one point, but it’s getting easier to detect. Be legit. Come real or don’t come at all.
• Simplify. Nearly everything in life is too complex. The best way to sort through the maze is to jump over it with a simple solution. Simple beats complicated every time.
• Let go. Don’t hold onto mistakes or failures. Freedom to do whatever you want comes from choosing to let go of negativity. Never start today with yesterday’s baggage.
• See possibilities. Limitations are in your head. Question what other people expect from you. Be better than restrictions. Be smarter than rules. Solutions are wherever you look for them.
Stick around a little longer because what I’m about to say is very important. And no, it has nothing to do with Lady GaGa’s latest outfit.
But it has everything to do with positioning yourself ahead of the competition in a changing world.
What I’m suggesting is two simple steps. But they aren’t easy. And neither is recommended if you have a queasy stomach.
If you’re not brave, stop reading this and get back to work.
Step 1) Break away from the status quo.
The world is always changing. But today it’s changing faster. Social structures, long ingrained into the way we live and think, are crumbling all around us. If we don’t take initiative to jump ship from the status quo, we will become wreckage of the old world.
What is changing? Everything. But a few things in particular…
• The rules of business
• What we own
• What we eat
• What is socially acceptable
• How we connect
• How we commute
• Our sense of home and living space
• Our dependance on tradition
The changing of outdated rules makes our lives simpler, more efficient and more independent.
A 40 hour workweek is no longer necessary. Neither is an office. Or a boss. Blindly following protocol has become dangerous. The new economy needs everyone to take charge and become an innovator. The demand for creative thinking is at an all-time high.
The demand for your ideas is at an all-time high.
Breaking away from the status quo and becoming an independent thinker has never been easier. In fact, it’s become essential. With the world in fast transition, those who don’t break away and start living by their own terms will be left in the dust by everyone brave enough to move forward.
• It makes business sense to stop following the rules
• It makes career sense to not accept a traditional role in your company
• It makes brand sense to do “crazy” things that haven’t been done before
• It makes sense to stop making sense. It also makes cents. And dollars.
Breaking away from the status quo is not a risky decision.
It is the smart thing to do.
Step 2) Design your life.
So we’ve stopped following other people’s rules.
Great! Now what?
Now we start making our own.
Without traditional rules to guide our decisions, it is essential that we start living with full intent and purpose.
It’s time to actually design how we live.
Think of something you’re good at. What makes you good at it?
Whatever skills, talents, strengths and attitude that produce your finest moments can be adapted and put to use in designing the basic foundations and patterns of your lifestyle, career and business. You can strategically design your career, life or business to be exactly how you want it to be.
Make it a priority to evaluate your thoughts and actions, even the small ones, and determine if they are in support of your ideals. If your small actions are not consistent with your big goals, make adjustments. It’s okay to start small. The important thing is to pay attention and become critical of unproductive thoughts and actions. Everything you do should support your vision of ideal happiness.
Simple.
The way we are living is not sustainable. On a global level the lifestyles created by the way we think has led to a dwindling ecosystem, loads of debt, civil unrest, widespread unemployment and millions of abusive relationships.
These problems are connected, and have one common source.
We aren’t thinking clearly.
Huge global problems can’t be solved until we fix the individual mental problems we have gotten accustomed to living with.
As I see it, this is good news.
Think about it. Making small adjustments to your attitude and the way you think is way easier than figuring out how to fix the global economy or solve hunger issues.
But that’s all you need to do.
Better thinking leads to better living, which leads to better interactions, which leads to better growth, which leads to better governing. Every aspect of society is interconnected and it all begins with us as individuals and the principles we apply to our lives.
James McCrae is a creative strategist, culture addict and writer broadcasting from Minneapolis. 
