Slow cooking your brand
At the BizArt conference this past weekend near Seattle, I heard an interesting phrase uttered three times, from three different people. These people, as far as I know, did not learn the phrase from one another. When something that intriguing happens – call it serendipity – you can’t help but notice. It must be important, it must be something worth remembering (and sharing!)
What I heard was this: Success takes time. So, consider “slow cooking your brand”
Brilliant.
I’m glad I heard this, and had it reinforced by different people several times. And am now doing my part to share it and make it relevant to you, too.
There are many instances (usually reported by the mainstream press) of overnight success experienced by many people, at various times, and in many endeavors. But I consider that akin to winning the lottery. Few people have that ‘instant’ success.
Instead most of us grow our image, reputation, and business slowly, steadily, and ALWAYS deliberately. If you think about it, the slow cooking metaphor fits. You throw a bunch of stuff related to your art, passion, and career into the pot and let it simmer until you have a tasty stew. But unlike the recipe you may have started in your kitchen this morning (and is cooking slowly to be ready for dinner tonight), your career stew is NEVER done.
Building your creative business takes time, attention, and (mostly!) action. Real success, the kind that endures, gets built slowly, over time, by working hard on a stew of promotion, branding, networking, community building … and, of course, DOING the work itself. It’s all for nothing if you aren’t working your tail off to make your best art – whatever your art – that you can make.
So, what steps are you going to take today to add to YOUR stew and continue slow cooking your brand? How about sharing some ideas right here?
