One of my (many) favorite song lines from Dave Matthews is “open up my head and let me out” (song – So Much To Say).
The ideas and vision that I have for Snoloha are much bigger than most people realize or imagine. Clothing is a very small aspect of the overall long-term goal for this brand. Though it’s still very much a small brand and a small business, Snoloha is a very large beast that I’m trying to grow. It is a brand that reaches around the globe and has a diverse geographic reach and unlimited product extension opportunities. The challenge, though, is getting it to that point in a scalable and focused manner.
Staying focused is tough. I’m not sure if it’s the entrepreneurial lure that leads to working on multiple opportunities at the same time, but whatever it is…sometimes it’s not the best trait to possess. Often times, I’m a scatter brain. I’ve got so much going on inside my head that I want and need to achieve for Snoloha, that there are times at the end of a day when I wonder what the hell I did for the entire day.
Focusing on Snoloha’s growth and what’s important for the brand seems like a pretty straight forward and simple thing to do. And for the most part it is. But every now and then I find myself needing to have a conversation with myself and getting things “back to good.”
After a long conversation with a close friend / Snoloha advisor, followed by dinner out with the wife, a couple of things really slapped me in the face. They were reminders, really, of what I’ve always wanted to do with the brand. Do you like broken records? Then you’ll like this, growing a brand from scratch based on a made up word and a unique concept is hard work. It’s a roller-coaster ride (I should print that phrase on t-shirts, since I use it so often).
I’m not a very religious guy (growing up I was forced to be…every Sunday and Wednesday night, thanks Mom & Grandma! Ask my Mom about the time she forgot about me at my First Communion…she still feels bad about that one, or when the passenger door to our old Mailbu flew open while leaving the church parking lot and I fell out onto a busy road, or the time…okay I’ll stop.)…most of my beliefs are now closely aligned with Jimmy Buffett lyrics and Seth Godin writings.
Seth had a recent post titled “The internet as envy amplifier”, and as usual with Seth, it seems like he was talking directly to me.
“George Carlin liked to talk about the person (there’s always someone) who is worse off than you. The web allows you, with not much effort, to find the person who is better off.
Like many authors, I was briefly addicted to the Amazon bestseller list. Every hour, you can check how you’re doing. The problem (other than the insane non-productiveness of it) is how tricky “you” and “doing” are in that sentence. A number isn’t who you are, and your status compared to other people isn’t how you’re doing.”
In order for what’s in my head to be realized and accomplished I simply have to stay focused on the things that will allow this vision to become reality. Forget about what other brands are doing, because at the end of the day nobody, except the brand owner, knows the real truth behind the number of followers, fans, media exposure, etc.
Not sure where I was headed with this post…just “keeping it real” as the kids say, and what I think that means is just staying true to the brand and to my customers with what’s going on behind the scenes…or in my head. I try to be as open and transparent as I can with growing this brand. And I try not to always be “selling and promoting”, because quite frankly, everyone gets tired of being sold to all the time. So I hope these more intimate looks into the world of Snoloha, and inside my head, give you a better understanding of the brand…or it makes you head for the hills because you realize how screwed up I really am.
Either way…thanks for the continued support.
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