The "No's"​ that made room for the "Yes"s

The last few years for me have been a series of a lot of big “NO”s in order to make room for some very big “YES”s in my professional life.

While the journey hasn’t been easy, and has taken me to the “Nth” degree of having to believe in myself (not easy sometimes!), and back myself on all the "out there" decisions I've made – I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat.

And I want to share this - not to say that I've "arrived" at my destination (I'm far from where I want to be, and truth be told I don't think we ever do "arrive"!) - there's still a lot of the story yet to unfold, but I am more and more frequently hearing stories of people who want to put themselves out there and pursue things that they feel they were born to do, but need a prod of encouragement, a shot of inspiration to do that.

And just from the outset - this is a very unconventional post (for me) not in the vein of what I often publish these days.

So I hope this short posts serves as that - some encouragement and inspiration - and perhaps speaks to you where you are at right now if you find yourself in the valley of indecision.

I’ve passed on lot of new projects offered my way, intentionally haven’t built a traditional style marketing agency, or pursued new agency clientele for a few years now.

Last year I was offered a part-ownership in a very respected and growing brand (in a sector that's very lucrative but I have little interest in) to chart their marketing course.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with any of these things, and any of them would be “good”, and all are needed in the marketplace, but for whatever reason (and I couldn't put my finger on it at the time) they didn’t “light me up” and align with my own personal “WHY” which I have connected with very deeply and intentionally over the last few years.

Part of it may have to do with the fact that I wanted to ensure that my own professional life was conducive for family life for the season where I'm at right now - I have five young children, I choose to work part time, I don't usually work after school, and value complete flexibility to set my own schedule.

There was probably an element of some projects mentioned above requiring "more" of me than I desired to give at this point in time, so that may have been a large part of what motivated me to decline them, and seek out what I was going to find particularly inspiring and energising.

I love being a marketer, and I love running a small and tight team, but growing a behemoth of an agency is something that's far from desirable for me. I did feel a little pressure at some stages (especially after my agency was recognized as "Best Marketing Agency" at the Australian Marketing Excellence awards - a feat I'm very proud of given my small team). But even after that recognition, growing a large agency frankly had no appeal to me. Ironic, but I had to get comfortable with that.

So without any compelling alternative (it wasn't a fork in the road moment), I chose to pass, and get comfortable sitting with the discomfort of not knowing what was next. Not always easy.

Sitting. Waiting. And becoming ok with simply "not knowing". For someone who like to plan, who likes to have all the answers, who is organised, systematic and relentless in pursuing an objective, this "sitting" and "waiting" was such a different way to operate.

And on a practical level, as a mother of five young children, it seemed crazy to do some of the things I did. Yet somehow, clearly because it was the "right" think to do (for me), I was okay with doing it and all the uncertainties and insecurities it brought out.

Somehow I knew I was emotionally connecting with something into my future, to bring it into the present (now I hope haven't lost you here!) but that's just how it felt to me.

And that was a far stronger driver than the relative financial security of any of the other "safe" paths I could have pursued (although I would also argue that these days that security in our industry, and business generally is fast diminishing and our new world does require a different way of thinking to stay ahead).

So with these “NO’s” I now look back and see that as a result I made room for two very big “YES”s in my life.

Opportunities that weren’t even on my radar just a few years ago, and that both emerged very organically (albeit not easily, that’s a whole other story) as I made a decision to pursue what I felt my highest professional purpose.

My First Big YES

My first “YES” came about through serving young marketers starting out in their career – not with the intention to build something, I just went about doing it because it's something I’m tremendously passionate about and has always come very naturally.

I love young marketers, their drive for their craft fuels mine, and I am of the firm belief that every marketer deserves the chance to build a career that inspires them. And so I have built a community and a membership around serving them through my Launch Your Marketing Career Initiative.

I'm excited about what that's doing in the marketplace, because I know that it reaches far beyond just jobs and career's and is a vehicle for helping connect people with their own professional dreams and building confidence to pursue that. And the stories that are coming out of that are amazing.

Young marketers many of whom came into my world through this program and community, who are now not only firm friends, but now also colleagues, peers and people I'm doing the journey with.

People's who's journey are now inspiring me and so many around them. I am so proud of them and love that I get to be a part of their journey.

And so if this is the impact this work can have in two short years, I just can't imagine what that's going to mean several years from now as more and more step up and borrow courage from our growing community, to be bold and chase their dreams of being a professional marketer, whatever that may mean for them.

My Second Big YES

My second “YES” emerged in a way that I could articulate only this year, although I know it's been in my DNA and part of my vision for some years. I just didn't have the words to put on it back then.

It's about helping those who are established in business (or who are accomplished in a particular field) and are changing the world (or ready to!), scale their impact by amplifying their message and connecting with their audience at scale in a way that gets them seen and heard amidst a sea of digital noise. And giving the tools and systems for how to do it in a sustainable way.

While it's easy to get caught up in the vision and excitement of a message, a cause or an opportunity, time and time again I saw good ideas, good people, much needed solutions, hampered and hamstrung because of their ability to execute on their vision, particularly when it came to getting their message out.

On the one hand there's a camp trying to do things the way they were "always done", the traditional way, without the foresight for how to bring that into a modern context - and on the other hand those that fly by the seat of their pants, in pursuit of any "shiny new toy" that comes their way, without aligning it to a particular strategy or having the systems and processes that support sustainability.

Having grappled with this myself (sometimes bouncing between both extremes) for a long time, it felt right to me to double down and develop a whole new way of making marketing happen sustainably for my own business to eliminate that feeling of being "stuck" and "hamstrung" while having a clear focus, strategy and direction, along with the systems, processes and strategies to do it consistently.

In a marketing context, while the foundational principles remain timeless, the methods and models for implementation necessitate continual revinvention and evaluation. But before you reinvent, you first need the base systems, so you have something from which to iterate and evolve.

And because the way we "do marketing" is changing so fast, and how consumers are connecting with brands these days, many organisations have struggled tremendously trying to understand what that looks like for them and get these basic systems in place that work in the modern context, particularly when it comes to how they communicate with their audience.

After doing this for my own businesses, and reaping the fruits of that, particularly in knowing that it was scaling the impact and effectiveness of my messages and the way I was connecting with them, I then did some more testing and iterating with other brands and I realised I was onto something very compelling.

So I decided to package that up and make it available to another segment of marketplace - particularly small businesses, marketers and entreprenuers who have been challenged for a long time after investing money, time and energy into things that weren't yielding fruit.

I actively sought out people in the marketplace that I could see were the next round of business forerunners and invested till it hurts building relationships and connections with people who I wanted to be inspired by.

I studied the marketplace intensely, looking for gaps that emerged consistently, and which aligned with my areas of expertise and natural strengths.

I reinvented my brand yet again, expanded my team in areas that I knew were going to be in great demand moving into the next phase of the business.

So while I didn't have the words to  explain why I would pass on some of those bit "No's" going back a few years, when I didn't have another firm option in front of me, but I just knew I needed to follow what felt right.

Fast forward a few years on from those first big NO's and everything now seems different. (cue the song "A Whole New World" sung to the Aladdin soundtrack!)

The space that I made for opportunity has been filled by professional endeavours that light me up each day. I now find it much easier to say no to things, if it doesn't align with my own strategic plans, because for me, every No makes room for more of what does.

Opportunity is everywhere. Sometimes you just need to know where to look. Other times you need to let it find you, and not be too busy or "committed" to be able to jump on it when it does knock at your door.

So no question I'm doing what I love, on all fronts.

And some of my most recent ponderings and my next question (to myself) was how I bring the two of my biggest passion projects together - to work synergistically with each other - where both stand to gain far more than they would as a single entity.

This has been my journey over the last few weeks and in all honestly as soon as I started to be intentional around giving it thought and seeking answers, of course they came.

Amazingly, the two are working serendipidously well together, in a way beyond what I could have imagined, I’ve only started to discover that in the last week or two, that they are already complimenting themselves so beautifully.

A new generation of young marketers feeding directly into a group of world-changing businesses and entreprenuers who by their own DNA are also nurturing, encouraging and inspiring of others, proving great opportunities.

And businesses who get to connect with passionate young individuals who are ready to get behind a cause they believe in which in turn will enable them to do their best work, think creatively and strategically and hone their craft and benefit from the fresh outlook and insights that best-of breed young marketers can bring.

As for me? I get to sit in the midst of it all, being inspired everywhere I look and so thankful and grateful that I said a few big hard "No's" when I didnt' fully understand why at the time, to make room for something that not only would I say "Yes" to.

Something that it would have impact far beyond just the professional work, but fuel a love and zest for life, alignment with what I believe to be my higher purpose, a blessing to my family, and a model for many others who are struggling to find their place in this sometimes crazy fast-moving hyper-connected world.

So that's my story, and somehow I felt like randomly sharing on this sunny Sunday afternoon, basking in the afternoon sunlight on my back deck, taking in the sights and sounds around me - in the hope that it may encourage some of you as you pursue what you believe you were created to do.

Rest assured it's not all rainbows and unicorns, there are still lots of crazy days, the ones where I crave encouragement and seek out others to lift me up and some days it's grit and persistence all the way, but that's part of the process and will always be, if you want to take on something bigger than yourself.

And this is just the beginning of the story…..and can't wait to see what comes next.

***

If anything in here resonated with you I'd love if you'd share below. Frankly, even writing this is putting me outside of my comfort zone, but I'm doing so because I know there are so many who might be reading this (because I hear from you on DMs sometimes!) grappling with similar issues.

Or maybe you're not, but you just enjoyed the read and the insight into the the goings on behind the scenes.

Either way I'd love a word of encouragement because when you're working on things like this and putting yourself out there to help people, it's always good to know what lands and if it's helping.

Thanks for taking the time to read. Love you all.

______

About the Author: 

Nina Christian is passionate marketer and mentor to young marketers and entreprenuers around the globe. 

She specialises in leveraging timeless strategic marketing principles along with branding psychology to help businesses, experts and entreprenuers succeed by strategically positioning them as thought leaders through transformational content.

Her marketing agency Braveda, founded in 2000, is a boutique marketing agency (est. 2000) that specialises in building brands through thought leadership and content creation, and was named Best Marketing Agency at the 2018 Australian Marketing Excellence Awards and Nina was named 2018 Certified Practicing Marketer of the Year (Victoria).

Nina believes believes every marketer deserves the chance to build a career that inspires and is helping young marketers become the marketers the world wants and needs through Launch Your Marketing Career. 

She is also an entrepreneur with several start-ups under her belt, including a successful exit in 2008 of a pioneering ecommerce brand she co-founded in 2001.

In 2017 she co-founded EntreprenHer - a School of Entrepreneurship for Girls, inspiring and equipping young women and emerging entrepreneurs and leaders. 

She is a Fellow of the Australian Marketing Institute, and Chair of the AMI State Committee in VIC.

Nina is a regular speaker on the subjects of Marketing and Entreprenuership and believes there has never been a more exciting time to be a marketer.

Outside of work (which she loves!) Nina enjoys the outdoors, is an active CrossFitter, and after 3pm most days is off-duty having fun with her five young children and doing mum stuff.

Interested in some of the "behind the scenes" goings on?

Facebook: @ninachristianHQ Instagram: @NinaChristianHQ