Build that Wall

The Newhouse Wildlife Rescue in Massachusetts had a video go viral last week.

The video features Nibi, a resident rescued beaver who recently got a new beaver roommate, Ziibi. It seems that Nibi and Ziibi didn’t immediately hit it off.

In fact, Nibi hated Ziibi’s guts.

So the Newhouse staff decided to separate them for a while to cool things off and took Ziibi out of the room they had been sharing and put her outside in an attached enclosure.

As soon as Ziibi was outside, Nibi couldn’t stand still.

Let me set the scene: The internal enclosure is room with a tiled floor with cages, food bowls and toys to keep the beavers occupied. They also keep a bunch of sticks laying around, because...beavers like sticks.

Nibi immediately started gathering every stick she could find and started to build a dam in the doorway to keep Ziibi out.

One by one she’d pick up a stick and flip flap her little beaver feet across the tile floor and start stacking them upon the doorway.

She had to build it. Now.

It wasn’t perfect.

It wasn’t pretty.

Maybe it wouldn’t even work.

But she had to start because this was her chance to carve out her territory.

Teddy Roosevelt once said, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

When we have a troublesome new competitor or business challenge, we often hesitate, doubting whether we have exactly the right answer.

We weigh whether we are in exactly the right place in time to work on it.

We might spend hours pondering the decisions we have to make or the resources that we might need.

We’ll take an inordinate amount of time designing what will be the perfect solution.

But to carve out your territory, you just have to start.

You do what you can.

With what you have.

Where you are.

It’s not going to be perfect.

Or pretty.

Hell, it might not even work.

But starting is better than standing still.

_______________________

resources

Design Better: Full of tons of free educational .pdf downloads, Design Better provides unprecedented access to the insights that power the world’s best design teams.

Bloo: Bloo is a simple, affordable online project management software that your team will actually use. So simple it requires no training to use. At $50/mo it isn't cheap but it has unlimited everything.

Design Principles: Truly valuable free design education sites are actually few and far between. Design Principles is an open source collection of decision-making principles and methods.

The Design Blog: Brings you carefully curated design inspiration, featuring works of designers and design studios from all over the world, with the main focus on young designers and students.

ContextMinds: If you're like me, you probably need to develop new content ideas regularly. This can mean days and days of research figuring ways to bring your enormous muddle of ideas together. ContextMinds is the place to gather all your notes, organize them visually and start brainstorming.

_______________________

recommended

No, you're not imagining it. In 2022, social media increasingly sucks for sharing content and finding work. Creatives share their views on the way forward. READ

_______________________

watch

Marketing is the rocket fuel that can take your business from being an ‘also-ran’ to a massive success story. But how do you actually create a marketing plan? WATCH

_______________________

listen

In this episode Bob Gentle takes us inside his business and personal brand building journey and shares a surprising fact about himself, which is the most incredible story I've heard on the podcast! LISTEN

______________________

read

Younger workers embraced the idea of a personal brand as a way to get ahead, and carve out some power and security in their careers. But posting through it has its drawbacks. READ

______________________

feature

If you aren’t actively experimenting with the creation of some type of ’snackable content’, you’re very possibly missing the biggest wave in social media since the invention of the Tweet. READ

______________________

books

Newport may have figured out a solution to let people keep their smartphones and their sanity. He calls his approach ‘digital minimalism,’ which basically means using technology with more intention and purpose. GET IT HERE

_______________________

quote of the week

"What pessimists miss when they wring their hands about the future of the creator economy is the supreme power of the creators themselves." ~Joe Berkowitz

___________________

courses

Brand Strategy 101, our signature course shows you exactly how to use proven strategic branding processes with your clients so you can land bigger projects, increase your fees, get paid for thinking and become a highly valued business partner.

7 Modules, 25 Lessons, 24 Strategy Tools downloads, and 8+ hours of instructional videos.

When you enroll you get immediate, life-time access to all the course videos, checklists, downloadable tools and resources.

LEARN MORE ABOUT BS101

_______________________

Resources We Recommend

Support Us by Using These Affiliate Links

BYOL with Daniel Scott: The Best Adobe Application Training

Tubebuddy: The Best Tool for YouTubers

Convert Kit: The Best Email Service Provider

Kajabi: The Best Digital Course Platform for Creators

Envato Elements: The Best Design Resources for Creative Pros

Squarespace: The Best Website Builder

InVideo: The Best Video Builder: 50% Discount Promo Code: PHILIP50

Transistor.fm: The Best Podcast Hosting Platform

Jotform: The Best Online Form and Survey Creation Platform

HighLevel: All-in-One Sales and Marketing Platform

_______________________

Join Us On Facebook

If you're a creative professional or entrepreneur looking to leverage the power of brand strategy, design and marketing to build your personal brand or business, I invite you to join us in the Brand Design Masters Facebook group. It's private, but free and there are a ton of awesome 'peeps there to network with, share inspiration, ideas and get all your questions answered.

_______________________

Philip VanDusen is a branding thought leader and principal of Verhaal Brand Design an agency that leverages strategy and design to build brand equity for companies and entrepreneurs. Get more from Philip in his brand?muse newsletter, his industry leading YouTube channel or connect with Verhaal Brand Design on Facebook.