The worst thing you can do is blend in

I started my business, Think Productive, at perhaps the worst possible time. It was the recession of 2008. At the time, we hadn't heard of Covid yet so it was set to be the longest recession in our lifetimes.

I'd never run my own business before, but I'd been running charities and departments of charities for a few years at a stupidly young age, so I felt ready. And no one whose opinion I trusted told me not to do it. Looking back I'm grateful for the lack of cautionary advice. There's something to be said for what naivity can achieve - you don't think about what's not possible, you just crack on.

Launching a business at any time is hard. Launching one that's about training, not competing at the cheap end of the market, at a time when budgets are going to be slashed or non-existent? I probably should have decided against it and done something else, but I just had a burning desire to take this work to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible. I wasn't going to listen to all the inconvenient truths that meant the odds were against me, much as I was scared, worried and pretty skint for a long time getting it off the ground.

It goes against our strongest human instincts, but standing out (and standing for something) matters.

One of the things we did that helped us succeed (because soon enough there was a team of us!) was to call ourselves Productivity Ninjas. Not consultants, or trainers, or associates, or anything boring like that. Bloody Ninjas!

It genuinely felt like a huge risk, looking down at a list of about a hundred possible job titles on the page and choosing the riskiest, quirkiest one. But it allowed us to stand out from the crowd. It's really comfortable to blend in. It's brave (and scary) to decide to stand out.

And do you know? I think we've had two or three people in well over a decade say "I can't work with you because of the Ninja thing". And we've had hundreds of people pick us out (and these days actually seek us out) because of that name. I'm convinced it's the main reason the book of the same name sold so well, much as a pretentious part of me would love to say it's my writing style and incredible wit.

I've been thinking about this need to be brave and think bigger a lot for the past few days. It's partly because we will need a lot of "recession thinking" in every business and organisation in the coming months, but also because I had a great conversation with Stef Sword-Williams. We released it this week on my podcast.

Her company is called "F*ck Being Humble" and her quirky, passionate and daring approach reminded me so much of the early days of my business journey. Her commitment to sharing her message with others authentically, trusting her instincts and not apologising for who she is has got her a book deal, some viral successes and an army of followers. I've perhaps lost a bit of that personally and I really want to get it back.

I'd love you to check out the episode here. Yes, we swear a little bit, so don't listen to it with your kids in the car, but I assure you it's well worth it.