"C" is for---CALM THE FUCK DOWN Don’t panic. Breathe. Separate what you need to have versus what you want to have. If your hand is pinned beneath a rock and you’re delirious, maybe you want to have a cream puff, but what you need is a cup of water. (And a knife.)
"H" is for---HEED THE SUN Find a twig. Plant that twig in the dirt, straight up, and observe the sun’s shadow. You just created a sundial. The sun is the one source of energy that will always be there. The sun is never more important than when you are lost. Dig deep and think about your sun. Is it your creativity? Your spouse and kids? Your faith? Whatever it is, find it, embrace it, don’t lose sight of it. Find your sun. With the sun behind you, informing your direction, there can be no wrong path
"L" is for---LISTEN Cup your ear to the ground. Any signs of running water, a road, a train track? Don’t just listen once and give up—move around, listen more, and then move and listen more. The process is iterative. When you panic in business, it’s easy to listen only to the ramblings in your head. Seek other input. Even listen to the critical feedback that’s hard to hear
"L" is for---LAY OUT A PLAN Are you going to go to the source of the water, head to the road, look for the high ground? Don’t try to do everything at once. Create your plan in discrete blocks of time. Tonight I will build a fire. This will keep me warm. Tomorrow I will search for the road. With your company, don’t play for Year Ten when you might go bankrupt tomorrow. Find the wood for your fire
"G" is for---GO Take your action. Don’t begrudge it. Don’t second-guess it. Don’t think about how painful it will be. Just go
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About
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Unlabel: Selling You Without Selling Out is Marc Ecko’s visual blueprint to teach you how to grow both creatively and commercially by testing your personal brand against the principles of his Authenticity Formula.
Ecko shares the bruising mistakes and remarkable triumphs that reveal the truth behind his success, growing from a misfit kid airbrushing T-shirts in his parents’ garage to the bold creator of two hugely successful branded platforms—Ecko Unltd. and Complex Media. As Ecko explains, it’s not enough to simply merge your inner artist with business savvy, you must understand the anatomy of a brand, starting with its authentic spine.