1: Mr Mofe Ade http://mofeade.com/toplinks/ | @mofe_ade
2: Mr Ajibade Nofiu | https://scrutiney.com/ | @ajibadenofiu
3: Mr O. A. Williams, – Brand Varsity Group
4: Mr Soji Oyemade – Muse Nigeria | @muse_creativ
5: Mr Tope Adeyemi | @topettillion https://www.neowebserve.com/

Favorite lessons from the Brand Masters:
1. “Think about all the sad stories that were published into bestsellers” – Mr O. A. Williams – Brand Varsity
2. “As a talented person, it is okay to appraise you own works. God did it when after creation He looked at His work and proclaimed it was good. A talented person can be detailed at a supervisory level but not on an execution level and that is okay. All you have to do is hire the right person to handle execution.” – Soji Oyemomi (a.k.a Brand father) Brand strategist, Muse Nigeria.

Don’t just go on to say “my bags are nice. Come and buy” People don’t just buy products. They buy the value it gives them” – Mr Nofui Ajibade, Creative Director Scrutiney.

One of the major things that kept me talented and broke is what I call the “Jack Syndrome” – you had all these things I could do and so I spread myself between them all and achieved little at the end of the day. That is, you was a jack of all those trades and a master of none. This is why no one took me serious, they said I lacked direction, because I wanted to do it all.
They screamed and told me that I had to pick only one thing, that I could not be good trying to do all those things.

The look on their face as they tried to convince me that I could not be a Fashion Designer and Architect who writes and has a passion for Gardening and the culinary arts was that of concern and resentment all at once so I did not mention my plans of be a football coach in the near future.

And so I spent a good part of my life trying to convince them that I could be all those things and more – too draining it always led to fights.

As I grew wiser, I learned to stop telling anybody anything at all, rather, I spent all the energy trying to be good at all those trades.
Deep in my heart, I kept trying to understand why they didn’t get it until recently when I began to interact with the brand masters through conversations, and studying their materials (as I did with Mr Mofe Ade).
It was Mr O.A Williams that broke it down for me that they didn’t get it because I was I had set out to brand a business without branding my self (personal brand – clearly defining your ones self). By not defining myself first, I had given them an invitation to define me.

That was a moment of truth for me because all along, I had put the cart(the business) before the horse(the entrepreneur – me), forced the horse to move, and cried and blamed everyone but myself when the horse was unable to move.

I learned that personal branding was primary and must come first. And it entails identifying the trends in our story which is made up of our strengths (innate abilities – what we do effortlessly) and weaknesses (the things we struggle with). Then developing our strengths and sugarcoating or outsourcing our weaknesses instead of trying to change our selves.

On the other hand, commercial branding was secondary and completely dependent on the success of the former – personal branding. Basically, having identified what our strengths and weaknesses are, we can effortlessly know where we fit into – where our skill is needed.

Even what we consider as a weakness may be of value if personal branding is done right.

Simply put, personal branding is the opposite of self piety. So where self piety says “oh me, I talk too much” personal branding says “oh wow, I talk too much, that means I can be a Broadcaster or a commentator, or a voice over artist”.

Where self piety says “I am a bully with a loud voice what hope is there for me?” Personal Branding says “wow, I am an orator, a Strong Leader, with zero tolerance for mediocrity”.
Where self piety says “I lie a lot”. Personal branding says “I have an active imagination, I can be a writer”. Where self piety says “I always get into trouble due to my brutal honesty”. Personal branding says “I will be the greatest critic of all time”. Where self piety says “I am not enough”, Personal branding says “this is who I am, I will make the most of who I am, I am enough”. If you are like me and obsessed with the Game Of Thrones, you must be familiar with the famous conversation between the imp (Tyrion Lanister) and the bastard (Jon Snow).

“Never forget what you are,” said the imp, “the rest of the world will not. …”. And that my friend, is what personal branding is all about, never forget who you are, in addition, frame the things you are(that you cannot change), call it the greatest masterpiece of all time, and spend your life time selling and making a fortune out of your nonpareil self.

Sounds like an overdose of madness and corkiness served on a platter of pride, I know. But this formula works like magic. And if you follow the brand masters, they will teach you the METHOD – to this madness that WORKS.

In my capacity as The (Mad) Queen of F’A’Arts, I will give the first few persons who reach out to me (on instagram @ebae_empire) a head start – brand identity, brand name, tagline, & logo. To partake of this offer.
To “talented and broke” we say this far and no farther.

Talented and broke:  Changing the sick narrative – by D., Queen of F’A’Arts