Has 2024 been a good year or bad??
As 2024 draws to a close, I asked myself: has it been a good year or a bad one for marketing?
Having spent the first part of the year attempting to take a hard look in the professional mirror after 30 years, I came to the sad but inevitable conclusion: I can’t change the corporate world that I am part of: the egos, the politics, the endless self-indulgent narcissists and the pointless bureaucracy.
Change is essential to many aspects of business and working life, but more and more, it is also necessary for personal WELLBEING (yes, it is in caps on purpose).
So, in the second half of the year, I was forced to reflect on three main aspects of my professional life.
1. Freedom
What if I could manage my own time? Choose my projects, choose who I work with, choose how we work and what we work on, and where I work from, without anyone’s permission. This means both my victories and my losses are entirely my own.
2. Ability to Change
Been constantly asked to reinvent the marketing/creative wheel, only to realise that the work I put in was a pointless task. The proverbial oil tanker had been built, the captain would never change, and even if they wanted to, turning it in a new direction was now near impossible. It would take years of investment and transformation, only to realise you were against a huge tide, back to going in the same direction in the first place. (Apologies for the long-winded metaphor, but you get the point.)
3. Impact
We make stuff happen. Good stuff that we believe in. We can transform people and businesses; this is priceless. Corporations are influenced by multiple factors, including politics, management, bureaucracy, as well as the self-indulgent creative awards agenda for clients we have never heard of.
So, I made my decision to become an entrepreneur, a new way to grow and learn on my terms. I know it’s going to be tough, my resources, time, and ego on the line!
I decided on an idea and promised in 2025 to make it happen, with the support of my family and real friends. So far, in the last 3 months, my life has been transformed both professionally and personally, and yet I’ve not even started. For the first time in over three decades, I truly have the time and freedom to think, to do things my way, when I want, where I want, whenever I want. And I’ve found a new group of adversaries around me that have given me unequivocal guidance whenever I need it.
Real, genuine people offering real support without any hidden agendas or political minefields to navigate through.
As I reflect, it hasn’t been a good year or a bad one. It’s been a transformational, barnstorming, one hell of a year. Yes, it’s had incredible challenges, forcing me to think about everything that’s important in life. But with renewed optimism, bravery, and putting the professional me at the forefront for the first time in 30 years, I’m starting with a renewed sense of purpose and thrill. Maybe you should give it a try after all, what have you got to lose?
