Starting a business with the end in mind

The End in mind.

Often, when we're starting a business or going into business, we're told to start with the end in mind. This can be daunting because sometimes we don't know that. I still really don't know what the end is for my business. I know I love what I do, love what we're about, love serving our clients, and I couldn't ever imagine not doing it. And I don't want to stop doing it. So, I'm going to carry on doing this until there's a point where I can't. And that's really how I started the business; I love Marketing and helping businesses thrive.I want to share with you how the Marketing Collective came to be, to show you that you don't always need the end in mind...

Friday the 13th

I was working for a marketing company in South Hampton, specialising in destination, tourism and cartography. It was Friday the 13th of August (I know what you're thinking). The weather was gorgeous, a sunny afternoon and I was looking forward to the weekend. And then, the liquidators came in.  They told us to put our pens down, step away from our machines and don't complete any further work. Don't send emails, don't answer the phone. Working for the business had stopped. The Liquidators explained it would be illegal for us to complete any work.My first thought wasn't, 'oh my God, I've not got a job' or, 'how am I going to pay my bills?' It was actually, 'but what about all of these projects that I'm working on?' 'What about all of the businesses that I'm helping? What's going to happen to them?' I was working with lots of B&B's at the time, and I thought, 'how are they going to get guests?' 'How are they going to build their bookings for winter?' 'How will these businesses survive if I'm not helping them; they rely on these projects?' I was also working on a lot of print, things like visitor guides and destination publications. Remember, this was 11 years ago before social media, and digital marketing were the main tools to promote businesses. So, a lot of businesses, particularly in the tourism and destination industry, relied on print.They relied on those visitor guides, tens of thousands of publications to audiences. And I thought, this can't stop, it just cannot stop. 

Passion & Purpose

So, I collected my belongings and went home. Later that day, a friend who had experience setting up businesses came over and helped me register the Marketing Collective. I didn't do it with the thought of, 'OK, I'm going to run my business empire and make millions!' It never came from that. It came from the want and genuine passion for helping businesses survive, grow and thrive because that's what I love to do. And there's nothing better than working with somebody and seeing their business absolutely thrive, fly and grow. That's incredible. And it's a humbling thing to be part of. So you see, I never set up with the end in mind because I'm still doing that. I'm still helping businesses. Our team help businesses every day; to build on their marketing, find clarity in what they do, and identify their ideal avatar and their clients to grow and build continually. The last 12-18 months have been tough being a marketing company that predominantly sits within the tourism and destination market. We've had to do that again; we've pushed ourselves forward in helping those businesses to survive. It's gone back to our core of; This is why I started, this is what we're in it for. 

Your passion IS your end.

If you've not got that end in mind and you're just doing something because you love what you do, then that's OK! Because that's where your passion lies, and that's where my passion lies. We turn 11 years old this year, which is incredible, and it's really exciting. And I'm pleased to say that we're still doing everything that I set up to do, and that is to help businesses, serve businesses, and help them thrive. If you would like our help, I would love to understand a little bit more about your business, what your frustrations are, what you're struggling with in terms of marketing because I can guarantee that we can help. And that comes from a place of absolutely wanting to help YOU because that's at our core.Book a call today and see where we can help you to grow and thrive.