Why I’m Retiring The Future of Work Campus (+ Exact Steps I have Taken To Rebrand And What’s Next)

I’m all for walking the walk and I never ever recommend anything to my clients that I haven’t tried and tested and gotten results that I wanted. The same goes for rebranding – I’m all for evolving and growing. In the end – these are 2 of my core values.

So I want to start with why I originally launched the Future of Work Campus. It all happened kind of by accident… when Covid hit last year and a ton of my previous candidates and clients reached out to me to get advice what they can do after having been made redundant or how they could best use this opportunity to pivot in their career, I developed the agile career course. I just put out the idea on a Tuesday lunch time and have a fully booked cohort for a Thursday morning start. Something I didn’t expect.

Very quickly, I got my requests and had a 2nd cohort booked out, then a 3rd. In the end, I ran 6 live cohorts within less than 6 months. Anyway, already in the 2nd cohort, students started to ask me ‘what’s next’. Well- I never planned to even run an online course or group program to start with, let alone anything beyond that.

But I realised that career development is not a one and done thing. It’s an ongoing process and something that isn’t offered anywhere. This is when the idea of the future of work campus was born. 

Again- it was June last year that I put the idea and concept out and it got good traction. I wouldn’t say amazing traction to be honest but good enough for my limited efforts to make a massive campaign. So we kicked off in July, pretty much this time last year. 

And let’s be real – I loved it and the experiences that came from it: from upskilling in online learning systems to developing scalable digital assets to setting up an entire tech infrastructure and most importantly- the people I’ve had the pleasure to meet along the way. Our industry insiders who shared so much value with our members and the members themselves who are just the bomb (and whilst I may be biased – I stand by this claim).

Howverrrr … over the last few months, I have seen and experienced that managing the 2 brands and messages have become quite a challenge to say the least. I also realised that I got quite a few requests on interview coaching, resume rewriting and people who are looking for a new job. Just FYI- I haven’t done recruitment in years so clearly- my messaging was either confusing or the initial change of focusing on personal branding through coaching programs wasn’t strong enough. That was when I realised I need to let go of something.

If you are going through something similar or have had a big decision to make recently- you’d know the feeling… it’s not easy to let go of something that has become such a big part of you. It could be anything from a job title to a status to a routine … in my case, it’s 2 of my brain children – the agile career course and the membership which have become a big part of me.

I know that Brands can make the biggest impact when they are focusing on delivering one promise and whilst career & skill development and personal branding go hand in hand, the 2 topics still target 2 different audiences. 

And this is where I have realised that I’m slowing myself down with doing too much for a too big of an audience. And this is where impact is lost and with that, a move away from my initial reason to start my 1stbusiness impaCCCt.

I’m at my best when I can help others to clarify their Brand DNA, communicate their point of difference so they can take control over how to commercialise it.

When the attention is split between career development and how to brand and market yourself, you can’t go deep in either and with that, it makes it hard to get people the transformation and the results they are looking for.

With that said – it’s a new era and one I invite you to come on the journey with me.

The biggest difference you’ll see is the stronger focus on branding related topics and how they relate to career progression and success rather than skill development.

That singular focus allows me to really go deep into topics that will help you with building and marketing your Personal Brand. 

Let’s be real- there’s always fear around making big decisions and I know it was time to put my big girls pants on and embrace it. Decisions are only bad when they aren’t made or have been made out of the blue and because of a current feeling. 

But I have been playing around with a potential change for months and have implemented some of them. However, it wasn’t enough for me to say ‘this is it’.

So how exactly did I land there?

1.)   I got help.

I engaged a new coach, in fact – it’s a powerhouse squad of coaches, not just 1.

Whilst I have been working with coaches for the last 7 years and there hasn’t been a time where I didn’t have one, with this enrolment I finally got the results and the clarity that I needed. I’m a big believer in fast tracking results by learning from those who’ve been where I want to get to. Whilst not every coach really helped me with achieving the next step, simply going through this is a learning experience. I know now what I’m looking for in a coach, what helps me get results and what isn’t suitable for me because of my personality and the way I work.  This is also something you want to think about: what helps you get the best results? For many, it’s group coaching and being part of a team. Me being a massive introvert and someone who gets the best work done when I’m alone, group coaching never floated my boat. I get the best results when I can work with my coaches 1:1 which is why also my signature programs are 1:1.

Are they for everyone?

Definitely not but this is also the power of having a strong brand and offer that attracts some but also repels others.

2.)   Speed of implementation

One of my weaknesses is impatience. Honestly- I even think that making coffee is a forever task and anything that I want to achieve should have been done by yesterday. Maybe you know what I’m talking about … but in this case, it has worked in my favour.

The speed of implementation is the speed of transformation so the quicker you act and rip off the bandage, the quicker you get the results you want.

So I put everything on the table, mapped out the strategy to get to where I want to be and plotted away, every single day. I engaged a copy writing coach who helped me with the messaging and my bio, hired new designer who could put my vision for the rebrand into reality and simply did one step after the next.

3.)   Amplifying the new direction

Today’s podcast is one piece to the puzzle, but it already started with simply updating my social media profiles, changing the direction of content I have put out over the last few weeks, building new strategic relationships and also embracing new activities that I hadn’t done before. For example- being more strategic with the rooms I join and the topics I’m talking about on Clubhouse, the podcasts I’m saying yes to, the speaking engagements I accept. The list goes on.

It goes to show, Einstein was right … doing the same things over and over and expecting different results is insanity.

And if you have been wanting different results and make a bigger impact – then it’s time to get real and raw with yourself and clarifying what it is that you need to let go of to make space for what’s next.