2020-10-30 at

On the Art of Branding

Sometimes well-meaning counterparties are just completely incompetent at adding value. Other times they can be useful. I was just thinking about this just now when my friend invited her friend to buy things from my business ... whereupon I agreed to wait 30 minutes, and ended up waiting for 90. Who knows, perhaps this will translate to value for my shareholders later, anything is possible.

I also think about how I asked too often about the health of another friend, and was summarily ex-communicated. Such is life. I am often ex-communicated, so it is something I have become quite comfortable with over the years.


Earlier today a shareholder posted a screenshot, from the Facebook reviews of a restaurant not my own. There, a member of the public praised that restaurant for acknowledging its mistakes, and in contrast my own office was mentioned as an example of "one which does not do so, and consequently it is are closing and selling things". Encouragement comes from strange places.

I thought this a great triumph. Despite my shareholders efforts to squash my branding operations for our business, by banning me from social media activities involving the corporate brand since 2017, it would appear that the media campaign I launched slightly before that continues to add value to this day. This evidenced quality of work alone is thrilling, and it encourages me professionally, to continue doing what I do for the world, even if sometimes I must work especially hard, and especially long in order to complete a single iteration.

I find it generally useless to evaluate a project while it is underway - I am not so good at that, I believe there is a conflict of interest between the agent as a planner, and the agent as an executor of the plan, if the agent is the same person. In order to properly execute a plan, an agent cannot simply switch between planning an executing on a whim, as that destroys the purpose of planning. Of course, there are times when this is relevant, such as when the objective is to iterate upon a loop to optimise for a specific target. However, there are other instances, such as when a single iteration has not been completed, and therefore any distraction from basic execution will interrupt the only existing implementation of a plan, which has yet to be implemented.

Now it is the "season" for review, as the first iteration has ground to a halt. I found it quite the challenge to operate a brick and mortar business, on a shoe-string budget, without social media for nearly three years, and right through the pandemic of 2020, at that. With respect to the efforts put in by my team, I am quite proud of all individuals who contributed to this work. I remain disappointed with the decision makers who put us through this, however, I believe that we have each and every one of us executed our corporate duties to the best of our individual interests, and so as a whole the corporation as a social entity is a success.

Financially, it is a great failure, and I volunteer myself as the person to be blamed. But then I generally view my projects on ten to twenty year time frames, and this one is only five-years-old. And so far it is not yet exactly over. Perhaps a judge will throw the book at me, and then it will be thoroughly screwed, but this is not yet the case, so I remain, as it is my job to be so, optimistic about the potential for our body corporate.

I do believe that my colleagues are well-meaning, even if they have done some rather foolish things. And I am sure they have a symmetrical view of my work. I avoid allowing this to bother my daily work, and I suppose that is the difference between someone who has to keep their head cool for service, and those who must inspire themselves with daily dramas in order to invent meaning for their situation.

I do wonder how the story will end. But it is not over, and so I will not pretend to know. I can only document the parts that I have seen and lived through, for the betterment of others who may chance upon these readings.