- Good morning everybody.
Welcome to the first work day of 2023.
(bell dings)
I am not in my usual space at the moment,
as regular viewers of this channel
will be able to tell.
This is my sister's office.
She also has a gallery wall.
I'm in New Zealand for a month or so
visiting my family, spending my time with them
which is really great.
Very grateful to have a remote job that
allows me to work from the complete opposite
side of the world from where I usually work
from time to time.
I had a really great break over the holidays.
Completely like switched my mind off from work,
so much so that I am not entirely sure
what it is I need to get done today,
but I do know that what I wanna do in this video
is take you through like, my plans,
for Brand and ConvertKit in 2023,
what I'm hoping to achieve,
the ways I wanna grow in my career too.
This is gonna be like I'm setting the scene for
the work that you'll see in these vlogs
for the rest of the year.
Let me just pop you down on the desk.
Think I'm gonna start by going through Slack,
reading through my strategy doc,
looking at our project management tool
and all of the things that past me set up for current me.
And then yeah, I'll share some of these plans with you.
(upbeat music)
Okay, I've just taken my 2023 strategy doc
out of Google Docs where I was drafting it,
getting feedback, and put it into Basecamp
which is our like communication tool that we use
for things like this and that really feels like
the step of cementing it, like this is the things
that we're gonna do.
So that felt like a good
first step for my workday
and it also feels like now is a great time
to take you through some of the goals
that we have as brands to do a team this year,
what I'm hoping to achieve.
I'm really excited about this year
and the work we have lined up,
like probably the most excited I've been
since I stepped into this creative director role.
If I'm honest, which I always try to be
honest with you guys,
my first year and a half as creative director
were not ideal.
The responsibilities that I had on my plate
and like, the set up of our team, our scope,
just wasn't quite right for me.
It didn't align with exactly what I wanted to be
doing in my career and it also didn't align
with how I felt I could best impact ConvertKit
and have the most influence and like, ya know,
positive impact on our growth goals as a company.
Had to do a lot of advocating
for the scope of my own role,
for the scope of our team and how success
is measured for us.
I'm really proud that I did that advocacy work
and was able to communicate the vision
for like how I can have impact leading a brand team
and how brand can have an impact
on ConvertKit's future and goals as a company.
That change went into effect about halfway through
last year and I feel like this strategy doc
is the first one that I've written with that new
scope of responsibility in place
where basically Brand Studio is responsible
for all the creative assets.
They get to produce to ConvertKit.
We're responsible for building our brand,
defining like what the reputation is
that we wanna build and how we can
change people's perceptions to get that brand reputation.
The main thing that we're not responsible for now
is reach, like making sure the most eyes possible
see our stuff.
That's like promotional work that marketing team handles.
So, yeah, it was great to be able to
write the strategy knowing I can focus on
building the brand, crafting that reputation,
creating great systems to produce all yeses that we need
for our campaigns and things like that.
So, with that said, let's get into three goals
that we have as a Brand Studio team in 2023.
Number one is increasing our influence
in the creator community as a tool that's made
for creators by creators.
We really feel like that message,
the for creators by creators is one that
is very true to the core of our brand,
to our like foundation of us as a company.
We have some exciting like things planned
to get the word out there about that
and ensure that that's a perception
that is landing for people when they think about our brand.
Goal number two is to align all of our visuals
and tone of voice to our brand personality.
Defining our brand personality is an exercise
that we went through last year.
We've been in a state of flux with our visual brand,
trying things out, figuring out what exactly
we want ConvertKit to look like,
like our ConvertKit brand.
We think we have a pretty good idea now,
but we still have to get a lot of systems in place.
So, this is a goal that would require us
to continue on with the illustration system
that I've talked about in past vlogs,
build our design system, redesign pages
on our marketing site.
I'm really excited about this one in particular
because I feel like it'll be the like,
making things consistent and cohesive
that I've been craving for a while.
But we just haven't been able to do when we've
been in the state of flux and like,
figuring things out, ya know?
Then, goal number three is increasing organic engagement
for our professional creators on our brand content.
We make a bunch of content.
We make films of creator series ConvertKit.
We write stories about them.
We have a few podcasts and a lot of that
content creation is done in service of
making creators the heroes of our brand,
building up our brand presence and just like, yeah,
showing creators that we understand them, we get them.
Like I talked about before, the marketing team
is now the ones largely responsible
for getting eyes on that content but,
we know that as a Brand Studio team,
it is our job to make sure that content
is engaging, that people are loving it,
that they're sharing it with their friends.
So, that's what this goal is about.
So, this is the top three outcomes that we're
aiming to achieve this year and then,
we know we're gonna have to improve a lot
of our processes to make that happen.
Honestly, we made a great start on this
at the end of last year because I mean,
of course, you don't have to wait for a brand new year
to start making changes and making things better.
And the way we did our planning for this
first cycle of the year, this first six weeks,
went really well.
I was able to just check in on our project management tool
and like, yeah, easily get my head back in the game
of what we're working to achieve.
So I'm gonna get onto some of that now.
The first thing on my list today
is actually to review a contract of
like an agency or design service
we're gonna be working with this year
to help us produce more stuff
and make some of these goals happen.
So let's get into that.
But first, I think I'm gonna go grab an iced coffee.
(upbeat music)
So as well as reviewing that contract this morning,
also spent some time reorganizing my calendar.
We did a calendar reset at the end of the year
which was great.
It meant that everything was sort of cleared off
and a blank slate to honestly,
add a lot of stuff back in again.
But I feel like I've been able to
arrange things much better.
So on Monday, I have my stand ups.
So like check ins with various squads about
like our plans for the week,
what we're working on, priorities.
Tuesday is now a no meeting day again
which is great to get that back.
Wednesdays, I have my growth leadership meeting,
Brand Studio meeting, and also my one on ones
with my manager and ya know, our executives,
any one on ones I have with them.
Thursday is our all company meeting
and also, I've arranged all of my one on ones
with the folks on my team for that day as well.
It feels so good to have that sorted and now,
I've come outside to work.
Although it's a little windy.
The umbrella looks like it might be gonna take off,
so I might end up wanting to go inside again but,
for as long as the wind stays calm enough,
I'm going to start drafting performance reviews out here.
This is the first like big task of January on my list.
I've gotta write a review for everyone on my team
and I've also gotta write my own review,
like a reflection on my own work
over the past six months and what I wanna work on
looking forward in the next six months.
So yeah, let's dive in and draft that
and then I'll share a few of my like,
career goals here with you.
(upbeat music)
All right, I had to move inside as it was
starting to spit a little bit.
I forgot that in New Zealand,
they say that you can have all four seasons in one day
and yeah, I feel like that's what I've been
experiencing today.
So now, I'm back in my sister's office
admiring some of her art.
She's got some like really great pieces on this wall.
I love it.
And this one here is one that I actually drew
many, many years ago.
This is a lyric from a song by The Wombats.
I think it actually might be called Wonderful Distraction.
But yeah, I love that she still has it on her wall.
Anyway, I've been working for the past hour or so
on writing my review.
That's around about the time that our People Ops manager
advise that we spend on a first draft of our review.
Ya know, taking time to reflect on the six months
that have been and what's coming up.
And I thought that I would put ya down
on the table here and tell you about
what I wanna aim for.
So, I got a promotion at work recently.
It's the same role, the same title,
but moving from a level three to a level four
on our like, job matrix.
That's really exciting and that means
that I feel like I'm kind of at the beginning
of my level and there's a lot of room
for me to grow, to like truly feel like
I'm killin' it in the role and the level that I'm in.
So, the number one thing that I've written down here
that I wanna work on with my manager is
the way I contribute to and how effective I am
at contributing to our business strategy.
This is feedback that I got as part of my promotion
as like a growth area for me still to work on.
So, I think it makes sense to choose it
as the thing I wanna focus on over the next six months.
Basically, I've heard from our exec team
that they want me to be more actively involved
in contributing to our like company strategy.
I feel like I contribute feedback
and like, opinions in meetings where I'm asked about it.
But aside from that, I'm not really sure
what they're looking for from me.
So that will be the first step for me
is to like have a conversation around okay,
what does contributing more business strategy look like,
in your view, so that I can then
figure out how I can make that happen?
Think I'm in a really good place now
with a lot of the other like challenges
and problems I've been working through
to focus on this which is good.
We had a lot of like resource constraint issues
in the second half of 2022 that I
had to put my focus on solving
so that we wouldn't be like completely heroic this year.
I think we're getting close there.
I think that there's a good solution in place.
So, that means that I have time now to like,
zoom out a little bit and think more
at a company strategic level
rather than just in a my team strategic level.
What else can I share that I've got in here?
There's a question in our reviews that say
six months from now, what do you wanna
look back and say you accomplished
and then, how can your manager help you achieve those goals?
And the three things that I'm writing about here
is resourcing and processes.
So basically, seeing the fruits of the work
that I did the past six months come to life
over the next six months.
I hope that by mid year, I'll be able to look back
and say that work feels a lot calmer.
We have more clarity, we have more focus.
It's easier for us to make prioritization decision
and the teams across the company as well
have a clearer understanding of our roadmap,
what we're gonna work on when,
when we could contribute to that project,
that sort of thing.
Another thing I wrote about is building
a visually iconic brand.
I don't think that's something that we'll be like
completely finished with in six months.
So, we'll be on the way to creating this.
Our brand needs to get a lot more cohesive,
like I talked about, as part of our overall team goals.
We've got a lot of great work planned
to go towards this and I'm writing this down
because as creative director,
it is ultimately my responsibility to make this happen
and that's what I wanna be able to say I've accomplished.
The third thing that I've written down here is
becoming more data driven.
I am a fairly data driven designer,
I'd say more than most.
You've probably heard me write about data a lot
in my newsletter.
I think I'm pretty good at using data
to inform design decisions but where I can get stronger
is in using data to demonstrate the impact
that the work my team is doing is having on the business.
So again, this is like zooming back out to a business level.
Measuring the impact of brand work
is really fricking hard.
Sometimes it's not something that changes very quickly.
It's like hard to shift the needle.
It's hard to even measure where the heck
the needle is at.
I always ask questions about this
in inside marketing design interviews
and I honestly feel like it's something that
as an industry, we need to improve at.
'Cause I know that a lot of my peers
are at a similar situation where it's just really hard
to measure the impact that our work is having
on the company, aside from,
with things like conversion rates on our website.
But there isn't one like overarching metric
that can apply to all of the work that my team does.
At least there's not one that I've found yet
or one that isn't like more high level
and a little vague.
So yeah, if you have any suggestions
for how to measure the impact of brand building work
and I don't just mean design work here.
I mean like, general perception,
reputation building stuff,
please let me know about it.
Tell me about it down below in the comments
'cause yeah, that is the third thing
that I want to work on.
I am honestly pretty excited for this year.
It's been a really good work day today
and my sister is gonna be home soon
with my little nephew.
So I'll sign off soon and hang out with
them a little bit.
I was kind of dreading getting back into work
because it has been such a nice break that I've had
that I didn't wanna like pile on the stress again,
you know?
But I feel like because of the prep work
that I did late last year,
I've been able to spend today honestly
just feeling excited about the work that there is to come.
It has also probably been helped
that I've been sitting next to this print
that I actually gave my sister for Christmas.
Thank you for hanging out with me
on this first work day back.
I think tomorrow will actually feel like
my first work day because it's when
all the meetings will start and things like that.
But yeah, I feel like this is gonna be a good year.
I hope you subscribed and gonna come along with me
for the journey of it.
I'm gonna share so much great work with you this year.
I'm really excited about it.
I am determined that 2023 is gonna be a better year
that 2022 and if you missed it
and you wanna hear about how my 2022 went,
you can go over here and watch my
little recap video celebrating nine years on YouTube
and reflecting on the past year.
All right, I'll see you in the next vlog.
Bye!
(upbeat music)