#sparkchamber 093024 — Creative Friction
Big news from #sparkchamber alumni — coach, advisor, educator, and marketing-agency guru Jeff Meade — who announced a rebrand of his business from The Meade Company to Creative Friction. In his own words:
“This change has been a long time coming, and I want to share the reasons behind it, and more importantly, what this means for you.
“Why the Name Change?
“Since the beginning, I’ve been uneasy about the business being so closely tied to my personal name. It worked when I started, but it’s made it harder to separate myself from the company as we’ve grown. I’ve also struggled with how to position the company in a way that feels unique, rather than just an extension of “me.”
“That’s why Creative Friction feels like the perfect next step. For those familiar with my work, you might recognize this name from the podcast I co-host with Madeline Reeves, where we discuss the real, often untold, challenges of running a creative business. That DNA — honest conversations, practical advice, and moving beyond industry hype — is exactly what I want this next phase of my company to represent.”
Bravo and congratulations! For a deeper dive, we highlight Jeff’s thoughts on the creative process originally posted December 5, 2022
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What happens behind the scenes plays a big part in determining what happens in the floodlights, and #sparkchamber gets a peek backstage today, welcoming educator Jeff Meade. Jeff serves as an advisor to owners of marketing agencies, helping them grow their business profitably through coaching, positioning, and operational improvement. As part of the agency world for the past two decades, he has scaled a few agencies, served on leadership teams of a few others, and made and learned from a lot of the mistakes he’s seen his clients make. His website offers an array of concise, targeted insights, providing actionable advice on a wide range of subjects: to name but a few, the hidden cost of meetings, key strategy questions an agency owner must answer, cultivating smarter clients, retaining top-performing employees, and vision casting. Jeff guides agency owners, helping them to identify problems within their organizations, and to define what success looks like; to claim their brand’s authority with sweet-spot positioning; and to streamline systems and processes as a first step to scalability. Why does he do it? “I’m inspired by small business owners [more specifically agency owners] who have a dream and work tirelessly to bring that dream to life.”
1.] Where do ideas come from?
A desire and /or need to...
- right a wrong
- change the status quo
- institute change
- communicate a message
- tell a story
2.] What is the itch you are scratching?
I like trying to make the difficult simple. There are so many things to worry about when growing a business and so many things that cause anxiety. I take pleasure in stripping away the BS so people aren't confused about the important decisions they need to make.
3.] Early bird or night owl? Tortoise or hare?
I start my work early in the morning. My day starts at 4:30 am. I do my best thinking and writing before anyone wakes up in my house and before I’ve committed to meet with anyone in a meeting. I like to habit stack [to borrow a term from Atomic Habits]. I usually head to the gym first thing in the morning and then immediately fire up my computer to get in an hour of writing every day. My trick is to tell myself that I'll write for at least 20 minutes. By the time I hit the 20-minute mark, my juices are flowing and I can keep going.
My writing fuels me and helps me think through how to best help my clients. Writing is how I educate people on the nuances of managing their business.
4.] How do you know when you are done?
I time block. So I prioritize which activities are the most important to get done every day. When I have to ship something out the door like an article or a deliverable for a client, I’m done when I achieve the agreed-upon deliverable.