🧪 Hard Life Reset

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Welcome to the first edition of Brand Chemistry!

If you’re receiving this email, thank you for being one of the first (hopefully of many 🤞) subscribers.

Since this is going out to a group of people who mostly know me personally, I thought I’d use the opportunity to dive deeper into what the heck I’ve been up to.

12 months ago I left my job without another one lined up. It’s been a rollercoaster of a year since, and I could never have imagined I’d end up where I have, so I thought I’d reflect on the journey to this point and look at what comes next.

Hope you enjoy!

— Isaac

Quick Hits

• Is “Value on Investment” a better metric than ROI for brand? [SparkToro]

• How to get ahead of trends [Creator Science]

• Instagram may launch separate Reels app to take on TikTok [BBC]

• YouTube is now the most frequently used service for listening to podcasts in the U.S. [YouTube]

• The future of the internet is likely smaller communities and curated experiences [The Verge]

Hard Life Reset

Hard reset on life. That's the button I hit exactly 12 months ago. The day after leaving my job, my partner and I moved in together for the first time. When she went off to work on Monday morning, I sat on our couch. Unemployed. Surrounded by cardboard moving boxes. Thinking equal parts “WTF have I done?“ and "what do I do now?"

Today, I run Pistachio, an agency helping brands grow through owned media channels.

The journey between those two moments has been the wildest 12 months of my life. Here's how it happened.

Months 1-3: The Coffee Chronicles

I was fortunate to have done some cool work in my previous job, but I was amazed by how many people wanted to meet with me when I announced I was leaving. My first three weeks were just:

• 9am: Coffee meeting

• 12pm: Lunch meeting

• 3pm: Another coffee meeting

• 6pm: Jitters from too much coffee

I met everyone from solo entrepreneurs to global VC-backed fintechs. Between caffeine overdoses, I was updating my resume and scanning job boards. But a pattern quickly emerged from these meetings. I didn't see myself working at these companies, but I could spot their immediate challenges and knew how to solve them.

So I started taking on freelance projects. Just temporary income, I told myself. Something to buy time while I hunted for the "real job." The projects went well. Clients were happy. More work started flowing in through LinkedIn. But I was still focused on the job hunt, waiting for someone to see my potential and give me permission to do what I knew I could do.

Months 4-6: The Permission Shift

I started with workshops, but quickly figured out some challenges with the business model:

• One-off workshops are non-recurring revenue, which makes predictable income very hard.

• They have lower prices compared to implementation work.

• They’re reliant on me physically being there, so they’re very hard to scale.

I also made my first major strategy mistake: fighting my expertise. I’d worked in product management and innovation before moving into media, so I didn’t want to be pigeon-holed as the “media growth guy". I pushed hard against that label and chased startup product-led growth work instead. Classic case of ignoring the obvious opportunity to chase shiny new things.

Months 7-9: The Media Pivot

That traction was so exciting! This wasn’t me just fumbling about with a few odd jobs, it felt like I was finally running a proper business and generating solid income.

But that rush also brought new problems. In all my excitement I'd sold 10 days of work per week (pro tip: there are only 5 days in a work week). Those impacts were also immediate:

• Missed deadlines

• Mixed up invoices

• Delayed client responses

• Generally letting people down

This wasn't the quality work I knew I could deliver. Something had to change.

Months 10-12: The Scale Phase

Now we're just through what has been a "stabilisation era". I've:

• Built systems to manage growth

• Brought on team members for support

• Learned way too much about tax (but somehow still not enough?)

Things are good. Not perfect (they never are) but there's a stable foundation to build on. The frantic discovery phase has become one of focused operation.

We’re working with some of the best media and non-media brands in the world to launch, grow and monetise their content operations (more specifics coming soon 👀). There have been a million ‘pinch me’ moments that I haven’t fully taken the time to appreciate until sitting down to write this email!

Next phase: scale up 🚀

The Road Ahead

If you'd asked me 12 months ago where I'd be today, I wouldn't have imagined this. Just like I have no idea what things will look like 12 months from now.

But I've learned some major lessons:

1. Your expertise isn't a limiting factor, it can be a starting point to grow from

2. Permission comes from within (disgustingly cliché I know, I’m sorry)

3. Success without systems is fleeting and will end in failure

4. You can have too much coffee

The only thing I know for certain is that I've never been more excited 🙌

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That’s it!