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Hi y’all, I’m taking next Friday off for my birthday week! See you in two weeks.
Back in May, I shared my plans to infuse more energy into the messaging I use to talk about my business. Future Emergent is still a young company. My goals and desires as a small business have changed. How can I best communicate that to prospective clients, communities, and accomplices?
In my first post, I summarized my most pressing needs like this. I wanted:
- short pitch: what’s my sentence?
- long pitch: what’s the slightly longer pitch?
- what Future Emergent does: what do I do as a consulting firm?
- what be the future does: how does my blog fit into my work?
Walt Brown of Motley Brown Consulting connected me to a marketing agency through the City of Seattle’s ABC program. I’ve spent the last few months working with Roger and Steven at ANEW Brand. They helped me realize that, as a solo entrepreneur, what I first needed to brand was myself. This perspective helped clarify what was important to me as a company. Here’s what we came up with and what it means to me:
branding materials
Vision: Through Future Emergent, I envision a world where everyone feels like they truly belong.
Mission: Future Emergent moves leaders and organizations into the future.
A vision should articulate what we will have when we complete our mission. I wanted mine to be aspirational and to the point.
Short pitch: I use principles of racial equity and social justice in everything I do to make changes that last.
Racial justice is the biggest motivator for what I do. In some drafts I tried making those terms implied rather than stated outright. But they are such a big part of my identity as a consultant. I didn’t want people to miss that part of my work or leave with the sense that they weren’t important to me.
Lengthier pitch: It’s no secret that institutions can cause harm to the communities they’re trying to help. We must dismantle the racist and unjust systems around us before we can heal. As a facilitator, I build trust and collaboration within groups. Together, we must replace the unfair policies, practices, and assumptions all around us. As an agent of change, I guide leaders on how to work with communities to remake their programs.
I structured this section so that each sentence builds on the last. I start with the problem as I see it. Then I say what we must do about it. Then I talk about what I do or how I can help. Roger and Steven encouraged me to test out these pitches to friends and colleagues. Earlier drafts said I “rebuild, rework, and replace policies and practices.” But words matter: what we say, and how we say it, is important. “Rework” felt too watered down, like I wanted to salvage pieces of a racist system. “Rebuild” is the same way. How do we rebuild a program that most people think is fine?
The way I describe what I do also went through several revisions. I’m a facilitator in every job I’ve done: I convene people and build trust among them. Everything else I do is in service of making positive changes in a system.
What Future Emergent does: I focus on three categories of work. Systems transformation, facilitation, and program development. I describe each one with a sentence or two.
I used to describe my work in 6 categories. I narrowed it down to 3 during this process. The ones I landed on were distinct but flexible. I could never encompass (in a concise website) all that I am capable of. I hope these categories give people a flavor of what I’m good at.
What be the future does: Be the future began by necessity. A career in nonprofits and government had gotten me used to people above me saying no to transformative ideas. Be the future became the answer to the question, “What if they said yes?” This blog serves as one of my laboratories for new ideas. I’ve experimented here for more than four years.
I was super excited about this one! This blog has given me so much. I wanted to give be the future its due in return. Going through this process and thinking about the blog helped me clarify why it was so important to me. “It’s not a blog, it’s a laboratory!” feels kind of goofy, a little audacious, and very true. That’s perfect.
what’s next for me
Website updates: I’ve already rolled out this messaging on my website and on this blog’s about page. I still need to update things like my social media with the new wording. I also got new headshots! There’s plenty of new stuff to find and I’d love for you to check it out.
Podcast: the be the future podcast is going strong. I’m releasing new narrated posts at a consistent pace. If listening to essays is what you’re into, I’d love it if you subscribed.
Newsletter: I moved newsletter platforms 2 weeks ago. I’m hoping this gives me a bit more flexibility and growth (plus the old platform annoyed me). Please subscribe to that, too!
I’ll probably make minor changes as I get used to the new material. After all, marketing is a work in progress. I’m in a constant state of evolution and Future Emergent is coming along with me. I’m excited to see what happens next.
my name is josh martinez. i have always loved trying to understand systems, and the systems that built those systems. i spend a lot of time thinking about how to get there from here.
i own and operate a consulting practice, Future Emergent.
say hello: josh[at]bethefuture.space
