Your brand is your story. And people like good stories. But they will also remember bad ones
Garth Jemmett Tweet
Garth Jemmett is an entrepreneur with a knack for simplifying vital and strategic business information. His journey to becoming an entrepreneur was one of learning to understand business, and he now helps other entrepreneurs do the same through his communication consultancy We Explain Stuff.
In this interview we get to hear more about his life and business journey, how has pandemic affected his business, mistakes he’s made along the way and much more!
Check out more interviews with entrepreneurs here.
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Table of Contents
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
Garth Jemmett: Hello, my name is Garth Jemmett, and I am an entrepreneur.
I am the founder of We Explain Stuff, a communication consultancy that explains complex information simply—bridging the gap between leaders and their audiences.
It turns out I have a knack for simplifying vital and strategic business information. I make it dead easy to understand.
The road that got me here was a long one. My journey is much like the mail boy in the movies who gets promoted and gradually climbs the corporate ladder until he runs the company. Except my journey was one of learning to understand business.
Let me explain.
I studied graphic design and worked for many design agencies during my early career before ending up at a large advertising agency.
Back then, the internet was in its infancy. Google was only beginning to play a significant role in search, and digital marketing was almost unknown. But I could see the web was getting faster, and content was getting better.
The film industry was also going through its changes, and digital cameras were starting to appear in shops. Camera phones did not even exist back then. I knew there was something there and decided to jump ship and start a company that mixed film and graphics to help businesses explain their products and services. And so my business was born.
In the early years, we did anything and everything to make money, but as our reputation grew, we started to focus more on work that was difficult to explain. It became our niche. That took us into the medical and financial services market, where information is more complex to grasp.
Many years have passed since then; my business partner decided to move on and pursue his career. And I am focusing the business more on helping leaders explain their strategies simply and effectively.
Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey? Did you ever consider giving up?
Garth Jemmett: One of the most challenging times for me was in 2008, we had just moved into larger business premises and lost our biggest client. And then the financial crisis hit. We spent all the cash reserves we had built up over the previous years. I could hardly sleep at night and wondered if the business was going to fold. We had the skills, and the need in the market was there, but servicing a large client slows you down. And can even make you apathetic. It took us ages to build momentum again. And I swore I would never have one big client again. I would spread the business risk across multiple.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons you learned from that?
Garth Jemmett: One of the funniest mistakes I made when I first started was saying yes to everything for fear of not getting work. As a result, I ended up with two projects with the same deadline, and I worked on my own. I had to work through the night for three days in a row with about 2 hours of sleep. It wasn’t very nice at the time, but funny when I look back on it now.
I think the biggest lesson I learnt there is to have a backup plan. For me, it would have been clever if I could have gotten an extra pair of hands to help with overflow work.
Has the pandemic and transitioning into mostly online shopping affected your company positively or negatively?
Garth Jemmett: The pandemic has been the best thing that has happened to my business. My entire team has gone remote, allowing us to engage globally via Teams and Zoom and showcase our strategic capabilities. It has not been easy by any means, but looking back, it has created an opportunity that people would never have been open to previously.
In your opinion, what makes your company stand out from the competition?
Garth Jemmett: I think the fact that we understand how business works we can have strategic business conversations with leaders.
It’s the reason why we have the strap line: Explaining business is our business.
Also our team is small, we are specialists at explaining business simply so that everyone can understand it. Staff, customers and channel partners.
What do you consider are your strengths when dealing with staff workers, colleagues, senior management, and customers?
Garth Jemmett: I think I am patient and fairly long-suffering, and I see the bigger picture quickly. As a result, I can problem-solve with diverse groups of people and create a clear outcome for everyone involved.
How important do you think it is for a leader to be mindful of his own brand?
Garth Jemmett: Your brand is your story. And people like good stories. But they will also remember bad ones. I think acting with integrity is very important in your capacity and as a business. Because my business isn’t a large one, I am reasonably relaxed about being the key person of influence in the business. But I am very aware that I am a steward of the business.
What’s your favorite leadership style and why?
Garth Jemmett: I am a collaborative leader. I like that style because I don’t have all the answers. And I’m ok with that. I have a vision that I’d like to achieve, but I am fully aware that I could be very wrong about certain things based on my current perception. I think when there is healthy dialogue and collaboration, it leads to a better outcome.
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What advice would you give to our younger readers that want to become entrepreneurs?
Garth Jemmett: I’d say read good books about entrepreneurs. It will set you apart from everyone looking at the first page of Google. Also, don’t look for perfection; start with something small and low risk and learn as you go. Momentum creates clarity. As you grow and learn about your business, try and define exactly who your audience is, why they are buying from you and what makes you different. If you keep asking those questions, you can’t go wrong.
What’s your favorite “life lesson” quote and how has it affected your life?
Garth Jemmett: “A calm sea doesn’t make a good captain.”
I think the reason I like this quote is that life is not easy, and neither is business. There is something special about having conversations with people who have experienced difficulty in business and life and have lessons to pass on. You can learn a lot if you are willing to listen. So whenever I am having a difficult time in business or life, I always try to learn from it because I want to pass it on.
Mike Weiss, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Garth for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Garth or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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