Nobody aspires to sit in a cubicle all day. Perusing documents, spreadsheets, and attending vapid meetings are part of the daily doldrums of the office life of contemporary times. The offices may be more sleek and modern, but the exchange of your time for a fixed income is often equated to a modern form of servitude.
Unsurprisingly, the work-life balance that was characteristic of earlier generations has induced higher stress levels, reduced free time, more anxiety, and absurd levels of obesity among the population. Naturally, people aspire for more than the work-life that is inextricably linked to negative consequences but are afraid to make the leap into the uncertain world of entrepreneurship. e-commerce brand ownership is often that pathway – a business model which is vastly disrupting the way the world spends its money.
If you have the right team in place.
The story of Myles Broom and Cameron Farthing, the e-commerce brand whizz’s at the meteoric agency, The Normal Company, is here to encourage you to make that leap.
Broom and Farthings’ journeys reflect the type of grind and hard work required to overcome the conventional drawdowns of working a 9-to-5 job, to working with some of your favorite online brands in just a matter of months. The path is never easy, but the results can be compelling, and even surpass your imagination.
An Arduous Climb Produces The Best Views
A sense of comfort and financial security are the driving reasons for people to maintain a life around a job that they do not enjoy. A 2017 Gallup Poll analyzing the global workforce even indicated that 85 percent of employees are not engaged in their job because of a dislike for their work.
While those numbers are staggering, they’re not really that surprising. The path outside of the corporate or blue-collar world is mired in risk and failure — just ask Broom or Farthing, who are both very open about their humble origins.
“You can achieve in six months what someone else may take six years to achieve if you have the talent, the mindset, and the aggression to be ruthless with your goals and hold yourself accountable for them,” says Farthing, reflecting on the lessons he has learned.
Broom and Farthing are both from small areas in Scotland and Peterborough and they both moved to London seeking to capitalize on the shared idea that would allow them to depart the conventional working world for good, with lofty ambitions for their future, and the future of e-commerce and brand marketing.
“We have both been on crazy journeys as startup entrepreneurs and thanks to social media, were able to connect around 14 months ago,” says Broom.
Early struggles are characteristic of going out on your own, but in time, they can relieve the stress from a job you don’t like, give you more free time, and improve your overall quality of health. Most entrepreneurs start dreaming of a better life during a corporate or blue-collar job, then identify a problem within their realm of expertise, and gravitate towards the entrepreneurial mindset.
For example, Broom formerly worked as a marketing specialist in the corporate world before deciding to leave his position in February 2019, whilst simultaneously growing a startup agency in his free time and evenings — stoking a deep dive into launching a brand consulting and e-commerce marketing agency with his friend, Cameron Farthing.
Cameron left his job as an overseas diver to pursue running his own e-commerce stores, of which he had scaled to multi 6 figures, allowing him to pursue grander ambitions. From this, their skill sets naturally combined for the vision with Broom, creating their agency focusing specifically on the fast-paced market of e-commerce, and predominantly fashion brands.
They both had experience with what would help catapult The Normal Company to one of the top agencies in its market, allowing them to travel the world as they service their worldwide clientele, but the fear of failure is a necessary gauntlet every entrepreneur must pass through. Looking back, both Cameron Farthing and Myles Broom had initially begun with side hustles, which soon snowballed into a 5 man team in such a short time frame.
“Cameron had run his own multi-6-figure brands as a ‘side hustle’ since the mere age of 19, so he definitely knows a thing or two when it comes to practicing what we preach, and growing brands to huge levels,” says Broom. “For myself, I had worked in the corporate environment in marketing teams and marketing agencies since a young age, so knowing what the ‘agency’ industry looked like from an operational perspective, and knowing what it was lacking and the market needed, was a perfect coupling for both of our skill sets and backgrounds.”
Today, The Normal Company services some of the leading six and seven-figure fashion brands in the industry. The agency’s clients include celebrity-endorsed labels, such as ones that work with Kylie Jenner, Will I Am, Josephine Skriver, and have helped them achieve outsized returns on ad spend.
“Every brand we have worked with has never seen the results we have achieved for them before. There’s never a comparison between results,” says Farthing. “The unique part is our sauce; the ‘Normal’ formula we apply to the brands that keep us consistent with the vast scale we achieve for them, and the fact that we do things on a relationship first level when other agencies focus on numbers over relationships.”
Wielding Facebook and Instagram ads, brand consultation and strategy, and a proven email marketing system, the rapid success of The Normal Company has even surprised some of the agency’s clients.
“Even those brands that were winning before, had huge sales figures and celebrity endorsement, and are widely known names, we have taken to heights they never thought possible in such a short space of time,” continues Farthing. “It just puts a huge smile on my face when we hop on calls with them, knowing how much of an asset we have proven to be to such powerful names”
The journey of Myles Broom, Cameron Farthing, and their agency, The Normal Company, reflects the vast potential of the Internet to depart the 9-to-5 lifestyle. All it takes is a modicum of motivation, a dose of humility, and an idea. The health and happiness benefits will follow suit, and your time will be yours to pursue freely, not beholden to the mid-day meeting or water cooler talk next to your cubicle.
“All of our success has happened within 10 months of starting our company,” says Broom. “However, before The Normal Company, I can honestly say I have had about 10 failed ideas, and failed businesses since being 15. It’s naturally built in me to try and find solutions to problems, and your first business will never be a resounding success, and that’s where most will quit. It’s key to fail forward, keep learning and use each F as a foothold in your ladder.”
The path to success may be arduous, but with your free time on the line, and all of its healthy externalities accompanying it, the least trodden path produces the best views.