2024: A Year of Growth and Change
My Personal 2024 Take: It's Never Too Late to Start Something Purposeful
For the longest time, my identity was defined by my corporate profession—my job title and monthly paycheck.
This changed abruptly in January with upheavals at my previous workplace, leading me to engage in deep soul-searching about my true purpose. I questioned who I was beyond my professional setting. Why had I spent two decades in this profession? Was it for money, power, satisfaction, or pride? Was I in the wrong profession altogether, or worse, was I a fraud?
Vulnerability transforms people. It forces us to confront our deepest fears, either making or breaking us.
The situation wasn't helped by the constant stream of well-intended but often misaligned messages about alternative careers and reskilling programs for people over 40.
The abrupt loss of my dog of 15 years, who had been with me through thick and thin, only amplified the emotional turbulence. Yet, through this chaos, a supportive family network alongside a spiritual awakening became my anchor.
Personal Growth
Over several months, I rediscovered my purpose, rebuilt my confidence, and reignited my passion for marketing and communications.
The turning point came when my first two clients approached me during my transition phase. I interpreted this as a sign from higher powers that events were unfolding as intended.
The journey hasn't been all roses—instead, it's been about clearing weeds to rebuild the garden. Rather than wallowing in self-pity about unfairness, I chose to take everything in stride. Looking at the bigger picture helped me realize things could be worse, and there's never a perfect time for transitions—they happen when they need to.
Projects & Accomplishments
Working on client projects restored my sense of purpose and confidence. Returning to speaking engagements and receiving recognition for personal accomplishments felt gratifying, but I realized what truly matters isn't the recognition itself but the journey leading to it—the process of contributing to the industry and community driven by purpose and passion.
The true measure isn't found in social media metrics but in the impact of our contributions to the broader community measured through valuable connections. Everything else is simply vanity metrics.
Impact & Connections
People often ask about Mad About Marketing Consulting and the significance of the money-on-tree icon in our logo.
I've always believed in marketing's crucial role within the broader go-to-market strategy, including sales and product alignment. However, over the years, marketing has often been diluted to flashy brand campaigns, spectacular events, and pleasant messaging that fails to address core customer problems. Many initiatives simply check boxes or follow management directives without addressing real customer needs.
Our logo symbolizes value growing from effective marketing strategy, enabled by the right combination of people, processes, and platforms. When allowed to flourish, this creates value for customers and communities, which naturally leads to profit. Companies should prioritize value creation over profit as their reason for existence.
Learning & Skills
For too long, I had neglected my family and close friendships—relationships that had weathered countless storms with me. My previous corporate role had consumed me entirely. Starting my entrepreneurial journey, I recognized that relationships would naturally evolve, with some strengthening and others fading based on authentic connections.
I made a conscious decision to avoid falling into the same mindless cycle of endless work without quality time with loved ones. This balance is particularly crucial for business owners, where the line between work and life often blurs. There's no true "off switch" when you're running your own business—you can't completely disconnect from ownership responsibilities.
This reality makes burnout an even more pressing concern. The key lies in mastering the art of setting boundaries—knowing when to engage with work during holidays and carving out dedicated quiet time for loved ones.
While I'm still working toward this equilibrium, having access to a supportive network has been invaluable, particularly the mentorship of seasoned business owners who share their hard-won wisdom.
During this year's transition, I deliberately focused on digital learning and certifications from international institutions that had previously enriched my professional journey. I chose a balanced curriculum of technical, psychological, and spiritual courses to restore equilibrium to my overall mindset and perspective.
My spiritual practice has strengthened my intuition, enhancing my ability to navigate complex situations and relationships when pure logic or facts prove insufficient.
Forward Vision
Relationships and spirituality have taken on profound new meaning compared to a year ago. By relationships, I mean connections with people and living beings who truly matter—those we'd want present in our final moments or those who've shared meaningful experiences with us, however brief.
I've realized that job titles and industry accolades aren't the legacy I wish to leave behind. Instead, it's the positive impact and good deeds that ripple through the lives of those around me that truly matter.
Future Focus
As I continue scaling my business, I aim to secure more retainer projects that will enable me to work with talented individuals on a long-term basis, fostering their growth and helping them achieve their ambitions.
Daily meditation and spiritual practice have become essential routines that provide tremendous benefits. As a natural planner, I'm learning to balance strategic preparation with flexibility in client acquisition. Some factors remain beyond our control, making it crucial to maintain equilibrium during both peak and quiet periods.
Gratitude & Acknowledgment
I remain deeply grateful for the support of my loved ones, business networks, and what some call universal energies. Good actions eventually yield positive results, and paying it forward is essential—not for immediate returns, but for the purpose and fulfillment found in the process.
So here's to 2025—I'm ready for whatever lies ahead!
Mad About Marketing Consulting
Advisor for C-Suites to work with you and your teams to maximize your marketing potential with strategic transformation for better business and marketing outcomes.
You Don’t Always Need Rainbows to Feel Good - Try A Balanced Mindset
Today’s post is a reflection of the encounters I have had over the last couple of months since I started my leave. In a strange twist of fate, people from the past started reaching back out to me again to connect.
The people include those I met and worked with in the past, those whom I have not spoken to for ages and those whom I have always wished I could find time to connect more with.
Taking time to self-reflect. That concept has been lost to me for the last 3.5 years or so since I started working in the bank that I’m now transitioning out of. This post is not about my experience in the bank, so I’ll leave it as that. This post is more on the importance of self-love, self-care and just cherishing the present and learning to move forward into the future.
I know many have chosen to go into all sorts of coaching - life, relationships, love, career, health and so on especially after the pandemic, in response to people who have suddenly become more conscious about how they want to live their lives and thus created a demand, and now what looks like a booming industry. It seems to also be a self reflection of the takeaways these coaches have uncovered of themselves that they hope can help others.
I’m not in the coaching profession nor am I intending to go into it but I just wanted to share my own honest observations and personal take-aways based on my encounters since end Jan.
Many of us have become too caught up in our own little world and that world is largely our work that we do for at least 8-12 hours a day. Once we don’t have a job, we lose our identity as a person.
Some of us have also become numbed to the problems our families have raised to us, almost becoming deaf to them and therefore merely hearing and not truly listening.
Many have also been so obsessed with keeping healthy due to fears of death from Covid health scares that we forgot how to let loose a little and enjoy the pleasures that food can bring.
Some are equally obsessed with money - earning as much as possible and saving as much as possible for fear as well of being caught off-guard on a rainy day and ironically, gotten into family issues and disputes over money, causing much unhappiness.
At the other end of the spectrum, we have those of us who have been obsessed with just eating, drinking, spending and just splurging on ways to ‘fix’ ourselves because we are always feeling ‘incomplete’.
The lessons I learnt, whether you agree with it or not are as such:
no one can make you feel complete so long as you keep entrapping yourself in this vicious cycle of feeling incomplete due to low self esteem
one is incapable of loving another person so long as one still doesn’t know the concept of self-love
self love is not just defined by how you treat yourself but also how you allow others to treat you
we are not defined by our job titles, companies we work for, salary we earn, residential address, schools we used to go to, schools our kids go to, cars we drive or don’t drive, holiday destinations, brands we love, amount of money we have in the bank, educational certifications, awards, accolades, etc, etc
while making a living is important, we should make money work for us and not the other way around
principles of integrity, compassion and determination are priceless and without them, we are nothing but an empty shell
although everyone values different things, think about what you want others to say about you during your eulogy or be written on your tombstone that would make you feel like you have lived a meaningful life
live a little, let loose a little, love courageously, eat moderately, drink moderately, splurge selectively, save sufficiently and work for passion, not just money; live a balanced life
cherish the people you have in your life so long as they are supportive of your self-love, self-esteem, dreams, happiness, success and never make you feel like you are not enough
whenever you think or feel like everything is against you or its too much to deal with, remember that we are all just a part of a much bigger universe that is going through the same, if not much worse situation than you
And that’s all I wanted to share in terms of my own learnings from the encounters I had. Hopefully it’s useful for you as well.
About the Author
Mad About Marketing Consulting
Ally for CMOs, Heads of Marketing and C-Suites to work with you and your marketing teams to maximize your marketing potential with strategic transformation for better business and marketing outcomes.