You always hear, “work smarter, not harder.” In the right context that applies, but Brilliant Brands™ work both smarter and harder. It actually takes more work to work smarter. Often the smartest way to build your brand visuals, your message and your strategy involves working harder to get the right answer. In our office, we hardly ever stop at the first idea. We may circle back to it, but it ends up being a culmination of a few other explorations. This is true for designs, content we write and any strategy we develop.

I once read an article with Mark Cuban where he said his only regret was in the times when he wasn’t working harder than the other guy. I don’t think he’s saying to abandon your family, have no life forever and focus on you and your organization alone. Of course this will mean days of putting in an extra hour or two making sure you’ve got the right solution, but it’s the extra now that makes it easier later.

Brilliant Brands™ don’t settle, they work harder and smarter.

We were recently thinking of a hashtag for a client’s campaign we were about to unveil. It seems simple, right? How hard could it be to come up with a hashtag? I remember saying something that I seem to say a lot: “That’s what someone else would think of.” It took us a couple more hours of brainstorming and researching before we finally landed on it. I kept everyone late, but I felt so good about where we landed. We didn’t stop at the first idea, and there wasn’t any doubt there was something better. I’ll never forget the next morning one of our team members said to me, “Last night was fun, and even though it got late, we landed on the right answer.”

When you stop too soon there’s always that lingering question in the back of your mind: “Was this our best?” When you know you’ve fought for the best, there’s a sense of pride and confidence. Pushing for something better comes fairly easy for me. I don’t like settling, but the biggest thing I’ve had to learn in order to protect the promise we make to our clients to build Brilliant Brands™, is I’ve had to be fearless in asking my team to put in the same effort when it comes to finding the right solution.

Make it practical: When you think you’ve landed on a solution, ask yourself, “Would someone else think of this?” If the answer is yes, it doesn’t mean you have to start from scratch. Simply find that small detail someone else wouldn’t think of right away and adjust your idea. Brilliance isn’t complicated.