The Branded Ag Story.
I didn’t know what I wanted to do - so I built a business that lets me do anything.
When I tell people I fell into this job, it’s absolutely true, but there’s a bit more to it than that! My first ‘real’ camera was an 18th birthday present from my Mum. We got it to help market the bulls at home and for me to play around with. It came with me everywhere and somewhere along the way of me taking photos of friends and things that I thought shared a story, people started asking me to take their photos.
I fell in love with everything about photography. The artistry, and feeling of getting the shot, and most of all, the way I could use photos to tell the stories of the people, places, and events that I loved working.
While I was at uni in Armidale, photography was a way to earn a little extra beer money, but when I finished my degree I decided to give it one year to see if it could be more and in January 2018, Branded Ag Marketing was born. I decided that if I was able to make an equivalent to a graduate salary in that year, then this would be something I could keep doing. I made it by June.
Over the years, Branded Ag has changed and shifted both with what our clients need, but also with the world around us. Covid19 brought on our biggest shifts after the cancellation of stock shows around the country wiped out a huge chunk of our business. The personal burnout that followed had me take a semester off from studying my Masters, take 3 months away from business, and really made me take stock.
Burnout was something that took me months to feel like I was back in control but it also gave me a front row seat to what happens when you don’t build your business around you. My Master’s thesis and what we focus on in our coaching stemmed directly from that: that you are the centre of your business, and your success can and should be built around what is most important to you.
Now, we still offer photography, as well as graphic design, coaching and a business toolkit. Branded Ag is built in a way that allows me to help run the family Angus farm, allows me to work from anywhere in the world, and also allows that the business will be around well into the future.
Over the last 10 years when that hobby shifted into a full-time career, it has taken me around the world, made me incredible friends, and countless memories. It has also grown into what Branded Ag Marketing is today: a marketing company that gives you the tools to build success in your business, and to look damn good while doing it!
