{"id":42784,"date":"2016-12-20T08:58:53","date_gmt":"2016-12-20T07:58:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/visionarymarketing.com\/en\/blog\/?p=5878"},"modified":"2020-01-29T19:55:27","modified_gmt":"2020-01-29T18:55:27","slug":"information-superhighway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/visionarymarketing.com\/en\/2016\/12\/20\/information-superhighway\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding my way around the information superhighway – best wishes for 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not many of you might remember the information superhighway. I do, this is how I found my way around business.<\/p>\n

From the information superhighway to Visionary Marketing<\/a><\/h2>\n

From a business perspective, 2016 has been an eventful year, to say the least. In fact, the past few years have been very busy. Three years to the day I was working on my computer and on my blog preparing to launch my new company. New isn’t the right term. Visionary Marketing was created in 1995<\/a>. Out of frustration and seeing how managers were being downsized regardless of their abilities. I then decided to use this new tool one called the Internet (in those days people referred to it as the information superhighway) to sell my wares.
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The 1997 version of Visionary Marketing<\/a>, then part of the information superhighway (image, courtesy of the superb Archive.org Webiste)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nAs I tried to post my CV online and quickly realised that nothing good would happen if I continued to do that, I turned the website around, changed its content and theme to match that of a 100 page report I had written and rebranded it to match the name of the report. Half a year later, I bought a domain name and attached it to the Website.
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The Visionary Marketing team wishes you a Merry Christmas and a happy new year<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

The site may have changed platforms a few times but it has always been there to support my work. I used it to do research, to publish my work, to network, and evangelise. Eventually, I never had to search for a job anymore. People started to call me. I wasn’t fired from Unisys. In actual fact it went the other round, I resigned twice. Once to leave France and get back to Britain. But they wouldn’t let me go and I got an expat package instead. Even though that was deemed impossible at the time. The Website had made me visible and desirable. I went on updating it. And I resigned a second time to join Capgemini for whom I worked in Lebanon and China and France.<\/p>\n

I went on updating my website. It got me another job outside of Capgemini and I joined Orange (France Telecom as it was called at the time). The Website got me that job and I never ceased to update it. In 2004 an Orange colleague advised me to move to blogs. I didn’t suppress the Website but went on to build blogs – this blog is one of them – on top of the Website. I was right not to do away with the site, that was visionary too.
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\nFor decades I worked for free on the Web, publishing content and networking and teaching for years. Until I made my decision to turn Visionary Marketing into a full fledged company.
\nThree years to the day I was leaving Orange and contemplating the future ahead of me. A fortnight later I would be thrown into the world of business, all on my own. That was something to think about. Not an easy decision to make I must admit. I went on updating my Website for 2 weeks. Turning a personal Website into a fully functional business Website isn’t obvious. The look and feel wasn’t quite right but mostly, the tone of voice had to be changed. It was no longer a matter of projecting my own views and visions. It was a question of designing an offer, making it desirable, selling stuff.
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The Visionary Marketing office in Paris 9th district. Our office is located in Frederic Chopin’s former 1841-1852 home<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nI decided to do it completely differently. I believe in the power of stories, so I began telling stories. My vision for the world ahead, the way that I saw digital playing a role in changing organisations. The way that I thought people needed to be taught different things. I scribbled a few words on the back of of a pack of cigarettes and used this as a blueprint for chasing new customers. I had one, I needed more if I wanted to build a business.
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My\u00a0first office \u00a0in March 2014 – Since then we moved to larger refurbished offices.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nTwo\u00a0weeks later I was in the field chasing deals and clients. I signed one more, then two. After barely 2 months I was so busy I had to fetch other people to support me. I hired my first intern less than 6 months later. Now we can – notice the “we” – claim having worked for 60 customers in various fields and all areas of what I had described on the back of that pack of cigarettes a few years ago.<\/p>\n