We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michael Bigos jr. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Michael below.
Hi Michael, thank you so much for joining us today. There are so many topics we could discuss, but perhaps one of the most relevant is empathy because it’s at the core of great leadership and so we’d love to hear about how you developed your empathy?
Developing empathy for me has been a lifelong pursuit. Like many, I am guilty of falling short in the ’empathy’ category from time to time. Mainly as a result of considering past hurts, shortcomings and lack of boundaries set in my life. However, I have consistently found myself looking beyond the surface of my fellow man, and seeking to find the good in humanity, despite our evident outcomes in society. This is accredited to my faith in Jesus, the Christ and the examples, commandments and love I have received since about 14 years old.
In my life, I believe I have had a rather ‘good’ life considering all. As a result, my parents often extended themselves, their home and finances to people going back as far as I can remember. This example left an impression on me and solidified a ‘way’ to live and thrive as I grew older. Their generosity demonstrated to me, that no matter what you have, you are to share – give of yourself and be of good use and service to people. Especially those who are ‘different’ than you. In all, I have made it my business (not always successfully identifying opportunities mind you) to share, do, invite and give of myself and/or my gift as a creative.
I seemingly can’t avoid opportunities where I see a new business or entrepreneur who can benefit from having a well-designed brand identity or piece of marketing collateral. While I cannot help everyone, I’ve lost count of the people and businesses I’ve served over ~30 years. Frankly, it never gets old. While I’ve become more wise in how and when I can help said people, I seem to never grow weary in ‘well-doing’ none the less. The gift to create is in my name; my blood; my very soul. It’s who I am.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am a brand identity specialist and designer with more than 20 years of experience working with some of the most well known brands in the world, as well as numerous startups and entrepreneurs. I consider myself a relentless agent of change and seek to be instrumental and creatively-disruptive while serving entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses. I thoroughly enjoy helping those with “big ideas” achieve clarity across the multiple facets of their business to include identity design, marketing messaging and positioning, digital and product-design.
I’ve recently had the pleasure of working with Nike, elite 100 Sports Camps, Team (Kevin) Durant Basketball Camps and You Are Not Alone – Emotional Worth-shops in developing the various interactive resources and Emotional Health Assessments. I’ve been awarded the Platinum DotComm Award for Branding and Marketing Excellence, and am an active Adobe Creative Community Representative.
In addition to providing identity design and marketing solutions, I conduct branding ‘bootcamps’ for startups, small businesses and leaders. This interactive workshop is designed to provide the clarity, resources and actionable steps needed to successfully position and brand a business – before you waste money on marketing that doesn’t work. I also have been featured as a speaker for various organizations to include The Small Business Alliance, Jorgie Inc,, and podcasts regularly found online platforms.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
In my time a a creative professional, I believe the three qualities which have bee most impactful have been, compassion, optimism, and a keen eye. Compassion for the ‘little guy’ in the marketplace who has a great product or service, who simply needs a complimentary identity to help catapult or scale their business. Optimism in believing I can positively affect the business problem needing to be solved. Finally, a keen eye or better known as attention to detail has help separate my creative approach, process and works from my peers in the various opportunities I’ve had.
Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
The book which helped change my professional journey was “Design is a Business”. It gave me an alternative perspective of how to approach my design career in a more intuitive manner, especially as it pertains to running a business, working with clients and ensuring I could remain valuable along the way – and not a commodity. Later down the line, a few books called, “Start with Why”, “Building a Storybrand”, and “Win without the Pitch Manifesto” helped shape my mindset of how to successfully position myself as an identity specialist and scale my services.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.focisbranding.com/home
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelkbigosjr/
- Other: https://www.behance.net/michaelbigosonline
