The future is in your hands By Kim Browne Our elections next week are on the minds of many South Africans as we try to anticipate what the future holds. Small business owners such as The Toast may worry about what the political future holds. This has made me think again about being responsible for a business and its employees at a time of uncertainty. The reality is that times are always uncertain. It’s up to us as business owners to navigate the stormy seas of our endeavours and make the best of a given situation. Something that usually helps me is a positive ingesteldheid (attitude). I find that when we look at things from a glass half-full perspective, the world and its challenges are easier to make sense of. This means it’s less about what others do (such as politicians) and more about how we approach what we do. I’m not saying it’s easy — it’s not. But what I mean is the journey towards solving the inevitable difficult situations life throws at us is as important as the end result. Positivity can make this journey more bearable. Another thing about being positive is that others respond well to a sunny demeanour. At The Toast we have found that even in the most difficult client interactions a smile on our dial will always diffuse tension and open another angle or solutions to a given conundrum. I am positive about our country, our people and our future and hope you are too. It’s a tough ride, but worth it. And if perhaps you are wondering what you can do practically in South Africa today to help us all move forward together, vote for small business. It truly makes a real difference.

The Toast is eight candles young By Kim Browne Twisted Toast turned eight on 1 April 2019. It's hard to believe how quickly time seems to pass when you're busy. Time truly is relative. The happiness created by the freedom of entrepreneurship is hard to explain to others. It's equal measure elation and terror at times and totally addictive. When Louis Eksteen and I left our previous jobs on a late-February evening after a staff farewell, loudly singing John Denver's "Leaving on a jetplane" in the Evil Empire's lift we would never see again, with Gordon and Sonja Patterson by our side, the world of possibility opened up. It's never been an easy ride. After eight years in business we have learnt that nothing about creating and managing your own business ever is. But that makes the little wins just so much more rewarding. This year has been tough so far, but our growth plans are in place and the early signs are promising. It will be a another long road to become nine, but thanks to an expanding list of truly wonderful partners in business (our Toasty clients), things are looking up. We've been privileged to help clients create a number of sparkling new brands so far this year. Creating brand strategies, positioning identities, developing brand personalities and visual language plus all the other things needed for new brands is what we live for at The Toast. Thank you to these special businesses that have entrusted their most precious assets with us. One thing that we kept while leaving our previous employ is our connections to the talented group of people who worked with us BTT (before Twisted Toast). The Toast's permanent staff complement who have worked with us previously, before our launch, today makes up no less than 75% of all our staff. In addition, the group of permanent freelancers we have the privilege to work with have all been with us for more than 10 years. It's an amazing feeling to be able to count on such a dedicated and committed group of professionals. Thank you to the following Toasters who have chosen to continue on this journey with us: Erik, our genius creative director who is the rock we depend on entirely for extraordinary creativity; Angela, our amazingly talented senior designer and superb Friday DJ in residence; Sharlene, who is the most amazing InDesign Ace you've ever seen, with an eye for speed and detail that's hard to match; Quinton at Toast@TheCoast in our Cape Town office for whom next-level creativity is never too much to ask; Antoni, our master mathematician, in-house programming genius and developer extraordinaire who can think in digits and who gave us our motto Semper in Altum (Always Higher); David, who runs our finances and operations with just the right balance to keep us healthily on track and to Last Minute Louis: It's been a long ride to freedom. Here's to a future full of the happiness that freedom brings. Onwards and upwards!

The feel-good of helping others By Kim Browne Earlier this week we were privileged to attend the annual Atterbury Trust bursary student event. Held at Die Klubhuis, Atterbury’s impressive HQ, the get-together allows the many studying students and alumni, who all received study bursaries from the trust, to meet and mingle with each other, Atterbury staff and donors. Atterbury Trust specifically assists students whose family circumstances are of such a nature that they will not be able to study without the financial assistance of a bursary. But it’s not all about financial assistance. Through a mentorship and coaching programme Atterbury Trust assists the promotion of students’ emotional wellness in many other ways too. Once students have graduated and have entered the labour market, the trust’s network often assists with finding employment. Students don’t get their bursaries for free. Once they start working, they pay off the bursary as a student loan. In this way the next wave of bursaries can again help many others who cannot afford studying on their own. Two students spoke with complete gratitude about how much they value the opportunity provided by the trust. These stories made us feel so grateful for the opportunities we’ve had to educate ourselves. Managing trustee Zahn Hulme explained in a heartfelt way how important it is for Atterbury to give back. She also provided amazing statistics that underscore the success of the trust. One telling number is that students on the bursary scheme have maintained an average successful completion rate of no less than 97% over the 20 years of the trust’s existence. That’s really impressive and attests to the fact that given the opportunity, people usually step up to whatever challenges await. The importance of realizing what a fantastic opportunity these bursary students have received and that they should embrace it and not waste it was eloquently emphasized by Atterbury co-founder and CEO Louis van der Watt. If you'd like to share the love and support the further education of students with potential who do not have the financial means to pay for their studies, please consider donating to Atterbury Trust and Atterbury Foundation, the two charitable trusts in the Atterbury stable: https://atterburytrust.org/atterbury-foundation/ But for now it’s time for March Madness! On 1 April The Toast turns eight and we can’t wait to see what the universe has in store for us... See you soon.

Unexpectedness By Kim Browne Post the summer holidays, January brings realism, a slow start and an avalanche of social media memes lamenting the verisimilitude that comes packaged with a new year. A favourite cartoon that caught my eye is a Roz Chast classic from The New Yorker on how the annual calendar truly feels, which has nothing to do with the fact that all months are actually plus-minus the same length in human-measured time. (See more of her work here: https://rozchast.com .) Yes, the month of January can seem endless. If you received your December salary earlier than usual from an understanding employer, it can appear even longer after a summer holiday full of extra expenses. This year has been no different. Thank goodness for the month of love. Which makes me think about some unexpected, lovely words of appreciation that simply arrived at the absolutely best moment. After a particularly difficult end-of-January client meeting, I was glad to receive a warm message from the client, who has become a business friend. “Wow! I’ve never worked with such an agile agency! Thank you.” Praise and a thank you. That’s a whole lot of redemption right there. Remember, this is a WhatsApp received after a particularly tough face-to-face. It just shows that you don't always know (unless someone tells you) how much they appreciate what you may have done. Seeing a word of thanks and appreciation in a written message can mean the world to someone. I’m certainly going to try and follow suit. Life is short; celebrate, share, give compliments and don’t sweat the small stuff. (Yes, yes, I know it sounds just like a resolution, but that’s simply how I’m feeling right now.) And then as Albert Einstein is famed for saying: “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” But back to business. After easing into 2019 gently, whilst waiting for clients to return from their holidays and having got kids back to school and varsity, we are blessed to have received an avalanche of proposal requests. Ah, the good old “Request for Proposal”. Seemingly created to make things easier and allow clients to find “the right” agency, RFP is not our favourite acronym. This bureaucratic tool is often used to justify previously made decisions, or simply to cast the net super wide and see what comes back. (You might catch some fish, but don’t be surprised by all the unintended consequences of being bitten by the sharks that got caught in the process.) In our experience the best proposal requests usually come from long-standing clients who know our agency well and appreciate our work ethic and the chemistry between us. A famous book on consulting businesses states that this kind of relationship between (creative) consultants and clients is always a 50/50. A skewed business relationship, in which either the consultant or the client contributes an unequal share to the task at hand never leads to the best outcome. Positively, the proposals we are currently busy with come from existing clients and quality referrals (our primary source of new business). We have already delivered some of these and are hard at work finalising the rest. You never know, even if you think you do with the fickle RFP process - but we're crossing our fingers and holding thumbs! Almost eight years in we agree with Gary Player that the harder we work, the luckier we become... Thank you to all our wonderful business partners, clients and clients-to-be. Your trust rests well with us. I hope you receive your share of return on love this month. After the trial month of January, let's get this year started!

We’re only as good as our partners By Kim Browne Over time we’ve realised we’re really only as good as our trusted supply partners. The people, companies, teams, organisations and others we work with to ensure we can deliver the goods for our own valued clients, are crucial to the continued success of our own business. Without those dedicated to help us we simply can’t operate. Recently a sign appeared on the job list board in our design studio: “0 days without an accident urgent email”. This notice says it all. We’re in the business of solving our clients’ problems and providing rapid solutions for their most pressing issues. But we can’t do it alone. We depend on our long list of trusted partners to help us when we need it most. The client/supplier relationship is one we value dearly. In a world continuously edging to cheaper and faster, our philosophy of better costs more has stood us in good stead. Goedkoop truly is duurkoop (cheap works out nasty in the end). By being able to rely on our group of supplier partners, we can confidently offer a wide range of products and services we manage on behalf of our clients. We know who to call and call we do. Often. In the fickle marketplace of today values such as trustworthiness, generosity, credibility, transparency, integrity and respect can get lost in the bustle of commerce. It’s therefore important to us to remind ourselves how fortunate we are to have worked with almost all of our suppliers for seven years or more. Trust and reliability is earned and nurtured over time. It can’t be bought and doesn’t let you down. We also hope that we can be a trusted partner to the clients who choose to work with us. Through thick and thin, we aim to also stand by those who work with us to achieve our lofty goals together. So, as we stand on the edge of glorious summer at the southern tip of Africa, we salute our suppliers, our clients and our friends. A toast from The Toast.

All in a life’s work By Kim Browne A client wished me happy New Year yesterday – in March! That’s got to be a first for me, but indicative of just how crazy 2018 has been. The passing of my father on 17 January after his protracted battle with throat cancer has derailed my world and February has been all about trying to catch-up with life and business. As anyone who has lost a close family member knows, it’s really tough and I truly appreciate the love and understanding shown by many of our clients. Then in February I was puppy-scammed by an international syndicate! One thinks they’ll never catch you – but the truth is they are getting away with scamming people every day. There’s even a scam to report a puppy scammer… I opened a case with the police (really impressed with Sandton Police Station – who were professional and understanding), so my bank’s fraud department could try close the scammer’s account down and get my money back. Unfortunately the funds had been withdrawn from the account and that did not happen. But I hope that by reporting this cyber-crime, maybe they’ll catch the perpetrators at some stage in the future. We can only hope that eventually karma will kick in (I’m an eternal optimist – we got rid of Zuma didn’t we? – so anything is possible). An important life lesson to remember is immortalised in that famous cartoon by Peter Steiner in The New Yorker back on 5 July 1993: “On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog”. But in my experience, there really was never a dog – it was a series of stock pictures of the same puppy that has been used all over the net. Retrospect is a perfect science and I should have been paranoid and done more research. I certainly will next time. Happily I did find a real puppy via an ad on Facebook’s Marketplace (which is pretty impressive). I’ve also already personally met our new puppy and his owners. Simba will be joining the Browne family of pets and humans in April – we can’t wait! Work is life and life is work in this mixed up crazy existence of ours and we remain grateful to our clients for keeping us perpetually busy. It’s a good problem to have. I’m channelling Peter Drucker’s dictum: “Keep your nose to the grindstone while lifting your eyes to the hills” for the foreseeable future and counting the days until Easter. I really need chocolate and a real live puppy. Happy daze!

Min dae By Kim Browne I think most people will agree that 2017 has been a tough year on a number of levels and we’ll be happy to see the back of it. It’s min dae now with just 10 days to Xmas and two weeks until the start of the new year – where did this year go? One thing I was reminded of was all good and bad things eventually come to an end and we truly wish for much more good than bad for 2018. Anything is possible – just look at Zimbabwe right now. Would any of us have predicted such a dramatic, peaceful turn of events in our troubled neighbouring country last year this time? We’re ending the year on a high @TheToast after signing brand new annual retainer business for 2018. Contracting with new clients never gets stale, especially when it’s someone we’ve worked with before who motivates for us and chooses to work with us again in their new place of work. Referrals truly are the bread and butter of our business :). We are immensely grateful and humbled by our loyal clients who stick with us and continually choose to refer us to others. Thank you. Today we’ll be celebrating all the good things that happened in 2017 at the annual TT end of year lunch and The Toast will officially close for business until 8 January 2018. We usually try not to burn our Toast, but plenty of midnight oil has been burnt over the last while specifically and The Toasters are all in need of some R&R. We truly hope that you too get a chance to spend some time with your loved ones over the festive season and come back refreshed and reinvigorated for 2018. We are under no illusion that we’re all going to need a lot of positive energy and stamina to take on the challenges of 2018. Happy summer holidays!

Counting down ’til Xmas By Kim Browne It’s hard to believe Halloween has come and gone and we have officially entered the pre-Xmas madness rush to get everything done that is still outstanding. A client of ours asked me today what is our busiest time and reflecting back on the year that’s been, we seem to have just rolled from one busy season into another, without much time to take a break. We do however believe that downtime is crucial and The Toast will be closing the office officially from 22 December – 3 January 2018, so everyone can come back rejuvenated in the new year. (Some of us are lucky enough to take a break from 15 December up to 8 January 2018.) But before we get there, we’ve got a number of exciting projects on the go, with a new pitch going out just yesterday. Holding thumbs they choose us. Our clients are simply amazing and we are truly grateful that client referrals are the number one marketing tool we have in our arsenal. Another client actually asked me if I minded that they had referred us to a company that he thought could benefit from our services. For the record, we don’t mind at all. Sometimes, for whatever reason, we aren’t a good fit with a prospective or even existing client and we’ve learnt that it is really better to just cut ties and move on when this happens. Some business is more effort than it is worth and if there isn’t a relationship of mutual respect and trust – The Toast is not the right agency. As a small by design company of experts, we’re sometimes just too opinionated about what we have learnt over many years in the business of marketing and design. We try to do the very best we can for our clients and it really is hard for us to keep quiet when we can see the path a client is choosing is not quite right. Those who get the most value from us listen to why we do things in a certain way, engage with us about changes and trust us enough to let go of control a little and let us get on and do our thing. That’s where the magic happens. After six and a half years, we’re at a place where we can take on business when we feel we can truly make a difference. Long may it last. So, if you have stuff that needs doing before the end of the year, give us a call so we can brief it into our creative studio. Time is running out and we’d hate to disappoint. Happy Movember :}

KB, Author at Twisted Toast

Celebrating Joburg’s rejuvenation

Celebrating Joburg’s rejuvenation

Living la vida local By Kim Browne Recently we found ourselves on the rooftop of an old central Joburg building carefully being completely refurbished for safe and dignified modern residential living. The friendly and enthusiastic host from our client Ithemba, a shareholder in Divercity, was showing us around the impressive Jewel City precinct. We liked [...]

By KB|2019-06-11T17:33:18+02:00June 11th, 2019|Posts|Comments Off

May Day!

May Day!

The future is in your hands By Kim Browne Our elections next week are on the minds of many South Africans as we try to anticipate what the future holds. Small business owners such as The Toast may worry about what the political future holds. This has made me think again about being responsible for [...]

By KB|2019-05-03T14:04:21+02:00May 3rd, 2019|Posts|Comments Off

Viva freedom

Viva freedom

The Toast is eight candles young By Kim Browne Twisted Toast turned eight on 1 April 2019. It's hard to believe how quickly time seems to pass when you're busy. Time truly is relative. The happiness created by the freedom of entrepreneurship is hard to explain to others. It's equal measure elation and terror at [...]

By KB|2019-04-08T12:17:50+02:00April 5th, 2019|Posts|Comments Off

Giving is caring

Giving is caring

The feel-good of helping others By Kim Browne Earlier this week we were privileged to attend the annual Atterbury Trust bursary student event. Held at Die Klubhuis, Atterbury’s impressive HQ, the get-together allows the many studying students and alumni, who all received study bursaries from the trust, to meet and mingle with each other, Atterbury [...]

By KB|2019-04-05T07:12:51+02:00March 1st, 2019|Posts|Comments Off

Agility is our game

Agility is our game

Unexpectedness By Kim Browne Post the summer holidays, January brings realism, a slow start and an avalanche of social media memes lamenting the verisimilitude that comes packaged with a new year. A favourite cartoon that caught my eye is a Roz Chast classic from The New Yorker on how the annual calendar truly feels, which [...]

By KB|2019-02-01T17:07:17+02:00February 1st, 2019|Posts|Comments Off

Who you gonna call?

Who you gonna call?

We’re only as good as our partners By Kim Browne Over time we’ve realised we’re really only as good as our trusted supply partners. The people, companies, teams, organisations and others we work with to ensure we can deliver the goods for our own valued clients, are crucial to the continued success of our own [...]

By KB|2019-02-01T16:36:44+02:00September 28th, 2018|Posts|Comments Off

Warm hearts this winter

Warm hearts this winter

Charity begins at home By Kim Browne It's truly heartwarming to be able to support worthy charities. The two institutions we assist as The Toast are actually a bit like our own family. Atterbury Trust and Hearts of Hope are the two causes we are committed to for the long term. It just so happens [...]

By KB|2019-02-01T16:37:57+02:00July 6th, 2018|Posts|Comments Off

Puppy haze

Puppy haze

All in a life’s work By Kim Browne A client wished me happy New Year yesterday – in March! That’s got to be a first for me, but indicative of just how crazy 2018 has been. The passing of my father on 17 January after his protracted battle with throat cancer has derailed my world [...]

By KB|2019-02-01T16:38:50+02:00March 9th, 2018|Posts|Comments Off

Keeping things fresh

Keeping things fresh

Min dae By Kim Browne I think most people will agree that 2017 has been a tough year on a number of levels and we’ll be happy to see the back of it. It’s min dae now with just 10 days to Xmas and two weeks until the start of the new year – where [...]

By KB|2019-02-07T12:21:01+02:00December 15th, 2017|Posts|Comments Off

Silly season

Silly season

Counting down ’til Xmas By Kim Browne It’s hard to believe Halloween has come and gone and we have officially entered the pre-Xmas madness rush to get everything done that is still outstanding. A client of ours asked me today what is our busiest time and reflecting back on the year that’s been, we seem [...]

By KB|2019-02-07T12:21:11+02:00November 3rd, 2017|Posts|Comments Off

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