The most exhilarating part of taking an Innovation to Market from Lock Down, is that I eventually get to meet the real people that I believed I was finding solutions for at the time. And then,engaging with Show & Tells to really test my first product range in real life was the cherry on top. The response has been so encouraging and I’m over the moon when I hear - “Oh Wow, this IS a great idea!!” So let me share the story ...
My first such innovation enables and empowers the Client (you) to look professional in the New-Next Hybrid WFH. I’ve called it the Green Screen Queen’s product range as per the logos above.
Looking back over the hard-yards of ideation pertinent to the first Level 5 Lock Down, I realised anew that I really do enjoy a Hot Cuppa tea. Utterly content, I’m then able to leave the world behind and immerse myself in the creative ‘What If scenarios’ to address problems in a way that leads to creative outcomes of inspired, effective solutions. There is also a yearning to utilise ‘last life’ Lessons, Values, Qualifications (yes, I even re-read some dusty past textbooks cluttering up the garage) and with a mad dash of Deep Smart eccentricity, pioneer some new thinking. Otherwise I would have to cook or wash dishes and I enjoy neither. Levels 4 & 5 called for long stretches of ‘that’.
The Furnace of Transformation Whilst Covid was devastating and disrupting any number of lives I too was plodding along wearily, determined to reinstate our Dignity, Privacy, Professionalism and in particular, our Home Sanctuary in the Online Business World. At the time not much was known about Zoom, but it certainly ticked all the right blocks for my forward vision.
As mentioned, my first product range is designed to empower everyone in front of a camera or computer’s eye in the new Online world to look professional, enhanced by their Personal Brand. Algorithms are not going to get you there without ongoing morphing and ghosting. For this reason, I worked on creating a wrinkle-free, quality,
easy 1-2-3 product range of green screens to use at home. The distinctive difference is that within the range are even fully washable, always-taut and thus easy to key-out the Pantone Green screens which hitherto was unheard of. And NO ironing was ever required - I have the same aversion to ironing as I have to dishes.
In essence, it’s a Creative Paradise come true. All it takes is a bit of know-how, delivered through the Game Changer packages, and YOU. Onward, with the story ...
The Journey of an Innovator
The journey of an Innovator and Entrepreneur is a rather isolated road of experiences, trial and error, introspection and oddly enough, overwhelm and despair (particularly in Lock Down when resource was limited and we never really knew if and when, we would emerge!). Ofttimes it was Douglas Kruger’s YouTube Channel viz. Dear Depressed and Discouraged Entrepreneur, and his many books that thankfully ushered in a new wave of energy, creative thinking and, another cup of tea!
Then too, grappling with the practicalities of interpreting an innovation into a more formal Brand structure, with a technical cadence that allowed new ideas and future products to evolve as the market received them - was quite a challenge! I didn’t even know what questions to ask myself or the ubiquitous Google. One fine day I stumbled upon a Linkedin Post by Nour Alhamwi (Graphic Designer) that described a Mother Brand in a different way and I happily set to work to create the wire frame of what has since become Smart Sprint : Ideas & Innovation.
April Fool’s Day
The Business name emerged as I sprinted into the closing doors of the bank for the brief time that it was open between Lock-down Levels. Panting heavily (i.e. my lazy bones giving away my Lock Down secrets) I asked to open a business bank account and was dumbfounded when asked for the business name. As we unpacked what the product did and didn’t do I arrived at the realisation that Smart was about the Online technology that was all so new at the time, and Sprint was honestly about the running to commission prototypes, open a bank account and get a desperately needed haircut at someone’s house on the FB Group within curfew hours. Smart Sprint : Ideas & Innovation was all it could reasonably be. It was also April Fool’s Day in 2020 ...
It is in these nostalgic yet liberating moments that I look back to the Collective i.e. the Internet’s actual functionality, the people mentioned above and the many other educational resources, to whom I owe an enormous debt of respect and gratitude. I really wanted to get my Innovation to market because I believed so much in it’s value to deliver what I had envisaged - and through the Collective, I was able to do so.
There are still many lessons to be learned along the way, but some can only be learnt out in the big wide world as I gingerly make this debut. Thinking aloud I would want to say Play nicely and Shop Local - South Africa really needs a forward-moving economy, and that was its noble intention as we emerged from the harrowing financial losses of Lock Down. Yes, we will export soonest too - it’s an Industry-first in its category after all.
“So, here IT actually is!" A paradigm shift brought to you by Smart Sprint : Ideas & Innovation
As the Innovator of the range I can now provide consulting advice and expertise on almost anything Green Screen Queen. I’ve had to take my learning up a notch or ten for Home Studios, Corporate Studios, Show reels and everything else in between. In my last life I was a Professional Pharmacist!
LinkedIn Learning with the value of their structured learning courses as well as their variety, was my GoTo. Without it, I honestly may never have been able to get the product to market because the knowledge I needed was not located in one easy lesson. It followed a higgeldy-piggeldy path of sometimes unrelated courses, to leave crumbs for the idea and uncover a pre-problem needing a spark of creativity. What a learning journey it has been!
“Motivational Talks follow naturally. I have that very-authentic badge, in Bold!”
The empowering value of the Virtual Billboard in our WFH space effectively translates our personal and organisational Brand Value into Rand Value. It does this through Customer XP at important digital touch-points - and this is just the beginning! (www.smart sprint.co.za > Digi OFFICE Kit)
Join me in the next exciting installment! It’s been lovely to say hello at last.
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