Frank Prendergast, Brand Strategist, Frank and Marci
Hi, I'm Frank; I'm a brand strategist and an actor. When I was young, I just drew all the time. When adults asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would correct their use of the future tense and say, "I am an artist" (yes, I was an annoying child). So I went to art college, and my brother advised me to take any computer classes that were going as it was right around the time Ireland first got the internet. I took his advice and then worked for him as a web designer when I got out of college.
From there, I joined the management team, then became the technical director for an eLearning company, before founding another web company with my brother called Aonach. The artist in me wasn't entirely happy with the route I had taken, though, so I went freelance to have more freedom to explore my options. That's when I became an actor, as well as a web designer and digital marketer. And then I met Marci. First, we got married.
And then, because Marci is an excellent writer, we realised we'd make a great team working with people on their brand and messaging. So we created "Frank and Marci", where we help people develop creative and story-driven personal brands that are clear and authentic and attract the right clients.
What is your favourite social media platform, and why?
Facebook is probably still my favourite right now. It's a solid all-rounder, with a good mix of content types and different communities available. But I don't love it unreservedly… I think Facebook's algorithm may be slightly too aggressive because as soon as I engage with something, my timeline gets filled with similar content, which gets a little intense.
Lately, I've been enjoying LinkedIn. I love that it has become more relaxed, and like Facebook, it's a solid all-rounder with all types of content. LinkedIn's groups aren't as good as Facebook's, but a couple of good Slack channels combined with LinkedIn might work well for me if Facebook doesn't get its act together.
Tell us about you and your current role or area of interest.
I work with my wife Marci, and we help coaches develop their personal brands online, focusing on creative and story-led content. Our approach is about bringing yourself fully to your marketing to form a genuine human connection with your audience.
Marci is the brand storyteller, and I'm the brand strategist, so Marci gets into the detail of the messaging and helps you tell your story beautifully and authentically. I look at the big picture and figure out where and how to tell the story, so it's most effective from a business perspective.
What do you like about your career or area of focus?
When you're a solopreneur, it can be difficult, you know? It can feel like you're beating a path through the jungle. You're working hard, inching forward as you hack away at the undergrowth. And then you stop for a moment, sweating and exhausted, look around and think to yourself, "am I even going in the right direction?"
I'm sure every solopreneur knows that feeling. I guess Marci and I are duopreneurs rather than solopreneurs, but we still feel that way sometimes. So, what I love is that we get to offer people clarity and confidence around their personal brand, so they can continue on with authority.
We get to remind people how brilliant they are, that what they're doing has an impact, and that, yes, they are going in the right direction.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
The thing about good advice is that it's timely, so it's hard to pick "the best"… there have been many times I have needed and received great advice. But I'll go with this one because I only realised recently how important it was.
I was chatting with a friend about the fact that I was being pulled in a lot of different directions, and he pointed out that this is often the result of a diverse skillset. He advised me to focus on what I wanted to do, not what I could do. It's deceptively simple-sounding, but in reality, it's not that easy.
At first, I didn't know how to focus just on the things I wanted to do, it didn't seem possible, and what's more, I couldn't see how to make a living that way.
But I found that by analysing the things I wanted to do and figuring out what I loved about them, I was able to find those same aspects in other parts of my life and amplify them. And that has been a major factor in shaping what myself and Marci do now.
What inspires you, motivates you, or helps you to move forward?
Marci. My wife and business partner. She inspires me, motivates me, and helps me move forward. When left to my own devices, I tend to get a bit too comfortable just where I am.
But as part of a team, you have a responsibility to the other person, and I feel very lucky to have a partner who encourages me to drive forward and also supports me when things get challenging.
We're a good team in that way; we're constantly thrashing out ideas, coming up with plans, and planning the way forward together. And we enjoy it. It's really important to us that what we do is fun.
What are you proud of in your life so far?
I'm proud of my creativity. I have written songs, played instruments, animated a music video, painted pictures, drawn cartoons, recorded voice-overs, acted in films, and designed all kinds of things like logos, posters, and websites. And now I'm a "content creator" as well.
It's important to me that whatever I do, I bring my creativity to it. For example, we had a client recently get quite emotional when we called them creative. They were writing these beautiful creative posts and connecting with people through their content - and yet didn't think of themselves as creative people.
We're all creative, but sometimes we lose sight of it. Sometimes we get so busy; we forget to take the time to access our creativity. I believe we all do better work when we allow ourselves to be creative.
What is your preferred way to meet new people/network?
I like meeting people one-to-one because you can really get into the detail of the conversation; you can go deep on a subject when something interesting pops up. Any kind of group situation I find dissatisfying because things tend to stay on a surface level. So, I like to meet people over coffee. Or a virtual coffee more recently.
Marci and I have had some wonderful conversations with people over Zoom where we're just comparing notes really - no agenda, not looking for a business angle or anything like that, just like-minded people chatting. Usually, we'll connect with someone on a social site, then maybe exchange a few comments or messages, and when it's clear there's a connection of some kind, we'll suggest a virtual coffee.
Some of them have turned into regular chats, and they're so valuable. Especially when someone it's on a similar journey. Or someone who's already been on that journey and maybe is at the level you aspire to. So yeah, networking events and group activities and the like might be good for initial introductions, but what I really enjoy is that deeper level of conversation one-to-one.
What skills or qualities do you feel have helped you?
I love people. I mean, humanity as a whole may be questionable, but there's huge potential for any single individual to be amazing. So, I love getting to know people and what they do. I only want to work with people I could imagine being friends with, and I can connect with people quickly, which allows me to know almost immediately if they're going to be a good fit for us in terms of working with them.
It means that our clients are all wonderful people doing incredible things, and we genuinely want to help them achieve their goals. So, our work is a joy, because it's something we want to do. It's not a chore. When I learned to focus my work on the interactions I have with people and to stop doing the things that meant I was off on my own for months on the computer, I really started to thrive.
What do you wish you had known when you started out?
I don't think knowing anything different would have helped me.
I "knew" lots of things when I started out that didn't help me at all because I wasn't ready to understand. I try not to have regrets, they tend to be a bit pointless, but if someone invented the time-travel machine, and I thought I could help my younger self understand some things, I would probably focus on some money matters. I'd help myself understand.
1. Money is not, in fact, the root of all evil, and in the right hands, it can do a lot of good in the world.
2. A creative life doesn't have to mean a penniless life.
3. The more value you provide people, the more earning potential you have, and that value isn't just in the end result; it's in the journey as well.
Who do you most admire in business, academic or creative circles and why?
So many people. But I'm going to say, Bonnie Gillespie. She's a casting director in L.A., and she wrote a book called "Self Management For Actors". The book is full of excellent advice for anyone building a personal brand, really, so it was a great read for me both as an actor and a brand strategist.
Bonnie has grown an incredible community-driven business that I have watched go from strength to strength since I first discovered her book. And she has done so with a generous spirit, giving so much value away for free, and never relying on the fear tactics that other marketers use.
Instead, Bonnie gives actors a vision of what they could become and then teaches them the tools they need to get there.
Outside of your professional/work area, what hobbies or interests do you have or what other areas of your life are of real importance to you?
Apart from brand strategy and acting, I also love to sing. I don't do it enough anymore, but I do get the guitar out from time to time and sing songs by the likes of Kris Kristofferson, Tom Waits, and Beck.
And then there's art - I realised recently I had completely neglected that side of things, so I started drawing cartoons to go along with my social media updates. Although, I don't know if that strictly counts as a hobby these days since I've made it part of my work!
And then, Marci and I are very close to our families, so we make sure we have time to spend with them, which means we structure things so that we get to spend time in Kentucky and Ireland, where we're based.
Has the pandemic had a positive or a negative effect on you and/or your business, and how have you managed it?
Overall we are incredibly grateful for how we have experienced the pandemic, and we realise that we are very lucky that we have been well and busy throughout. However, it did mean that Marci didn't get home to her family in the US for almost 18 months, and that was difficult, especially since Marci's grandmother and aunt both passed away during that time.
So, it has definitely affected us, but we already worked from home, so that wasn't a transition we had to make. We were kept very busy during the lockdown, which helped - many people wanted to improve their online presence when the pandemic hit, and that's exactly what we do when we help people build their personal brand.
We tried to stay creative and have fun throughout it all, and we even ended up going viral with a ridiculous video we made. We "recreated" the dance from Dirty Dancing, despite the fact I had never seen the film, and I can't dance.
We originally shot it as a joke for our families, and they persuaded us to post it publicly to give more people a much-needed laugh. When we put it on social media, it ended up being picked up by online channels such as Fox LA, ABC News, and even The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, so mission accomplished in terms of giving more people a laugh.
Do you have a mentor, or have you ever mentored anyone?
Not in a defined way… but when you help people with their personal brand, the lines between consultant, coach, and mentor can get blurry. So, there are a couple of clients that I feel we fulfil a mentorship-like role for, where we engage with them on a longer-term basis and provide ongoing support and guidance.
But we don't call ourselves mentors or anything. And we haven't engaged with a mentor ourselves, but recently we needed some outside help, and we engaged a business coach. And the type of help we needed meant that the engagement was definitely a mix of directive and non-directive.
A mentor is definitely something we see value in, so we will be on the lookout!
What advice would you have for someone looking to get into the same area of work or interests?
Well, first of all, be wary of advice; everyone will have some for you, so listen to it all for sure, but then measure it against the career you want to build and what feels right for you.
That said, here are a few things worth considering...
It is much easier to market your services if you know who you want to serve. Of course, you don't have to know straight away, but if you're serving everyone at the start, keep an eye on which projects are a joy to work on and start to figure out your niche.
On a similar note, it can make your life and clients' lives easier by "productising" your services if possible. Have easy to understand packages for your clients to choose from. It's exhausting to try and do everything for everyone, and trying to tailor a solution to each and every client means you have to write a load of proposals.
And don't wait too long to get outside help when you need it. Start researching business coaches now so that when you need one, you have people to turn to because finding the right coach is probably the trickiest bit. And then, as soon as you suspect that you might need help… go for it. Don't hesitate.
What do you feel is the most common reason for people failing or giving up?
I don't know about other people, but when I'm not achieving a goal, it's often because I haven't properly assessed what I really want or interrogated whether the journey toward that goal is something I genuinely want.
We set a financial goal recently, and we were well on our way to achieving it, but we hadn't fully defined the journey to achieving that goal. So we discovered that the path we were on to achieve it was negatively affecting our lifestyle.
We reassessed and ended up abandoning the goal we had set and defining a path that was much more in line with our lifestyle goals. Admittedly, it pushed out the timeline considerably, but it meant the journey would be more enjoyable.
Is there a phrase, quote or a saying that you really like?
One I use all the time from Bonnie Gillespie is "it's not any one thing you do, it's all the things you do." So many shouty marketers out there are trying to sell you what sounds like a silver bullet, the ONE thing you have to do to be successful.
But the truth is usually much more complex; it's the culmination of many things that leads to success.
What companies, brands, or institutions do you like or do you think are getting it right?
Sometimes I think we forget what a beautiful thing it is to be able to reach people, and develop a brand, so easily online. It's incredible for small businesses in particular. So, I'm going to resist the temptation to namecheck our clients, and instead, I'm just looking out my front door here - I have three neighbours, all within 500m, who are doing great things.
Notes To Cork, Cork Flower Studio, and Good Day Deli are all completely different businesses, but what they have in common is a commitment to serving the local community and doing business in a sustainable way. You can sense the generosity of spirit and the joy they take in their work from their online presence.
How do you define success, and what lessons have you learned so far that you could share with our audience/readership?
Am I happy? That's my yardstick for success. And if I'm not happy, how do I make changes to ensure I get back to being happy. Obviously, nobody's happy all the time, or at least I've never met someone like that. But on balance, are most days good days? That's literally my only definition of success.
What I've learned is that there's always an alternative way to do things, one that suits you. Maybe one that only you can make happen. You don't have to accept the notion that "this is the way things are done", and you don't have to accept an external measure of success. Instead, define your own measure, and make that happen whatever way you choose.