Mitchell Brown is the Director and Co-Founder of new Norwich-based creative agency Temple Brown. Here, he explains how he has overcome the challenges of depression and dyslexia to get to where he is today
We are an independent Creative Agency who work with businesses and individuals to help them grow! We use the latest digital platforms combined with our eye for design to create websites, social content, graphics and photography that we are proud to put our name to. We have a strong belief in using design and data driven decision making to provide our clients with a number of professional services at an obtainable price.
I spent over 10 years working in the hospitality industry starting as a kitchen team member, working my way up to the General Manager, with the aim of becoming an Area Manager. Although the experience within the restaurant and pub trade were formative, the stress and anxiety attributed to the jobs meant I was left feeling burnt out from working 60-90 hours a week. My various job roles in the industry taught me how to manage people and run a business from financial management to overall business planning and managing a successful team. The one thing you can guarantee in the hospitality industry is that there is nowhere to hide.
My confidence in dealing with stressful and sometimes hostile situations made me stronger more well-rounded individual as well as giving me real insight into what it really takes to run a business. During that phase of my life, I found that each day my mind would affirm to me that this isn’t my true calling, I felt destined for more fulfilling pursuits in design, photography and running my own business.
My advice to anyone who is feeling ‘trapped’ in their job is to explore ways to scale back financially and potentially make sacrifices to align with your true purpose. I often reflect on the saying, “If you fail to chase your dreams, they will remain as regrets for ever, you owe this to yourself”, and so one day I decided I was going to take action and quit my job. In 2018 I made the decision to quit my job and suffered further depression that ended in a mental breakdown where I essentially hit rock bottom, living with anxiety and depression.
This period led me into lockdown, which fueled the fire even more – feeling isolated and lost. The main driver for this was walking away from a career and having to then start again in my late 20’s. After I made the decision to leave hospitality and draw on my creative skills, I had the sense that I’d squandered and forfeited a decade of my life, and with only a couple of years shy of 30, it might have been too late to alter the trajectory of my life.
Lacking any skills conducive to securing a job interview within the creative sector posed a considerable challenge. I found myself immersed in a void, devoid of purpose or direction, unsure of how to proceed. Depression exacerbated my tendency to dwell on the negativity I’ve encountered in my life, particularly during moments of profound despondency and low spirits, causing me to face one of the worst moments in my life – not being able to get out of bed everyday and feeling numb to all feelings.
During lockdown I became increasingly frustrated as it felt like another delay to my plan of action and the needle had moved in the wrong direction. To help combat this I offered to work with photographers for free in order to gain experience, funded by once again working part time in a restaurant as a team member. However, this meant taking a considerable pay cut to take a job at a Digital Marketing Agency, to enable me to change the direction of my career. It was at this agency where I met my now business partner, Ben.
We developed a rapport very quickly and it didn’t take long for us to decide that we could deliver a better service under our own brand name. We shared the same vision for self-development, creating a strong brand and providing a service that would be focused around growth, positivity and creativity I always had a burning desire to build my own business in the creative industry. I previously tried several ventures, the first of which I started at 19 years old, a sign-writing business which was pretty successful.
I then created an online e-commerce store focused on the design of children’s clothes and wall art which proved to be very popular. I’ve always loved to work, even at a young age. When I was at school I had three paper rounds and two other jobs. From all this experience I have come to realise that out working most people in life was going to be my secret weapon.
It was while building a successful e-commerce business from my bedroom while continuing to work in hospitality, I got to understand many aspects within the digital world and how to market a business online.
I grew up in a highly dysfunctional family environment and were it not for the support of my grandparents and the morals they instilled in me, I don’t know where I would have ended up in life. My childhood has almost certainly played into why I have found it hard to work for someone else and fuels my drive for continual improvement. During the majority of my younger years I struggled with self confidence and had to work to rebuild my life. I did this by pushing myself to break my achievements down into bite sizes chunks.
For example, I used to lack confidence in going to a shop and making a purchase. I gradually built my confidence by taking small steps, like walking partway to the shop and then increasing my distance over time. It took several attempts before I could finally enter the shop, and even more attempts before I could approach the counter and buy something.
The recovery process really started happen when I made a deal with myself to no longer accept being a victim of what I had always perceived as my inadequacies and to stop being angry at the world for it. One of the hardest feelings to move away from was the feeling of numbness that I was experiencing and the ongoing struggle to even want to get out of bed. There were times when all I could do was stare at the wall all day feeling nothing at all.
During some reading and further research, I found out that some of the people I viewed as my biggest inspirations had overcome similar issues such as dyslexia, ADHD, or whatever label they had been given but had used it as their rocket fuel to develop a vision and focused mindset. I discovered much later in life, through my own intuition and after being tested, that I have dyslexia, a condition that wasn’t identified during my schooling.
Additionally, I face significant challenges with my working memory, which hampers my ability to remember short-term information and retain it in long-term memory. During my school days, I often found myself gazing out of the window, unable to absorb the information being presented, which left me feeling inadequate and anxious, particularly when called upon to read aloud or respond to questions. In hindsight, it all makes sense, but back then I simply believed I lacked intelligence and received no guidance or support.
As evident from my account, without the appropriate understanding and support, I could easily have been led astray. This means that I have to work twice as hard as a typical person to ensure that I’m operating at the same level or above. However, I have now, and will never, let dyslexia define how far I can take my success. I have become self-aware enough to recognise the value in collaborating with my business partner, leveraging his skills where I lack, and vice versa. We have continued to do so as we expand our business.
This does come with its struggles and frustrations every single day, whether it’s writing emails, remembering all the details in a specific meeting or articulating thoughts effectively during discussions. However, I have implemented measures to ensure that none of these challenges affect our clients’ outcomes. For instance, I write daily lists, take detailed notes during meetings, act on tasks promptly, and utilise voice recordings when necessary.
There are numerous successful people with dyslexia, which is truly inspiring. I have learned to view it as a gift as well. For example, dyslexic individuals navigate through daily challenges with resilience, and few can match my ability to thrive in high-pressure situations or solve problems with critical and creative thinking to achieve optimal results.
Temple Brown’s internal mission is to provide an environment that empowers our team to take the lead and accountability for all projects they participate in. We do this by creating a culture where the best ideas always win. Ben and I don’t let any ideas be crushed by ‘hierarchy’ and so this encourages everyone to strive to come up with the best ideas, ones that we can all rally behind. We have found this really pushes the boundaries of the work we achieve at Temple Brown.
Ben and I always invest our time in developing and training our team in order to support their growth both for the short and long term. Temple Brown works with an array of clients who can be individuals, startups or established brands that want to grow their online presence or improve their brand identity. We build partnerships with local SMEs by creating an online strategy tailored to the individuals and their business.
What sets us apart from other agencies is that we provide them with the human touch, in what is a highly digital world. We guarantee that our clients receive a warm, personal service and can talk to a real person. We are extremely responsive and strong communicators, making our clients experience an enjoyable one. Temple Brown focus on using data, both gathered and in realtime to drive the decisions we make around design or visual elements of the projects we work on.
We offer our clients a full in-house service from Web Design, Social Media Marketing, Content Creation, Photography, Logo Design and business branding.
I remember the day, I decided to go to the doctors and accept that I needed to use anti-depression medication to aid my recovery to help and numb the mental pain. It took a lot to accept needing help. On many occasions I have told people that having a breakdown was the best thing that ever happened to me. Having this moment and stepping back and allowing myself to reset was a blessing. It gave me a chance to literally break down who I was and who I want to be.
It gave me the opportunity to give myself the attention I deserved, but it does take time and can be an uphill struggle. There is a new beginning waiting for you at the other side if you allow yourself to get there. I cannot emphasise enough that you can move towards the person you wanna be if you accept the sacrifices and commit to patiently breaking down your goals into small steps.
Having a disability isn’t your fault. You didn’t choose it, it chose you. You cannot afford to live a life where you continually punish yourself for something that is out of your control. This is something I have to remind myself of every single day. I have learned to find ‘comfort’ knowing that even though I have to work twice as hard as the average person the achievement is far greater for me. Dyslexia is a struggle everyday. It is also a big advantage if you learn to love and nurture it. There are a large number of business owners who are dyslexic.
They are resilient and determined people who have spent there entire life finding coping strategies and work to overcome diversity. Dyslexic people are problem solving people who can see patterns and connections differently. Dyslexia will always challenge you at times, there is no cure, only a way to manage. People with dyslexia should work toward seeing it as a ‘gift’ rather than the ‘curse’ – that is the key to you unlocking your potential.
I would like to build Temple Brown to a big business that focuses on empowering the team to become creative critical thinkers that are led by the best ideas. As we grow, the aim is to move toward working on bigger projects and both national and international brands. My ambition is to talk more about creativity and help people that have also been failed my our education system, including dyslexia and depression, too. Personally, I would like to pursue more personal and commercial photography projects.
Visit templebrown.co.uk.
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