Creatives Like Us Podcast - Ep:26
If you enjoyed this podcast, please rate, review and subscribe with the podcast provider of your choice or leave us an Apple Review here. Thanks!
In this episode, Angela sits down with Gus Bhandal, a LinkedIn trainer and marketing agency owner based in Coventry, to discuss authenticity in business and the power of being intentionally yourself.
Gus shares his unconventional journey from marketing professional to pub landlord and how running a pub for three years became the catalyst for starting his own marketing agency.
The conversation explores Gus's philosophy on LinkedIn: why being yourself is your biggest competitive advantage, how to create content that AI can't replicate, and the importance of consistent visibility. He explains his "force fields" approach to marketing and why he chose to specialise in LinkedIn.
Gus also talks about co-founding Uplift Live, an annual LinkedIn conference that brings together global specialists.
Throughout the episode, they discuss the reality of being a creative of colour in business and why surrounding yourself with good people matters more than anything else.
Plus, Gus reveals the story behind his signature orange branding and those Terry's Chocolate Oranges!
Links to Gus @ The M Guru:
The LinkedIn-first Digital Marketing Agency website: TheMGuru.co.uk
Subscribe to The Enlightenment
Connect with Gus on LinkedIn
Join The Squeeze membership
Join Gus’ free Facebook group
Meet Gus at Uplift Live - The LinkedIn focused conference
If you have enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review here. Thank you!
Plan your content with Metricool*. Try it here.
Subscribe to the newsletter
Stay informed and be the first to know when new episodes drop.
Links for Angela
This podcast is hosted by Angela Lyons of Lyons Creative.
If you have any questions or suggestions or would like to be featured on this podcast, please email angela@lyonscreative.co.uk
You can follow and connect here:
Instagram
LinkedIn
Podcast website
Instagram - Creatives Like Us Podcast
Join the mailing list
Support the podcast
Creatives Like Us is an independent podcast that I fund entirely out of my own pocket. If you enjoy the show and want to help keep it going, here are a few ways you can support:
✅ Free & Easy: Leave a review – it really helps new listeners find the podcast.
☕ Buy Me a Coffee: Fuel my work and help cover production costs, here's the link.
📣 Sponsor an Episode or Series: Let’s collaborate! Get your brand a shout-out on the show. Flexible options available.
Interested in sponsoring or have questions? Email me at: angela@lyonscreative.co.uk
Thank you!
Thinking of starting a podcast?
I use the platform Riverside to record. It’s great for audio, and video plus the bonus is the way it repurposes the recording into social media graphics. I’ll take that to make the marketing of the podcast easier. Take a look and try it out here*.
Buzzsprout is my chosen platform to host Creatives Like Us. Once you upload your podcast, Buzzsprout creates an RSS feed and you have the option to load it to all the popular podcasting platforms such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts and many more. Take a look and try it here*.
Ange recording the ‘Creatives Like Us’ Podcast on Riverside
Chapters
Introduction
Gus Bhandal: The Marketing Guru
The Journey from Pub Landlord to Marketing Agency
Uplift Live: The LinkedIn Conference
Building a Social Media Presence
Dream Projects and Future Aspirations
Advice to My Teenage Self
The Importance of Branding
Transcript
Angela (00:00.12)
Hello and welcome to Creatives Like Us, where I speak with creatives of color who share journeys and stories and ideas and how they can inspire and open up avenues in creative industries. I'm your host, graphic designer Angela Lyons, and with the help of my guests, I will bring you insightful interviews and compelling stories that can inspire you to think about things differently or shape your next move. Being a creative of color can bring us challenges, highs and lows and in-betweens.
But this podcast is about amplifying our voices and celebrating together. So are you ready? Let's get started with Creatives Like Us. Welcome to Creatives Like Us. And today I'm joined with Gus Vandal. And Gus, will you tell us who you are and where you are in the world?
So my name is Gus, I am a LinkedIn trainer, I run a marketing agency and I'm based here in Coventry, which is, as we know, the center of the universe.
Did you, Brad, do that? You're so funny.
Yes, yeah, yeah, else calls it that, it's just me, to be honest.
Angela (00:57.91)
Okay, cool. And I know you said you've got a marketing agency, but what can you tell people what type of creative are you and how you use that in your business?
Yes, so I'm, it's a, it's a difficult one because I used to call myself a copywriter and then I met some copywriters and I thought, that I'm not a copywriter. So the kind of creative that I am is specifically a content writer and I help businesses with LinkedIn specifically. I help service sector businesses. you know, accountants, HR, lawyers, coaches, consultants, videographers, photographers, et cetera. So people who provide a service.
that's who I work for. And a lot of the work that I do, the creative work is the content writing for them to essentially grow their kind of brand awareness, grow their brand, you know, attract clients.
Just out of interest, do you actually write the content for them or do you also guide them? Is there a bit of both that you do in your business?
Yeah, so there's a, there's a done for you service and there's a done with you and a lot of it, because obviously I can't know every industry. It's very much, you know, we have kind of regular meetings. We sit down kind of monthly to talk about what's happening in their industry, if anything's happening and so on and so forth. And then I go away and kind of write the content, as such, but there's a lot of back and forth there. Obviously there, there has to be, can't, like I said, I can't be an accountant and a lawyer and then, you know, HR and
Gus (02:17.034)
or the of it. Yeah.
Yeah. Brilliant, brilliant. So you tell us how you got started in this, I suppose, not from like started as in from the beginning of your company, which is, what is the name of your company?
The company is called The Guru and the stands for marketing. I know it took me ages to come up with that name. Yeah, absolutely. Well, if I tell you a little bit of background, I was born in the seventies. No, no, I won't go the other way back. But essentially, I did a marketing degree in the late nineties and then my first proper job, it were, my boss used to call me the marketing guru. That's kind of where the company name started. Because even though I was like completely wet behind the ears, it was quite like an early job. I used to...
So creative.
Gus (02:58.36)
do the marketing reporting to head office. And our head office was up North in Darlington near Newcastle. So I used to go there. used to present report like quarterly marketing reports to directors, et cetera. And cause my boss didn't really know what the hell I was talking about. He kind of said, you know, you're like a marketing guru. I was like, that's stuck from there basically. So that's kind of where it, where it came, the name came from. My current business, I started in 2017. So
Long story, had a long and illustrious marketing career, then I left it all to run a local pub, which was a massive headache. However, it was the catalyst for me starting my own marketing agency, which I then did three years later after that. So 2017, I started.
I need to go back to the pub. So a pub. You had a pub. I love you had a pub.
Yeah, yeah. So, my last proper job, my boss, my boss's husband owned a pub. He was like the, owner of a, local pub, the pub where, which was around the corner from where I grew up. my, my father used to go there, my brothers used to go there, all their friends used to go there. I used to go there with all my friends, et cetera. And then they said, we're looking for a pub landlord, you know, cause the lease is coming up for the previous one. first.
For some reason, I don't know why I said, I could do that. I'll, I'll do that. and as the conversations went on, yeah, we, I started running the pub and although I don't regret it, it was a brilliant time and I loved it. It's, it's incredibly time intensive, like really, really time intensive.
Angela (04:27.756)
Is it like from like just morning till night time you're just there constantly? Obviously, suppose.
Yeah, I mean, because it was a pub restaurant, like we had a brilliant chef, but I did all the shopping, for example. So I'd leave the house at say nine o'clock in the morning, I'd go to the cash and carry, we'd go to the market, we'd buy all that day's produce and the meat and all that kind of stuff. And then obviously we'd order our beers and because we, our beers kind of came daily as well. So obviously then we'd have to have those deliveries and all that kind of stuff. In between all that, we kind of...
We're doing the deep clean of the kitchen twice a week. We're cleaning the pipes twice a week, you know, in terms of the beer pipes and all that kind of stuff. that's, even before we actually start serving any pipes or anything. So yeah, I'd leave the house at say nine o'clock in the morning. By the time we finished cleaning up, cashing up, et cetera, I wouldn't get home till about midnight at least. And I was doing that seven days a week, basically.
Yeah, that's
Angela (05:22.382)
Let's repeat, just like, repeat.
Every day. Because it's, pubs in those days, this was pre pandemic. So in those days, pubs were kind of, it was a cash business. So what would then end up, we couldn't trust anyone to then look after the pub for us. So basically I was, I was doing all of it, basically all the cashing up, all the cleaning up, et cetera, et cetera. Anyway, so while I was there, so my son was born in 2017 and at that moment, luckily I had a break clause in the contract. So we had a long-term contract.
But there was a break laws and my son was born just before the break laws could be affected. we, called quits on the pub basically. Cause you can't do both. couldn't be a family man and run a pub. It's important. Cause you know, I was for the first six months of my son's life, he, you know, I I'd have breakfast with him and then I'd go. And so for the first six months, yeah, every morning he just looked at me like, who's this guy in my house? So, so yeah, so, so I let.
Yeah.
Angela (06:13.614)
Yeah.
Angela (06:17.678)
So that was the old catalyst, move and get changed.
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So in late 2017, I kind of, I set up all my marketing stuff. You know, I thought, I'm going to run an agency. I'm going to run my own business. But to me, I was looking for work as well. thought, you know, I'll, I'll go and get a part-timer, a full-time job, et cetera, but nothing materialized. I pretty soon realized I better make a go of my business. Otherwise, uh, yeah, just not going to be able to pay any bills.
Who's, that's so cool. That's so cool. Good that you've actually done it you're still here and you're still doing it. Who was your first client? Who's your first client? Or how did you get your first client?
My first client was one of our competitors at the pub. So because we had a pub restaurant and like approximately a mile away, there was another like a pub restaurant that essentially did everything that we did. So people would either come to us and then go there or go there and then come to us, et cetera, et cetera. and they came in once while I was in the pub and said, who does all your marketing? Like, it's really good. Like all your social media and all that kind of stuff. It's really, really good. Who does it? I mean, we're like, we've got an external agency and all that kind of stuff. And then obviously when I left the pub.
I went to them and said, just so you know, was me doing everything. And they were like, great, we want to hire you. they were my first client. So they hired me more or less instantly. And then one of our other competitors then got wind of this and then they hired me as well. So my first two clients were pub and restaurant clients. And they were with me for quite a while as well. Because obviously I knew the industry.
Angela (07:46.808)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and you knew them. You are such a people person, Gus.
You know, was the pub that helped this, you know, I was, I've always been an introvert. I've always been really quiet all the guy, all the time, the guy that shies away and all that kind of stuff. The one that's like, you know, sitting on the sidelines when the lads are playing football or maybe doing my homework and when everybody else is out on their bikes and playing and all that kind of stuff. So I've always been like a quiet guy, if that makes sense. and then when I ran the pub, I realized that I better start talking to people. Otherwise nobody's going to buy a pint basically. And it was.
Yeah. Having said that, never, I never really had to talk too much because being a pub landlord is very much a listening game. Cause people used to come in and just, I used to hear all sorts of things. used to tell me all their problems and all that kind of stuff. And it was good for communication. think that's the thing. then I think when I ran, when I started running my own business, I realized that if I don't talk to people, I'm not going to make any money. Basically.
Yeah, yeah, Perfect. And now look at you. have your own. Do want to tell us about your own industry events around LinkedIn?
Yeah. So I, I run an annual LinkedIn conference. It's called uplift live and it happens every March. I say every March. mean, the next month, so March, 2026 will be the third event. And we've got, we always have kind of great speakers and all the rest of it's a great kind of, have a party the night before and all that kind of stuff, but specifically. So one of my friends, John Aspirian, he kind of said, you know, I've got this idea for a conference. Do you want to come and help me? So myself, John Aspirian and a gentleman called Jeremy Freeman.
Gus (09:15.17)
the three of us run this conference. And it is literally designed for people to come and learn more about LinkedIn, to do a real deep dive on LinkedIn. Because as you are well aware, Angela, and everybody else listening, there's a myriad of events out there, and most events try to do everything for everyone. So particularly social media conferences, they have a bit of LinkedIn and a bit of TikTok and a bit of Facebook and a bit of Instagram and a bit of ads and...
And then they add loads of other stuff like, let's do some copywriting and let's do some branding and let's throw SEO in and all this kind of stuff. of a sudden you're paying a few hundred pounds for a ticket where you're only getting like 20 minutes of value. we thought we want to make it like, if you're not into LinkedIn, don't bother coming to the conference. It's as simple as that. yeah, that's.
But if you are, this is to be. going. Yeah. I saw your lineup this year and I saw Michelle J. Remed and I was like, wow, that's a big LinkedIn person to have it. And next year you've got Dave Harlan.
Best of the best. and, you know, the first year we had people like Richard van der Blom, Nigel Cliff, et cetera, like global kind of LinkedIn specialist. then last year, as in, sorry, earlier this year, had Michelle J. Raymond, she came in from Australia. We had the world's number one LinkedIn ads specialist, AJ Wilcox. came over from the States. we had a guy called Jima who was talking all about video. He came in from Trinidad and Tobago. so we had lots of.
I've started following him now, by the way. Off the back of what I've seen about him. He looks really cool.
Gus (10:38.958)
He's the coolest guy with the silkiest voice. swear. like, and in our original lineup, actually put like, John experienced that. well, he should go last kind of thing. And I said, no way. I said, he's going to put people to sleep because he's got such a silky voice. And I said, no, no, let's put, let's put him early on because he's very, he's a very chilled, relaxed guy, which is, which is great. But it was, his talk was super impressive. It was kind of like the talk of the town basically. But anyway, so yeah, next year, so for next March, we've just announced Dave Harland.
and Nicole Osborne, so fun.
Yeah. So just let people know March as in March, 2026, because when I record this and then if anyone comes back and listens, so that March 2026 is the next one. And I will leave the link in the show notes. So if you want to get your ticket, Guss will welcome you. Perfect. Perfect. wow. So one of my things around LinkedIn is that actually funny enough, I'm going to do portfolio reviews tomorrow at college for graduates. And I'm going to talk to them about LinkedIn a little bit. Would you give me one tip to tell them? Because I think they're still.
Thank you so much. See you there.
Angela (11:40.696)
When I met them earlier on when the program started this year, they were very scared about LinkedIn and they were like, no, we don't want to go on LinkedIn. They pretty much even didn't want to go on Instagram to be honest with you. And I was quite surprised because I thought they're young people. I thought they would be all over it. Is there anything like a tip to get going on LinkedIn that I could tell them as graduates?
always say my LinkedIn tip would be to always be yourself. And I appreciate that lots of marketers say that. And it sounds like a very blase statement in itself, specifically for LinkedIn, I think one of the things is by being yourself, you end up standing out. And I think the thing is I talk a lot about being intentionally self, like really leaning into who you are and what you stand for and what you do. I normally recommend, the strategy is by being yourself, I recommend that you write at least one post a week that talks about your week.
Like, I did this, I saw this person, I got this review, I got this client testimonial, I went to this networking event, whatever it may be. Because AI can't do that for you. The only person that has your life experiences is you. And those life experiences then kind of build your tribe because then people are into that. When I write posts, I kind of say, I like eating this kind of food or I support Liverpool FC or I'm a fan of George Michael or whatever it may be. And it attracts people that are into that as well.
Then people start having conversations about it. And when people start having conversations, then people engage with you. mean, people engage with you, the algorithm pushes your content out to more people. So I always recommend start with a post per week, just talking about yourself, just talking about who you are, et cetera. Yeah. it's, yeah, it people into your world.
Yeah, actually saying that, that's a really good, really good advice. Thank you. I will tell them that. And I love when I see you talk about certain things when you go to companies and you do training for them. And then I'm sure that leads on other people see that because then they see you doing training and they think, I need some training for my company. So is that kind of like a catalyst? that continue on?
Gus (13:29.838)
I always say the only person that sees 100 % of your content is you. The thing is most people when they use LinkedIn, just kind of put their profile up and they say, right, this is me. This is what I do for a living. For example, I'm a LinkedIn trainer or run a marketing agency, et cetera. It's rare that people will land on your profile and actually bother to read the content unless they are a completely hot lead. If they're really interested in you, they will read it. But for the passersby, for the audience, for the people scrolling, et it's very...
unlikely that they're going to do that. I kind of talk a lot about, regularly share when I've got a client or when I've got some work that I've delivered, et cetera, I share it because that reminds people what I do for a living. It's very much about reinforcement. Cause as we know, life in general, out of sight, out of mind, right? We, we all, between us, we all know hundreds, not thousands of people. And the thing is, I could ask you right now, how many LinkedIn trainers do you know? And you could probably name 10 off the top of your head. And it's one of those things that if I stop posting,
and the others keep posting, then at some point when somebody needs a LinkedIn trainer, for example, they'll go to somebody else as opposed to me. So it's just that, it's that reinforcement and those reminders of a regular basis. So it sounds like bragging. It sounds like, look at me. I've got a client, but actually it's, it's reminder to get more clients because ultimately my bills don't stop.
Yeah, it's true. You've got to be paying the bills. I know we talk about LinkedIn, but I love it because I just want people to be on it. But what made you actually, I know you're on Instagram and I know you're on other places and I think you left Twitter or X, but what made you focus on LinkedIn? Is it because that's where the money's at or is there something else that you loved about LinkedIn?
I mean, that's a great question. And that's exactly what I did for me in terms of that's where I made money. So I talk a lot about force fields, for example. So my force fields in essence are my LinkedIn. So connect with me on LinkedIn, sign up for my email marketing and join my free Facebook group. And my Facebook group is very, it's kind of full of like advice and tips and all that kind of stuff for social media. So that's kind of my three pronged approach. And then I have a secondary force field, which is like others. So you can watch my YouTube channel or you can read my Instagram stories, or you can read.
Gus (15:34.278)
my threads or blue sky or whatever, et cetera. So it's the reason I kind of lent into LinkedIn was because that's where I started making money. And what I found was, so I'm a member of a membership called the inner hub, which is run by two ladies called, well, they're both called Laura. their business is called the two Laura's. And then in there, lots of people started asking about LinkedIn questions and I would always answer the questions and then they started tagging me in like kind of LinkedIn questions as well, et cetera. And I got time. realized actually, know more than.
That's so nice.
Gus (16:03.702)
Like I'm not just a social media generalist. can kind of deep dive into particular platforms. And because LinkedIn is where I make money, that's where I teach other people to make money in essence.
Perfect. Perfect. And I know that you've got your own membership coming. Do want to tell us a little bit more about that? that coming up? Because we have, I know we've had a few conversations. It was like, yeah, it's coming. It's coming. But if you'd love to tell us, and if there's a waitlist. Yes. Obviously this is going to go out later on this year.
Yeah, I mean the way the world works. I first the world, first it was the big bang, so the world was, you know, it was here. Then we invented fire, then we invented kind of wheels, we were slice bread. And then soon after that, I think I announced that I'm going to start a membership. So I've been talking for a very long time about this membership. The wheels are all now in motion. I'm going to use a platform called Circle.
I've got my sales page being currently written, et cetera, et I've already got like 60 or 70 people on the wait list, but it's a LinkedIn specific membership. So there's going to be lots of other stuff about marketing and other platforms, et cetera. But it's about how to use LinkedIn as the nucleus of your marketing strategy. there's like accountability calls, content strategy calls, Q and A sessions, et cetera, et cetera. And then in time, we're going to have networking calls, in-person meetups, master classes from other kinds of specialists, et cetera. But it's a...
Yeah, I've got grand plans, but essentially, yeah, I was, I invited a couple of people in to kind of help me with the membership, but they kind of took me off in a bit of a kind of a tangent and a bit of a kind of awkward direction. I kind of, and unfortunately, because that took a few months, I was quite far down the line. And when I realized I was on the wrong path, it was a long way to come back. So then I kind of, I just scrapped it all and just thought, right, I'm going to, I'm going to start again with some new people basically. And it's mindful. kind of, I listened to.
Gus (17:53.486)
The wrong advice, unfortunately.
But that's also, I suppose it's wrong advice, but it's also, and I don't want to say the word good, but it's also a good thing that it happened because you know that you don't want that to ever happen again and you learn from it. So it's a learning.
Absolutely. you know, when I tell people I run a marketing agency, like I'm a company of one, right? So I'm a sole trader, but the marketing agency element is if somebody came to me and said, right, I need LinkedIn training or I need you to write, do content writing or email marketing or blogs, et cetera. Sure. I can do that. if you then need, for example, search engine optimization or Facebook ads or Google ads or graphic design, et cetera, then I would bring somebody else in and say, right, you know, this, but I'd be the agency model because you're still dealing with me, et cetera, et cetera. So.
Because there's lots of experts out there and I know hundreds, if not thousands of freelancers that are brilliant at what they do. I spoke to a couple of people who seemed like they were really good at what they do. And then as we kind of went down the path, because they were like, we're to help you with, I needed a tech stack basically. And they were like, we can help you with this. We can help you with that. And then essentially they gave me the wrong tech stack. They charged me way too much money for that tech stack. And I realized that actually
it can all be condensed into one or two things, but they sold me like five or six different pieces of software, is, you know, and looking back now, you just think that's the house, the house, stupid of me to actually fall for that. But really you just, you put your trust in other experts, don't you? The people around you and all that kind of stuff.
Angela (19:21.454)
Yeah, exactly. And you believed in them. yeah, but it's all good now on the right path going forward. And again, we'll put the link in a show notes for you and then you can sign up to Gus's waitlist and hopefully it'll be started by then by the time this episode goes out. that's a bit of promotion for you. Perfect. Perfect. So I was going to say, one of my questions are what is next and what would you like to do in the future? it's more of a dream project. Who would you, who would you love to work with? Like what kind of dream client or dream project?
Yes, indeed.
Angela (19:50.798)
you can manifest.
That's a great question. You know, so I go to this event, you know, Angela, as yourself as well, we go to the annual Atomicon conference up in Newcastle and Andrew and Pete, the organizers, they always do this talk about, you know, like for example, last year was about the big domino and the one this year was about, you big ask and asking people and all that kind of stuff. And I thought about this and I thought there's a lot of brilliant people that I've already worked with. And, know, cause I've, you know, I've been in business for like eight years. So a lot of the people that I've wanted to work with, I have, which is great.
But there are certain goals in my business. Like, for example, I want to write a book. I want to start a podcast. Obviously I need to start the membership first. That's the important thing. But people that I want to work with, think it's, I'd love to be, for example, the social media manager for the Aston Martin Formula One team and things like that. And it's those kind of, and not just because I want to travel the world and watch Formula One, but more it's, you know, it's about.
the brand story and what it stands for and all that kind of stuff. And cause like for me, so Aston Martin, Aston Martin is local. So they're kind of Warwickshire based, et cetera. So I wouldn't have too much of a track to work either. You know, but I think I'd love to work for a big brand like that, but something that I can really get my teeth into and something that I really love. But in terms of individuals, I think, yeah, I can't really think off the top of my head in terms of
Yeah.
Gus (21:13.666)
who I'd want to work with. Cause I could, you know, it's very easy to say, well, I want to work with Gary Vaynerchuk or I want to speak at social media marketing world or, know, et cetera, et cetera. And they're all goals that will be nice to have. But I just think if it actually happened, would I do it? Would I get involved? You know, do I want to work with Aston Martin? If there's a job, would I really apply for it? don't, I don't know. Cause I, cause I also love my business and I love the variety of my business and who I do work with. So yeah.
Yeah, yeah. Well, maybe there's a chance in there to do a branding project with them.
Absolutely, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'd love that.
Do a LinkedIn post and get them on your radar. Yeah, absolutely.
I'll tag them in. I'm going to a big social media around next year and I kind of wrote about it and tagged them in and they actually got in touch and you know, we're kind of in talks about various things and all that.
Angela (22:01.708)
Perfect. See how the world works. You just got to put yourself out there, haven't you?
I think that's the thing, know, I've had a lot of brilliant, for example, I do a lot of public speaking, so I've had a lot of brilliant kind of speaking gigs, etc. And it's because literally I either write about them or I ask the question, like, can I speak on your stage, etc. without actually kind of like pitching or anything like that. It's more about, you know, if you need someone, if you need me, kind of give me a shout and thankfully lots of people do. So that's really nice.
that you make it more of a conversation instead of a hard sell pitch.
And now, running my own conference now, we kind of, see the difference. There are people that say, I'd love to speak because I think I can help your audience with this, it would fit into your conference, et cetera. But there are other people that just pitch for the sake of it. They're just like, right, this is my subject and I haven't looked at your conference. I've never been at your conference. I don't understand what your conference is about, but because I just want to speak and I want to get paid to speak, I'm going to apply for this anyway, kind of thing. it's that, you you just think.
You haven't done any research and it's not, you know, and all that kind of stuff. when I talk to event organizers, it's very much like, if you like, this is what I do for a living. If you think it fits into the theme and you think I can help your audience, then let's have a conversation.
Angela (23:13.294)
That's perfect. I love that. Yeah. And that's also, I love that you came on the podcast speak to me too, because I also get pictures and they've not listened to the podcast. And I've actually got on top of the form, this is a podcast for people of color who are black, brown creatives. And I get all sorts of people asking, I'm like, you've not even read that or you've not looked, listened to the podcast. So, you know, what this platform to highlight creatives of color. So it's interesting that they don't even read the, the top line or listen to the podcast.
So it's interesting. So thank you for when I put the shout out, you fit the brief.
Yeah, brief and I was like, yeah, I could do that.
I'd love to know if there's anything actually is there anything else you'd like to add to the podcast or anything you want to cover that we haven't spoken about?
No, not that I can think of. We talked about kind of where I'm going and where the business came from, et cetera. And particularly, think, you know, the, as you know, because of this podcast and it's for creatives like us, obviously, like you say, you know, for the bracket, black and brown kind of creatives out there. there is always that underlying turn of how we've made it into the world by being who we are and all that kind of stuff, et cetera. And I think we've kind of covered that in terms of, know, you have to, you have to be yourself. You have to be.
Gus (24:34.666)
intentionally yourself and unapologetically yourself to actually get your voice heard, if that makes sense. And obviously for people like us, it can be a little bit harder and we have to bang the doors down instead of just knock on them or try to open them, et cetera. we have to be there too. If we're not there, somebody else is basically. think that's the point.
Yeah. The thing is, we keep on banging the doors and we're getting seen and getting heard. So, you know, we're doing our thing and I think we need to continue doing our thing and obviously show other people that we're doing it they can hopefully gain inspiration and do something like this too. Do a podcast, up your own marketing agency. It can be done. So it's perfect. Thank you. Thank you. I love that. So end on a personal note to yourself. What would you, what advice would you give your teenage self?
Woo, my teenage self, I'd probably say don't run a pub. So I might do that. No, it's a difficult one. think the thing is now that I run a business and it's kind of not in any way shape or form is it successful, but it's a lot further than it was like kind of, know, when I started eight years ago. But I think it's one of those things that, so I tell my younger self to stop procrastinating, to get things done, to look before you leap.
Cause a lot things like I've, I've always jumped into jobs because I've hated the previous job and all that kind of stuff. And actually sometimes it's about making things work, et cetera. Running the pub was brilliant and terrible, but it was brilliant in terms of it told me how to run a business. So I could then start my own marketing agency. I think if I went straight from a career into a marketing agency, I wouldn't have that kind of that knowledge or that where, you know, that where with all and all that kind of stuff. but there's the element of don't, you know, I'll tell my teenage self.
Don't forgo a salary. Don't, you know, keep your friends close. yeah. Good hearts meet good hearts basically. make sure that you, yeah, you surround yourself with good people. you know, some of, some of my bestest friends in the world and some of my, people that I know now are the people that I've met since I started my business. A lot of friends have kind of fallen by the wayside and all that kind of stuff. And I think 90 % of my friends nowadays are now people that I've met in the eight, you know, eight years since I started my business.
Gus (26:45.676)
It's never about time. It's about respect and love and getting to know people and all. And good Yeah, exactly.
It's really interesting because I had this conversation with a few, I say business friends, but they're not business friends, they're friends. But I've met them through business and networking and just going to various events and communities and they've become best friends. And it's so weird because I always thought after I had my children and obviously, know, at school gate, you meet all the mums there and the dads and they become, some of them become friends, some keep, some don't. I was like, I don't need any more friends in my life. I'm good. And then you meet and you just go out and you meet other people and it's just like, wow, I've got.
more friends and they're just awesome. especially in business, we're both in solo businesses, it's good to have that support network too. Thank you friends.
Yeah, think that's the thing. Yeah, thank you friends. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's, to be honest, I think that would be my number one advice for my kind of my teenage self. The friends will come and go, but there will be a kind of a small group that will be with you forever. But the group that you have now may not be the group that you have in the future, but it's still about keeping good people close to you whenever you meet them, basically.
Perfect. Yeah. Perfect. Love that. So now it's time for the quick fire and fire questions. Okay. So it's one or the other. So what would you prefer? Crisp or chocolates? Chocolate. You could say chocolate orange, but I'd love, love, love to talk about your brand because obviously I'm a brand designer. Every time I see Gus, he is wearing what color Gus? Why Gus?
Gus (28:12.704)
Always orange, yeah. Why? There's a whole variety of reasons, but the main reason is that, so when I, and I was talking about this the other day to somebody actually, so when I started my brand, so my favorite colors were like purple and silver and stuff like that. So when I started my business, I wanted my brand to be purple and silver. went, but I wanted definitely to have the hashtag and a speech bubble cause that kind of, you know, and all that kind of stuff. Cause I wanted a symbol.
of the brand. You know, like you see, for example, the Coca Cola swipe or the Amazon smile and all that kind of stuff. I wanted something to signify something without the words, if that made sense. So that's why I kind of got my brand. But then when I put it in kind of purple and silver, it looked awful. It looked really bad. I thought, well, it doesn't, it, looked, cause obviously you have to get it on a black background and a white background and all that kind of, it looked terrible on everything. then.
This was.
Gus (29:03.446)
My branding guy at the time said, cause he was a color specialist. was like, let's, you know, what do you do in your business? And I said, what do you want to do in your business? And I used to run workshops where I used to bring a Terry's chocolate orange into the workshop. And I used to put it down on the table and I say, right, what does this teach us about marketing? And obviously, I mean, I won't ask everybody. It's all about segmentation, right? So it's different parts of your audience and all that kind of stuff. And we then go to eat chocolate. Well, talked about that. said, let's try.
orange. And I said, well, I wanted to go with black because not only is there a good contrast, but also black signifies luxury. the black is luxury, the orange is warmth and they kind of go well together. But then the story is from Terry's chocolate oranges, basically. then it just stuck. Cause when I, when I got new clients, when I get email subscribers, et cetera, et cetera, I send lots of people orange chocolate. So it kind of all, it all kind of came from that as well. Oh, there you go. my orange mints.
got Gus's orange mint packaging here and I'm like this sits on my desk so it's like I've got you here.
No, I really, I really appreciate that. And again, it's just, it's just those things. There's little bits that kind of go out to people and just, yeah, it's that, it's that reinforcement. Cause on that, on that tin of mint, will see, I don't have my website address. There's no link. There's nothing, you know, and all that kind of stuff. That's again, probably a terrible kind of sales folk. I'm sure a salesman would say, no, no, you definitely need that. But for me, it's not that for me, it's just, I just want to want people to be reminded of me rather than, you know, like, you know, right.
I'm running my sales down their throat kind of thing.
Angela (30:35.17)
Yeah. And also they can look you up and also they'll remember you from giving them that. which I have.
That's the thing, if you go to Google and type in The Guru, like the first 10 pages are all about me.
Okay. let's do our quick fire in five questions. So should I say Chris or should I say chocolate or Terry's chocolates?
Absolutely, yeah. Chocolate, possibly orange.
Yeah. Beach or forest? beach. Reggae or soul? Ooh.
Gus (31:06.592)
so.
to your sandwich.
Patty. Flavor. Yeah, flavor. Flavours. I'm old school, right? So I love reading books. love kind of, I've got loads of books downloaded in on my Kindle. know, when somebody says, buy my book for 99p, you think, I'm going to support them. It's only 99p, et cetera. You never read it. And you just like the amount of 99p's of spending my life. mean, you it's...
Nice spicy.
Gus (31:38.412)
I got a book. It's a, yeah, I think it's one of those things. I'm very old school. So yeah, saying on the beach, reading a book, eating a flavor, some party, with some Terry's chocolate orange for dessert. mean, that's, that's my listening to some soul kind of thing. Yeah, absolutely.
What a lovely way to round up the podcast. Thank you. So tell people how they can find you. I'll put obviously all your links in the show.
Yeah, no, I appreciate that. My number one place where I hang out is LinkedIn. So you can just search for Gus Bandel on LinkedIn. Or indeed, if you search for either Gus Bandel or DM Guru on Google, you can find me anywhere. I'm on literally about 40 or 40 or so different social media platforms, but I do my best work on LinkedIn. So come and connect.
Perfect. Thank you so much Gus and thank you for joining me and have a fabulous day and keep on doing what you do. No worries, no worries. Thanks Gus. So let me start by giving thanks. Thank you for tuning into Creatives Like Us. I hope you enjoyed this episode and found it thought-provoking, inspiring and entertaining. If you did, it would absolutely make my day if you could share and subscribe. Right to review wherever you get your podcasts.
Thank so much. Yeah, you too. Thank you for having me.
Angela (32:51.574)
Also, if you have a question or a comment I'd love to hear from you. All the ways to connect are in the notes and until next time keep being creative, like us.
If you enjoyed this podcast, please rate, review and subscribe with the podcast provider of your choice or leave us an Apple Review here. Thanks!
* This will contain an affiliate link. I will get some monies from it. I only promote the things I use and work well for me.
