Still there.
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 09:15
It’s probably still there. Every time I go past, I’m like, oh, I wonder if Big Dude’s around. But. But by that stage, I just to circle around on your question, I had fallen in love with Colorado.
John Corcoran: 09:24
Okay.
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 09:25
Aspen being very different from Denver. But when we came back in 2019 to do that, look, we were, you know, we fell in love all over again. And then my son got accepted at this really amazing entrepreneurial school called Aspen Academy, which is actually founded by an EO member. And we were like, okay, it’s a no brainer. And I mean, we’re an hour and a half.
I mean, I can see the Rocky Mountains from my window. So it was just the fact that you can jump on a bike. Not worry about your safety. Be outdoors. You know, it was just like, this is the place and it’s also business casual.
At that point I didn’t know, am I going to open a division of my business, or am I going to go back into corporate because I used to work at Nestlé, so it.
John Corcoran: 10:09
Was.
John Corcoran: 10:09
Your business self sufficient enough that it could continue operating in Africa after after you’d left and you could kind of manage it or monitor it from a distance.
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 10:18
Totally. It’s still going. It’s still going. So we’ve done a bit of restructuring. The economy in South Africa isn’t really good at the moment.
So we are kind of the idea was always like, keep our talent in South Africa, but grow the US clients. And that’s what we’ve been doing really successfully for the last. It’s been four years now.
John Corcoran: 10:37
And and there were limits with how much money you could take out and the, the exchange rate that you had to, you had to pay. So you ended up having to live. Really sounds like you had to live really cheaply. And you also kind of were like bootstrapping a new business without the benefit of the talent, the labor, the team that you had back in South Africa because you didn’t want to rock the boat on that business.
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 11:00
Totally. South Africa, you’re very used to. When I came here and I saw, oh, let me give you my business credit card and pay for the services, I was like, what? What is going on here? I don’t want your credit card number.
Like like this is fraud. Like, this is weird because in South Africa everything’s done. ACH, there’s no checks. There’s no credit cards for business.
John Corcoran: 11:19
People use cash.
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 11:20
You have to use cash or we call it EFT electronic fund transfer. So I always had to have a pool of money on hand because if I’m doing a TV commercial, I need to be able to upfront it. There’s no massive lines of credit. It’s just businesses just done differently to what it’s what it’s what, what it’s done here. And most businesses do bootstrap.
So when I came here, the exchange rate was really, really bad. It was 18.5 Rand makes $1. So we basically had to take our wealth and divide it by 18.5 times. We landed, but it was like, well, we literally alive. And I don’t say that lightly.
We’ve been people and money to me is, you know, you just use your use your brains and your personality and go out and just make it happen. And no one’s coming to save you. And if it means that, you know, we’ll make the money back.
John Corcoran: 12:14
And I want to hear about how you found things to be different in the business world, to be different. When you got to Colorado, including your previous business was called Brand Spanking Marketing. And I’m a recovering lawyer. So you found that you were trying to sell to law firms and that didn’t that didn’t ring true with them. So you had to change your name?
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 12:36
Yeah. Well, we we’re.
All about brand. Like, do you look and sound the part because you’ve got 2 to 3 seconds to make a first impression. So the first thing is what is that impression? And the second one is, is it the right impression? So we were obviously hustling when we arrived in Colorado.
We knew one person, and that was and it was through a friend of a friend. So we literally didn’t know a soul. So I was involved with all of this. You know, I joined everything I didn’t know. You don’t know what you don’t know.
So I was, you know, I ended up meeting a legal client at one of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce after our sessions. And when we walked in the one, the one day to announce ourselves, I heard the secretary say, oh, BSM is here. And I’m like, that’s interesting. They’re not using our full name. And at that point, we were starting to think, okay, what’s going on here?
Because marketing has got a bit of a mixed reaction. Some people feel like, what am I getting? Is it digital marketing? And when people talk about marketing generally, they kind of refer to digital marketing. Not all traditional marketing with spanking, we also realized, was a little bit contentious.
John Corcoran: 13:42
As.
John Corcoran: 13:43
Other meetings here in the United States. Yeah.
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 13:45
Totally. And we also realized the US market really likes to know what is your niche? What are you really, really, really good at? So we were also like, okay, well we need to drink the Kool-Aid. And if we don’t think this is landing, you know, act global but think local.
So we rebranded to Trace Brand Building and the story and that is that I’m tracing my steps back to the USA after so many years. We can trace your progress. We can uncover trace elements and jewels that you might be sitting on that you haven’t realized. And it also happens to be a shortened version of my name.
John Corcoran: 14:18
So yeah.
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 14:19
We rebranded that. And yeah, it’s been it’s it’s been fabulous ever since. And yeah, just basically, you know, meeting people one by one and just networking. And it is exhausting.
John Corcoran: 14:33
As far as.
John Corcoran: 14:34
As far as the name goes, before we leave that topic, you know, there are some founders who don’t want to put their name in the title of their company, because then it turns out that the client wants to work with you. They want to work with the person whose name it is there. Was that a concern for you?
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 14:50
Not really. Actually, when I when I speak with clients, very few actually think of me when they say trace brand building. I haven’t really gotten any pushback around that. It wasn’t really a concern of mine. And some people don’t actually make the connection.
A lot of people don’t make the connection. So it was really built around the storytelling element. So luckily I haven’t because yeah, you don’t want to be scaling. You don’t you don’t want it to be built around you. You know, it’s got to be scalable.
John Corcoran: 15:20
So yeah.
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 15:21
I get that.
John Corcoran: 15:22
And.
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 15:22
I haven’t had.
John Corcoran: 15:23
That.
John Corcoran: 15:23
And did you find that I mean, you’re an American with a South African accent who grew up in South Africa. Never mind this. Two and a half years of going to more states than I’ve been to. And I’ve lived here my entire life. Did you find that it was there were like cultural barriers, or did you find it hard to get your initial clients?
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 15:45
You know what? Interestingly enough, yes. Everybody comments on the accent. I think I’m from New Zealand or Australia. We all do sound similar to most people.
John Corcoran: 15:55
Yeah.
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 15:56
It doesn’t bother me at all. So a lot of the times people will ask you a question, but they won’t actually be listening to your answer because they’re listening to your accent.
John Corcoran: 16:04
So I find that I.
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 16:05
Find that’s quite interesting.
John Corcoran: 16:06
But.
John Corcoran: 16:07
Well, you know what I mean? I, I think that it’s one of the hardest things in business today is to be memorable, to be remembered because there’s so many people in business. And so, you know, that just that one little thing which which is a little bit different, can often make you more memorable in the mind of people that meet you, you know, versus like ten other Tracey’s, they’ve met totally.
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 16:28
And I’ve had that comment before. It’ll be like, I’ve gone to business meetings where there’s a networking group and I’ll be talking to someone, and then someone will spin around and it’ll be, I remember you. You’re the you’re the girl with the accent. So it has.
John Corcoran: 16:41
Happened.
John Corcoran: 16:42
If you remember, you.
John Corcoran: 16:43
Yeah. Remember. But but but.
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 16:45
Hopefully for all the good reasons. But. I’ve actually found, interestingly enough, I came here feeling very. You know, I’m naturally a very positive person. But you come here, you’re coming to the USA.
It’s like the market, the leading market in the world. So you come here feeling a little bit like intimidated to some extent. And and what I realized is actually I have found it more, more challenging for business in South Africa than it has been in America because it the barrier to entry or there’s less vetting. I won’t say vetting, but like in South Africa, you always have to make sure that you’re an approved vendor on this list. You have to make sure.
Have you got your black economic empowerment status? What is your certificate number? It is very much a boys club. And it’s it was kind of and there’s big agencies and and that’s it. So I always felt it was easier.
It’s almost easier doing business in the US. I find that the way we approach things is very, very different. A lot of brands, a lot of people come to us and say our marketing isn’t working and I don’t know why. And then I’ll say, okay, well, what is your brand archetype? And then a lot of the time I get this vacant look.
John Corcoran: 18:04
And.
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 18:05
I’m like, that’s the problem right there. Because if you don’t know who you are and what your archetype is, then how do you know what messaging to use? How do you know if you look appropriate or not? How do you know what pain points you’re solving for, and how do you know if you’re using the right channel? So so that approach has been fabulous because it’s it’s a lot of fresh thinking.
It’s what I hear from clients. And that’s really the fundamentals that I learned at Nestlé that I then decided to bring in to my agency because there was a gap of truly understanding brand and then bringing it to your marketing campaigns instead of just having pretty pictures and talk.
John Corcoran: 18:42
Yeah. So you’d worked at Nestle when you were in South Africa, which is the, I think, the largest food company out there in the world. Yeah. And now you’re helping other smaller food companies, amongst other clients as well. But talk a little bit about some of the, the the clients that you’ve worked with.
There’s a, there’s a doctor, I think it is the largest frozen pizza group in Germany or in Europe.
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 19:08
Yeah. So so we my background being a dietician, I naturally gravitated towards food, food and wellness. And then also coming from a medical family, I was also in medical sales. So kind of food and medical was kind of what we put our, you know, played with for about eight years. And then we kind of expanded because what we really believe is brand is brand.
And once you understand brand, you can be industry agnostic. In fact, I, I hesitate when someone says, I only do this category because my team is going to get bored. You want different thinking. You want. How can I ethically say you’ve got the best Ford?
And then I go and tell Mazda you’ve got the best Mazda. Like for me it’s it’s conflict of interest. So yeah, we’ve worked with fabulous medical and food brands as well as Chamber of Commerce lawyers. Gosh, so many different industries. Doctor utca is they actually invented baking powder and they’re a family owned business in Germany and they are a global brand.
So we looked after their a, we looked after their account in South Africa for about eight years and everything from TV commercial through to brand launches through to install point of sale billboards, radio, in-store sampling, digital advertising. Then they bought a frozen dessert company, which we then took through a full rebrand. Other companies we’ve worked with, Novartis, we got them a Guinness World Record in South Africa. We’ve worked with like a lot of pharmaceuticals.
John Corcoran: 20:48
Also the Guinness World Record for.
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 20:50
The most amount of spirometry or lung function tests done in in eight hours. So they wanted to launch this product for chronic asthma and COPD, and they wanted to do a campaign inside a doctor’s room. And we’re all about think out the box. Yeah guys someone’s going to come to your doctor’s rooms. They can’t breathe.
They’re not going to take in anything around you. Let’s do something disruptive and let’s go to this. The longest ultra marathon in the world where all of your runners are captive audience. And let’s let’s test their lung function. So we did that and we kind of did a little bit of creative branding and massive balloons that we developed in the shape of lungs and, and yeah, it’s just it’s just thinking differently and standing out and but being authentic and true to your brand archetype.
John Corcoran: 21:40
So cool. That’s so cool. What a cool idea. I want to ask you about AI and how that’s affecting your industry. It’s affecting lots of agencies.
How do you see it affecting you?
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 21:54
So we always say to our team and they’ve they’ve said like, are we going to lose our jobs? I’m like, no, you’re not going to lose your jobs, but you will lose your jobs to people that know how to use the technology and adapt to it. If we just stand in the corner and freak out, that’s not going to help with anything. We have developed our own SaaS platform for social media. We have also we don’t use AI for writing or any of that stuff, but it it helps us to test things.
So a B test we’ve done advert designs where you know, Utah is the state over from us, and one of our clients had an advert that we needed to retouch, and in the background were the Utah mountains and they needed to redo a fire pit. And one of our designers had to make sure that, you know, we could reproduce that image, but make sure that the Utah mountains in the back look like Utah mountains. Although it’s the Rockies, it’s a very different look to Colorado. So it’s using clever technology like that that we’ve been able to to keep ahead. Bruno heads up our digital division and he’s an AI buff.
He’s been using AI for ten years. And it’s all about the prompt, you know, like how how effective are you at the prompt. And also it’s also about AI. We say it’s average intelligence okay. It’s the quality of the person that’s putting the prompt in and analyzing it.
Like you still need an expert to understand what brand archetype is. You can’t just be a layman. You’ve got to ask the right questions. So we’re absolutely adopting it in clever a systems and processes and where we can I think more than more than ever now we we had a conversation with one of our creative directors and I said, how do you feel about AI and all these, you know, video platforms? And he’s like, well, actually it’s highlighting us even more because what you’re going to start seeing and we’ve noticed it is a lot of average design is out there.
Everything start starts looking the same. And that really allows us to be separated because we are, I hate to say it, but we are flipping brilliant at design and brand building and it’s going to highlight the difference even more. So. So yeah, we adapt it and we learn and and you know, you don’t want to be like blockbuster who held on to their ideals when Netflix was trying to buy them because they didn’t want to let go of of of you know, you gotta you gotta.
John Corcoran: 24:23
They’re.
John Corcoran: 24:23
Stuck on the model that had gotten them where they are. Yeah. And weren’t, weren’t, weren’t we’re kind of putting their head in the sand for a long time.
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 24:30
Totally totally so so adapt or die. And yeah, it’s just about about boxing. Clever. And looking around the corner.
John Corcoran: 24:38
Yeah, yeah. I want to ask you about kind of like where do you see the industry going? Like what gets you excited now. You know, you’ve you’re established now in the United States. You, as you said, like the the economy here or the market here feels in some ways more achievable.
There’s more possibility for you. What do you see that what are you excited about like as you look to the future?
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 25:06
Well, I it’s always the lens through which you look. Right. So what I, I just see opportunity everywhere. I, you know, I really believe that if you can dream it, you can achieve it and you’ve just got to you’ve got to stay away from the fear, the fear mongering. And really, if you have a passion deep inside you, then go for it.
You know, like what’s holding you back And I believe that we are going to be one of the leading independent agencies in the country. We are very specialized in our brand building and about storytelling, bringing that authentic story and campaigns which which people fall in love with, you know, people buy brands because of the emotions that they make you feel. And what is that story that you’re telling people? So I believe trying to build a little bit of an empire here, like a marketing market leader in the design and branding space. And I truly believe that anybody can, can, can make their dreams come true.
And especially coming from Africa, where you see so many things that you can’t do and the opportunities that are around us in America, I just you can’t take that for granted. And a lot of people are like, oh, but we’re going downhill or, you know, there’s trouble. There’s there’s issues everywhere. Yeah, but are you going to let external factors control you, or are you going to take control of your narrative and your life? Yeah, and act accordingly.
Because if we just wait to see what everyone else does, then then you’re wasting your time in my in my view.
John Corcoran: 26:43
I want to ask a selfish question because you mentioned earlier, your son is got into this entrepreneurial school and we talked about AI that’s going to affect the next generation. And I actually this afternoon am participating in my first meeting on the advisory board for our local school district on AI.
John Corcoran: 27:03
Okay, which I’m.
John Corcoran: 27:04
Super excited about. But I want to ask you, you know what? What do you think is next for this younger generation that’s going to grow up with AI all around them? You know, and everyone talks about like, you know, the next generation is going to need to be more entrepreneurial. Certainly a lot of jobs seem to be going in that direction towards more entrepreneurial positions.
But what are your thoughts on that? Like what do you say to the younger generation.
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 27:30
I think the younger generation, more than ever now, critical thinking is, is, is, is important, being able to ask and understand the right questions. I think that, as I mentioned before, you still need the expert to to to feed and interpret the results of AI. But I mean, at the, at their school, they’re doing 3D modeling. They’re doing advanced Stem, you know, advanced Stem courses. They you know, AI is just getting better and better.
I mean, it’s advanced in the last year or so. So I think we are going to be living in a world where we have, you know, androids and bots doing laundry and that kind of stuff and.
John Corcoran: 28:12
You know.
John Corcoran: 28:15
Do my laundry, clean my dishes. Please.
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 28:17
Make me a five course dinner, please.
John Corcoran: 28:19
Yeah.
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 28:20
But I think, I think there’s a couple of things that are never going to go away. And that’s true personal connections. True to relationships. I think if somebody has got good critical thinking skills, is self-aware, is kind, is honest, and can build good relationships, they’re going to be streams ahead of other people because, you know, so many kids these days are locked to their screens and they don’t know how to interact necessarily. I mean, you know, there’s a real thing.
Those those kids, they had problems communicating after Covid and that’s a real thing. And some of the teachers are saying, yeah, we noticed that the grades that were affected, it was a real thing. So I think there is that gap. So I do think, yes, AI is is going to transform everything like the cell phone did, like the computer did. But now more than ever, I firmly believe that relationships are more important than ever because it’s I always say your network is your net worth, and you one conversation away from something that could change your life.
John Corcoran: 29:25
Yeah. Couldn’t agree more. Yeah.
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 29:28
You know, like help everyone along the way. Like, what’s the point if you can’t, you know, lead with love or be kind or just be real, you know, like if you’re facing challenges, then just be real about it, you know? And so it’s a difficult one. I don’t think it’s going anywhere. It’s getting perfected.
I haven’t embraced it as much as my husband keeps saying, you got to know everything about. I’m like, no, that’s why I’ve got you as the super who on my team. Like, I don’t need to know how everything works. You know, I’ve got experts around me to do that. I don’t have a passion for digital, but I’ve got a passion for brands and the vision.
So let me lean into my zone of genius and let my team embrace everything else. And yes, we have regular lessons and we have team conversations. But I don’t believe you need to be. You can’t be a specialist in absolutely everything. It’s impossible.
John Corcoran: 30:18
True, true, yeah.
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 30:19
A man of many, many worlds and not really an expert in any. So. Here to stay. Let’s just watch the space. But I wouldn’t say rest on your laurels.
I think Productization is going to be a big thing. I think tradesmen are going to be killing it. You know your builders. Well, actually, your builders could be going away now that we think about robots and stuff like that. But there’s still going to be a huge demand for personal skills.
John Corcoran: 30:46
Yeah.
John Corcoran: 30:46
And it’s going to be a while before we have armies of, you know, bots that are that are using a hammer to build a house and things like that, you know, or.
John Corcoran: 30:56
To unclog a.
John Corcoran: 30:58
Toilet or something like that. Yeah. Exactly. Right. I mean, it may we may get there, who knows.
But yeah, not it’ll take a little while. Well, Tracey, this has been great. I’d love to wrap up with my last question, which is my gratitude question. I’m a big fan of giving our guests a little bit of space at the end, here to acknowledge anyone who’s helped you in your journey. Such a crazy story from the ambulance 42 country, 42 states around the United States to, you know, growing up in South Africa and making it over here to the United States.
Who would you want to acknowledge, thank or thank or shout out?
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 31:30
There’s probably three things that jump out at me. My dad is very, very old school, very ethical. He always taught us, you know, do the right thing when nobody’s looking. You got to sleep at night. So I love his work ethic that I, that I kind of embraced and blessing me to move over to, over, you know, overseas that that was a big thing.
Also, I went through a valley in my business quite recently, and that was a bit of a shock to the system because, you know, obviously having clients not pay you and you’re used to having this little nest egg in South Africa to pay for TV commercials and you don’t have that. I was completely floored. And more than anything else, I was blown away by my community and my forum. And when I chatted and I’m in the Colorado chapter, when I chatted to my chapter, they were like, yo was made. For this reason.
It’s not when we’re high fiving each other in the hallways. Yeah, it’s when we’re in the valley that you actually are there for each other. And my forum have just been like, oh my God. Like we had, you know, we had a, you know, a meeting about everything. And so I’ve been super grateful for that.
And then the most recent thing to challenge the way I think is I’ve just joined Benjamin Hardy and Blake Erickson’s scaling program called the well, it’s called scaling.com. And they wrote a book, The Science of Scaling. And that has really challenged the way I think about business, the way I think about timelines, the way I use time as a tool. And just be bold and and think differently and and go from growing to truly scaling, which are completely different.
So I think those are the three things that stick out for me for now, but and also just grateful to this amazing country and be able to start over from zero and.
John Corcoran: 33:19
Build.
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 33:19
It. And it’s just been amazing. I’m super grateful to be here.
John Corcoran: 33:23
Well, I loved your story, Tracey. Thank you for sharing it. Where can people go to learn more about you and about Tracey Brand Building?
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 33:30
So you can. I’m on LinkedIn pretty much every day. It’s Tracey Felicidad Jones. And our website is tracebrandbuilding.com.
So you can follow us on that. My email address is tracey@tracebrandbuilding.com and all of those details are on our website. So we’d love to connect, have authentic conversations. And yeah, you know, build your brand and be authentic and have fun in the process.
For me, that’s joy is what our core values. So have fun in what you do.
John Corcoran: 34:03
Great Tracey, thank you so much.
Tracey Felicidade Jones: 34:04
Thank you John. I appreciate it.
Outro: 34:09
Thanks for listening to the Smart Business Revolution Podcast. We’ll see you again next time and be sure to click subscribe to get future episodes.