Have Plan, Will Grow

Some of you who jumped on the Emogen wagon back in the early days might agree that it’s a far cry today from the company it was then. But fear not… we meant for this to happen!

Emogen was at first "Emogen Printing" and Brian ran it solo as a printing brokerage with the assistance of a freelance designer. Realizing a need in the Ruston market for more complete marketing services, “the plan” was born.

The idea was to add specialized talent (i.e. me/Sarah + in-house designers) and grow into a full-service marketing company on a 5 year timeline. The first step was transitioning to “Emogen Printing and Marketing”, which would later be swapped around to be “Emogen Marketing and Printing” and finally end up “Emogen Marketing Group.”

The catch, we found, was that the market needed it sooner; so our timeline got scrapped, and here we are at 3 years old well beyond our 5 year plan.

But the well-advanced timeline doesn’t mean that we’re in unexpected territory without a map. On the contrary, we have simply revised and kept on.

Having an idea of what you’re doing, where you’re going and how you’re getting there is completely necessary; but the key is to treat your plan as a guide, not scripture. Everything changes: your staff and their talents, your customers, your industry, the world… it all changes.

So have a plan, yes; but be flexible enough to respond to the changes and opportunities that will certainly pop up.

Sarah, Emogen marketer