I think the adult version of me has always wanted to be an agent. Childhood Juanita wanted to be a journalist, a clothing designer and a paediatrician but in later years managing talent became a thing. I’ve positioned myself in ways that really was an agent’s role but I didn’t necessarily use that term to define what I was doing.
But one day, after realising I could help someone I knew build their brand using my decade plus of marketing experience, my business development brain, my ability to just get sh*t done, I went on a journey that saw me go from one client to four to fourteen in two years.
I’ve never worked in a talent agency before. I have no blueprint. I see people like Identity’s Founder and MD Femi Oguns and know that I want to be his female equivalent in a slightly different space. So there’s been something to look to, sort of, but I’m largely building what I want to see. I’ve been asked how I’ve built the agency by people hoping to replicate the beginnings of success I’ve apparently had and it really is just by instinct, trial and error, people who believed in me and the vision and God. A lot of God.
So what do I essentially do all day? Is it really like an episode of Netflix’s Call My Agent? Honestly, I’ve only watched the first episode – and will go back to it – but I did see some familiar traits. Here’s a glimpse of a typical day.
05:00
I’ll start at five am but really I have broken sleep between putting my littlest (who is 15 months) to bed at 20:00 right up until this point. I don’t sleep very well and am typically up at 03:00 or 04:00. I may check and respond my emails. I may be working on something because it’s quiet – I buy phones with massive screens so I can work if I need to – or, let’s be real, I could be on Instagram. I know it’s not healthy. Let’s move on.
If I’m not bleary eyed, I read a daily passage from three books:
- Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach
- Acts of Faith: Daily Meditations for People of Colour
- The Daily Laws: 366 Meditations on Power, Seduction, Mastery and Human Nature by Robert Greene
You can buy the books from SixByNines&Co’s bookshop. NB: I receive a commission from a sale
I love doing this because it gives me a moment to think about me for a moment because typically I’m worrying about others. Honestly I’ve usually forgotten the gist of it by the time the kids get up.
07:00
By now everyone in the house is up and I am prepping for the school run. This is typically the time of day I bless God for my mother who helps with the little one and I’m off out the door with my eldest son – who is 13 – and I get him to school. I hear they stop talking to you by the time they hit 13. I’m waiting to see how that goes.
On the 20 minute journey back I’m either singing at the top of my lungs – I always forget how powerful a release music is – or listening to an audio book.
10:00
Is when I typically start the day. I’m trying out time blocking so will do another check of the emails as I won’t do it again until the afternoon. If it’s early in the week, I tend to be meeting with my virtual team to discuss the forthcoming week or meeting with my clients to see if we’re on track with plans that we’re working on.
14:00
My favourite days are the ones where I am either executing some meaty part of a project for a client or negotiating a deal or sorting press. I love negotiating – something I never saw coming. If I’m not looking at something new, I’m working with the team to make sure plans already in place are moving on without a hitch.
17:00
On occasion, I’m out for work. ‘Rona has made me very strategic about the places I go in my personal and professional life because a date with her really isn’t on my agenda. A recent outing meant I discovered someone who I think will be a defining voice in Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality and I find myself making a pitch for them to join my roster. A few weeks later they do and I am chuffed.
18:00
Here’s where I’m supposed to tell you that I close the business down to have a sit down meal with my children and some me time. I am working on this. I would have made sure they’ve eaten and will ask how school is etc but I continue to run straight into the face of mummy guilt.
At times, I am printing off homework in between finishing off paperwork or having conversations with colleagues clients or partners in the States. The long term objective is to work less and do more personally but right now the business needs me to build.
20:00
The littlest should have had a bottle. The eldest is trying – and succeeding – to sneak in more hours before bedtime and I am thinking about how the juju of a sleeping baby never fails to put me to sleep. I’ve stopped trying to rationalise why this is a thing. I go to sleep knowing that I’m likely to wake up at midnight to begin the process of broken sleep into the next day.
Is every day like this? Pretty much but there are some high moments like when you can call a client and say they’ve been invited to do some television work or that we’ve managed to secure a fee.
Or those moments with my team where one is forever cracking me up with his jokes and the other is grounding me when I’m frustrated.
The best part is that in two years we’ve become something even I couldn’t foresee and there’s more to come. It feels so comforting to hear from the outside how people see our growth and want to be a part of the journey, even if I don’t always know which direction we’re going in.
In my own little corner of the world I’m proud of what my clients, team and I are building together.
