Lessons From a Beanie Genie (Shaun Neff)

I read an article about Shaun Neff and I don’t know what it was, but I found him intriguing. Known as “The Brand Whisperer” he has fun and makes a lot of money recognizing trends.

He says “the guiding principle is the same: a brand is about emotion. You have to make people feel.”

He became famous scrawling his name on a few 99-cent beanies he handed out to snowboarders who were his friends and that had their pictures taken on podiums.

After he sold Neff Headwear, he went on to Beach House Group to do collaborations with celebrities for other brands like Pattern by Diana Ross’ daughter Tracie Ross, Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown beauty products Florence, and recently Kendall Jenner’s brand Moon.

Shaun has a good gut sense and goes to cultural hubs for inspiration. And he provides a good reminder that you don’t have to chase trends. Instead you find ways to try and create them. The key? Find the thing for you that gets you into “the zone”.

Think of it like a musician or an artist creating. They find the place of internal flow and real life magic where you loose track of time and focus solely on the project at hand (did you watch Disney’s Soul?). Get lost in your project.

When Shaun is evolving a brand he knows he can’t be more than he is. Neither can you when it comes to getting in the head of your consumer. You either understand them because you are them, or you need to find who is. If you aren’t the demographic of the consumer for the project you are working on, then work with someone who does represent them and can relate to them. Shaun finds out what they interact with and what excites them and then he uses that information and pours it into the brand.

He learned a great lesson from a mentor who told him, “I had amazing people around me my whole life”. Maybe you do, too. Learn from this mentors mistakes. He ended up regretting that he didn’t rely on said amazing people to do more with him instead of trying to micromanage everything.

“You have to enjoy life. You have to have balance.”

You have to learn to put trust in people and give them opportunities to rise up.

And most of all, love what you do.

That message really touched my heart, so I thought I would share it with you.

Quotes are taken from Entrepreneur.com September 2020 “How To Win Friends & Influence People”