Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in business development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Daren Bascome, founder of Proverb Agency, located in Boston, MA, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Proverb is an award-winning marketing agency focused on building powerful brands and creating a more thoughtful world around us. We offer strategy, branding, placemaking, content development, and advertising services to cities, hotels, museums, hospitals, and anyone seeking to transform the built environment and stand out from the crowd.
Tell us about yourself
The short version is this: I started Proverb with $8,000, a used computer, and a bare-bones business plan that consisted of, "Do good work and try to find s'more..." 25 years later, we've done bigger projects and won more awards than my younger self would've ever dreamed of.
The longer version is this: I was born and grew up in Bermuda for most of my life. However, between the ages of three months to four years old, I was in Boston because my father was pursuing a degree in music composition from the Berklee College of Music in Boston. At the time, the city was deeply segregated, and on the cusp of integrating schools through busing, so it was an unwelcoming place back then.
Despite the negative experience, I decided to return to Boston for college and studied Communication Design at Mass Art. I eventually got a job at an exhibit design company in the city and did freelance design work on the side. Between my two jobs, I saved enough to purchase a triple-decker home, which eventually became the office space for my agency, which in time would become Proverb.
Between the experiential design work from my first job and freelancing, I and (by extension) Proverb became focused on how we could transform the built environment, not by what a building, neighborhood, or city is now, but by reimaging what it could be and mean to those who enter the space. As a minority in America (and in Boston, no less), it was important to me to make places more welcoming and inclusive place, and that's what Proverb has been focused on ever since.
Today, we've helped everywhere, from the beaches of Bermuda to the skyscrapers of San Francisco, understand the space they embody and retell their story in a way that not only generates profit but serves others with purpose.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Not many people earn the right to retell the story of their hometown as they see it, but I'm proud to say that I have, and for both of my hometowns (Boston and Bermuda) too.
This past year, we launched the Lost Yet Found branding campaign for the Bermuda Tourism Authority, which centers around an authentic Bermudian experience through the lens of Bermudians, and in 2020, Proverb was awarded the largest single advertising and branding campaign funded by the City of Boston in more than 50 years. The campaign "Boston All Inclusive" unearths Boston as a diverse, progressive, and modern city.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
For me, at Proverb, it's about not only reimagining a place for what it is but what it could be. This is a balancing act between aspiration and dreams and reality, but it's also about encouraging others to share that vision and finding ways for them to join in.
In our fast-paced industry, this is no easy feat. It takes research, creativity, communication, and teamwork, with many of these activities happening at the same time, across multiple clients, and on a tight deadline.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Know your worth. It's an act of faith to step out and go at it on your own, pitch clients, and charge fair prices, but you can only do that in confidence if you have an accurate assessment of your skills, expertise, and capabilities.
- Don't be afraid to fail. Success doesn't happen in a straight line. Not everything you do is going to work the first time, but you can learn just as much (if not perhaps, even more) from what didn't work as you can from what did; I know I have. The key is to brush yourself off, learn your lesson, and do it better next time.
- Partner up. Evaluate yourself and your company's strengths and lean into that. Be the best you can be in that product or service. However, there will be times when the clients will request work that you haven't refined yet. For that, it's best to partner up so you can deliver and delight your customer. We're grateful to have amazing partners at Proverb. They are key to our success, as much as we are to theirs.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://proverbagency.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProverbAgency/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darenbascome/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/proverbagency
LinkedIn: https://twitter.com/proverbagency
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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