REVIEW: Sean and Thora Dowdell — Brand Renegades (BOOK)
Sean and Thora Dowdell’s new book Brand Renegades: Our Fearless Path From Startup to Global Brand reeks of the kind of the pop culture potential of previous leadership advice guides a la Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz’s The Art of the Deal, the more recent collaboration with Bill Zanker Think Big and Kick Ass: In Business and in Life, and Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. The book is an extensive, step-by-step walkthrough of how the couple turned the dream of an extensive tattooing business into a $30 million dollar-worth reality, complete with extensive locations throughout both Arizona and in Las Vegas, Nevada.
WEBSITE: https://clubtattoo.com/
“Our purpose for writing this book is to offer real-world experience at a level that can be understood quickly and to offer lessons and solutions that can be applied to your own small business brand,” they write in the book’s first chapter. “We want to give you hope when things get tough. It is important for entrepreneurs to have someone they can relate to, who has faced the same issues and problems they are dealing with in their own business. We were lucky enough to not only have each other for support, but also several other key mentors and friends who helped us push forward through the darkest times.” In the spirit of that, both Sean and Thora Dowdell seem committed to putting the same olive branch out there for the reader, and/or said readers who are interested and/or actively pursuing the same corporate-laden pathways they were. The book is also a testament that with a little thinking outside of the box, one can achieve success with just about anything they wish to specialize in. All it requires is an effective blending of observational inference and acute business understanding.
Probably one of the most important passages of the Dowdells’ book lies within the seventeenth chapter, entitled Now That We’ve Made It, What Do We Do? The subtitle of the aforementioned passage itself is evocatively titled Good Intentions Aren’t Always The Best Intentions. It talks about a certain form of responsibility when one reaches a particular financial and situational position in life to keep a firm grounding and perspective of the world around them. It’s easy, they essentially argue, to become entrapped within a circular, magnified way of thinking reinforced by the immediacies of one’s own environment. The key is to continue learning, even when you’ve reached said position, as it will both serve you and the greater communities within which you reside two-fold. “…we decided that we would let others know what we did to give back — not because we wanted…approval, but because we wanted to start inspiring the people around us to start giving back as well…
Our staff saw us giving, so they wanted to give, and then our clients started to give as well.” With a rare sort of humility that never comes across as tackily maudlin, Sean and Thora highlight that not only does success allow one to flourish and prosper, but to also have impacting value on many others around them they couldn’t have before. Frankly, with the mentality they put forward as the highly successful entrepreneurial duo behind the Club Tattoo chain, it’s proven a win-win for everyone. For themselves, for the industry that they love, and for the communities at large they support through their charity work.
All in all the Dowdells’ book Brand Renegades: Our Fearless Path From Startup proves a fun, anarchistic read that simultaneously proselytizes shrewd acumen. Job well done to you both…
Colin Jordan
