Denis was recently approached by HIM, Switzerland to discuss his marketing career. We've figured this might be a great chance to lay the ground for our Blog section and share some of our knowledge and insights. We hope this material might come in handy, especially for those of you, who are looking to start their own creative business.

Why did you choose to study at HIM?

I wasn’t quite sure what I should do after school. So, I decided to look for universities that could connect me with like-minded peers from all around the world. I’ve researched a number of hospitality and hotel management programs and found HIM as a result.

And being completely honest, the absence of Math classes influenced my decision-making quite a lot. I'm not really great at it, but who knew I would be studying things like accounting… (laughs)

So what inspired you to set up your own company?

There's always a limit to yourself when you work for others. It's pretty much true for any business. Nevertheless, working for hire helped me figure out what I really wanted to do for myself. The timing was right, so my business partner and I started our own boutique studio. He's crazy for design and I am passionate about creative marketing. That was basically it.

Ironically, the inspiration for this came from boredom. We have both figured that working for large corporations in an ever-changing tech era is quite depressing. These folks are slow around the corners and there's no place for proper talent management. On the other hand, companies like us, small and agile, can build their own on-demand teams and iterate products and services at a much faster rate.

Besides, running your own company is kind of fun. It is also quite challenging since you ought to do most of the stuff yourself. Which includes breaking your own limits, learning daily, and most importantly – facing your own insecurities about the future. But if you handle it and push through – the benefits are huge.

The opportunities that arise as a result, would never appear otherwise. You see more, you hear more. You start to handle things with precision and you're no longer afraid of sudden change. Your skills become sharper than ever and your talents are at their peak. And that is exactly what big companies are paying us for.

What skills make a person well suited for working in Branding & Advertising?

Branding and advertising can essentially be translated as the art and science of influencing human perception. Emotional intelligence (EQ) plays a huge role in this. Human decision-making processes are governed by emotions, so the ability to empathize and inspire action is a must.

Since such qualities are considered to be on the gentle side of things – they are not commonly linked to the conventional idea of a working professional. So as a result, EQ is largely dismissed by modern-day educational systems and HR departments. And that's a huge miss.

Truth be told, if you understand your own emotions on a deeper level – you're already way ahead of the competition. That is exactly why lots of talented creatives are introverts.

What do you enjoy most about your current position?

The ability to express myself and exercise out-of-the-box thinking – are both at the top of my list. The whole experience is also quite stimulating and intellectually challenging.

What would you say are the biggest challenges of working in Branding & Advertising?

Every time you go in on a project – it's like being a beginner again.

Since you can not be biased about anything – the biggest challenge is to keep an open mind. The quality of the end result relies heavily on your ability to dig deep into the problem at hand, which means – finding connections and meanings hidden from plain sight. Acing this craft is not an overnight job, but once you do it right – your work starts to speak for itself.

What would you say are the biggest challenges of running your own company?

There's a great number of companies with outstanding ideas that could potentially shake entire industries. Be it in finance, medicine, or the entertainment business – you name it. Nevertheless, most of these companies ultimately fail due to lack of focus, vision, and poor management. The 1% of the brands that actually make it to the top are the ones, that get it right.

Consequently, the biggest challenge – is to be part of that 1%. An even bigger challenge – is to do it naturally. So for starters – you ought to have a strong master plan and a vision that truly inspires action. If you know where you want to be and you have enough dedication to walk your talk – you'll eventually get there, one way or another.

What is your advice to those who are interested in setting up their own company?

Figure out what you're good at, start simple – discover your talents. Use these as a foundation to build your own unique skillset. Follow your intuition, passions, and curiosity. Enjoy the process and don't think about cash while at it. If you’re really good at something – money always comes along.

Learn from others as much as you can. Keep an open mind and double-check the facts. Then look at the economy and figure out your niche. Now that you have all those skills and talents – how can you make a positive impact on the world? Figure out a strategy to do that and then build your own company.

And once again – enjoy the process! The things you learn, the people you meet – all of it is priceless (and that’s exactly what makes it so much fun).

What do you hope to achieve in your career next?

Our studio serves as a playground for our longtime project. We are collectively facing a huge number of problems these days, but HR and Education are probably one of the most alarming ones to date. One could argue that climate change is on top of that list, but being completely honest, if mass extinction is bound to happen, the Earth will probably survive this. We're the ones who won't. Consequently, it's our top priority to educate ourselves better, so we could actually have a more positive impact on the world as a whole.

Moreover, modern education and job placement systems hardly take our present-day problems into account, which means we’re never quite prepared for what’s coming. And there’s always something big and unexpected coming our way.

Such systems also fail to cultivate individual human talents and creativity, which ultimately drives millions of people to depression and wasteful living. The social systems that were once designed to give us a sense of confidence in the coming days – no longer serve their purpose.

That is why apart from running the studio, we spend most of our time creating the world’s first human navigator. We call it Sonar and it’s designed to innovate the way we build our future.

Modern technology holds the potential to achieve such ambitious goals on a mass scale with relative ease. But it has to be designed in a meaningful fashion.

So our major goal for the next decade is to naturally evolve Sonar towards quantum biophysics. Incorporating technologies that can propel conscious living and evolution for billions of people worldwide. That's our master plan.

Co-written and edited by Arthur, photographed by Dmitry

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Interview for Hotel Institute Montreux🇨🇭

Why did you choose to study at HIM?

I wasn’t quite sure what I should do after school. So, I decided to look for universities that could connect me with like-minded peers from all around the world. I’ve researched a number of hospitality and hotel management programs and found HIM as a result.

And being completely honest, the absence of Math classes influenced my decision-making quite a lot. I'm not really great at it, but who knew I would be studying things like accounting… (laughs)

So what inspired you to set up your own company?

What skills make a person well suited for working in Branding & Advertising?

Branding and advertising can essentially be translated as the art and science of influencing human perception. Emotional intelligence (EQ) plays a huge role in this. Human decision-making processes are governed by emotions, so the ability to empathize and inspire action is a must.

Since such qualities are considered to be on the gentle side of things – they are not commonly linked to the conventional idea of a working professional. So as a result, EQ is largely dismissed by modern-day educational systems and HR departments. And that's a huge miss.

Truth be told, if you understand your own emotions on a deeper level – you're already way ahead of the competition. That is exactly why lots of talented creatives are introverts.

What do you enjoy most about your current position?

The ability to express myself and exercise out-of-the-box thinking – are both at the top of my list. The whole experience is also quite stimulating and intellectually challenging.

What would you say are the biggest challenges of working in Branding & Advertising?

Every time you go in on a project – it's like being a beginner again.

What would you say are the biggest challenges of running your own company?

What is your advice to those who are interested in setting up their own company?

And once again – enjoy the process! The things you learn, the people you meet – all of it is priceless (and that’s exactly what makes it so much fun).

What do you hope to achieve in your career next?

Moreover, modern education and job placement systems hardly take our present-day problems into account, which means we’re never quite prepared for what’s coming. And there’s always something big and unexpected coming our way.

Such systems also fail to cultivate individual human talents and creativity, which ultimately drives millions of people to depression and wasteful living. The social systems that were once designed to give us a sense of confidence in the coming days – no longer serve their purpose.

That is why apart from running the studio, we spend most of our time creating the world’s first human navigator. We call it Sonar and it’s designed to innovate the way we build our future.

Modern technology holds the potential to achieve such ambitious goals on a mass scale with relative ease. But it has to be designed in a meaningful fashion.

So our major goal for the next decade is to naturally evolve Sonar towards quantum biophysics. Incorporating technologies that can propel conscious living and evolution for billions of people worldwide. That's our master plan.