“Unlabel – Selling You Without Selling Out” by Marc Ecko is a great lesson on following your own path and getting past the gatekeepers – those who think they matter, the curators, gallery owners, teachers – to reach the goalkeepers the actual fans, users, buyers of your creative work.
The book follows Mark Ecko’s path from overweight nerdy grade school-er to owner of Ecko UnLtd a billion-dollar fashion and media empire. Along the way lessons and mistakes are make as a brand strives to maintain authenticity while growing from niche to mainstream.
Embrace pain, take risk and at all costs be yourself. You are a brand – it’d down to you to create something, authentic, and lasting.
It is the gatekeepers of the world who make it their business to label you like a product on a shelf but its the goalkeepers who matter – the consumers who can only be reached by peeling off the labels and unleashing the power of your personal brand.