Maison ZOLTS mayzonzoh

Running your own business feels as badass as riding a flame-breathing unicorn while sounding a battle horn. Running your own business feels like standing at the helm of your own ship while out in open water as far as the eye can see with the wind at your back and the sun on your face. Running your own business sounds like a lot. And it is. ... But nothing worth having is ever easy. Or a little. So maybe find a crew. Or maybe find less. That's up to you. It's your story. What odyssey are you writing for yourself these days? Are you your hero? You should be.

Branding is like putting on something irresistible, demanding what you want, and giving ‘em the ol’ razzle dazzle. Yeah, you read that right. Don't be afraid to let your business show a little leg. ... Let's add some kick to your marketing plan.

Branding is formulaic. It is simply the expression of that formula that is creative and organic. When planning my brand, I needed it to be authentic, honest and fearlessly me. The root of Maison is that we are the sum of our amazing clients. ... And I am the sum of my parents: a couple of rock-n-roll Ukrainian Gen X immigrants. My dad helped build a brand that changed the beauty industry as we know it. Maison is also the result of a very locked down Dasha in a creative, introspective space exploring a universe of possibility from her home. Dasha in 2020 spent the year in Costco sweats obsessively watching Vikings and seeing everything through this allegory of a journey to explore new territory, whether literal, interpersonal and/or metaphysical. As in all journeys, one seldom arrives at their destination without having made a few friends along the way. That's why the brand nods towards all of the people who made it worthwhile: -a creative cosmonaut from planet Vibe Vending - a prodigy from Vision Real Estate - a smashing good time at Smashing Good Pinatas - the best gift shop Canada in a Box - a viral game developer NiCo Developers - an eco-friendly beauty and home decor purveyor Naturally Sassy - a vaping company that helped me realize my potential The Juice Punk - a copywriter with purpose Devoir Copy Co. - a super sweet novelty bakery Sweet Sushi Inc. - a Little Italy cheese shop KISS MY PANS Thank you all for taking the plunge into the realm of possibility with me. The Maison family keeps growing, and as a result so will our brand. Brands are meant to be dynamic. They're meant to follow the chronology of time. They're living, breathing beings, just like the people who own them. So own your brand.

Maison ZOLTS connects brands to consumers through empathetic design. The notion of empathetic design (NOT empathic, look up the difference), is to approach building businesses from a holistic perspective. To have such a concrete understanding of the business owner and their clients that we can pre-plan and strategize branding and marketing objectives, a year-to-years-in-advance. ... Doesn't sound like your typical reactive marketing department, now does it? I've broken down the branding and marketing process into five Viking-themed stages because, frankly, it makes way too much sense. If marketing is a journey to conquer your audience's increasingly shrinking attention span, then branding is the ocean below uplifting your vessel and providing it safe passage. Or tanking it. That choice is entirely up to you and how you handle the preparation for your voyage. Simplified, the stages are as follows - I'll explain them in greater depth in future posts. Stage one: raise your banner. People need to know who you are from afar. Stage two: hoard valuables. Pack adequately for your trip. Stage three: strike a wager. You'll need to be able to barter with those you meet along the way to send you along even further. Stage four: get to high ground. Are you in your ideal territory? Stage five: never let them forget you. That's how you get written into the passages of history. And isn't that what we're all looking for as entrepreneurs and business owners? Legacy. Sounds like you need a crew.

You are the company you keep. In a previous life, I let my environment and relationships dictate that talking about myself, my passions and my work (all one thing really) was a bad, selfish thing. Regardless of the good I could do with my unique abilities, my self esteem didn't permit me to really engage with my craft or to share it with others. And if you can't help elevate others, how can you help elevate yourself? ... Now I'll admit, I do some pretty neat things. If you come to me with a business idea, I can give you all the tools to manifest that business into a real, tangible thing that consumers can recognize and intuitively understand. If you have an existing business, I'll assist you in refreshing, in expanding, and in acquiring funding. The best part is, I get to pick who I work with and I choose individuals and brands that align with my values. There is an immense satisfaction to my job. I spend time empathizing with my clients, understanding their goals and their fears, and then creating tangible solutions in response to both my clients and their client's expectations. The idea of Maison is that the body of work is a house - no, a home - a family, that grows and grows and grows. The more the merrier. The work speaks for itself. And so do I. If you have a side hustle, an idea, or something already cooking, welcome. Let's have a conversation. I offer strategy and planning at no cost to anyone, ever. My belief is that if I can give you a road map and you can get yourself there, then I wish you the wind at your back. And if you need help on that journey, myself and my team can help with that too. But it all starts with an idea. And the idea is to share.

The story of Maison ZOLTS starts with me, Dasha Zolota aka @dzolts on Instagram. I decided to pursue a creative path when I was 13-years-old because of my teacher, Ms. Shadrack. I knew it meant bleak pay opportunities. Tough use-and-abuse traditional work environments. That creatives are not business owners. All unacceptable toxic "facts." ... As a teen I prepped myself to get into Ryerson's journalism program. In university I learned how to form a multimedia narrative. In my extracurriculars I found a home at an independent student paper full of misfits and geniuses. I started tetris-ing my skills: journalism coupled with photography, videography, digital illustration, and the one that got my heart: print design. Adobe began to take over my life and I sure did love her. But supporting this love also meant working in an array of small businesses in their marketing departments because of toxic "fact" number one: low wages. (And I thought I was well paid at the time). I spent three years as an admin, one year as a comms sales rep, two years as a photo editor, half a year as a copy editor, two months as a Globe and Mail design intern, half a year as a grant writer and designer, another half year as a freelance illustrator, four years in real estate marketing, one year as a social media coordinator at an international school, one more year as a creative goblin at a vaping company, and then a cataclysmic health event totalled that industry. Three months later the world shut down for Season One of The Pandemic.

Let me tell y'all a little story about Maison. It starts at the top of Season One of The Pandemic (2020). I was in the process of assisting one of my wonderful friends and colleagues, Emi, establish a holistic experiential agency called Vibe Vending. By word of mouth we were so busy fulfilling concepts for client events that we barely had time to focus on the agency's branding. Then March hit and the world shut down for the first time in what must have been a century. ... All projects were indefinitely paused. We, alongside Toronto's entertainment, events, tourism and restaurant industries waited. And waited. And waited. We tried to pivot. Eventually we ran out of room to move and found ourselves between a rock and a hard place. I didn't know it then, but what I was waiting for wasn't for the world to re-open in the way we once knew. Unbeknownst to me, I had planted a seed in that nook where I'd felt helplessly cornered. And that seed was growing. Somehow I had no idea. I spent the next year-and-a-half hunkered down in the basement I rented in Willowdale with my younger sister Julia (who is also my photographer, videographer, 3D designer and a brilliant creative). I spent the year in a massive introspective state, riding an awesome wave of creativity. During all that time, that seed kept growing. Suddenly one day just over a year ago, my partner Adam pointed out, "Hey, look up. You have something here." I took off my blinders and looked up for the first time, and there it was: Maison. Maison became my opportunity to help the world. To give struggling business owners a chance to help mutually elevate each other. To right the wrongs I saw in the status quo of marketing. When I launched Maison, I didn't have a real brand or story. But that's because I was still writing it. So here it is.

(mayzonzoh) connects brands to consumers through empathetic design. The concept of empathetic design is to anticipate the user's expectations, goals and pain points. With that information we then facilitate an ergonomic, authentic connection between them and brand. For Vibe Vending, a whimsical experiential agency in Toronto, that means curating sensorial experiences that delight and engage. Escapism in the everyday. ... Maison ZOLTS helps Vibe Vending by providing 3D rendering services that breathe life into ideas and make them tangible. These services are ideal for any business for prototyping, manufacturing, event planning and product development. TTC this is my official petition to make #thesweeTTC happen, starting off with Yas, Queen Station. Who wants to see what a whole #sweeTTC map would look like? #mayzonzoh #creativepowerhouse #womanownedsmallbusiness #femalecreatives #adobecreativecrowd #brandingservices #salestools #designtosell #smallbusinessontario #torontocreativeentrepreneurs #printdesigner #customwebdesign #socialmediacontentcreator #pitchdecks #sellsheets #3drenderingservices