It’s Never Business As Usual

As soon as someone says “It’s business as usual” it means that they are not evolving, not growing. not keeping up and they are definitely not setting the pace, nor are they creating new trends.
With Fifth Element Live we aim to keep it  Always Business Unusual.
So says CEO Ryan Swano who in the 1990’s & early 2000’s while working for a large company and studying towards a Businesss Management qualification was always runing his own little small businesses on the side, aside from his continued involvement in the entertainment industry.

Fifth Element Live was born out of the realisation that Small Businesses Owners and Freelancers just as much as Emerging Independent  Artists and Entertainers not only seemed to often lack the same business skills but they also often all had difficlty in accessing the necessary business solutions at reasonably affordable rates.

“This seedling of a business idea which at the time was without a name or a plan was conceived three decades ago when I simultaneously had a few different small businesses while studying and holding down a permanent job, and while I was also dabbling in the entertainment industry.”
With getting promoted at work bringing more responsibilities, while also trying to excel in his studies, Ryan’s little sideline business all dwindled  and he virtually became a non-entity in the entertainment industry.

There were to be a number of later entrepreneural attemps, some of which failed spectacularly and expensively, but he never took it as a complete loss.
“At the time I didn’t realise that I was being prepared for a dream a didn’t yet know I have. There is no such thing as ‘wasted’ work experience, ‘wasted’ leaning opportunities or failed business attempts that do not add value to your future. Every terrible job, every seemingly useless course, and every failed business has value, even when it includes painfully leaning to know what you do not want to be doing for the rest of your life.”

“The more I learned, the more I realised how much I didn’t know or simply could not do on my own. So I kept on learning whether formally or informally, and more and more I found myself helping others solve their business problems, often at no cost to them at all.”

By the time Ryan had started proper consulting and had a bit of a track record enabling him to charge a fee, he had fortunately learned that what he cannot learn to do himself, there are experts in those specific fields who are willing to work with him on projects they themselves are not running.
“Early on I learned the importance of continually acquiring new skills and to test new approaches to solving problems, but I also leaned the value of Partnering, Collaborating & Outsourcing where i fall short.”

“When in 2008 I was no longer permanently employed by a company I started doing freelance work and business consulting aimed at Small Businesses and aimed at the Arts & Entertainment Industry. This paved the way for what eventually became Fifth Element Live (PTY) Ltd, the company that was formally registered in 2018.”
It has always also been important to me that whatever I do should have a Positive Societal Impact and that ties in perfectly with the ethos behind the name of our business.

What’s in a name?
Many cultures around the world agree that there are at least Five Main Elements: Earth, Wind, Fire, Water… and…The FIFTH ELEMENT is universally recognized as something intangible that binds us all together… a connection unseen that is mostly known as Aether… The Force That Flows Between All of Creation.

In True Hip Hop Culture there are Five Elements.
The FIFTH ELEMENT is called Knowledge Of Self. Knowing Your Inner Self and knowing as much as possible of what is going on around you.
Gaining Knowledge & Truth… Becoming Aware… It is what brings us into harmony with all of humanity and all of creation. In True Hip Hop Culture, gaining Cultural Knowledge, Spiritual Knowledge and Academic Knowledge are all held in equally high regard.
Ultimately Aim Towards Wisely Applying and Sharing Your Knowledge Gained.

The word LIVE refers to Live Entertainment as much as it refers to New Business Systems that are said to Go Live when Implemented.

Founder and CEO Ryan Swano aka Ryan Fifth Element who is deeply rooted in Hip Hop Culture firmly believes that harnessing his and his associates’ extensive knowledge and skills to positively impact the lives and businesses of their clients while building lasting relationships will be the ultimate measure of their success.

Business Unusual Indeed
Though Fifth Element Live currently has no full time employees, and only from time to time employs part time workers from within their community their business model is based on harnessing the strengths of long-term associates who are brought on board when handling the bigger projects.
“I soon learned that I do not possess all the skills but that I do have a network of associates who I could build a team with and who could either be sub-contracted onto projects or who could consult on our projects,”
The associates are almost all either the owners of established businesses, freelancers, experts or  consultants who have their own clientelle and of course Fifth Element Live partners with Artists & Entertainers when managing events.

Their Businesses Services  include Operations & Logistics Management Consulting, Human Resources Management, Labouir Relations & Recruitment, Marketing & Advertising, Digital Marketing, Information Technology Services as well as Website Creation & Social Media Management Services.
Though mostly aimed at small business, they have on a few occasions also partnered with bigger service providers on projects for huge multi-national companies.
Their IT Services include Software Repairs & Installations, Hardware Repairs & Office Networking Services limited to local business and individuals.

Fifth Element Live Arts & Entertainemnet services range from providing Business Servises to the Arts, & Entertainers Sector, providing Artist Management as well as Artist Booking Services and Events Management Service.
Other Arts & Entertainement services include Artist Bio & Portfolio Setup, Social Media Management and Media Creation ranging from evemt flyers to the inhouse creation of Lyrics Videos.
They also offer Audio & DJ Services to a broad spectrum of events including Audio-Visual for Corporate Events, Small to Medium Conferencing, NPO Fundraisers, etc as well as Audio & DJ services to individual members of the public who need entertainment for their Private Functions ranging frrom Weddings to Milestone Birthday Bashes and even Bon Voyage Farewell Parties.

As part of their Societal Impact initiatives Fifth Elelement Live partners with Organisations, Entertainment Industry Brands & Individual Experts to up-skill artists with Performance Arts Programs & Music Industry Skills.
Partnering with Local NPO’s, they assist them Free of Charge with their Social Media & with Sourcing Donations for their ongoing Poverty Alleviation Programs.
Fifth Element Live through Well-Planned Partnering Processes also assists Community Organisations, Schools & Individuals with their Fundraising Events providing Events Management Services, Audio & DJ Services, Artist Bookigs and Events Marketing Services all at heavily discounted rates,

All Connected & Interconnected
Ryan Swano concludes: “It may seem to some people that along with our associates we are trying to be too many things at the same time for our very diverse sets of clients. Well, it all makes a lot of sense when at times our Business Services Clients end up using our Entertainement Services or when our Artists & Entertainers partner with our Business Services Clients on their Corporate Social Investment Initiatives which end up sponsoring an NPO or Organisation that we work with.
For us it is the workings of that Cosmic String, The Fifth Element, that ties us all together..
That is the Aether,along with our Knowledge of Self manifesting with Fifth Element Live.

 

More About Ryan Swano
Apart from formally launching his company Fifth Element Live in 2018, Ryan “Fifth Element’ Swano aka Ryan The Force has donned many hats over the years,some of which he continues to wear in wide variety of fields fthat include employment histoy ranging from Construction Site Labourer to HR Manager, being a Serial Entrepreneur, an Artist and Entertainer, a Community Worker, an Activist or sometimes he calls himself an “ARTivist”.and being a writer who has articles publishhed on a variety of print media as well as digital media across a range of topics.

He continues doing HR, Operations. Logistics & Marketing Consulting since before and after establishing Fifth Element Live for a number of growing companies, one of which he has helped to evolve into doing all of the above inhouse and which he has helped get Woolworths Supplier Status..
Wow, what a way to lose a client by helping them grow to no longer be dependent on your services.
They do however still call him when issues are beyond their unhouse capabilities.

Ryan Swano is also currently the editor of Bruinou.com and alongside its founder Charles Ash will be leading the Digital Media Entity established in 2001 into its newest evolution.

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