In this 3 part series, I’m bringing you along My Turning Over a New Leaf Journey, and I’m sharing 3 of my favorite lessons relating to my business.

If you missed Lesson One: “Keep Your Eyes on Your Own Paper Class”, you can read all about it here.

 

“Evolved brands are self-aware brands.”

Sarah Ancalmo-Ashman

 

Lesson Two: Self-Awareness is Key for Your Personal Brand

In lesson one, I mentioned that the brands we love are connective.

The good news is, that connection and that “I need to know more about this brand or person” vibe doesn’t happen by accident.

It begins with self-awareness…

Actually, there are three areas of self-awareness I would encourage you to focus on.

 

1. Your Personality

Evolved brands have zeroed in on what it is about their personality and their services that their ideal clients love and connect with.

For instance, I identified that my clients feel calmed, stress-free and fully supported, like everything is going to be ok, when they work with me. They also appreciate the simplified systems I have in refined over the years. I make building a website and creating a plan for marketing your business easy and fun.

 

Once you know what that special “thing is about your business that your clients fall in love with”, you weave it into everything you create:

• the words you choose,
• the core messages you talk about over and over again,
• the types of content you share,
• the colors you choose,
• and the imagery on your website, blog, and social media feeds.

It’s woven into basically everywhere your brand shows up.

 

As coaches, leaders, teachers, therapists, artists or any solopreneur your brand is more often than not a representation of your personality.

So it is imperative you have clarity on what your strongest and most connective traits are.

 

Something as simple as a survey with a handful of questions, to your loyal clients, family, and friends can give you the valuable insight you are looking for (if you are just getting started, it’s ok, just focus on friends and family).

For instance:

• what 5 adjectives would you use to describe my personality?
• what would you consider are my primary strengths?
• what would you say is unique about me?
• how would you describe me?
• what about our work together has given you the greatest benefits?

It might sound a bit scary to send a survey asking for feedback about YOURSELF. But after you start to receive this valuable feedback, I promise you will be really happy you got past your discomfort and hit send.

 

2. Your Purpose and Mission

Understanding what motivates you, what you value and why will make it much easier to be in touch with your business’s purpose and mission.

I suggest:

• journaling about “why you wanted to start a business” in the first place.
• Ask yourself “why is being a business owner important to you”?
• What do you want to share with the clients you love?
• What are the goals of your business long-term and short-term?

Knowing your “why” can also prevent self-sabotage.

You can come back to your “why” when things get rough and you feel like giving up (we all have those days) or when you just simply need a motivator to get out of procrastination mode.

Siobhan Barnes of The Neon Life Society, my friend and mindset coach, shared with me: we should approach our “why” from two sides.

1. The me-centered why, this is the why that might make you feel a bit selfish:) and that is ok.
2. And then the bigger idea, the altruistic why.

 

Knowing your business’s purpose and mission also allows you to weave these messages into your brand.

More than likely, your ideal clients will have a similar business purpose and mission, or will at least resonate with yours.

So being transparent with your business’s purpose and mission is another way to “connect” at a deeper level with the clients you love to serve.

 

3. Ideal Clients

What types of clients are you hoping to attract with your brand?

Even if you don’t have a clearly defined niche you serve, some businesses don’t, you at least need to know what problems the people you’re appealing to have and what problems you can solve for them.

When I reflected and journaled on my ideal client, a theme emerged.

• My ideal clients are starting businesses a bit later in life,
• and many of them are going through their own turning over a new leaf story just like me.
• And even though my clients might be late bloomers in some senses,
• they are GROWING and EVOLVING now in leaps and bounds.

Above I explained how you can weave what you learn about your personality into all areas of your brand to become more connective.

 

You can do the same thing with what you learn about your ideal clients!

• It helps you know what kinds of content to share,
• how you can help your ideal clients in a more meaningful way,
• and it might give you some ideas on the types of words and metaphors you can use for your brand voice.

 

Path of Self Discovery

Becoming an entrepreneur has lead me on an exciting and sometimes challenging path of self-discovery. I bet you feel the same.

We come up against lessons and choices every day that stretch us and challenge us to grow.

And when I learned and implemented the lesson: evolved brands are self-aware brands, things really started to click.

 

My clients, YOU, are already on a path of self-discovery with the work and healing modalities you love, teach and study every day.

So I encourage you to take the skills of self-awareness you have been perfecting with your craft and apply them to your brand.

And as you start the process of becoming more self-aware for your business be sure to focus on the three areas I mentioned above:

• What about your personality and services draw in your ideal clients?
• What is your brand’s purpose and mission?
• Who are your ideal clients?

Once you know the answers to these questions, creating your brand’s message, voice, and visual identity will become effortless.