What it takes to build a brand foundation + set goals
“Your heart races, you feel butterflies flapping wildly in your gut, your breathing intensifies, you feel a sense of heightened sensitivity as your eyes widen and your limbs quiver with anticipation. Fear or Excitement? It’s both. The only difference between fear and excitement is the way you think about it.”
Making the mental shift from fear to excitement can often be difficult. In particular if you’ve never considered that the difference between the two can be a slight change in perspective. While I don’t pretend to have all the answers as to how to shift your mindset, I do know one thing that can help your business set better and clearer goals moving forward. And that’s having a strong brand foundation.
When it comes to making business goals, I often see folks in two camps: analysis paralysis or speed-racing to execute (without a plan). I tend to fall in the former camp myself.
There are certainly benefits to thinking things through and coming up with a plan. But not if you get stuck in a loop of finding the perfect solution that prevents you from taking action. You end up feeling like a deer caught in headlights, not sure if you should move left or right.
There’s also a benefit to hitting the ground running. While you can shoot first and then adjust your aim if the arrow flew in the wrong direction, not everyone has time to back-track and course correct. You end up throwing spaghetti against the wall and hoping something sticks only to find further down the line that… this wasn’t what you were hoping to create.
For most of us, though, it’s best to find the sweet spot where you have a roadmap and are also taking actionable steps. This allows you to know where you’re going and test that your original direction is working in the way that you hoped.
But how can you confidently create that roadmap?
You can’t score if you don’t know where the goal is.
– Chris Do
If you don’t already have a solid foundation, I invite you to take a pause and really ask yourself some key questions:
Consider your goals – And not just your business goals. We all want to grow our business. We want to serve our audience better and we want to get paid well doing it. What are your life goals? Your business is not the be all end all. It should be supporting your lifestyle.
Get clear on what is important to you – Your core values, what you hold true and hope your audience connects with. What will attract others to you? What message are you hoping to get out to your followers and how do you plan to say it? Having clarity around this in particular will serve as a compass when making business decisions moving forward.
Identify your audience – Who are the people who believe what you believe, will buy your products or services and will serve as your biggest cheerleaders? Who do you enjoy working with and can best serve? What journey are you taking them through, what is your process finding them, onboarding, working together and beyond?
Position yourself for success – You have your brand attributes, you know your audience… how do you best position yourself to ensure they see you as the best solution to their challenges? How do you ensure that you’re vetting people you work with so that you both have an optimal experience together and you can offer the best results?
Define your next steps – Having a clear roadmap of what to do next is the best way to ensure that everything you’ve gathered in the previous steps is actually working. You have to take steps to test your hypothesis and pivot if need be. Do you know what the next best step for you and your business is?
If you’re feeling stuck, unclear or overwhelmed, I invite you to book a free 30min session here to see if it’s a good fit for you.
If you find that you’re already clear on your brand strategy and are looking to align your visuals or need support with additional marketing collateral, I’m happy to help with that too.
