Brand

If you own a business, you have an obligation to tell good stories. As a business owner you, quite frequently, talk to an audience. Whether that's an audience of one or many, it's an audience.

On a daily basis you speak with customers, employees and prospects. Think of the last person you spoke to about work. What category did the conversation fall into?

• Were you in a training conversation?
• Were you in a selling conversation?
• Maybe it was a networking conversation?
  

Because of your posi…

First, what is a brand story? You might think your brand story is about your company or business. That's partly true. But people do business with people, so your brand story is really about you. AND there's a big caveat to that...  

Talking about yourself may be uncomfortable but there is a way to do this which illustrates your expertise without being perceived as egotistical. The challenge is not too many people do this well.    

Your brand story can also be called your origin story, or your …

When you hear “brand,” what do you think? What conjures up in your mind? I bet it’s something like: brand name, logo, color scheme and maybe fonts and tag lines. But that’s the problem…

Those are just the surface-level (mostly visual) aspects of a brand.

The meaning of a brand – it’s identity and strategy – is what creates a real business advantage.  

After creating a visual representation of their brand, most small business owners stop and switch focus. They may think, “OK, I have my brand n…

It’s all too common for me to hear, “ugh, I don’t like marketing myself.” Why is this so common among solopreneurs, consultants or business owners?  

It reminds me of that scene in Jerry Maguire where the newly-solo sports agent is desperately trying to sign a big football star, Cushman. They’re in a hotel room and Cushman sees himself on the jumbotron and says, “I’m sick of me already, I’ve got Cush-lash.” 

Sometimes we as business owners can get tired of touting our own business. Maybe it fe…

When you hear the word “influence” you may think of influencer marketing but that is just one context.

If you are a leader of others or a business owner/entrepreneur – especially one where you are the brand – then you may want to focus on your influence. Why? Because I speak to leaders all the time who say things like:

• "I feel like my (brand) story is unclear"
• "I’ve got next-level challenges in my business now" (i.e. growth)
• "I’m not feeling confident" (in a new area)   
• "I want those ar…

One of the biggest challenges I see new entrepreneurs make is getting bogged down with choices.

• Which version of my logo (or headshot) should I choose?
• What online tools do I need?
• How do I build a funnel?
• How do I price my products and services?
• Where should I promote myself?
• Should I do video and if so, how do I do it?

These and many more decisions keep you busy and active, which feels productive but isn’t driving results. These professional people with many years of work experience…

Words have power. They can create. They can destroy. This is as evident historically as much as it is today. They are the key tool used to influence.

When it comes to business, the mark of an influential brand is when it’s gets woven into the fabric of our lives through language. For example, do you search things online or do you Google them? Do you send overnight packages, or do you FedEx it? When you hear, save 15% in 15 minutes or less, you know it’s a Geico commercial.

These brand-associat…

As they say in business it’s all about who you know. Do you have the right connections to get the job? Do you know anyone to help secure the project? Can so-and-so introduce you to the next deal? 

If the answer is no, what do you do? You network. You hand out business cards, send the LinkedIn InMail, and set up the 1-on-1 coffee meetings. Basically, you get the word out to as many people as possible to see if there are any mutual synergies. After all, we all strive to get ahead and be leaders i…

It was 1997 and I was in working on my undergraduate degree in communication. I just landed a job at a radio station in Fort Lauderdale where I sat in a 10x6’ room with 5-6 other people calling loyal listeners to survey them on the latest radio playlist. It wasn’t glamourous but as a communication major I was proud to finally have a job “in my field” at a popular radio station. 

Having entrepreneurial parents, I lived through both the prosperity of being a business owner as well as the struggle…