Are you like many online business owners who are confused or stuck when it comes to creating a unique, memorable, and authentic brand? If so, you’re not alone. I’ve been there myself, so I understand the frustration of feeling stuck on this whole branding thing.
Where are YOU in your brand?
But once I discovered that if I looked at it from a completely different perspective, that my brand wasn’t just about my business, but about ME, everything shifted.
Creating your brand from the inside out allows you to fully step into your business identity in a truly authentic way. It’s also the easiest way to stand out in the sea of others who do what you do.
So, if you’re stuck, let me give you three things you must be clear on in order to create a truly compelling and unique business brand.
Strategy 1: What results do your clients experience from your service?
One of the exercises I do with my private clients is have them generate a long list of the results their clients get from working with them.
You can easily do this right now. Just complete this sentence 30 times:
“The results my clients get from working with me are ___________________________.”
If you get stuck, here’s my secret: Send this question to your clients so they can tell you the kind of results you’re helping them create!
For example, when I asked my own clients this question, here’s some of what they shared:
“The results I get from working with Alicia are…
– clear, easy to follow instructions on strategic Internet marketing techniques
– insightful advice from a trusted mentor who understands my business
– generous knowledge and expertise, honest feedback and support, focus and direction
– more clarity on which steps to take to experience more alignment with my business/life purpose
– I now see the bigger picture and base my decisions on the ‘whole’ of my business, rather than just the next thing.
– stretching me in ways and areas that I could/would not do on my own.
– more clients, more money and more fun in working with my business.
– getting me out of my comfort zone so that I discover what is possible when I play a bigger game.
– more clarity and awareness around time sucking activities that I am engaging in so that I can STOP doing them.
Strategy 2: What are you an expert at?
Once you have a solid and in-depth grasp of the value you bring to you clients and the results you help create with them, you should easily be able to define what it is you’re an expert at.
Complete this sentence: “I’m an expert at________________________.”
Strategy 3: What does your brand promise?
Let’s take it one step further…
Your brand promise is a statement that is pretty specific. It’s true regardless of the program, product or service you may offer. No matter what the program, product or service, it always fulfills your brand promise.
And just to be clear, I’m not talking about your marketing tagline. What I’m talking about goes much deeper than that, to the very core of what it is that you are so passionate about providing to others.
My brand promise is, “I passionately inspire women entrepreneurs to breakthroughs in their business so they create the life they ache for.”
So, my Mastery of Business Academy mentoring programs, 21 Easy & Essential Steps to Online Success System and companion coaching groups, and the rest of my offerings all fulfill this brand promise.
Here’s one from one of my Online Business Breakthrough clients, Dale Carter at TransitionAgingParents.com:
“I provide trusted information and personal insight to inspire adult children to passionately pursue, for their aging parents, the quality of life their parents hunger for.”
So everything that Dale offers to her specific market fulfills this overarching promise. Dale knows what she is an expert at and that shows up in her brand promise very clearly.
So, what does your brand promise? What is it that your clients can count on you for?
The formula for an effective, compelling, memorable, authentic, fun and fabulous brand is really very simple:
“I get X results for my clients, which makes me an expert at Y, which means they can count on me to provide Z.”
Voila!
One of the ways I see entrepreneurs staying small (and frustrated) is by not being serious enough about how they manage their receivables in their business. Receivables is simply money that is owed to you. For example, there isn’t a business owner I know who hasn’t had at least one client’s payments become an issue, so if this hasn’t happened to you yet, know it most likely will. However, if you have certain things in place, it will be a lot easier for you to handle these situations, gracefully and respectfully.
So, let’s take a deeper look at that most common scenario: a client is late with their payment. When you address this with them, they tell you their situation and while you can and should listen with compassion, it’s imperative that you not take on the problems that they’re having and make them your own. That doesn’t serve either of you.
While we all can have money issues from time to time, if the client takes no responsibility for it – and yes, even when it seems it’s completely out of their control – then they’re coming from a victim mentality. But you can’t let them make you a victim of their situation as well.
First and foremost, ALWAYS listen to your intuition when signing on a client. You’ll only make the mistake once of not doing so before you regret it and realize taking them on didn’t serve either of you.
But there are also times when this situation comes up with a great client too. While the money situation is still theirs, for you, it’s a boundary issue. And it’s an opportunity to tighten your parameters and policies too.
We need to remember that we are running a business and as a serious business owner, we are entitled to monies owed to us. It’s why having clearly written and signed agreements and a written policies page are so important.
So while it’s the client’s responsibility to pay what’s owed, it’s your responsibility to collect what’s owed. This can and should be handled gracefully and respectfully. And it’s as easy as staying detached from their story and creating a plan to handle the situation.
If you commiserate, let the payment slide, and/or don’t make a plan on how it will be handled, not only will you start to feel resentful, but you’re also enabling the client to continue this disempowering behavior.
This is a perfect opportunity for you to step more fully into being a powerful model and mentor for them. When you’re talking with your client, tell them that you understand that this is a difficult situation for them, and then ask them what they are going to do to resolve it as soon as possible.
I know it feels easier to avoid conflict and commiserate with the client, but I have found that if you do that, the situation just keeps happening until you no longer put up with it. When you’re firm on your boundaries, you respect yourself and your business enough so you attract more and more ideal clients who are a joy to work with. I know this to be true.
I’d love to know your thoughts on this – it’s a hot-button issue for lots of business owners and clients alike, so please leave your comments below.
I had a email conversation with a potential high-level client several years ago that went something like this…
“Alicia, I have a successful life coaching practice – full client roster, mostly via referrals, steady 6 figures in income, and I want to bring my business online. I’m interested in your Platinum program – can we talk?”
I told her she should consider going through my 21 Easy & Essential Steps to Online Success System™ instead.
My response surprised her. So much so she graciously asked why it seemed she wasn’t qualified for my Platinum program…(because <insert name>, <insert name> and <insert name> had already told her she was for their programs.
I explained it wasn’t that she wasn’t qualified at all. It was that she was already successful offline and she didn’t NEED a $24k Platinum program to bring that success online.
She only needed to implement the 21 Steps (for $297-) to get the foundation of a successful online business in place, and THEN we could talk about Platinum.
Or I could personally lead her through the 21 Steps program for $24k and call it Platinum… Her choice… You can guess which she choose, thanking me for pointing her to just what she needed next (and saving her thousands of dollars too).
I’m so tired of hearing stories from you about spending thousands of dollars BEFORE you want or even need to, just to get those critical underpinnings in place.
So I want you to have the same choice I gave to her – and for even less of an investment than that…
I’ve created a month-long LIVE version of the 21 Easy & Essential Steps to Online Success System™ that I’m going to personally lead you through.
If you’re feeling the pull to check it out, I want you to visit the link below right now to get all the details and reserve your seat for $0.
http://www.clientabundance.com/21StepsLIVE.htm
THEN If we reach 30 registrations by April 30, I’ll personally lead you through the entire course for just $97-.
(Why 30? Because that allows me to leverage my time enough in order to be able to offer you this deeply discounted rate.)
The course begins this Thursday, May 1 so don’t wait, ok?
Cheers,
~ A
PS: Whether or not this invitation is for you, please SHARE this super-special offer so I can help 30 more people to create the successful and sustainable online business they ache for… thanks!
Have you ever done a cleanse of your body? It’s an enlightening experience, to be so aware of what you put into your body and how that effects everything, from your mood, to your brain power, to your energy level, to your creativity, to your health and well-being overall.
And it’s really no different for your business. Whether you’ve been in business for awhile or not, at some point – and I recommend at least once a year – it’s good to detox your business too.
Here are four of my favorite ways to detox your business:
1. Complete working with any ‘messes’ in your business
What do I mean by ‘messes’? Basically, I mean the clients that are difficult or demanding, who don’t respect the relationship between you, and who make your heart sink when you see their name on your calendar.
This also applies to any service providers you’re working with. Jot down a list of the people who do work for you in some regular capacity. Then ask – are they easy to work with or difficult on some way? Do they complete tasks well and on time or do they take too long with constant revisions? Do they keep things simple or make things more complicated?
Did you think of someone? My coach’s request of you is to determine a completion date for your work together and honor it for yourself. And know that releasing that person opens the space for a better client or service provider to come along and fill it.
2. Detox your inbox
This is something I talk about a lot. There can so much overwhelm and negative energy in your inbox, even if you’re so buried in it that you’re not sure what’s even in there anymore.
Here’s what I want you to do – Unsubscribe, Delete, Delegate, and Move.
Go through your inbox and unsubscribe from any list that a) you don’t read (even if you plan to, let’s be honest – you won’t) or b) doesn’t make you feel good when you do read it. This one act alone is going to release so much energy that’s pulling you and your business down.
Then delete anything that’s left that’s irrelevant, delegate to your team anything (and more than you think you can) they can take care of, and move any emails that you want to keep into appropriate folders (better yet, set it up so they automatically go into those folders).
The only emails left in your inbox should be the ones that only you can take action on.
3. Pare down your offers
Look at your offers one-by-one and see if there’s any way to simply them. That may mean breaking up a larger offer into smaller, more easily consumable pieces, or it may mean simplifying the delivery of the offer. And some offers may just need to be retired.
4. Release the ways you run your business that simply don’t work for you
This is a big one. Instead of trying to run your business one way, following someone else’s formula or blueprint, doing things your own way will always serve you and your market better. I’m all for following a proven process – I definitely don’t think anyone needs to re-invent the wheel – but just make sure that you tailor that process in a way that feels good and true to you. Don’t be afraid to throw out the parts that don’t resonate, or to add something in that is unique and different. The biggest successes I’ve had in my business have been when I’ve done it my way.
I’d love to hear how this resonates – please comment below.
By Alicia Forest, MBA
The Business Shifter™
I have a successful business because I know what to do and I do it. I make a good income, I work with clients I enjoy, I get to be creative and I get to do all of that in a way that keeps my family and my life first.
So while I’m always open to learning how to do all of this better, at the moment, my intention is to shift the way I envision my business as I reinvent it for its next iteration.
Here are four of those shifts:
1. Money comes from within
As I assess the current state of my business, I’m excavating where I need to spend my time and energy on to continue to evolve my business in the way that honors my life and my own strong boundaries around that life.
For me that means really listening and following my intuition more, taking care of my personal energy more, hiring a higher level assistant, and adding a whole lot more ‘Alicia flavor’ to the mix.
2. Always come back to what I want
When the thoughts get muddled and the confusion sets in with all the choices of what to do in my business (and my life), I will keep coming back to this single question:
What do I want?
And I’ll keep asking it until what I want is crystal clear. Then I will know exactly what to do.
3. Systems and structure equals more freedom
I’m great with systems – we have one for pretty much everything in my business – but structure is lacking a bit, and that is because I can operate well on the fly. However, just thinking about how a little bit more structure would benefit me and my team and how that would lead to more freedom for me got me excited about actually putting that structure in place right away.
4. My non-negotiables are my success
I have been looking more closely at this, and I realized that a big attraction piece for my audience are my non-negotiables (family first, summers off, etc.). From this place, I’m able to draft the new design of my business and I could not be more excited about what is to come.
Designing a business on your terms, in your time, is one of the pillars on which I stand and teach. Learn how to do this for YOUR business and life at my annual Online Business Breakthrough Workshop here.
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