Behind the Scenes (+ how to create content they’ll read)
A year ago, I came across a free download from a woman I’d been following on Instagram for a while.
It showed a photo of the beautifully designed cover – complete with a dreamy photo and nice typography – and promised a wealth of info that sounded useful to me. Without giving it too much thought, I gave her one of my most valued possessions (my email address!) and, in a matter of moments, the pdf download was sitting in my inbox.
But here’s the kicker.
Opening that pdf was a complete disappointment.
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4 Steps to Reframe Your Lies into Truth
By now I’m sure you’re aware that we’re into the final quarter of 2018. Kinda crazy, huh?
There’s been lots of chatter in the online world about planning your last 90 days of 2018 instead of thinking “It’s too late. The year’s almost over. I’ll just wait for January 1.” We still have 3 whole months to accomplish some of those big goals from January. Don’t quit yet!
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A Tale of 2 Inspiration Boards
You’ve probably seen them, perhaps even searched for them on Pinterest. Those magical pages of moody photos, gorgeous color swatches, and interesting patterns or fonts.
You may have also wondered, “What’s the point?” Do they really have a purpose other than to make you swoon and make your designer look like she knows what she’s doing?
You may be relieved to know that, yes, they absolutely DO have a purpose. A thoughtful branding process has 2 critical parts: strategy and design. Inspiration boards fall under the “strategy” category, and without it, it will be difficult to create a brand you really love. Here’s why.
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How to Rename Your Business
So this messy renaming business. Where do you start?
First of all, be clear on WHY you’re renaming. Picking a new name will not solve every problem, but if you’re having some of the same struggles I mentioned in the last post, it’s probably time.
Once you’ve established the “why," decide what you want the new name to convey. You can’t say everything in one tiny name, so boil it down to the one “big idea.”
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7 Signs It’s Time to Rebrand
Not gonna lie. Rebranding is a challenge and not a decision to make lightly. While it’s something I systematically and creatively execute for others, it’s always harder to execute the same plans for ourselves, right? I think we get more caught up in the emotion, and being “too close” to the process actually makes it more challenging.
Which is why I put it off for so long.
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If You’ve Ever Cried Your Eyes Out Over Your Business...
I get it. I mean I really, REALLY get it. Because that was me on Monday night.
Frustrated, confused, overwhelmed, stuck, tired. Feeling like a fraud, imperfect, afraid, like I'm letting everyone down. Fed up with answering “I don’t know!” to every question.
I felt all of it, and I imagine you have too.
“The cobbler whose children have no shoes." You know – when you’re so great at working your magic for clients but neglect making the same transformation for yourself? Yeah, that. It sucks.
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Why You Should Simplify Your Space
If you haven’t guessed it yet, I’m a big fan of improving productivity and efficiency. After all, that’s what branding does when you finally have all the core visual pieces that will allow your business to really grow. You stop wasting time tweaking all the things and start spending more time and energy where it’s needed most — attracting and serving your clients.
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2 Things Branding & Parenting Have in Common
It may sound strange to say that branding and parenting have anything in common at all. However, when we consider what we want the end result to be for both, there are a couple truths that quickly rise to the surface.
(And, for the record, you don’t have to be a parent to understand this. Anyone who spends any time around kiddos – whether that's as a neighbor, friend, auntie, volunteer, teacher, or coach – will see that this is true. So that pretty much includes all of us!)
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My Top 3 for 2018
Are you completely over the “oh-my-gosh-it’s-January-1-and-I-gotta-make-all-the-plans-and-set-all-my-goals” freak out phase yet?
Well, are you? Good. Me too.
Yes, I’ve done some planning, and, yes, that can be a really good thing, but I’m not always the best at it. (One week I’ll meal plan and the next week we eat pb&j. Just sayin’.) It’s definitely something I’ve been aiming to be more intentional with lately, but the first 2 weeks of January can feel like so much striving sometimes.
Over 2017 I read a short stack of books, all of which I liked. But there were 3 special books that have made a huge impact on me. Since the question of the month on Facebook seems to be “what books do you recommend?”, here are my top 3.
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