I don’t know about you but I’ve got a PhD in ‘learning the hard way’.
In fact, if you ask my folks they’ll tell you it’s my mug next ‘stubborn’ in the dictionary.
Look, you can read books, watch tutorials, take courses and study how other successful brands are doing things, but there’s nothing like the boom juice of learning from the mistakes of those that are where you want to be {ok, at least in the general direction}.
Boy have I made a L-O-T of mistakes over the last 4 years I’ve been building online brands.
A lot people think I came out of the gate successful with The Branded Solopreneur {pppfffttt, NOT!}, but the truth is I’ve had several brands before this and each of them tanked because of specific mistakes I made. {face palm}
While there’s NO one size fits all formula for brand success, there ARE several common mistakes that most solopreneurs make during their brand building journey. Mistakes that can delay your success months, even years {I’m living proof!}. No thanks, right?!
That, my badass, is why I want to pull back the wine stained curtains and share with you the 10 biggest mistakes I’ve made and how I’ve overcome them.
Here are the top ten brand building mistakes that held me back from my solopreneur success for far longer than I’d like to admit:
1. NOT INVESTING IN BRANDING
Let’s get something clear right out of the gate. I’m addicted to branding boom juice because I learned the hard way how important it is.
The first online brand I started was for my web and graphic design freelance business, Teakwood Design, and sadly it lacked any element of recognizability or consistency. I know, pretty ironic given what I’m all about these days! But that’s exactly my point.
While I knew digital design I had absolutely no understanding of branding, nor did I get its purpose. I haphazardly used any fonts, colors and styles that struck my fancy at the moment, which made brand recognition a pipe dream.
It wasn’t until I hit my breaking point and started dissecting how badass brands were doing things that I had my AH HA moment. It wasn’t long after that deep dive that I realized everything these brands did looked, sounded and felt the same. I quickly realized that ONE element dictated everything they produced.
That element was their branding!
I noticed that they clearly defined and consistently used several guidelines that made their brand stand out from the crowd. Guidelines that together created a completely unique signature style that was immediately recognizable no matter where I saw or heard them online.
These branding guidelines included their:
➽Logo
➽Submark or logo variations
➽Color palette
➽Fonts
➽Textures/Patterns
➽Decorative elements
➽ Visual content style
➽ Voice
It was only after I took a step back from my brand and defined my branding guidelines that I began to reap the rewards of brand recognition! And if that wasn’t enough rewards to justify the investment I also noticed how scary easy it was to create new content and how much more clarity I had in understanding exactly who my brand was for and exactly how I could help those people.
The reason most solopreneurs {including me} mistakenly dismiss the importance of branding is because they don’t understand what it will do for their business. See, branding doesn’t start with a logo, it starts with clarity!
Clarity in understanding your purpose, your mission, your style, even your target audience. It’s a process of identifying the unique aspects of both you as an individual, and your business, and weaving these attributes together in a way that is consistently expressed in everything you do, say, and create.
THE SOLUTION:
Invest your time and money into building a signature brand identity that represents the essence of your purpose, products, message and mission. Developing and defining the elements of your brand identity is truly the first step on your path to standing out online and reaching ‘badass’ status.
2. NOT USING MY OWN VOICE
Tapping into your voice is a LOT harder said than done!
In fact, it took 3 years of mimicking others and seeking the shelter of a ‘marketing robot‘ mentality until I accepted this approach was…well, not doing a damn thing for me.
Unfortunately, I did what most solopreneurs do. I found, followed and devoured the voices of those that were successful and figured parroting them would position me on the same tier of success. WRONG!
When it came time to launch my next brand, Chic Geek Academy, this misconception stuck with me in the most stifling ways. I was sure that infusing my straight shooting approach, my love of all things booze and my fluency of sass and sarcasm was a recipe for failure! And fail I did.
I didn’t fail because I was too sassy or straight forward. I failed because I believed the tragic and common misconception that being different is a bad thing.
When I hear remarks like, ‘You can’t be conversational or informal, or you’re going to come off unprofessional.’ my lip involuntarily curls and my blood starts to boil. True story!
THE SOLUTION:
Look, I know a lot of us came from corporate backgrounds where we were held to faceless, personality deficient beings in the name of professionalism, but you have to lose that aversion. It’s a lie you’re telling yourself out of fear.
The truth is, there are people out there right now looking for your approach and uniqueness. You just can’t find them because you’ve become disassociated with your voice, or because you’ve created separation between you and your brand.
Stop letting your belief that your true self will turn people off. Stop believing that informal = unprofessional!
There are 5 benefits ripe for the taking when you use your authentic voice:
➽You’ll attract like minded readers
➽You’ll see more engagement from your audience
➽You’ll build more trust with your audience
➽You’ll have a higher chance of turning readers into customers
➽You’ll have a lot more fun doing it (enjoy the process)
The bottom line is, you need to celebrate your weirdness, your quirks, and your uniqueness. You need to let your freak flag fly high. You need to stay true to yourself even in the face of naysayers.
It’s not that you’re not good enough for them, it’s that they are not right for you! See the difference in mentality?
I want you to cut the crap and promise yourself that you will keep it real, no matter who likes you or who gives you permission to be real.
I’m telling you this from personal experience. Do NOT worry about those that are going to view you as unprofessional, cocky, shy, blunt, or whatever other personality trait you’ve become insecure about. Push back is going to happen, BUT it’s inconsequential to your success, and it’s something you have to let go of!
Be true to you and let your transparency attract the right people who will love you for being YOU. They not only exist but you will only find them when you find peace in using your authentic and real voice in everything you do.
Don’t believe me? Try and prove me wrong, I dare you! ; )
3. NOT DEFINING MY PERFECT READER/CUSTOMER
When I started Chic Geek Academy I thought narrowing my focus to solopreneurs was genius. In reality, it was only a start.
I quickly realized that solopreneurs, like any broad audience, come in all shapes, sizes and types. While in theory I could help all solopreneurs in terms of my skills, I was missing the fact that not every solopreneur will relate to me and my style, nor will they all be in a place to learn the skills I have to teach.
Let me ask you this:
What do you think would be harder? Crafting an email that’s going to be sent to every brand who blogs and uses social media, OR crafting an email that’s for stay at home moms that want to learn how to use Pinterest to make money with their blog?
Do you see how specific you need to get?
Part of the magic that is reaching the right readers and experiencing rapid brand growth stems from how specific you’ve defined your perfect reader.
The secret is creating a ‘perfect customer profile’ that looks, sounds and feels like ONE real person.
Narrowing down your target audience to ONE real person will help you:
➽Create content that keeps your readers coming back for more
➽Figure out what type of products and services to offer
➽Create a signature style that your readers will fall in love with
➽Find the right approach to write and speak to your peeps with
THE SOLUTION:
I know it feels counter intuitive and like you’re intentionally alienating people you can really help by narrowing your niche and defining your ONE perfect customer, but I promise you that’s not the case.
The narrowed focus is going to help you reach the right people…and a hell of a lot faster, which equals quick brand growth. Can I get a ‘yes, please!’?
So, while I know it’s scary do yourself a favor and dig deep and not wide when it comes to pinpointing who you can best serve. If you do this I promise you that your brands growth trajectory will high five you over and over again!
4. WAITING FOR PERFECTION
Will the real perfectionist please stand up! {she says standing on the top landing}
I’m a perfectionist to my core and its served me decently a time or two, but for the most part it’s been a real buzz kill.
Anything less than perfection and I get all wilty and doubty. It’s NOT a cute look on me! Because of my propensity towards perfection I have this sick habit of holding myself back by convincing myself things aren’t good enough.
Good enough for what? Oh I don’t know, for the New York Times to publish it, for my biggest hater to critique it, for the Pope to bless it. Ridonkulous, right?
After a shit ton of self reflection and a whole lot of soul searching I realized there was one common denominator that was present every time my perfectionism crept in. I cared…too much.
I know, I know, hear me out!
When I first entered the corporate world I was a go-getter, determined, and ready to conquer the world. I would spend days, sometimes weeks, fretting over presentations and preparing for staff meetings. I put an intense amount of pressure on myself to maintain perfection in everything I did. It was beyond exhausting to say the least.
Fast forward 15 years to the tail end of my corporate career, I was unfulfilled, bored and genuinely didn’t give a shit.
But you know what? That freedom from caring made getting things done a snap because I wasn’t bogged down with illusions of perfectionism or insecurities of not being good enough. Remember, I didn’t give a shit.
I could get a presentation {a good one at that} done in the hour before a meeting. I could compile reports and procedures in mere hours that used to take days and sometimes weeks. And when someone got upset at me for something instead of spiraling into a pit of self doubt I chuckled and reveled in not giving a damn. It afforded me a solace I needed just to show up every day.
When I retired from corporate America and began running my own business all that hunger and ambition came flooding back, but so did all the perfectionism and insecurities. They postponed me from launching my brand for months and they prevented me from taking any chances. All in all they held me back for far longer than I should have allowed.
Something you can probably relate to!
THE SOLUTION
First thing I had to realize was that my solopreneur success was NOT a direct correlation to my value and ability. That if something wasn’t good, it didn’t mean I wasn’t good enough. That if something went wrong in my business it wasn’t because I was a failure or not cut out for self employment.
I had to get real before I could get moving!
Waiting for something to be in a state of perfection is simply an outlet for our insecurities. The truth is, perfection in most cases is not only subjective, but borders on unattainable.
Do NOT wait for things to be perfect! Do not wait when it comes to launching, when it comes to creating, or when it comes to showing up.
Instead, bask in a place of ‘done is better than perfect’! Realize that you will make mistakes and that you will get better at things, and that neither of these are reasons to hold yourself back or put on the brakes.
It was only when I merged my two extremes, not giving a shit and caring myself into a perfection frenzy, that I was able to find a productive balance.
Now I’m NOT saying I produce crap proudly or diminish the pride I take in my work, or that you should either! That’s far from my point.
What I AM saying is stop giving a shit about attaining perfection. Lose your attachment to needing to be “ready”. Stop investing in things that don’t ultimately matter.
Perfectionism is where brands go to die, so if you don’t want any real estate in that cemetery you better make sure you swap out perfection for productivity.
Take it from me, the latter will gift you a lot more brand success than the first!
5. BEING TOO SCATTERED ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Like many solopreneurs and bloggers I made the mistake of thinking I should and could be active on every social media platform out there. Talk about maddening overwhelm!
Like most areas of life and business there are two ways you can approach things:
1. You can give a little bit of your attention to several things.
OR
2. You can devote all of your attention to one thing.
It really boils down to a dig deeper vs. dig wider mentality!
The downside of trying to be everywhere when it comes to social media is that you never actually show up anywhere. How so?
Well, think about it this way…
How likely would you be to invite someone over to dinner simply because they lobbed wine and cheese coupons across all of your social feeds each week?
Not very, huh?
How likely would you be to invite someone over for dinner that shared laughs and favorites with you on your wine and cheese loving pictures every day on Instagram for months?
How likely do you think you would be try this 2nd person’s wine recommendations?
Can you see the difference?
Showing up on social is NOT enough. You have to be SOCIAL! You have to build a name for yourself and that takes time. Don’t believe me?
Look at any successful blogger or solopreneur. Most of them have made a name for themselves via one specific social platform. It’s not to say that they didn’t branch out later or that they didn’t have an active profile on multiple social platforms. My point is they dug deep {not wide} and invested their efforts into one platform at a time.
THE SOLUTION
The hard truth is social mastery doesn’t come down to your ability to shamelessly promote yourself across multiple platforms. Social mastery comes from understanding the intricacies of a platform, using it consistently and connecting with those that hang out there.
When I launched The Branded Solopreneur I knew I had to overhaul my scattered social media approach. I knew I had to focus on one social platform and become a consistent force to be reckoned with. I chose Google+ to be my home away from home and damn was that one of the best choices I made!
For the first 6 months after I launched TBS I spent ALL of my time and effort learning and making a name for myself on Google+. I consistently engaged with peeps, I shamelessly shared THEIR work and I learned every facet of the platform. And what do you know, my brand grew…quickly!
Before I knew it I was a fixture on the platform and getting the attention of some of my favorite bloggers and solos. Business started to trickle in and invaluable friendships started blossoming. But something even sweeter happened.
All the badasses I met on Google+ started hunting me down on other platforms, and they started introducing me to other people on those social media platforms. Why was this? Because I dug deep and laid an indestructible foundation.
In order to build something that will stand the test of time you need a foundation that will support it. Don’t spread yourself thin and dilute your efforts. Instead, choose a platform based on where your peeps hangout and where you love spending your time and dedicate your energy into mastering that platform and connecting with the movers and shakers that are there.
Once you do that you’ll see how organically that leads to expanding your social empire.
6. WORRYING ABOUT WHAT OTHERS WERE DOING
Comparison is a natural part of a solos brand building journey. I’ve gone through it and so has every other solopreneur I’ve talked to. I mean, come on, it’s easy to do with the rampant over share and boasting that takes place on social media, right?
We hear someone else talk about a success they’ve achieved and we immediately feel less than for not having achieved the same. We see others that have done what we haven’t yet and we wonder why we are such failures.
It’s tragic but totally normal. We’re human after all.
I fell into this snare for a long time. I’d see my peers making progress I could only dream of and I’d convinced myself that it was because I wasn’t as worthy. It truly incapacitated my growth and held me back for YEARS. Hell, I still battle it here and there.
I even went so far back in the day as to replicate exactly what they were doing, mimicking their voice, creating a business model like theirs, buying the exact tools they were using. Not shockingly none of it made a damn bit of difference.
THE SOLUTION:
You’re unique, your brand is unique; therefore, you and your brand need a unique plan and unique solutions. You need to build a brand around YOUR skill set, style, approach, time line and purpose. Looking to others to set the standard for your brand growth is nothing but an exercise in setting yourself up for failure.
Don’t compare your progress with someone else. I can almost guarantee you there are factors you don’t know about. Factors that would make your assumption that you should be in the same spot dead wrong. They may have a team behind them, they may have family money they’ve invested, they may have a coach that you don’t. You get my drift?
Instead of worrying about what others are doing turn your focus to what will get YOU where you want to be when you want to be there. In other words, make a scale that is calibrated based on YOUR brand factors!
The only person you’re competing with is your inner skeptic, and the only way to squelch that biotch is with fierce clarity and a steadfast patience with yourself. The sooner you embrace that the sooner you will stop holding yourself back in the name of comparison. Then and only then will you see continuous brand growth!
7. NOT BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS WITH MY PEERS
When I first started blogging I was selfish, afraid and massively flawed in my mentality. Like I haven’t driven that home already, right?!
I saw my peers as competitors, not allies. Sound familiar? Don’t feel bad, a lot of us do this at the beginning because we don’t know any better.
I thought sharing my fellow badasses work would take away from my own. I thought collaborating with others in my niche was a conflict of interest. I saw connecting in general as something that was a waste of my time. Hey, I said I was selfish and flawed!
Do you know what that backwards thinking got me? A pocket full of lint and colony of crickets. In other words, nada!
Just like it takes a village to raise a child it takes a village to build a brand, and it all starts with the right mindset.
THE SOLUTION
It wasn’t until I became active on Google+ and saw pros like Ande Lyons and Mia Voss in action that I changed my ways. I watched these bosses form and grow relationships with others right before my eyes. I could feel the magic, I could sense the camaraderie, I could see the bonds.
I dare anyone to see that and NOT want it!
To rectify my misguided stance on relationship building I:
➽Chose 20 people that I would focus on connecting with
➽I commented on their blog posts, social posts, and shared everything they published
➽I attended their online events and made sure I was an active member in the discussion
➽I featured them in my blog posts
➽I celebrated them any way I could
Eventually they started to notice me and get to know me and soon the lines of communication opened. Almost a year later I call most of those 20 people my good friends now…and that’s NOT a title I throw around lightly!
Look, you’re not going to dazzle and win over your peers by kissing their ass or forcing it. You need to get used to genuinely giving more than you take and you need to let things grow organically. The method you use to build relationships is up to you and how you roll, but make no mistake, relationship building is THE BEST brand growing tool you have in your arsenal.
Can you really beat something that’s free yet pays out so handsomely? Uh, that’d be a HELL NO!
8. PARTNERING WITH THE WRONG PEOPLE
newbie + naive = misguided eager beaver
Once upon a time there was a new blogger who was supa powered hot to trot over affiliate marketing {yep, that was me}, because she naively believed that it was the secret to becoming an overnight millionaire.
One day a big name marketer came to her and proposed a collaboration. He suggested she hold a free webinar for her list where he would provide an hour of kickass training and then he’d do a quick pitch for his course at the end. He generously offered to provide a unlimited replay for her audience AND gift her with 50% of all earnings. Wha wha whaaaaat?
She was over the moon and in full happy dance mode! {Why am I speaking in the 3rd person…because that’s how I roll, deal with it!}
The thing is, she knew little to nothing about him…but she knew he was a ‘big name’. Oy vey, right?!
Things felt disconnected from the start but she chalked it up to her lack of experience with the whole webinar/affiliate process.
Webinar day came, and things quickly went from happy dance status to shock and awe.
What happened?
➽ There was 5 measly minutes of worthless training, followed by 60 minutes of pitching.
➽ The replay was not up for 5 days and when it was finally up he only kept it up for 12 hours.
➽ Even though 3 people emailed her and let her know that they purchased his course she never saw a penny from him, nor did he respond when she emailed him about the sales.
➽ 5 different people {on her whopping list of 200} emailed her to let her know that he was spamming them with numerous sales offers every day.
What’s the moral of this story?
Do NOT partner with people that you don’t know, trust and adore!
THE SOLUTION
The people you partner with are extension of your brand. If they throw shade, treat your audience badly, or drop the ball on promises they make that won’t necessarily fall on them, but it WILL fall on you.
You have to protect your brand and your peeps from all detrimental factors and that includes the wrong people. You need to have a very good sense of someone’s ethics, approach, vernacular, and processes before you give them access to your audience and/or web real estate.
Your readers, audience, and list are your most prized possession {for lack of a better term} and must be treated as such. When you give your stamp of approval to someone you better know that they are worthy of your endorsement. It only takes one sour endorsement to ruin a brand, so take great care in who you partner with and how the partnership is going to work.
Resist the urge to bury your intuition and instincts in the ‘newbie’ cloud. That voice is there for a reason, and there’s no better reason to honor it than in the name of protecting your peeps and your integrity.
Your brand is yours and therefore it’s YOUR responsibility to grow and protect it. Don’t deny your right to voice concerns, outline guidelines and make sure a partnership is the right match before you agree to anything. If you do you’ll have no one to blame but yourself!
9. HAVING MONOLOGUES INSTEAD OF DIALOGUES
Back in my ‘marketing robot’ days I was a major offender of the monologue movement. You know, talk about yourself and people are suppose to care. Basically I setup shop in a ‘me’ place.
Wow, that makes me cringe in embarrassment just typing it!
I didn’t mean to be so self involved or one sided, I just didn’t know what I was doing. I thought I had to pretend to be everything and have everything together to be taken seriously. I was too dense to see that basking in a ‘me’ space was exactly what was stunting my success.
I didn’t realize that the secret to brand growth was building relationships and trust with your audience and peers. I didn’t realize that to build that trust and those relationships I needed to create conversation. Not talking at them, but with them. I know, it sounds basic but a lot of us lose touch with reality as soon as we get in front of a screen.
I was so wrapped up in vanity metrics {social numbers, email list size, etc} that I couldn’t see the solution staring me in the face!
THE SOLUTION
Let me save you a LOT of struggle and spun wheels. The metric to measure these days is engagement.
It’s the rampant misunderstanding of true social engagement that has made ‘marketing’ a dirty word for a lot of us.
Make no mistake, the current landscape of social interaction has shifted from from monologues to dialogues, from a ‘me’ space to a ‘we’ space. If you don’t get on that train you’re never going to leave the station.
It wasn’t until being introduced to ‘digital intimacy’ by Lisa Engles and Yifat Cohen that this shift fell into place for me.
In fact, Lisa Engles put together a 4 part video series on the gravity of measuring ROE {Return on Engagement} opposed to the tradition ROI (Return on Investment}. It’s a must watch for any solopreneur looking to leverage social media to establish meaningful dialogue in the digital stratosphere.
The truth is, the ability to measure the magnitude of your brand reach and the ROE from your efforts will only begin bearing the fruits of your labor when you stop talking at your audience and you start making them a part of the conversation. It’s in this ‘we’ space where your conversions and brand adoration will deepen.
Go ‘we’ or go home!
10. NOT BELIEVING IN MYSELF
One of the badasses in the Solopreneur Society emailed me and asked me:
‘You have a very strong personality, and a laid-back vibe with us in your private group, and your emails, but I’m wondering if you maintain that approach within your own business when working with customers? Or are you a little more professional since people are paying you?’
I get variations of this question a LOT…and I get it! No really, I do.
Here’s the sitch:
I struggled with MASSIVE depression and raging self-hate for a loooooooong time. Much of that surfaced during the decade and a half I was trapped in corporate America. The environment I was in brought out the worse in me and made me hate life. When I finally decided enough was a enough I quit my corporate job and threw myself into the online world. It was then that I launched my 3rd online brand, Chic Geek Academy.
I thought I had all this online business stuff down, but I was sorely mistaken! In fact, I struggled with a TON more issues that stemmed from all those years of turmoil while I was in the corporate world. At the center of those issues was my paralyzing fear of being labeled a bitch, or laughed out of business for being my sassy self. I flat out didn’t believe in myself the way a successful entrepreneur needs to.
Fast forward through two years of that struggle and I got to a place of full meltdown. I came face to face with my life’s dream {self employment} forever being a failure. I spiraled. I finally got to such a desperate place I reached out to some of my best friends {in business and personal life} and I got real. I confessed my struggles and where I was mentally, financially and emotionally and I asked them for help.
I’ve been extremely blessed in the way that I had people that picked my sorry ass up {figuratively and literally speaking} and spent WEEKS and WEEKS counseling me, building me up, loving me, and giving me a loan. I had one coaching bestie that literally spent days at a time working me through my hangups and self hate and rationalizing things for me. These people believed in me when I wasn’t able to believe in myself!
I channeled their bravery and decided I was going to give this solopreneur shit one last try, BUT this time I was doing it on my terms! I was going to be me and nothing but me, and I was going to believe, even though I had no damn reason to have faith in myself. No bullshit, I put my belief in THEIR belief in me, I put on my big girl panties and I set off. That was last October when I launched The Branded Solopreneur.
I tell you allllll that because that’s why I WILL NOT dilute and change myself for the sake of anyone. If someone doesn’t like me that’s ok, I’ve gotten to a place where I’m really comfortable in my skin and I truly believe in myself and my talents. I know I’m not for everyone and I don’t try to be. I spend my time trying to reach the RIGHT people that I can help.
Hell, I come out of the gate with sass and a foul mouth very intentionally to qualify my peeps. That’s why I use ‘high fives’, I openly admit I love the f word, and I’m constantly making references to loving booze. If that stuff turns you off or makes you feel I’m immature or unprofessional then you’re not going to learn from me or hire me, so in short you don’t matter.
I don’t think these peeps are bad people, they’re just not MY people. It’s been a major mentality shift…and it has taken time to get here. Here’s the thing, I think peeps can see authenticity and heart through attitude and other facets of loudmouthes like myself. Look at the people in the The Badass Solopreneur Society. They’re comfortable with the informal nature of how I set the vibe, most feel free to curse and be themselves, including the good, the bad, and the ugly. So I dare anyone to tell me that being me will not work!
The same goes for you!
THE SOLUTION:
All this solopreneur shit REALLY boils down to being comfortable in your skin and not letting the constant stream of aholes or fails get you down. My journey has been rough but I would do it all again a million times to get to where I am today….I’m happier and more fulfilled than I’ve EVER been!
That’s why I’m sooooooooo fiercely committed to helping lift those up that need it, to support those that feel they’re alone, to be open about my trials, struggles and fails. If I need to be the first one out there to be real about the less stellar shit to help others find themselves then I’m flattered and up for the challenge.
I feel beyond blessed to have the people I have in my life that believed in me when I couldn’t, so it’s important to me that I pay that forward and do that for you when you need it.
With all that said: Why in the fucking world would I risk losing and hating myself again so others won’t be offended? NOT A CHANCE! I treat my community and clients with respect and admiration. I will go over and above in ways that others will not, but I will NOT be someone I’m not for the sake of a buck. That’s where I come from these days, and with how long it took me to get here I will NOT turn back for anyone.
YOU need to get to that unapologetic place and you need to bask in it!
So there you have it. 10 admittedly embarrassing brand building mistakes that I hope I can save you from. If I can save even one badass from the pitfalls I’ve encountered in my time building brands I’m more than happy to pull back the protection sheath and reveal my misguided beliefs and practices. This IS the real shit!
This brand building stuff is truly a journey. A journey that’s going to have a lot of bumps in the road no matter how hard you try to do things right.
The difference between a badass brand and a busted brand can usually be traced back to 4 things:
1. How many times they get back up after being knocked down
2. How clear they are about their mission, message and purpose
3. How big of a support system they have
4. How well they treat their readers/customers
If you do nothing else after reading this post, PLEASE, make sure that you never let failure define you, you get crystal clear about your brand’s ultimate goals, you create a unwavering support system, and you put your readers and customers on the pedestal they deserve.
If you can do all of that, everything else will work itself out!
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WOW thanks for this list. You had me from the PhD ‘in ‘learning the hard way’. That’s one degree that I would like to avoid having lol
I hope you skip that one too but such is life for most of us solopreneurs! Hey, I’m still around to tell the tales so it’s not totally dire. ?
Wow! What a journey. I totally can relate to your story. Thank you for saying it to the world, it’s given me so much more inspiration for my next journey. I found you through Kristi Hill. Best wishes!
Awww, you’re so welcome, sweetie! I’m all about the real talk, so if you ever have questions don’t be shy!
P.S. I adore Kristi, I’ll have to add another wine clinks to my tab with her. ?
Heya just wanted to give you a brief heads up and let you know a few of the pictures aren’t loading correctly.
I’m not sure why but I think its a linking issue.
I’ve tried it in two different browsers and both show the same outcome.
Thanks a TON for the heads up. I’m cleaning up a bunch of posts and updating images so a few have gotten redirected to incorrect links. I’ll get this fixed up asap. Good lookin out and thanks again! {fist bump}
Wow Dre! Way to be a straight shooting badass with a heart of gold.
I actually cried ‘listening’ to your true life tales of depression and pushing on with the love and support of those around you.
I’m so glad I happened across your website.
Inspired and grateful!
Have a beautiful day ?
Those are the best warm & fuzzies, EVA! You have NO IDEA how much this love means to me, April! It’s scary as hell to put myself out there in this raw and transparent way….well, until I think of how many of you out there I can help, even if just not to feel alone in your mental struggles. Thank YOU for taking a second to share how much my story touched you. I shed quite a few tears writing this one. And I still come back and read it when I need a reminder of how badass I am capable of being.
Whatever you do in life, make sure you surround yourself with people who will love you when you feel completely unlovable. Knowing other’s believe you can be just what you need to push through the hard times and mental blocks. I don’t even want to think about where I’d be without my loved ones and besties!
PLEASE holler anytime if I can lend a ear or if you have any questions about the things I’ve mentioned. It’s important to me to keep shit real and be an open book to my fellow badasses.
TONS ans TONS of love coming right back at ya, sweetie. <3
-Dre
Thank you for your inspiring post, which resonated with my own doubts, so what I have learned is, when in doubt find the answers, mentors, specialists who can allay your doubts and learn from them. Doubt seems to be our inner voice telling us to face the challenge, and fight off our fears which you have so clearly done.This was my year to get up and running and get my voice out there, just arming myself with the tools that will make me awesome, so thanks for sharing and caring so much.
Awww, you’re so welcome, Theresa! It’s tragic how easy it us for us to doubt ourselves, it’s almost an instinct most times. You simply have to junk kick them and push through. It was so scary when I first started doing that, and while I still have doubts every day, I find myself steadfast in pushing through them these days out of sheer stubborness. I refuse to be the reason I don’t make it. You know what I mean?
I know you’ve got this, girl! You’re dreams are right on the other side of your fears….go GET EM!! <3
Hi once again Dre ;p,
I am actually coming more here now… don’t know.. maybe it got something to do with that “badass unprofessional informal” style.. honestly I mean, who won’t read it when its not boring … ;p
So yeah I READ IT WORD BY WORD and couldn’t agree more with having your own unique voice, I mean I interact with loads of people online, I have been interacting with some for years but you kind of have your own space inside my mind… like you kind of come first when I think about bloggers, Marketers in online market space…
Like I say, that is all because of having your own unique voice, second point of having relationship that is so IMPORTANT, relationship with other like minded people esp. with people who are experts, is like a gold mine, you learn a lot in less time plus you get some great people to help you in case you need some help…
Online market space is all about people, having relationships, having connection, having that community feeling and success of whatever you want to achieve comes with that, yes it takes time but it does happens….
Lastly I was wondering if you are going to select me for your review … ;p don’t want that to happen next year ;p!
And yeah I might have made some typo’s so apologies for that in advance… ;p
Weeeeelll, I don’t think I’m ‘unprofessional’ but I get your drift, brotha! I can’t thank you enough for the steady stream of comment and social love. FINALLY being able to fulfill my solo dreams has made for the best year of my life. There’s nothing like the high I get from doing my self employment thang everyday. Hearing that I can motivate anyone to read every word of an article…well, that’s just insane warm & fuzzuies!
P.S. You’ll be the first to know when we’re tackling your brand review, Arshad.
Hellooo there Dre! First time visiting and man I had to comment on this post. I watched you and Adrienne via a webinar just the other day.
This blog post is describes me (well the old me) anyways especially tip #7.
There I was in my own little blogging world…hiding behind my computer, blogging my cares away and wondering why I had very little enagement (let alone comments + exchanges on my blog). Tsk Tsk! Lesson learned.
I promised myself this year that I would reallyyyy focus on building relationships with fellow peers. #’s 3 and 10 also hit home.
Just seems to me like you have telepathic powers or something (goodness!). Either way…excellent post, fantastic tips and great solutions for all of these challenges.
Cheers Chica!
Hey Kim, it’s EPIC to have ya stopping by for the first time, lady! I don’t know about you but I have to learn the hard way a LOT of the time, so even if someone would have told me these things {and plenty did on some} I wouldn’t have taken them serious enough to change. I firmly believe that we make change when it’s the right time for us to make it…and that timeline looks different for all of us.
I’m SOOOOO proud of you for noticing your wrongs and being willing to change them. The old you had to be for the new you to shine through, so NEVER stop trying and evaluating. You GOT THIS girl, and I’m here to cheer you on every step of the way. Here’s to 2016 being your best year EVA!
Thanks a whole shit tonnery for the awesome warm & fuzzies. And hey, don’t tell anyone about my telepathic powers or my secret superpower is going to get out. ; )
TONS of love <3
Dre
Hi,
Just wanted to say thank you for the time and effort you took writing this post. I found it from a link on The New Blog, on Blogging Ambitions. I am so glad she linked to this post.
I launch my first self hosted site in a few days, and must admit I have struggled with fear, perfectionism, failure and more. I am worried I will forget something, which I am sure I will. I am worried I will do something wrong, which I will. But NOW I know, its going to be OK. Ill mess up, and I will deal with it.
Love the dig deep not wide! And I love the social media stuff. I do find it hard to find out where to hang out, looking for homeschoolers. So I chose SM I am familiar with like Pinterest, and Instagram. I do think they hang out more on Facebook, but I know nothing about that. So I added it to my to do list to learn and will work on that, later…lol
Again, thanks so much,
Hey Jen! Thanks a whole heapery for the comment love! You bet you’ll forget things and do things wrong, we all do, what’s important is that you NEVER let those things stop you. Those that succeed have one thing in common…they never give up and they take risks/chances. Bet on yourself, build a kickass support system and push through the doubt and fear and I promise you that you’ll accomplish things you never thought you could. Self employment is scary but scary isn’t a correlation to possible. Here’s to kicking ass and taking names in 2016. You GOT THIS, girl!! <3
O, M, G. I love when I luck out and find a post that I need at the very moment (I’ll be bookmarking this for future reads ? ). I’m in the middle of rebranding my image to make it more “me”. This is amazing validation that I’m making the right choice. I also faced corporate world depression and felt paralyzed by the professional mindset. I think the reason it took so long for me to find my own voice was the worry that people from my past would see my brand and think – WTF? But, I’m noticing authentic is resonating and I can’t wait to run with it in 2016. Thanks so much for this post!
Awwww, thanks for the love, Taylor! ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS follow your intuition and NEVER let the haters from your corporate days dictate your actions or bravery. You left them behind for a reason, it’s now YOUR time to shine!! If anything use the darkness from your corporate days be a driving force to prove them wrong. I’m here to help, so holler anytime, lady! <3
I also have a PhD similar to yours but I have something you don’t. A PhD on being slow to realize/identify mistakes and that waste a LOTTTT of my time. Haha.
I’m still making some mistakes as I still do sound like a robot but I’m still trying to hone it and be better.
I promise I will be better so thanks for this post Dre! ?
Haha, don’t you just love our school of being hard headed?! Don’t sweat it, like I said, it took me over 2 years to save myself from the marketing robot voice and mentality. It’s all a process, so take it one baby step at a time, bro. I think you’ve come a long way in just the last few months I’ve known ya so give yourself more credit. Here’s to stepping up your game and learning from your mistakes…so you can make new ones. Gotta love how that works. You ROCK, Dennis!! ; )
Hello Dre,
I want to thank you for the time you took to write this post, I really loved it, its so generous of you to give out such amazing advice so that newbies like me won’t end up making such mistakes.
I am definitely bookmarking this blog
Have a Nice day
George(Nigeria)
That’s exactly why I HAD to write the post. It breaks my heart to see others out there making the same mistakes, so I’m stoked if I have saved you from any of these…or at least made you realize your misteps. Thanks sooooo much for the love on this post, George! Here’s to your solopreneur success and BEYOND!…
Yes you have stated a great point here regarding the user behavior. Your user must be specific. It is great to keep one specific user than 100 irrelevant ones.
Thanks for this post!
You bet! But that’s doesn’t always click right away…I know that one took me a WHILE to buy into. Thanks for the comment love, bro!
Hi Dre, I just popped over from Adrienne’s blog. I just love this post. I hung on every word…I agree with you on the being yourself and authentic. It’s so easy to worry about what everyone is thinking but then it’s impossible to get anything done. It’s so great to meet you and I look forward to reading more of your blog! Thanks for sharing your branding mistakes. I recognize a few of these ? but you’re very generous to put those out there for us to benefit!
Awww, you’re the bees knees, Lisa – you sure know how to give a girl a serious case of giddy! ; ) Hearing feedback like this makes me sharing my faults a no brainer…I’m just stoked I can help peeps avoid all the icky shit I did to myself in the name of success. Sometimes when I look back on these mistakes I want to drop kick myself in the face, then I remember that I wouldn’t have gotten here {where I savor every damn ounce of my life and biz}, to a place where I appreciate everything so much.
Thanks sooo much for your kind words and comment love sweetie! Here’s to your solopreneur success, Lisa!
P.S. I really owe that Adrienne a big ole bottle of vino or something. I still can’t believe I made it in her last roundup. What an honor!!
Hi Dre
The best thing is that all the reasons are a good mix of technical, professional and conceptual reason; I like it.
I got you through Adrienne’s blog’s latest post and now I must thank her for referring such a wonderful blog and this one nice post.
You are right doing right thing at right time is the best part of a successful strategy and I personally observe many bloggers try to be Mr Perfectionist before starting a blog and that’s absolutely a wrong approach.
Thanks for this wonderful share
Have a great rest of the week
Ain’t that the truth, perfectionism has got to be one of the worse approaches there is. There’s so much to learn from our mistakes that we need to get comfortable with making them…and owning them! Thanks a TON for the comment and love, Mi!
P.S. Is Adrienne the best?!
Hey Dre,
Mistakes are the part of our life. We all do mistakes. But it is always a good idea to learn from them.
I like your idea of letting people know about the mistakes you have made during your journey. People need to know more about the perfect approach.
I have done many mistakes in my starting days and even do sometimes. Following other marketers isn’t a good idea. Beginners should have their own thoughts about branding.
I have seen many bloggers who hire coach fro branding. But it doesn’t work until you do it your own.
Branding with the logo is a good idea. Every blog should have a logo which is unique in its own style.
Thanks for such an informative post.
Enjoy your week ahead.:)
~Ravi
Hey Ravi, thanks-o-TON for the comment! I have to disagree as far as hiring a brand strategist being wasteful. A lot of beginners have the wrong impression about branding {including believing a logo is branding or where branding starts} so I think it’s important people like yours truly help them put the pieces together. It’s all about knowing who you are and what your brand is about. Once you have that clarity a pro can help you put the everything together. I always say, it takes a village to build a brand! Thanks again for the insights, brotha.
Hey Dre,
Whoooooooooooooooo.
You were stylin’ and profilin’ like the Nature Boy with this post. I felt, and resonated with everything you said. They were all on point as if you wrote this specifically to me.
Did you hack int my online diary? ?
But seriously, the using your own voice thing is really good and important. And I think you do an excellent job of being you because, I can’t remember where I heard you say this before, but you said you can’t cater to everyone. You’re as brash as you want to be and those that stick around, raised their hand and said, “I’m you’re audience and I love what you’re doing and who you are. ”
That’s really important.
And it goes perfectly with point #3. You can’t write fr EVERYONE. You must have an ideal person that you’re writing to. Otherwise, your message will never connect.
You one baaaaaaaad mama jamma, Dre. And those that say they hate making mistakes will never learn from them. Clearly you’ve learned from yours and have taught us how to avoid them as well.
Awesome stuff.
– Andrew
That’s all the more proof that most of us have {and are} made the same mistakes…in silence. It’s important that we cut the crap and let go of this need to appear perfect. Anytime someone talks about their flaws or weaknesses I automatically gravitate towards them. There’s just something so refreshing about keeping it real, so this was my way of setting the record straight on my journey full of mess ups.
There are so many things that once I fixed allowed me to finally grow my brand, but hands down finding the right peeps is on the top of that list. There’s nothing like the magic of finding peeps that are perfect for you. I can see it so clearly these days. The peeps I attract have such a similar sense of humor and personality type as I do…which makes building meaningful relationships with them so much easier. We genuinely like each other…what a concept, right?!
I don’t know about you, but I have a LOT of thank you notes to write to all the people that helped me solve each of my mistakes. I should probably get on that. HAHAHAHA
Thanks from the bottom of my wine filled heart for the all the love you threw my way here, Andrew. I think I might even change my title to Badass Branding Mama Jamma! BAM! ; )
Hi Dre,
I saw your post on Adrienne’s site and had to check it out on her advice.
Here is the most interesting part that most solopreneur’s, or just about any business owner really;
“Your message is your brand and your brand is your message.”
This is the one thing Adrienne was struggling with the most when it came to attracting an audience who was able, willing and ready to buy from her or those who serve the same audience but in a different way.
When I was in web development we built sites from $500 to nearly $200,000. In almost every case the business had no idea how to focus on an audience and talk to them in a way that was relevant, inspiring or compelling.
That audience didn’t know what to do so they left.
Great content is created when we’ve laid the foundation and in one piece of content we can solve one problem for one person.
That’s the true definition of value in my opinion.
Great post Dre and thanks for transparency and honesty. I’m certain you are going to help a lot of folks struggling with these issues.
Have a great week!
~ Don Purdum
That’s So true, Don! That took me a long time to wrap my head around. Figuring out EXACTLY who {their status, their goals, their personality, their circumstance, etc} I wanted to reach and work with, but once I did the pieces started to fall into place. I use to work with people that weren’t the right fit which made enjoying what I did hard. NOW? I work with the best clients in the world. They are truly what gets me up most mornings. Finding the right audience is pure magic.
Thanks a ton for giving this post a read AND for the kind words and love. Here’s to hoping others can learn from my mistakes…or at least know they aren’t alone. Have a kickass week, brotha! {high five}
P.S. Isn’t Adrienne the most amazing success story? LOVE that lady!!
Hi Drea!
I totally relate to many of the points your presented in this blog post. Namely, that creating your own business path is TOUGH and full of mistakes. But you’re so right: mistakes are the fast track to learning how to succeed. Most of what I know about being a solopreneur is from the mistakes I made in the beginning… before I found awesome-sauce blogs like this one.
Also, I learned a so much from others who I would have previously considered the “competition.” It’s so silly how we think that. There’s more than enough business to go around.
Thanks for being a leader and exposing your business “mistakes” with us… I like to think of them more as life lessons. No pain, no gain. ?
Andréa Jones
I couldn’t have said it better, Andrea!…No Pain, No Gain, that’s soooo true! It always blows my mind when I unveil my struggles how many others then feel comfortable to share theirs. It’s about time we cut the crap and keep it real. Our mistakes shouldn’t be something we hide in shame, but something we celebrate…without them victory and success wouldn’t be nearly as sweet!
Thanks a TON for the love, girl – I’m so freaking pumped to see you and Brent this week! Hope the road trip is providing lots of laughs. See you soon!! <3
Hi Dre,
I just found you on Adrienne Smith’s blog and came over because I found the title of this so interesting. Well girl, they say that first impressions count and they sure do. You have blown me away with this post.
I like your style of no nonsense. You tell it like it is and I can resonate with that. Thank you!
Our mistakes never define us but rather can catapult us to new and great strategies to undertake. I have made so many, and probably will keep on making them. But hey, it is just like when we were babies…we crawled then stood up to walk. We fell down a bunch of times, but kept getting up until we mastered it.
So why not take the same approach as adults? It just seems like common sense to me. I love this post because you have shared your mistakes and then gave a solution to the problem.
Takes courage to do that and I commend you for it because I’m sure that many have done the same. I know I have…Still working on Number One!
-Donna
Don’t ya just la la looove that Adrienne Smith?! THANK YOU for all the love you’ve showed this post, Donna! It’s so true, our mistakes catapult us. It’s tragic how easy it is for us to forget that life and business are a journey and one that WILL have peaks and valley no matter how much we’d like to do things ‘right’ out of the gate. I struggled in silence for a loooong time and have gotten to a place {from personal growth AND from hearing so many others talk about these struggles and how they’re afraid to admit them} that I knew it was time to put mine out there. The response has been absolutely mind blowing. I love seeing us all come together in the name of keepin it real!
Thanks again for the love, Donna! It’s so cool to see someone you’ve seen all over the web hop on to your blog. It’s EPIC to finally ‘meet ya’. Here’s to your kicking ass and taking name status, lady!! ; )
Just like you, i also learn things the hard way and like you mentioned, one of the best form of learning to learn from those that has achieved what you’re aiming for, knowing the mistakes they made along the way and also figuring out how to avoid them is very vital for success.
All the things you mentioned here are actually the same mistake a lot of people makes today even without knowing they’re making a mistake and, i must admit that I’m also guilty of some of them.
Thanks for opening my eyes to them.
You’re most welcome, eye opening is a beautiful thing isn’t it?! ; ) Thanks a ton for all the exploring you’ve done on my site and all the love you’ve given me. THAT’S exactly why I love what I do, badasses like you make my heart sing! Here’s to your ‘kicking ass’ status, Theodore!!
I’ve always been a strong believer that you learn most in like through mistakes. While learning from personal mistakes seems to be the most potent, I do greatly appreciate some of your lessons learned from mistakes. Thanks for the great read, Dre!
Word up to that, brotha! Thanks-o-TON for the love, can’t tell you how much I appreciate that!
Hi Dre,
Your post is awesome. A lot of points made, i will re-read this post till the main points sink in. Thanks for sharing!
Awww, thanks a TON for the love, brotha man!! Here’s to learning lessons from my screw ups and skipping a lot of the pitfalls. Get go get em, Arinze!…
What a great guide, Dre! Will share this out.
I always find it a little ironic when a design agency lacks in the branding department… makes me chuckle. You’ve come a long way since then, huh?
I’m also glad that you speak in your own voice… I can’t imagine you trying to be anyone other than yourself.
I know I already told you, but just a heads up that I’ll be on the road until the second week of November — and looking forward to seeing you in San Fran! But if you don’t see me poking around your blog as often as usual, you’ll know why. Thanks a ton!
Brent
The irony, right?! I’m forever stoked that I realized my massive blunder {dropping the branding ball} sooner than later…although I wouldn’t have complained if it happened just a weeee bit sooner. You know, when I look back at my marketing robot days I can’t believe I thought trying to be someone I wasn’t felt easier than being me. THAT’S when I realize how far I’ve come in just one year. I’m super giddy to see where I am in another year. Up and up and away to us BOTH!
Enjoy the roadtrip – I’ve got everything crossed that a meetup will happen the day you’re in the city!
Dre I love this! I’ve made so many of these mistakes myself and apparently continue to do some of them haha.
The one that really struck true was #7: relationships with peers. Oh my it’s so true. I think that in traditional business you do this because everyone is so afraid of others stealing their ideas and so they have non-non-disclosures that when you start a blog business you tend to think the same way, until you realize one day that we all need friends in this crazy online biz world and then we start to reach out.
I can’t believe that bigger blogger totally took advantage of you like that! I had a somewhat similar story but not THAT blatantly bad! I’m so glad people like that are the minority, at least from what I’ve seen and experienced.
Thanks for sharing these, they’re truths we should all be aware of.
That’s soooo true! I think a lot of us have come from corporate backgrounds where relationship building is truly non-existent, so it’s natural to bask in that mentality when you move to the online world. It’s sad how long it took me to realize that but damn am I glad the light bulb finally turned on. If I was still burying my head in the sand I would never have met this really awesome chic, Marianne…and that would be a big ole BOOOOO! <3
Thanks sooo much for the love on this one, girl. This is one of my favorite posts to date because it’s important to me to keep shit real especially when I hear chatter than people think I figured all this stuff out quickly. I don’t want there to be ANY confusion how completely wrong that is. Here’s to helping others and each other avoid and remedy these mistakes!!
P.S. Funniest thing is that big blogger just emailed me the other day {1st time I’ve heard from him in a year and half} to see if I would be interested in doing a joint webinar. Are you f’ing KIDDING ME? What a TOOL!!
I love this post so much, I dreamt about it last night.
Most of these are so easy to be guilty of, but I was especially bad at #3 and 7.
When I first started, I avoided my peers like the plague. Like you, I thought it would take away from my audience and traffic. Truth is: sharing really is caring!
#3 is one I’m still struggling with. I know who my 1 single person is, but every couple of weeks I worry that’s too focused and that I should reach out to others. So I write a post targeting someone else. Then I get a bunch of unsubscribers. Doh…
Man, I could go on and on about these mistakes. Just read Ashley’s comment and realized I’m also guilty of not sharing my voice. I can totally relate with him. We both share technical posts, and they are SO hard to put yourself into sometimes.
The struggle is real.
Anyway, thanks for being so transparent. Hopefully others will learn form you and not fall into the same pitfalls (at least not ad often).
Sharing everywhere. Because my one person is just starting out and so she could really benefit from this one ?
WOW, you know it’s serious business if you dream about it!! The struggle sure as hell IS real, and we don’t talk about that side of things enough. We all go through these things, so why do we push them down and avoid sharing them. It only perpetuates these issues which is LAME, when we could just tackle them dead on.
I always have this one second {ok maybe a couple} chicken shit moment when I go to publish posts like this…I start second guessing my overshares and worrying about the realism putting people off….then I realize that’s ALL my own insecurities. I’ve gotten so much love on this one it reaffirms that listening to my doubts is not going to get me anywhere.
I’m right there with ya sista, I could talk about these mistakes for daaaays, so THANK YOU for helping me spread this post in the name of saving others from all we’ve gone through! I’m right here cheering you on every step of the way, so don’t feed the fear and hide yourself anymore. I know it’s scary, but I promise the feedback you’ll get will supercharge you to step up your game a little bit more each time. No more 2nd guessing yourself…or I’m going to come over there and beat your badass! Nothing but MASSIVE love, Kristie!! <3
So beautifully said Dre!
There are a couple of points where I feel I have ticked the box, paid for the T-Shirt, yet still found myself caught with my pants down, thinking wwwwhhhaaaaattt!!
I’m loving the space I’ve moved into now, where (after making the mistakes in my prev biz’s) – I’m also coming from a more clear understanding of me, how I serve the world… And that clarity is key! Despite having collaborated with others, I’m looking forward to seeing how that’ll evolve going forward… Lately I’ve been thinking how I can collaborate more with people IN MY industry & profession… Instead of them feeling like they have to compete (ie designers collaborating with designers… Or Brander’s collaborating with Branders)… And I’d love for you to give some views / expand on your point above ?
I love hearing this post resonated for you, Emma, I’m hearing that a lot which makes me beyond stoked that I wrote and published post…it certainly gave me a mild case of the ass sweats before I tapped ‘publish’!
As far as partnering with people it starts by building a relationship with them and getting on their radar. Think of ways that you can celebrate and feature your fellow badasses and DO IT. You can create a post that features the 5 best _________ {with out knowing your niche I can’t fill in the topic}, you can ask peeps if you could feature them in a 5-10min interview spotlight, you could even create a weekly/monthly roundup post where you gather and post the 5 best _________{topic} articles from the past week/month. I did one for visual strategies for the first 6 months after I launched and it was an EPIC way to feature my peers and get lines of communication open with them.
Get creative, but more than that, get CONNECTING. True bonds will open the flood gates of collaboration like you can’t believe. If you want more ideas or feedback I’d highly suggest joining The Badass Solopreneur Society and letting the group help you! You can find the Society here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/solopreneursociety/
Thanks again for the love, girl! Sending tons of warm & fuzzies back your way!
This post is exactly what I needed right now. Thanks, Dre.
Don’t you LOVE when the universe sends you what you need when you need it? You GOT THIS, girl!! ; )
Hey Andrea,
This post speak volumes. Although I don’t have the strong personality like you but I can see that we are similar in many ways.
I’m considered a introvert, but yet I’ve gotten to the point where I care less about trying to impress people or even taking to heart someone’s unconstructive criticism. I figure in order for you to attract the right people the best thing you can do is just be you and incorporate it into your business.
With that said, everything else will fall into place. You will make mistakes which is a given for the most part and that’s why it’s important to develop the resiliency to keep moving forward as we learn from our mistakes.
Everything you mention here about your mistakes I strongly can relate to. From just posting my own content only to not engaging with others are quite common amongst us introverts. But if we all want to get anywhere we must get from besides ourselves and include others in our venture. We definitely can’t fo this alone!
Thanks for sharing this inspirational post. I hope you have a great upcoming weekend!
THANK YOU, Sherman, hearing how much this resonated with you truly warms my heart. It can be a long and winding road this solopreneur stuff, but sometimes a lot of that struggle is self imposed. As solos our struggle is a little bit different in the way that we don’t have a team or circle to bounce things off and get the support we need. Not having that can make for a much bumpier road, which is why I felt compelled to debunk some of the myths that people think. It’s been mind blowing to hear from so many of you that these are the same things you’ve struggled with. That speaks VOLUMES and makes me really want to open this topic up and get down to the real shit.
Thanks again, from the bottom of my wine filled heart, for sharing your feedback and struggles with me. Alone we are solopreneurs but together we’re un-freakin-stoppable. You GOT THIS, brotha, I’m right here cheering your badass on!
Thank you so much for this post. I really like how authentic you are when you write, as you said, informal shouldn’t be seen as unprofessional. I’m in the process of creating my own brand and I’ll be sure to keep your rocking advice in mind ? . I’m just a Graphic Design student from Venezuela with big dreams… I hope that with hard work and passion I can achieve them. Hi5 from Venezuela!
Thank YOU for the love, Yulina! Here’s to your solopreneur success, get it girl!! High five coming right back at ya… ; )
Hey Dre!
Long time since I have been around. Had some life things that got in the way, but past that and ready to rock! (my site used to be wpbrain, but changed it for many reasons).
You have 1 heck of a story! Your branding skills are incredible for someone that doesn’t have any training in it. You are an inspiration!
Hope you remember me!
Chris
Chris! Of course I remember you, great to have ya back in the bloggosphere! I want hear all about your rebrand, sounds like there’s an epic story there!
There’s nothing like real like experience, right? Inspiration? WOW, you sure know how to make a girl’s day – thanks-o-TON, brotha man!!
Ha ha, its true. I love reading about your story. I feel like I kind of had the same path only I took a shorter path. Only spent a few years in the corporate world.
I sent you an email with the “epic story”.
Catch you later,
Chris
I just need to send you an enormous THANK YOU! For so many things but especially this post, it was exactly what I needed to hear xx
Awww, I la la loooooove hearing that! You GOT THIS, girl…now it’s time to believe that and get er done! I’m right next to you rooting you on every step of the way! <3
Dre, i ?✨ it. Thank you sooo much for your inspiration. ? Catherina
Thank YOU for the love, lady!! <3
Hey Dre,
Thanks so much for sharing this – what a powerful story you have! I know everybody struggles at some point in their business, but it’s so refreshing when people actually open up and talk about! Way to make it through! <3
You bet, it’s time we get real and talk about the good, the bad, AND the ugly…I mean it’s all a part of our journey! Sharing is caring, right?! ; ) BIG ass high five for the love, girl!
Hey Dre,
Well I see some of what we talked about the other day. I know you can’t see me but I’m giving you a BIG old high five. Be your darn self people because you are frickin amazing. That’s my favorite.
Okay, where do I even begin.
I’m horrible at this but I am a lot like you. I’ve learned the hard way and the majority of my mistakes have been my best lessons. I am not good with the branding thing though as you can clearly tell when you visit my blog.
Sure, when people hear my name they think of my smiling face and that they see me everywhere. Okay, I’ll take that but I would love to be consistent with my images. I try but I don’t have a creative bone in this body girl! I kid you not… I look at what everyone else does, and you KNOW I watch what you do, and I’m amazed at how well you guys have it all together. I’m over here doing the happy dance if I can just find a decent image to start with. LOL!!!
But seriously, I am working on a new theme and I’m still working on the color scheme which is probably throwing me off more than anything. Royal blue is my absolute favorite color but I think it’s too dark for some places on your blog so I’m still trying to figure that out.
I’ve gone through my own lessons lately about talking to a specific audience and I have to say that it’s really just exploded my business. The difference that alone makes is huge.
People are always trying to convince me to join yet another social media platform but I’m like you. I’ve found the ones that are benefited me the most and I’ve stuck with them. I’ve perfected it and it works for me. Until I have to go to another one I’m just not.
I’m glad you’re venturing out more and open to those relationships now. They’re just darn fun girl, aren’t they!
Okay, this will end up being yet another mini post so I’ll wrap this baby up. Great share and I for one appreciate you sharing your mistakes with us because we’re all still a work in progress and as you know I still have a long way to go. ?
Have a great day and a super duper rest of your week. Still sending good vibes your Mom’s way!
~Adrienne
Your mini posts are the BEST, lady!! Thanks for the love on my share, I’m just so sick of this mentality that we should hide our mistakes. Like you said, that’s the shit we truly learn from. I haven’t learn nearly as much from the great things that have happened. Some of those memories are already gone, but the struggle? Oh that shit is ingrained in my memory and soul!
You KNOW I am here to help your design challenged badass! For the royal blue you should make that your action color – that would just be your links, buttons, CTA’s and so on. That way it’s not a dominate color but your POP of color. And for the images you need a template. Let me create one for you for the blog and see if that makes things easier {she says KNOWING it will}. Stop that photo hustle, it’s mind numbing and a waste of time. Let’s get some guidelines set so you can reduce the time it takes you to create your images. Anything more than 10 mins is too long in my book.
Like I told you the other day when we chatted, you lady are FAN-F’ing-TASTIC! Just seeing you smiling face makes me beam….can we bottle that shit up by any chance?? ; )
P.S. Does mama have her cable back or do I need to come over there and kick some ass?!
Hey Dre,
Oh good, as you know at times I just can’t help myself. This girl has SO much to say and so for the long comments. LOL!!!
Yep, we all make mistakes so just own up to them and let others know you’re human. My goodness, they LOVE hearing we’re not perfect and far from it. I admire people who can let it all out because I think those are the ones who are the most approachable and of course will end up with some great support.
I’ve downloaded your books and I intend to study them. Yeah, this is my weak spot which is why I love what you share. I so appreciate your offer, I definitely do NOT want to take advantage of your time. I know how busy you are, I just need to learn to get this together and maybe some of your knowledge will rub off on me.
Thank you Dre, that means a lot and I promise to be more of a fixture around here, you’ve definitely found a new friend. ? Watch out girl!
Have the best day and weekend ever okay!
~Adrienne
P.S. They showed up at 8:30 the following morning and the as*holes had unplugged her cable. Really!!! Jerks… This girl got it up PLUS she got a credit on her account. They wanted to give her some free channels but I said to hell with that. Give her the mula baby.
You are SO fiercely badass I’m in awe! I’m here for ya ANY TIME you need me…so a stranger I will not let you be!
Have a KICKASS weekend too, and thank god momma has cable and some extra cha CHANGE. ; )
Dre,
I thought that you reached out and were speaking directly to me in this post. I can pretty much relate to No’s 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10. I like how you accessed yourself, identified the issue, and then shared your solutions. I love the 4 ‘Badass Brand Tips.’ I think a foundation of purpose is key more than anything. This post reminded me of a Les Brown quote, “If you can look up you can get up.”
Thanks for making me think and realize I am not alone.
– Bob
Foundation is everything, but so is belief in ourselves! You are NOT alone and I’m so glad this post drove that point home. It’s time that we pull the curtains back and get real with each other. Just think how unstoppable we can all be if we lean and uplift each other by keepin it real. Let’s DO THIS, brotha! Thanks as always for your love and support – I wouldn’t be where I am without it. Tons of love coming at ya, Bob…
This is written so well and so helpful! There is so much unhelpful noise out on the net that I often don’t even finish reading blog posts and articles. But this? It’s so good that I read every single word down to the very bottom. Thank you for being YOU unapologetically and with honesty! I admire you because of it and because of all the awesome stuff you share!
I too was in the corporate world and went from that to being a stay-at-home mom and now a homeschooling mom trying to build a business. It’s been a huge adjustment and very frustrating at times trying to figure it all out and get past the insecurities. I love so much of what you share.
Truly awesome! Thank you for all you do. ?
Wow, give me a sec to bask in those AMAZING compliments! Getting to this open and honest spot has taken so much time and struggle so to hear that sharing it has helped you in even the smallest way gives me a sense of pride that makes everything so worth it. It makes me feel like there was a big picture reason why I’ve gone through what I have. Maybe I had to in order to make the difference in others lives the way I’ve always craved. Ok, now I might be rambling!
Bottom line, do NOT let the overwhelm crush you. Don’t ignore it, listen to it and rationalize it. Forgive yourself, celebrate yourself, and above all else believe in yourself. Big changes like you’re going through come with big struggles. Those struggles are where your greatest growth will happen. Think about all the ones you’ve gotten through up until this point. You’ve got this, just take it one step at a time! Sending you a MONUMENTAL high five for all the love, you’re truly awesome yourself! ; )
Really, really awesome read. A whole lot spoke to me, and I’m going to read again and again until the sticking points sink in.
I would also say that the solopreneur journey of being comfortable in your own skin is far from limited to solopreneurs. That’s a life skill, one that can take decades to develop.
Progress not perfection is the term I hear all the time. It’s true, just sometimes hard to live.
High five for the love, sweets! That’s so true, believing in yourself is crucial across the board. I know that first hand as I’m one of the ones it took OVER a decade to develop that. BUT, for us solopreneurs, where our business and life intersect so intensely, it can creep in and destroy any chance you have at brand success. It’s more important than I think we like to think and it’s not obvious until it’s undeniable. You and I know how dark that place can be. It’s soooo important to me to create real dialogue about this so we don’t have to feel alone!
Here’s to basking in our awesomeness and getting shit done! You’re the best lady…and thanks for not calling out alllll the grammatical issues in this one. I didn’t have a chance to send it to my trusty proofreader before I published it. ; )
Dre, this post is just fantastic. I’m in the middle of trying to build a brand (and have been for months) and feel like failure is just around the corner. You’ve managed to pinpoint some of the mistakes I’ve been making over and over again even though I know better!
But this is my biggest challenge:
“not letting the constant stream of aholes or fails get you down”
I’d love to hear more about HOW to do that!
J
I know that feeling all too well! I will definitely write more on standing tall in the face of doubt, that’s a really hard place to be but it’s worth the struggle to get there. It ALL starts with a fierce belief in yourself. Not a belief that you won’t screw up or fail, a belief that you WILL recover from it. A belief that nothing and no one can tear you down. It’s hard to believe in yourself sometimes, so when those times come let your love ones be the force that drives you. Put your faith in yourself in THEIR faith in you. Let that push you over the struggle. With each hurdle you navigate and survive your faith will grow. Eventually it WILL get you to a place where you very honestly believe in yourself. I promise it’s possible, I’m proof. I honest to god HATED myself for over a decade…and no bullshit I am CERTAIN I’m a badass broad these days.
Please let me and the rest of your fellow badasses know when you’re down. We can be that source that believes in you when you can’t. There’s no way you can make it if you don’t let others help.
THANK YOU for your kind words and for taking a sec to share this with me. You sweetie ROCK in ways you may not know yet, but trust me…you DO!! <3
Bravo, Dre! This is timely for me as I have been way down in the dumps with all things business. ? Thanks for the message of encouragement!!
Been there, done that, regularly…so I know what you mean. Don’t let the valley keep you down – let me and your other homies help. Sometimes just venting it out is the most therapeutic thing to do. I’m hear if you need to talk, girl! You GOT THIS!! <3
Hi Dre,
What a great account of the things to NOT do. It’s great hear branding advice from this perspective.
I’m currently procrastinating about setting up my site(s) because I don’t know enough about design, other people are more qualified than me, it won’t be perfect etc etc…
This has given me the kick up the butt I need to just get on with it.
It won’t be perfect initially…but I’ll enjoy the process.
Thanks x
Exactly! Perfect will NEVER come and no matter how much you like something at one moment there will be a moment that you no longer do…then the cycle repeats. It’s so maddening. Ignore that nagging and doubty inner critic and give yourself permission to be you. You GOT THIS, and I’m here to support you every step of the way!.. <3 BIG ass high five for the love, girl – now it’s time for beast mode.
Andrea, are you speaking to me?
There are so many great takeaways in this post. I need to re-read it.
And I still feel that I can learn a lot. Like using my own voice. Not been able to do that yet, need to practice.
But it’s all a lesson right? and behind every successful blogger (or whatever) is a lot of heartache and struggle. And you are just showing us yours, but we all have it. Although many pretend that they came out of the womb a rockstar!
Love it
Right?! It kills me when people feel the need to disassociate with their struggles. I mean, I get it, I did it to for a long time, but it did nothing for me but add insult to injury. There’s something super empowering for me when I throw this stuff out there. It’s time to talk about these things and let each other off the hook for our fails. They REALLY are the best learning tools we have.
Thanks-o-TON for the love, brotha man – now get to honing that voice…you’re too damn funny and witty to be diluting it! Nothing but love for ya, Ashley! ; )