Taking ownership of your brand – what do I mean by this?
As business owners, I know how wrapped up in things we can get and how easily distracted we can become as well. When there is so much to get done, along with being a Mum, a partner, sister, daughter and everything else in between (a cook, cleaner, ironer, clothes washer-upper, dish washer)… the list is endless.
This is why taking ownership of your brand is so important… and by brand I mean your business and life, because the both are definitely intertwined – even more so if you work from home and you’re a personal brand. This does also apply to you if you have a business brand, because you still have ownership over your business and the goals for your business, which has a direct impact on your life.
When did you last check in with your vision for the future?
The vision you have for your future, influences your actions and decisions now. It also influences the look and feel for your brand too. I know I keep saying this, but it’s all about creating alignment.
Business + Life = Brand
With your vision in mind, here’s some things to think about:
– Who do you want to be working with, specifically?
– How well known a brand do you want to have?
– What are you passionate about?
– Where do you see yourself in a years time?
Is your brand reflective of this, now?
This is such a powerful question and a lot of the time, if asked, a business owner will say they’re not sure if their brand is 100% reflective of them and their business. This is where taking some time out to really look at everything helps massively. The advice I give about the evolution of a brand will help with this – checking in with your brand values, who your ideal client is (as they can change over time) and your core message.
There are SO many more questions I could ask you right now too, but I don’t want to overwhelm you with all things branding. Your brand is constantly evolving, so as much as I’m talking here about taking ownership of your brand in regards to taking action and taking control of your current situation, I’m also talking in regards to being in control of the evolution of your brand as well. Branding is about going on a journey, and tweaking and refining things as you go along so your brand is in alignment with your goals.
Having a brand strategy in place can help with this. If you don’t have one in place for your business, you can create one here.
So, what can you do today, to take action towards making your vision a reality? And this is where the ‘taking ownership of your brand’ comes in.
For example, if you want to be working with specific ideal clients in the future, what’s stopping you from working with them now? What action can you take to move you one step further to making this happen, today? It doesn’t have to be big or time consuming.
Making consistent small actions even on a daily basis, can add up to big, significant change for the better.
What if you’re unclear about your vision for the future…
Then it’s time to get clear on it. This is where you can have some fun and be creative with it too.
A few things you could do to get clear on your vision:
- Create a secret Pinterest board.
- Create a paper based vision board.
- Journal on it. There’s some great journaling prompts on Pinterest.
- Meditate – open yourself up to your future vision.
- Visualisation – one of my favourite tools because your mind is a powerful beast. This is a really good method, especially if you are a very visual person like I am. Think about some of the questions above, find a quiet corner in your house, take some deep breaths and let your imagination run wild!
And then it’s all about taking action.
So tell me – are you going to start taking ownership of your brand? And what action are you going to take today?
