Module 1: Finding your place

Like building a house, our first decisions will be where we want to build it — and this means we have to answer these questions for ourselves:

• what we want our surroundings to be (our offices or lack thereof)
• our lifestyles (how much money we expect for the effort we’re willing to put in)
• who we want as our neighbors (our customers or target audience)

We need to understand the importance of defining these decisions before we start designing the home… much less break ground.

Whether you’re embarking on a new, entrepreneurial career right now, or simply overhauling the company that you started some years ago, these questions and answers at this stage will define our companies’ brands and their effectiveness to connect our prospects to us, as we’re intrinsically linked to our brands – for better or worse.

To make this analogy more clear – when we embarked on our new career path, there was a reason it excited us… an angle or passion. But, sometimes some of us find ourselves well down our paths and begin questioning our passion (I’VE BEEN THERE) at which point, we need to revisit this area and discern if:

• We simply lost our way – lost track of WHY we chose this job – and need to correct course (or at least better define it).
• Or, we’ve never been following our true passions at all, but have been guided by our limited beliefs (and I think most of us are effected by this to some degree).

In this Module, we’ll explore and define what we most want from our new brand… our re-brand. With these results we’ll be able to define:

• Our target audience and Unique Customer Avatars
• The niche that we’d like to laser focus on, so we get more of the customers that we want
• our Mission Statement that keeps us, and our staff, focused on what matters most
• our Signature Services and our Unique Value Propositions that differentiate them

Module 2: Establishing the structure

Now we’re sure of what our new home means to us — within our means and value systems — so now we begin to build it!

We all know the importance of a strong foundation and sturdy frame. The same is said for our company as we break ground to build our Best Brand! I’m going to lay out a couple of VERY IMPORTANT pieces of advice before we get started:

• Don’t get distracted by the shiny objects (design… remember, this is coming from a lifelong brand designer)
• Don’t let technology sidetrack you indefinitely
• Know when to back away to regain perspective

There are a lot of creative decisions that we’ll be making on this journey and you can second guess them for the rest of eternity if you go down that rabbit hole. Likewise, I give a lot of suggestions of new free software that is supposed to make your life easier, but it can sometimes e overwhelming. So, I will make suggestions along the way of how you may want to outsource your logo or website (inexpensively) in order to get you back on track, because we need you making money — not spending all your time and brain power learning how to be a professional production artist.

In this module, I’ll walk you through the How To’s and How NOT To’s of coming up with your:

• logo and slogan
• business card design
• website structure