The easiest thing would be to take your heart out of . . . your brand, your business.

You can operate more like a company. She’ll take you more seriously. It’s not personal just business, right?

How can she do business with you if you’re not there. {Yes, your likeness or the online version of you shows up, but not really you.}

This makes it more difficult to serve her when you’re heart isn’t present. And she quickly doesn’t feel connected to you or loved for her purchase because there is no mechanism to do so.

Then because your heart is missing, you’re only offering a transaction and she can find that anywhere.

When you take your heart out of what you do and protect yourself, then your brain is the boss with no emotional balance. And it’s much easier to quit because of disappointing sales or the lack of comments.

If you want to move on in a month from your true passion, then I recommend keeping your heart out of it.

But if you truly desire to serve her in only the way you can, for the long term, then invest more of you in your business.

How do you take everything in your heart, your mind’s eye, the core of your business and express it visually?

This can be one of your toughest moments. {Even if you take a break by walking the aisles in Target.}

Overwhelming at times. Difficult to fine tune and express in words to a designer what you know to be true for your online presence. Wanting a book cover that’s the perfect wrapping for the intent of your 25,000 words.

The visual representation of your brand is just as important as your message, at moments validating your product to be worthwhile and meaningful.  The visual shows those you serve you understand them and designed your place, your product just for them.

Your visual brand can be easy when you know your brand promise, the space you possess in the consumers mind and heart and the need that you serve.

This isn’t about trendy colors or imitating another’s success. It’s about cohesion.

Your brand identity begins to set up expectations – both visually and emotionally for your current and future consumer. It’s the packaging that is just a taste of what they’ll experience in the gift they open in you.

Your visual brand is about completing your message visually. If the message and the visual expression don’t match up, then your idea is likely to be rejected.

Set up accurate visual expectations that perfectly expresses your brand promise and you won’t have to keep trying to explain who you are. And you’ll have energy to spare for creative endeavors that are a perfect fit for the people you serve.

{Need a fun tool to help you process your visual brand? Use the Pin-terpretation ebook. It could bring the insights you’re needing.}

They’re talking about you.

I’m referring to your Pinterest boards. {Who did you think?!}

Do you know what they’re saying?

You’re probably like me and have spent hours {without realizing it} pinning inspiring images of gooey recipes,  envisioning your next party and designing your back yard haven. Pinterest feeds our need for the visually appealing and exemplifies the evident cultural shift to visual importance.

As I began another entrepreneurial adventure, Squee! Inc., my business partner Holley and I became aware of patterns on individual’s Pinterest boards. We began to use Pinterest in creative ways to help women with their personal and company brands. 

From our experiences, we wrote a little e-book called Pin-terpretation. It provides you with 16 fun ways to find out what your Pinterest boards say about you. It’s kind of like a Cosmo quiz with a Pinterest purpose. 

How do you get your FREE copy? Just subscribe to Squee! and we’ll send you one.

And of course we couldn’t help but include a few of our favorite Pinners as examples. {You’ll want to follow their inspiration on Pinterest.}

• Lisa Leonard
• Sherri Ohler
• Nester
• Erin Ulrich
• Amy Clark
• Ree Drummond
• Traci French
• Bridget Edwards
• Amber Haines
• Heather Steck
• Tsh Oxenreider
• Tiny Twig
• Alli Worthington
• Casey Wiegand

Happy pinning!

{Also available on Amazon Kindle for $.99.}

I did something crazy. I signed up for my first {mini} triathalon.

Yes, I’ve had the kool aid at my house for awhile, but just took my first gulp.

My husband has been offering me sips of the red stuff for almost three years. He swims, bikes and runs like a monster is chasing him. But I’m no longer on the sidelines cheering. I’m taking the plunge.

Seriously.

I’m headed to the pool tomorrow. Not to read InStyle, but to swim laps with goggles and a swim cap {that may not fit over my big head and birds nest curls.}

And where did I go the moment after I hit the register button? I hopped on YouTube and searched for swim instruction videos. I wish I could have reached through the screen and hugged the man standing in a pool showing me how to swim freestyle, teaching me how to kick properly and cup my hands.

Then, because I can’t seem to turn off my ‘marketing brain,‘ I wondered where I would be, where we would all be, without those vlog tutorials of how to crochet, draw on the perfect cat eye or how in the world to get iCloud to work.

Someone {this is where you need to pay attention} decided they knew something that might help you. They took the time to record their wisdom and passion and uploaded it to YouTube.

It’s crazy simple.

I need your video on YouTube {or Vimeo or whatever you video sharing site you prefer.}

And if I can put on a bathing suit in front of total strangers and bike in shorts that have padding sown in like a diaper and run like a girl, then you can share your ‘thing’ via a vlog.

What will your vlog be about? {Already have one? Share the link below. I’d love to learn from you.}

You may think ‘brand’ is a dirty word. {I wouldn’t be surprised.}

We’ve all been disappointed by a brand’s promise that didn’t deliver. We’ve felt cheated or used.

Big business didn’t care about us. The ‘make a buck’ mentality was so prevalent that you walked away discouraged.

“Take a number, because that’s what we think you are.” Customer service was no where to be seen, much less a relationship.

The brand turned into a machine. A machine that uses and then spits out its employees and customers. There’s no heart, just a pitch, a slogan, a feel good campaign to hook you in.

And ‘the same.’ The rush of ‘the same’ that tilts the teeter totter when ‘new’ becomes successful. It’s everywhere.

“In category after category, companies have gotten so locked into a particular cadence of competition that they appear to have lost sight of their mandate – which is to create meaningful grooves of separation from one another. Consequently, the harder they compete, the less differentiated they become.” – Harvard Business School professor, Youngme Moon, in her remarkable book Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd, {from an article by Walter Akana}

Thankfully you live in a new dawn. A time for having a real relationship with your consumer and reclaiming the ‘brand.’

Your brand doesn’t have to feel ‘corporate.’ And it never means you have lost your creativity or sold out.

Is that why you’ve shy-ed away from your brand? Because you think it will change you? Because you have to become something you’re not.

Your brand exists whether you embrace it or not.

It’s time for you to rethink ‘brand.’ Do what you’ve been talking about. Be different. Show us how to live your way. Make the corporate type notice the revolution that is taking place. Sign the mandate.

How will you embrace your brand?

Andrew Hyde from the Travel Chronicles gives the low down on Amazon and what you’ll really make on your e-book. {And how PDF’s aren’t so terrible.} Amazon’s Markup of Digital Delivery to Indie Authors is 129,000%! This is a wonderful post for anyone working on a e-book. He tells step by step of his experience and thought process. Good stuff to consider.

Share and sell the stuff you make {art, e-books, music, anything} directly to your followers. Gumroad is amazing. I’m excited to try it! With 5% + $.25 for each transaction, it’s a steal compared to the alternatives. They take all major credit cards and you don’t have to have an online store. Perfect for testing a new product with your Twitter followers.

20 ways to increase your Facebook Likes and Engagement from Jeff Bulla. I need to do a few of these myself.

How to Break Out of a Creative Rut from CopyBlogger. I love that intelligence and creativity are not related. {This girl’s relieved.} And a cute infographic is always a nice touch. {I’ve got a little video on How to Get Un-Stuck that might help, too.}

Like this infographic? Get more content marketing tips from Copyblogger.

There’s a difference between personal branding and building a platform. They’re related, maybe even siblings, but one is born before the other.

Think of personal branding as embracing the name you’ve been given and the abilities that you’re known for. {Most people hesitate to have a personal brand because they believe it gets in the way of being humble, serving their customers. It’s not evil, but can be revealing.}

Building a platform is focused on becoming bigger, more well known, drawing larger crowds to your work, increasing your sales.

There are dangers with both that are easily ignored and can be solved with a motivation check.

“Why do I want to embrace my name and who I am? For fame or to serve? So I can be rich and well-known, or so more life change can occur? — Even if the life change is only in me?”

If you do personal branding correctly, the platform will come easily. Being ‘big’ or well known isn’t the focus. And because it isn’t, your customers find your outlook refreshing and will engage with you, with more depth.

It’s ironic, really. If your goal is to serve, do your art amazingly well, and embrace the ‘you’ you were designed to be, then you start to live your personal brand. Your business is refreshing and clear to your consumer and they will start to build your platform for you. You don’t have to even ask. All you have to do is be yourself, refine your skills, and embrace your name.

A brand is just a promise that you’ll be the same wherever people find you. A personal commitment that you’re making to God and those you serve. It’s not about self promotion, but about being trustworthy.

Can you be an obedient failure?

What if you’ve done everything you should and nothing turns out like you thought it would? You don’t even feel or think the way you thought you would after all the hard work.

You start to wonder if you’ve failed. {You sure feel like a failure. Discouraged, disheartened, tired.}

Can those two words be planted next to each other – obedient & failure? Is that even possible as one of God’s daughters?

{I’m over at (in)courage today talking about failure and what success really is. I hope you’ll be encouraged in your business journey and join this conversation. Would love to hear your thoughts.}

The chatter of platforms and personal branding surrounds us all.

You might be trying to decide if you’re going to partake in personal branding for your blog, your business, or your art. {But is that something that you can really decide?}

You might be wondering how you can keep your focus and your passion where it needs to be and share yourself with others in the process. {What if this whole thing becomes about you?}

You might be frustrated by the entire personal branding conversation. . . when all you really want to do is write, create, and dream about your next adventure. {Why can’t someone else take care of your brand?}

In 2009, Tom Peters was talking about having a Personal Brand and what it really means. His words ring true today. {And here are 7 Things a Personal Brand Is Not. Such a wonderful list to think through!}

A personal brand is your promise to the marketplace and the world. Since everyone makes a promise to the world, one does not have a choice of having or not having a personal brand. Everyone has one. The real question is whether someone’s personal brand is powerful enough to be meaningful to the person and the marketplace.

The idea that your Personal Brand is a choice is almost humorous. It’s not a concept just for bloggers or authors.  Either you can accept it and take care of it, maintain its health and correctness or not.

Remember, a personal brand is just a promise that you’ll be the same wherever she finds you. A personal commitment that you’re making to her. It’s not about self promotion, but about being trustworthy.

I glance down, catching a glimpse of the coral sheen peeking out from beneath my jeans.

My shoes tell a story, of a sweet day of His glory, of shoulders coming down tight from my ears, chest full of renewing air. A moment that I was destined for.

I chose on this special day to not quickly move to checkmark the next line on my list. The list that makes me feel worthy and needed.

Why do we work diligently, pray with sweat and then rush through the praise? Hurriedly tell a brief version of what really happened? 

I’m calling you to celebrate.