Branding With Briana!

Branding With Briana!

Briana R. Founder & CEO Hello Briana Consulting

MANY OF US DREAM OF BUILDING NOTABLE BRANDS THAT CHANGE LIVES.

We put in hours of research, endless workdays that pour into our personal lives, and even sacrifice our well-being simply to chase something bigger than ourselves. The reason behind everything is well worth it, but I learned firsthand how many of us go about building our businesses unhealthily. When I had my first five-figure month, I realized I didn’t want to continue working the way I was.

The business was great, but I didn’t have time for my personal life the way I wanted. One of the main reasons I started my business was to spend more time with my family, but here I could not spend as much quality time as I wanted.

Branding WithBriana

Branding WithBriana

Because of the pandemic, I realized I wanted to be more present. More specifically, because of a hobby the girls and I picked up. We decided to start buying plants, and we embarked on a journey that changed my life forever. Watching the plants grow and change every day made me realize that we are growing and changing every day, although we may not see it. I realized I wasn’t acknowledging how far I had actually come.

I didn’t take enough time to stop and smell the roses.I first had to extend myself grace. After all, I’ve been through a lot and am learning everything as I go. I didn’t grow up in a family of entrepreneurs and business owners, so I figured things out as I went.

However, I knew at that time I wanted something different. . . something more.

Yes, I wanted to continue to have fivefigure months, but not at the expense of being present with my family and spending time with myself. This was always the goal, but along the way, somewhere, I got caught up in the hustle and bustle of business and lost track of that.

Over the next year and a half, I spent a lot of time and money restructuring my business, spending more time with myself and my family, and growing closer to God. It was hard, frustrating, and overwhelming, but looking back, I realize that it is because I was forced to expand my thinking and really get clear on what I wanted.

I want you to know that you are capable of building a business that feels good to you or restructuring your business, so you have more time for your personal life.

One of the first things I had to do was revamp my services and increase my pricing. For years I charged too low for my consulting and design services. My clients would even tell me that my work was worth way more than I charged, but I struggled with actually making the transition.

When I sat down and thought about my business expenses, goals, personal expenses, the results my clients get, and my client experience, I realized I was doing myself a disservice. In fact, the people who would actually pay more for my services were overlooking me because I wasn’t charging enough.

I had to get real with myself about why I didn’t want to increase my pricing, face that fear, and just go for it. It took time to test things out and figure out what direction I wanted to go, but I quickly realized that I had nothing to be afraid of.

The beautiful thing is, you can go at your pace. Fortunately, there’s no rule book saying how you HAVE to do things; you can write your own!

People will pay for what they see value in, and if someone doesn’t see the value in your services, they aren’t your ideal client.

For example, I had a goal to create a fivefigure service for female service providers, helping them restructure their businesses over six months, and this would give them the freedom to do what they want and spend more time making memories. The women I work with are so passionate about what they do, and they love working with their clients, but they often overwork themselves without even realizing it at first. Before they know it, their client calendar is full, they’re overwhelmed with keeping up, and while they love the money they make, they don’t love all of the time that goes into it.

So, I had this idea, but I was terrified of charging five-figures for one service. I considered where my pricing was and started increasing my pricing little by little for every few clients I worked with. Of course, I made sure my clients were getting results, my client experience was on point, and I made sure I felt good about the price increase. This was a dream come true, but it didn’t come without a lot of trial and error. When I first started offering coaching and consulting services, I only charged $350 for three months back in 2018. Now, I didn’t mean for it to be that cheap, but because I was waiting on clients to book sessions, lacked boundaries, and didn’t have a solid program structure, things took way longer than they had to.

I say all of this to say; you are capable of building a sustainable business you don’t WANT a break from. After five years in business, I’m finally finding my groove and feeling really confident about things.

Don’t allow this online world to cause you to have unrealistic expectations of yourself. Everyone has their own timeline, and regardless of how many people you see having five-figure months and six or sevenfigure years, we all started somewhere, and most of us have been in the industry more than just a few years.

Growth isn’t consistent, and it’s not at the same pace for everyone. Get clear on the lifestyle you want to live and structure your business around that. Be sure that your prices align and that you have the support you need to see your goals through, whether that is through hiring help or investing in 1:1 support.

Here are a few things you can do to set your brand up for success STARTING NOW:

Get clear on your Brand Values. When I think of Brand Values, four key areas instantly come to mind, Brand Purpose, Brand Vision, Brand Mission, and Brand Promise. Your Brand Purpose is the why behind your business. Why did you start your business? Why are you so passionate about what you do? Your Brand Vision relates to what you want to accomplish with your business, and where you see your brand going in years to come. Don’t be afraid to dream! Your Brand Mission is the how. How will you get to your Brand Vision? How will you impact lives? Your Brand Promise is your guarantee to your customers and clients, what type of experience can you promise? These four areas help build a solid foundation for your brand and give you direction on how to grow.

Instead of stressing so much about content creation, spend more time documenting. Whether it’s behind the scenes of a client call, you packing an order, or you working on a project. Allow your audience to see what goes in running your business. This makes them even more excited to do business with you! Documenting also helps you get systems and strategies in place, so your business can be more consistent. Create content in places like Google Drive or Airtable, so you always have access to it. You can also keep up with your best performing content. Also, be sure to use platforms like Loom for screen recording. This platform has been a lifesaver with helping my clients implement the strategies I teach, and showing team members how to do things.

Work on your mindset sooner than later. One thing I’ve learned is that you can have all of the strategies in the world, but if you don’t believe you’re capable of getting to where you want to be, it will be hard to get there. Working on your mindset is much more than believing you can do something; and it’s about understanding yourself at the core, and equipping yourself with the tools you need to combat some of the mental battles we experience daily. This isn’t to say that you’ll never experience imposter syndrome or have days when you want to give up, but with a strong mindset, you can bounce back quicker than ever.

Building a brand takes time, much longer than what many people make it seem. Your journey will also look different from most; however, that doesn’t make it any less valuable. Remember, you are capable. Think about what you would like to say when you look back on today a year from now, and go for it.

Stop being afraid to promote your business and market your products and services. Yes, it may feel repetitive, but it takes time for your audience to warm up to your brand and be ready to buy. It can take someone hearing about the same products and services 7 to 21 times before they’re ready to make a buying decision. Your consistency matters! Get creative with talking about your products and services. Talk about what makes them different from others, why you created them, and how game-changing they are. It’s definitely a bonus when you can share video testimonials.

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