4 Business Lessons Learned When Starting My Online Business

4 Business Lessons Learned When Starting My Online Business

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

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I started my business in 2016 after the birth of my son.

At the time, I had no idea what I was doing. I spent eight months building a website and brand only to find out that a) no one cared and b) I had no clients to show for it.

I made a lot of mistakes in that first year of business, but ultimately those mistakes and lessons learned led me to 6-figures cash in one year from signing my first client.

It’s these lessons that I’ve found to be the most beneficial to my clients and recently I compiled them into a free ebook where I share 15 Lessons to Propel Your Business forward.

This is a limited-time gift available at brandmerry.com/lessons, but today I want to share with you four of my favorites.

BUSINESS LESSON #1
DON’T CREATE JUST TO CREATE

Don't create content just to post content. Always have a purpose. 

Now, a little backstory on this. When I first started my business and what I was ultimately exposed to in terms of programs and coaches within my first year, year and a half of my business, I was told to just show up. 

Now while showing up is relevant, the reality is there is an art to showing up and getting visible. 

But when I was starting my business, and I still see it happening today, is that entrepreneurs are just posting anything just so they have something to share. 

And that's how we start to get really burnt out with content creation. We start to wonder why is this not working? Why is no one responding? The reality is that there's no purpose behind what you're doing. You're just posting to post. You're just creating content to create content. 

It might not even have a direct connection to your brand or the product and services that you're selling. 

I see a lot of entrepreneurs who come to work with me that have been showing up consistently, that have been creating content, but no one is taking advantage of their offers because they’re not effectivaly reverse engineering their content to led to the sale.

You need money to begin to build a sustainable business. So when you're just starting out, one of the things I recommend is having a core offer, one thing that you're really focused on. If you're showing up and you're creating content and you're never creating content that ties to that core offer, it's going to be hard for your audience to make the connection. 

You also might start building an audience of the wrong ideal customer. If you're just talking about random things, then you're not bringing in the ideal customer that you want to attract for your program. 

This is something that I went through my first year in business when I loved talking about productivity. I loved talking about systems, all those different things. And that's a core staple of my business today but it wasn't back then.

So I would talk about productivity, and I would bring in people who weren't necessarily ready to start a business or I'd bring in people who weren't interested in branding. 

So my numbers were incredibly off.

It’s important to understand the end result so you can reverse engineer your content.

Do it for everything in your business. What's the end result? What do you want people to do? Buy X program. Reverse engineer, how do you get them to that spot? 

If you’re not yet at a place where you have your core offer mapped out, another thing you can do is create brand containers. This is something I shared in Episode 14 of the podcast.

BUSINESS LESSON #2
STOP WASTING TIME

It’s incredibly important that you get ahold of your time.

Honestly, this is why I created my annual program Roadmap to Freedom.  In my first year of business, I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing and in what order. And then when I figured it out and I started making consistent money, I was like, I'm just going to give people the roadmap I wish I would have had. 

That's how Roadmap to Freedom was born and it still serves the same purpose today. 

One of the best things that is going to serve you at the highest level as you continue to scale your business, is being very selective with your time and your energy. 

Where is your time going? 
How much time are you giving each particular project?

When I first started my business I spent almost a year branding myself. That is ridiculous. It is not necessary. And the reason that I took that much time is that I didn't have a clear understanding of branding or a plan of action for building my brand. I was just flailing around trying to piece it all together. 

Then the other piece of it is that I didn't give myself a deadline. I didn't say, "All right, I want to have my brand up and running in two months. I want to have my website at a place where I can put it out in the world in this amount of time." So what happened was I wasted my time.

When you can start practicing putting these boundaries in place with your time, it's going to support you as you grow your business.

One of my clients came to me the other day with a concern about her weekly workflow. She was doing the work but felt like it was taking so much time.

We sat down and started talking about it and I said, "Do you set a timer for your blog post? If not, I want you to do that. And I want you to focus your energy and your efforts on getting as much writing done in the time frame.

“Rather than writing a paragraph and editing it, then moving on to another paragraph and editing that set an alarm for an hour and a half and write. Then when you’re done, set it for another 30 and go clean it up. I bet you carve your time in half.”

And she did! In fact, with the strategies, we implemented she was able to plan two weeks of content in less time.

Sometimes it’s about thinking more strategically about how we’re doing things in your business. 

Your time is precious. The more time you can create with systems and workflows, and the more that you get in the habit of implementing them, especially early on, the better it's going to serve you as your tasks, requirements, client load, and customer load increase as you grow your business. 

As you grow your business you’ll have an opportunity to hire team members to help you with the load, but in building a sustainable business, one that just doesn’t do more to do more, why not get in the habit now of being selective and purposeful with the time that you have available?

Protect your time. 

When you're building a sustainable business, you don't want or need to be working every second of every day. You're going to burn out. 

It’s important to be selective with your time and smart about how you're utilizing that time. Focusing on the things that are going to move your business forward. 

If you don't know what those things are, invest in something that's going to give you the step-by-step. That's why I created Roadmap to Freedom. Whether that's the program for you or not, find what will work for you to lay out that process so that you can get to work and not just be flailing around the internet and keeping yourself busy. 

BUSINESS LESSON #3:
DON’T BUILD YOUR BUSINESS ALONE

When I was first starting my business free Facebook groups were the end all be all. Everyone had a free Facebook group. Some people had multiple free Facebook groups. You were in them every damn day. It was just exhausting. 

And honestly, I had my own and I loved showing up for my community but as someone who was growing their business, in other groups, I hated using them. I didn't even feel like I wanted to show up and ask questions. I never really felt like I wanted to show up and build a connection because it always kind of felt like a pitchfest.

When I was first looking at educational content and programs to purchase, I looked at the community aspect because in my mind I knew I needed a place where I could get education and mentorship, but I also needed a place where I could come and ask questions of my peers without feeling like I'm being pitched to regularly. 

For me paying for this element, in addition to the education insured that I was with the right group of peers. 

Now, I’m not suggesting that you have to go out and pay for a community, but if you’re investing in the education of your business (something I highly recommend) why not find a community to support you.

I looked for those opportunities inside of group programs and small masterminds. As my business got bigger and I needed less handholding, I would invest in more of a membership type of situation. 

The reality is your best friend from grade school probably doesn't understand what the hell you're setting out to do. Your partner probably doesn't fully understand what you're setting out to do, even if they support you. I am blessed with an amazing husband. He's always willing to listen, even though he had zero idea what I was talking about those first few years. 

This is why it's important to have that place, that community. 

And I'll be honest, sometimes you gotta pay for it. I prefer to pay for it, and that’s part of the lesson that I learned.

Most of those paid groups don't have a pitchfest opportunity where you're constantly feeling you're being pitched to by somebody who has no idea what you're doing. And for me, it's always been worth that investment because I know I've got a central place where I can go ask questions. 

I know I've got a central place where I can go and get some support.

I know I have a place where people will celebrate with me and know what the hell I'm talking about when I say, "My Facebook ads are converting at $1.25. Woo!" 

You're going to want people in your corner and you can't do this alone. I just don't know anyone that has. 

It's one of the reasons when I launched Roadmap to Freedom, back in 2016, I knew I wanted an interactive community, a place where you could go and ask questions and celebrate things. And it's been one of the perks of the program every single year since I launched it in 2017. 

When individuals share their feedback for the program, they always rate the community as one of the top elements. To be able to come together with other entrepreneurs at a very similar stage is priceless.

It's like a golden ticket. It's incredibly helpful so that you don't feel alone. Don't try to do this alone. Lean on support.

To piggyback off of that, and something I'm a huge advocate for is to have a mentor. Now, this could be a mentor that you don't have to pay. Amazing. But many of you will have to invest in a mentor. That is okay. We all do it. 

I’ve always viewed it as an investment in my time (see lesson number 2)! 

By having a mentor and a clear step-by-step plan, I can save myself time and energy and down the line, money, even though I have to invest upfront.

BUSINESS LESSON #4:
COMMUNITY IS EVERYTHING

While I was referring to your peer community before, in this case, I'm talking about your brand community. I'm not talking about your support system. I'm talking about the individuals that are attracted to your brand that become part of your community. 

When building your brand community, I want you to focus on your email list. That is the central community that you want to focus on because when it comes to social media, you don't own your followers. You don't have a way to get in touch with them if the platform goes down. If something happens to your account, you have no way of saying, "Hey, I've moved here." 

With an email list, you can download your email subscribers frequently so if something ever happens, you have that information. You can email them and let them know what's going on.

That is the central community that we focus on building over here at Brandmerry and stats show that email list building is essential. 

In fact, there is an estimated $42 return on every $1 spent for email marketing which results in a 4,200% ROI!

When you're thinking about the pieces of your business broken down into two key elements: branding and marketing, once you have your brand created your next step is building an audience to sell to.

This is where your marketing efforts and your community come into play. You've got to start building your community right away. Inside of Roadmap to Freedom, we focus on building the brand foundation in four weeks, and then we're immediately focused on building community. 

If you want to sell, if you want to make money, you have to have someone to sell to. Don't skip this step. 

Spending too much time building your foundational pieces is ultimately postponing your community growth. That's why in R2F, we focus on streamlining the branding process because it's taking you all way too long. You need to get started on building community immediately.

Community is everything as a business owner.

CONCLUSION

There you have it. Those are the four top lessons that I’ve discovered throughout my business journey. If you want to take advantage of this limited-time resource and learn the full 15 Lessons to Propel Your Online Business you can grab the resource at brandmerry.com/lessons.

In addition, the doors for Roadmap to Freedom are opening for 2021 on October 24! Right now you can join the waitlist and get all the details about pre-enrollment, a special bonus including 1:1 time with me, and a chance to win $500.

Now's the time to see if the program is the right fit for you. Head to brandmerry.com/freedom to learn more about the program and join the waitlist.

This is one of my favorite programs because it means so much for me to support entrepreneurs with the pieces I didn’t have five years ago. Inside of R2F, we cover the entire step-by-step roadmap for scaling your business.

In addition, you get your copy reviewed, you get your sales pages reviewed, you get your branding reviewed. Everything. It's a very strategic, step-by-step program that includes high-level information, implementation, feedback, and support.

Head to brandmerry.com/freedom to learn more about it!

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- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

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- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

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MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

Where to Start With Your Online Marketing

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

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LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS

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A top question I get asked inside of my free online community is how to get started with your marketing before you feel ready!

I get the need for things to feel “right,” or “ready” but so many entrepreneurs wait and wait and wait, and wait to start marketing because they don't feel like they've got it all together or it doesn't feel ready and this waiting can stunt their overall growth and timeline to the results they desire.

In episode 12, on The Brandmerry Podcast, we talked about getting visible and how to boost your confidence around showing up online. 

Then in episode 14, I shared my top tips for finding your voice in personal branding and how to get started with that.

Now today, I want to share more about marketing your business. What does marketing mean? How do we gauge what needs to be done and when? How do we know when it’s time to focus our energy on marketing the sh*t out of our business?!

Rather than waiting and sitting in confusion and inaction, I want to give you a clear plan of what to have in place, bare minimum, to get started. I think this one's going to surprise you a little bit. 

I also want to talk through some of the mindset pieces around showing up and being seen, just continuing our conversation around showing up and what goes into that.

WHEN TO START MARKETING YOUR BUSINESS

At Brandmerry, we believe in two core pillars to running a business. 

There's the branding pillar, which is all about:

• Who you are and the problem you solve.

• Who you serve.

• What your core offer will be.

• Identifying your authentic voice.

• How you share that with the world.

• And of course, what does your brand aesthetic feel and look like.

Branding is the foundational piece of scaling your business. You have to have those pieces in place to do any of your marketing. 

However, I find so many entrepreneurs who skip the steps and jump straight into marketing. When you do this you’ll find that your marketing efforts are a constant struggle and barely taking off despite your hard work. These foundational pieces are essential.

After you've created those foundational pieces, it is about marketing. 

The marketing phase is all about spreading that brand awareness, attracting your ideal customer through lead generation, connecting with them, and leading them to the sale. 

This phase is ongoing, as it’s ultimately what brings in consistent sales.

Yet, this crucial element is often delayed as entrepreneurs are waiting for the magical moment when everything feels ready. 

WHEN ARE YOU READY TO START MARKETING?

So, how do we know when we're ready to market? 

I've got to tell you it’s a trick question, no one can define that for you. No one can say, "You will be ready at this specific stage." 

And I know that’s hard, but it's important to know that it’s going to look different for every business. 

It's completely different based on what you're offering. 
It's different based on your lifestyle and your personality. 
So no one can define when you're ultimately going to be ready.

But what happens quite often is that we are ready before we think we're ready. 

Sometimes we're looking for someone else to give us that permission slip to push go.

We need someone to validate and say, "You're ready!" And then suddenly it's like, cool, I got it. 

You're essentially always at a place where you can show up and build a community and build that know, like, and trust factor.

So you're always ready. But the question is, when is it most effective? 

With marketing, it can be tricky because you can market at any time. And I know a lot of entrepreneurs who will market right out of the gate because that works well for them while they're building their brand. 

But is that marketing the most effective? Most likely not.

The reason for this is that the brand foundations are not in place. These foundational pieces can be found inside of our branding program You! Branded.

For our clients, we find that once the brand is complete, then your marketing will be the most effective.

Now, let’s assume you’ve done the branding work either on your own or through You! Branded, where do we go from here.

These are three things that you want to have to make your marketing efforts the most effective. 

3 MARKETING STRATEGIES: TEMPLATE FOR MARKETING

GATHER AUDIENCE INFORMATION

Number one is to make sure you have a way to gather their information. 

You can be showing up and building a community on social media. 
You can be showing up and doing live videos every single day. 
You can be posting every single day. 
You can have followers joining you. 
You could be so excited, thinking to yourself, “I don't even know where these people are coming from. I don't even know who they are.”

But how do you plan on getting them off of the platform? 

How do you plan on keeping them engaged? 

And another level to this, how do you plan to confirm that they are ideal customers? 

Social media can skew our numbers quite a bit. And I know quite a few people who have giant followings and don't make money in their business. So it's not an indicator of a successful business.

If you're getting started with your marketing, a good rule of thumb is, while you're already getting started showing up and creating this content and building this trust, have a way to get them off said platform and into your community.

No matter what platform it is: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Instagram reels, Pinterest, blogging, all of it. It doesn't matter. You want a way to get them into your community. 

That's how you’re getting those quality leads. The people who are saying, "Yeah, I'm interested in what you're saying. I'm interested in what you're offering. Please tell me more.” It’s where you can build a better connection with your audience.

So if you're going to show up and do your marketing and you want it to be effective, then you want to make sure that you have a way to capture their information in place. 

That's typically through your lead generation. Having a way to get their name and their email address in exchange for a lead magnet, which could be a PDF, audio, a video, a training, a mini-course, a quiz, a discount code, a free knitting pattern, etc...

This is one of the fundamental elements of a strong marketing strategy and one of the first elements of the marketing work we teach inside of Brandmerry Academy.

HAVE A SIGNATURE OFFER OR FRAMEWORK

Another thing that I recommend having is an offer or at the very least a framework. 

This is one of the things that I teach inside of my program You! Branded because I truly believe that to market effectively, you need to know what the end result is. 
What are we ultimately selling? 
What are we leading people to with our marketing? 

It's why I don't believe in “just showing up” and creating content just to have something to post. That's not doing anybody any good. You want to make sure that the content you're creating is very effective as we're talking about and leading to something.

Now, maybe you're just starting out and you don't know what you want to sell just yet, or you haven't finalized your offer. That's okay. 

At the very least understand your framework or I often like to refer to it as your pillars. Those core things that you're going to be talking about and touching on because that's going to allow you to show up and market the result and build an audience interested in solving that specific problem.

So let's say one of my pillars is branding. Because I know that, I'm able to create content specifically to support my prospective clients with branding, and it's going to easily connect to my offer when I promote it.

I'm not creating all this content and marketing and promoting, and then there's no clear connection to what I ultimately want them to pay for. 

That's going to hurt. If you’re not clear on the result, what you want people to pay for, you’re going to create marketing that is ineffective to your bottom line.

KNOW YOUR IDEAL CUSTOMER

You truly cannot market effectively if you don't know who you want to attract with your marketing. That's the point of marketing, right?

Inside of Brandmerry Academy, we focus on four pillars of marketing.

1. Brand Awareness - This is when you’re marketing so that new people know about your brand. They're gaining awareness of your brand and the work you do. You've taken this time to establish it. Let people know that it exists. 
   

2. Brand Attraction - The second part of marketing is the community attraction piece. So getting people who are now aware of your brand attracted to the community aspect, attracted to subscribing to your email lists, getting notifications when you go live, your Instagram posts, those different things. The community attraction piece is where the lead generation happens.
   

3. Brand Connection - And then the third part of marketing is the client connection. Building that know, like, and trust factor to fully connect with someone and moving them to the sale. 

This three-step process is the ultimate goal of marketing. 

How can you effectively market if you don't know who is going to be going through that process? 

How can you effectively market if you don't know who you want to spread brand awareness too, who you want to attract to your community, who you want to build a connection with to ultimately invest in your offer?

As I’ve mentioned most of this process, especially the ideal customer research and signature offer should be happening at the branding phase and will play an integral role in your marketing efforts.

3 WAYS TO START MARKETING YOUR BUSINESS TODAY

With these three foundational pieces and your brand in mind, I now was to give you a few of my favorite ways to start marketing your business today.

You've got these pieces: You understand your offer, at least a framework. You have a way to gather their info. You understand your ideal customer. 

TIP #1: SHARE YOUR STORY

This is a fantastic way to get started marketing, especially before you have an offer that's completely fleshed out before you're asking them to do anything. It's a great way to start building a connection from the beginning as you're bringing in prospective clients.

There's a lot of different ways that you can share your story. Here are a few:

1. Share your mission. If you don't know how to figure out your brand mission, go listen to episode one of the Brandmerry podcast.
   

2. Share your brand value. Start creating content specifically around each of your values. While posting your values on your website can be beneficial, what I’m suggesting is sharing stories about your values and why they are important to you.
   
   If you don't know about brand values, go listen to episode three of the Brandmerry podcast.
   

3. Share your brand story, your founder story. What led you to create your business in the first place? Why are you passionate about this work? Why do you want to serve the client that you want to serve?
   
   Start sharing your story behind the brand. There is an entire episode on the Brandmerry podcast where I talk about writing your About Me page and how to craft your brand story for that page to help you get started.

Additionally, you can talk about the purpose behind your business and your goals for your business. So you can create stories around those pieces, start showing up and start building that brand connection with your audience.

TIP #2: INTRODUCE YOUR FRAMEWORK

The second thing that you can do to get started with your marketing is introduce your framework. As I mentioned before, I recommend that you at least know the specific offer or the product, or at the very least the framework or the pillars for what you're leading your clients to. 

You can start creating content and marketing around your framework. You’ll want to identify the following:

• What's the problem that your audience is facing? 

• How can you create some content to help them through their problem? 

• How can you create some content to connect with them about their problem, to just let them know, "Hey, I know that you've got this. I want you to know that you are seen, heard, and understood," which is all we want as consumers.

Start creating content about how you specifically solve the problem, as opposed to somebody else in your industry. I do this a lot when it comes to brand storytelling. 

There are a lot of people offering branding advice. There are a lot of people offering branding support. I have a special way of doing that and it's through the art of storytelling. So that's how I solve it specifically and I make sure to share that often with my content.

If you have your framework mapped out, I recommend you break up each individual piece and share that. 

At Brandmerry, we could do weeks of content on branding. 
We could do weeks of content on marketing.
We could do weeks of content on systems. 

So having these pieces of your framework mapped out will give you content ideas to start sharing. I have a podcast episode coming out in October where I talk a little bit more about free versus paid content and the difference between those, so make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss it!

When you're thinking about sharing your framework in terms of content, think about why those different pieces are important and what those different pieces are. Not so much how you're going to teach them to do the individual pieces. That's in the paid offer.

TIP #3: ANSWER QUESTIONS

The third thing that you can do to start marketing and creating content is to just answer questions important to your audience.

If you have an audience, you can survey them. Even if you have 10 people, survey them. Ask them what they need support with. If you've got email subscribers, send them a form asking the following questions:

• What are you struggling with right now? 

• What support do you need?

•  If we were sitting down for coffee and you could ask me one question, what would you ask me?

As the different questions come in, create content to answer them. You can also post questions using tools like Insta Stories as well. 

In addition, you can also use free tools like Ubersuggest, which I've talked about multiple times on the Brandmerry Blog including this recent Youtube video where I shared my content creation process for 90 days of content, or AnswerThePublic where you can see what specific questions people are asking via Google and you can answer those in your content as well. 

You’re creating content that answers some of the top questions that you're getting. It takes a lot of the mystery out of what to post and what to talk about. 

Remember, the key to marketing is to start small, start very specific and intentionally, and then scale from there. 

This is incredibly important when it comes to where you’re posting your content.

It’s important to be realistic about what you can handle within your schedule. Thinking you’re going to blog three days a week, show up on Pinterest, make two Youtube videos, a podcast, and show up on Instagram daily is just not going to happen unless you have a team.

This is why you want to be very intentional with where you’re showing up and harness the power of repurposing. Something I talk about in great detail in this Youtube video. 

CONCLUSION

If you need me to give you a permission slip about when you're ready, it's when you at minimum, have a way to gather information, name, and email address from people who are following you, who are finding out about you from your marketing. 

You have your offer, or at least a framework mapped out so you can share content that's related to the result. 

And you understand your ideal customer. You've done the market research.

I wanted to share with you that one of the things that I focus on with my clients is clear, simple, and strategic marketing. It is something that I offer inside of my membership Brandmerry Academy.

But I also work one-on-one with clients to master their marketing, to streamline their marketing efforts, to understand what they're selling, to understand what they're messaging, to understand where they should be showing up, how they can show up effectively, all of those different pieces.

I typically do this in the form of an intensive. My VIP intensives are a 90-minute strategy session, followed by 30 days of implementation and support. Meaning that I'm not going to just cut you loose at the end of our intensive. 

We're going to talk about the gaps that need to be filled in your marketing strategy. 
We're going to map out your marketing strategy moving forward. 
We're going to get those systems and those workflows in place, and then I'm going to help you bring it to life. 

A lot of marketing support misses the implementation piece and it’s incredibly important. You don’t need to know another strategy, you need to utilize that strategy and understand how it applies to your business.

If you're interested in learning more about this, you can go to Brandmerry.com/intensive. 

P.S. Have you tuned in to The Brandmerry podcast? I release new episodes every Thursday on topics around branding and marketing! Check out past episodes and be sure to subscribe at brandmerry.com/podcast

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- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

---

- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

---

MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

How to Find Your Brand Voice [Personal Branding]

How to Find Your Brand Voice [Personal Branding]

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

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LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS

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If you've never tried hard kombucha before, I highly recommend it. If you're a kombucha fan and you also like to consume a beverage from time to time with alcoholic content, the shizz is amazing. 

No, this is not what this post is about, obviously, but hear me out.

Today, I want to share with you my top tips for finding your voice through personal branding. 
But, why is this so important? Let’s dive in.

My favorite company for hard kombucha is called June Shine. This small San Diego-based business has built a product that has expanded over the last year to nationwide delivery. Their success has been so fun to watch.

While I love the taste of the product, what has made me a loyal fan is their brand. Because of their clear brand, the company voice and their knowledge of their ideal customer, their marketing are exceptional. I see myself as their ideal customer in everything they do.

It’s one of the reasons I bought and their voice continues in their customer service as well, from their emails to their text messages you clearly understand their brand and the ultimate vibe they want to portray.

Everything you do in your business and your success ultimately comes down to your brand.

All the growth that we see, the loyalty, the brand affinity, as I've shared multiple times on my podcast, it all comes down to the work that you do on a branding level. 

I hope by now that you have watched my free training called Build a Better Brand Method. If you have, you are familiar with that method. 

I shared that method with you on the podcast. If you want to go back and listen to episode 10, the Better Brand Method, you'll learn my six-part framework for building a better brand.

One of those pillars is your brand voice.

Today I want to dive into why this is so important, how you find it, and some of the key things that I teach my clients that support them in finding their authentic voice.

BRAND VOICE GUIDELINES

Now, I will say that finding your voice and refining your voice is a process. It's kind of like what we talked about a few episodes ago around visibility and showing up with confidence. 

It is through the act of getting visible that you increase your confidence. 

It is through the act of showing up and sharing your voice that you refine your voice. 

You will learn what feels good and what doesn't feel good as you show up and get visible. 

But where do you start? 

How do you know what your voice even is? 

How do you create a voice from the beginning that feels very much like you and who you are and how you want to show up and isn't heavily influenced by others in your industry or mentors? 

This is something that I had to catch myself with when I first started my business. 

When we talk about authenticity and especially your authentic voice, this is where the relatability piece shines. 

Your voice is ultimately how you're showing up. This is how you're positioning your content. This is how you talk about your offer. It's the little quirks and little things that you do on your videos, on your podcast. 

One of the things that I do and I don't know if you've noticed, maybe it drives you nuts I don't know, is I don't edit my podcast. 

My husband will add some intro, outro music, fancy it up a bit, but I'm not cutting out things that I say or if I misspeak or anything like that. 

That was a choice that I made early on because I want to show up as my true self, without filters, without edits, without all of those different things. 

That's one of the elements of my authenticity. That's important to me. Yours might look a little bit different. You might be a very polished person.

Maybe you come from a very professional background and that is in fact who you are, not a front, not a mask, not a facade. That's who you are. 

When you put your work out in the world, of course, it makes sense to have a nice edited and polished piece. 

That's not who I am. 

And I hope this story reminds you that just because I show up this way, doesn't mean you have to show up that way. It doesn't mean you should show up that way. 

You should be showing up in the way that is most authentic to you. 

If we're creating a personal brand in which we're offering products or services based on something that has happened in our life, based on our story, or based on our experience, we are the center of the brand so the voice is our own. 

Even as I expand into more of a company here at Brandmerry, I'm coming from a full personal brand where my voice and my story are the center. 

As I'm moving into this transition of building a company with additional levels of support and team members, specifically inside of my program Brandmerry Academy, it's about taking those elements of the brand voice, me, and what that impacts in terms of values, mission, messaging, etc...the pillars that have already been created for Brandmerry, and then how I move them over and we communicate them as a company and as a brand as a whole.

It still had to start with me!

When you're just starting, it's you. 

Don't try and fancy it up. 

Don't try to make it all complicated. 

It is you, it is your voice. 

So let’s talk about how your voice specifically fits into personal branding.

TWO QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU FIND YOUR BRAND VOICE

There are two questions I want you to think about when we first dive into this. I'm also going to share with you a few key points I want you to identify that are going to help you in actually creating your brand voice. 

IDENTIFY YOUR FEARS AROUND SHOWING UP

The first thing that I want you to do is to identify the fears that you have around showing up as your most authentic self. 

A couple of things might come up for you when I say that. 

One, “Who is my most authentic self, Michelle? I have no damn idea.” 

This is why I'm a big fan of the story work that I teach in all of my programs because through the story work, I am giving you prompts and encouragement to uncover elements of your story that have impacted who you are and how you show up today and the work that you're doing.

It's through diving in and doing those pieces that you're able to start to determine who you are authentically. 

When I first started my business, I created an entire brand that was not me. It didn't look like me, it didn't sound like me. It wasn't me. And that's because I didn't know at the time what story work was. 

Story work and how I teach it is a framework that I created through my discovery. 

So when I was making that transition to figure out how to rebrand my business, because I identified that what I had created wasn’t me, I dove into the story work. 

If you're at that place where you're I just don't know, then I would encourage you to check out some free resources on brandmerry.com on the blog, around storytelling, as well as my YouTube channel.

But the next level, that is what I teach inside of You! Branded. That is what I focus on inside of my intensives. Depending on where you're at in your business, your level of investment, and your eagerness to figure this shit out, those are some options for you. 

If you don't know who you are, you’ve got to figure that out first. 
So, let's just assume, for our purposes today, that we've all done story work and now it's about how you want to show up and squash the fears that come up around being judged, looking unprofessional, not being polished, etc…

I still had those fears when I was starting, because I was looking at what everyone else was doing and thought that if they wear blazers, take pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower, they have these perfect backdrops behind their live stream, no kid running around, etc that I had to do those things too. 

I had to face those fears and say, "Are you afraid that those things mean that you aren't going to be successful?" 

Of course, they don't. 

And we know that one of the best things that you can do is stand in your authenticity to stand out online. If I were to adapt or mold to what all those people were doing, I would look and sound like everybody else.

Now, I know you aren’t here because you want to look and sound like everyone else. There's no way. You wouldn't be here. And we know that that's a bad marketing move overall. 

The first thing you want to do is identify the fears that you have around showing up as your most authentic self and then start to work through those fears and rationalize those fears. 

Is this ultimately true? 
What is this telling me about myself? 
How can I use this as a damn momentum driver to show up and share my voice?

Use Emotion In Your Brand

The second thing you want to do is attach a little bit of emotion to it. Now I know I always say keep the emotion out of marketing. Make your marketing decisions based on data but listen, branding is all about emotion. 

The whole concept of branding is emotional. So what better way to feel connected to yourself and how you are going to show up than thinking about how you showing up as your most authentic self would make you feel?

How would you feel creating content as your most authentic self? 

How would you feel sharing your website when you knew that it was a true reflection of who you are? 

How would you feel going on video and not worrying about all the little things that you have made up in your head that have to be a certain way or sound a certain way?

I can tell you from experience, it feels damn good. Even though the video was the main platform that I decided to focus on with visibility, this is something I talked about in episode 12, I still had a ton of fears around it. 

I was worried that everything had to be perfect. 
It had to be silent in my house. 
I couldn't be interrupted. 

And while I don't recommend that kids are running all around when you have a live stream, this is the reality of it all. It was the first live stream I did with my son because it was either show up with him or not at all, that I realized that there was so much power in me showing up as my true self.

- QUICK STORYTIME -

In 2016, I was hosting one of my very first challenges and for me it was huge. I think I had 50 people signed up. It was a big deal. 

I had already left my 9:00 to 5:00 and I was hosting this challenge during the middle of the day, rather than the evening as I had done before.

Back then it was just my son and me at home during the day and I thought I had positioned it right around nap time. 

Well, it doesn't always work out that way. And my son would not fall asleep before the video. 

After pacing back and forth and seriously questioning what I was going to do and freaking out a little bit, I ended up putting him in our baby carrier on my back and I just started the live stream.

I remember it was the first time I'd stood up on a live stream, typically I’d be sitting in a chair. And I remember saying to my audience, "Hey, listen. Here's what it is. I'm a working mom. I'm building my own business. My son wouldn't lay down. He's on my back. If you see hands, feet, a head or hear crying, that's what's up." 

I just laid it outright in the beginning and I delivered the entire live stream. 

He ended up falling asleep because I was swaying back and forth. And I kid you not, it was the first time that I had received such a tremendous response from a live stream where I got comment after comment after comment.

"Thank you for doing this.”
“Thank you for showing up.”
“Thank you for giving us permission."

I was selling a program on the back end of this challenge, it was a branding program, my first ever. I had multiple people tell me that they ended up joining because of that live stream. 

Could you imagine if I hadn't shown up because I was worried about the fears of what people would think of me? 

When you make an intentional choice to face those fears, to put them in perspective, and honestly, to lead with the emotion of how amazing it would feel to do this thing as your most authentic self, you can potentially change the entire course of your business. 

So before you dive into the tips and tricks, you need to consider these first two questions.

7 KEY ELEMENTS TO IDENTIFY YOUR BRAND VOICE

Now let's talk about some of the key elements that I have found that help my clients in identifying their voice. 

We're feeling confident and yeah, we're going to do the damn thing. 

Now, how do we do it? 

Know Your Audience

Number one, and as with all things in branding, you have to know your audience. This is huge. And I don't think people realize what role this plays in your authenticity. 

But let's say you are coming from corporate America. I've worked with so many clients who come from a very heavy corporate background, high-level corporations, where they have been their whole life, who leave the 9:00 to 5:00 grind for starting their own business. And some of them end up working with corporate individuals, that's amazing, but a lot of them don't. 

When they come in and start writing copy and thinking about showing up, they get really obsessed with this whole corporate train of thought. “But this is who I've worked with. This is what my boss would say.”

When I ask them who their audience is. They'll tell me and then I ask them: 

What does your audience do every day?
What's your audience wearing?
Why is your audience interested in the topic that you're sharing?
Do you think your audience actually cares about what you told me previously?
Typically the answer is No!

If you know your audience, it can take a lot of the pressure off how you SHOULD be showing up. 

It's not that we're molding ourselves to fit our audience's expectations. But if you're coming in with these high expectations of how you should be performing, sometimes it can put it into perspective for you. 

When you realize…
Wait, actually my audience cares about transparency. 
Wait, actually my audience cares more about connection. 
Wait, my audience is a bunch of moms who are also juggling X, Y, and Z so me showing up will be a great way to show both of those. 

That's one thing that I have found has been tremendously helpful for my clients, especially my clients who are coming from more professional backgrounds.

Why Do You Like Your Favorite Brands

The second tool that I love to teach is one that we have to tread a little light around. 

Now, I'm going to share this with you but I'm not recommending that you go hunt down all your favorite brands and stalk their websites and their copy and so forth. There's no room for that. That is the opposite of authentic. 

What I want you to focus on are the brands that you gravitate towards. The brands that you feel connected to and why. 

You don't even have to look at these brands. You just have to think about that brand and your interactions with them. Think about the content that you've consumed from them and write down why you feel good when you see their stuff. 

How does it make you feel? 
And why do you think it makes you feel that way?

Then on the flip side of that, I want you to think about brands that you don't like seeing and don't like interacting with. 

When you hear that name and you think to yourself, "Ugh," why is that? 

This is going to tell you how you want to show up in the world. 

We're typically drawn to things that feel most authentic to us so if you can identify some of these pieces that draw you into other brands, you can replicate those feelings but in your authentic way with your brand.

Use Everyday Language

The next tip that I have is one of the most simple, yet most difficult strategies in the book but it is going to help you so much with not just your copywriting in general, but also your storytelling. 

And that is to use everyday language. 

Start to identify some of the things that you love to talk about or some of the quirks that you have. One of the exercises that I have in You! Branded is to list out some of the most popular words that you typically say a lot and then carry that over into your messaging or ask some of your friends and family, people who know you on a very intimate level to name three quirks that they find that you always bring to a conversation.  

We can kind of survey people closest to us to pinpoint things that we don't see in ourselves because the everyday language, ultimately speaking in your true voice is really what this is about. 

So why not identify that before you ever start creating content or showing up?

Be Conversational

This is also a great way to improve your copy and your storytelling. 

When you are thinking about creating content, showing up on a video, or creating a podcast like this, imagine you’re having a conversation with your audience.

When I recorded this podcast I pretended I was speaking to you as if we were sitting on the couch, drinking kombucha together, talking about your voice and personal branding. 

Be conversational. This is what people resonate with. 

One of the greatest tools that I learned was to pretend I was writing emails to a friend. This completely changed how I wrote emails to my audience when I was starting.

This is why tip number one, identifying your ideal customer, getting to know who they are, is incredibly important. It will allow you to give them a persona and use that when writing your copy. 

If you're writing an Instagram post and you were writing a letter to them, how would you write it?
It would be descriptive. 
It would be conversational. 
It'd be funny. 
You'd have emotion in it. 

It wouldn't be like, "Hey, I have this free thing and I want you to get your hands on it. It will be great. Here's what you'll get." 

You sound like a damn robot. 

But if you're conversational and you're like, "Hey, are you struggling with this right now and it's driving you up a damn wall and you can't stop thinking about it? How would it freaking feel if you didn't have to worry about that anymore and instead you could focus on X, Y, and Z? I want to share this with you because I'm so excited about it. And it's my blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." 

Big difference. 
One feels like a friend, one feels like a robot. 

You tell me which one you gravitate towards?

Put Keywords To Your Voice

I love getting clear and specific and having a framework for things. One of the things I love after you've gotten to this point is to put some keywords to your voice. 

For instance, one of the things that I teach inside of You! Branded is all about emotional branding and identifying the emotions that you want your audience to feel. You can use similar words when you're trying to describe your voice. 

Maybe you use exclamation points a lot when you write and it's playful. 
You love to use gifs and emojis to keep it light.
You might say that your brand voice is playful, compassionate, and constantly excited. 

With this tip, you’re ultimately giving your brand voice an identity. 

If you’ve done the emotional branding work that I teach, there will be crossover and it can help in brand consistency from a brand voice and brand emotion (aesthetic) standpoint.

It will give you a marker for self-assessment as you continue to show up. You can reflect every 30 days and ask yourself, “Oh, does this sound like my voice? Does this hit the three characteristics that I established in the beginning when I was thinking about my brand voice?” But then also as you move into sharing your brand with others, hiring people to come on your team to share your brand, create graphic designs or promotional pieces, you can share these pieces with them as well so they understand how you want to be presented online.

I was just bringing on a new graphic designer, which I'm so excited about over here at Team Brandmerry, and we're trying to figure out what design we like. I’m able to give really thorough feedback and say things like, "Okay, less bright, moodier. Less playful, more grounded."  

I’m able to share these keywords because I know my brand voice and it ultimately will help them in the creation process.  

Once you’ve identified your keywords then put those on a Post-it and always check in with yourself to make sure that you're following your own criteria. The criteria you've determined.

Identify Your Values and Mission

Identifying your values and your mission plays a really big role in your voice and how you show up online. 

If you haven't created your brand values or your brand mission, make sure you go back and listen to some previous episodes that we did on the podcast. 

Episode one was all about creating a mission-driven brand and episode three was all about identifying your brand values. 

Doing that work can help you tremendously in solidifying your brand voice and really understanding how you want to show up in the world.

The Art of Brand Containers

Now the last thing that I will leave you with as we close up talking about your brand voice is the art of brand containers. One of the ways that I recommend my clients get started in choosing how they're going to show up online, organizing their content, and playing with talking about different things, is brand containers. 

As I mentioned in the beginning, the playing and the doing are all part of the solidifying process. 

As you show up and you get visible, you will figure out your voice way faster than if you're not actually creating content and putting anything out there. 

So with brand containers, I typically recommend having five. You can do anywhere from five to seven. Five to seven containers that you can ultimately create content around.

For instance, my brand containers are branding, marketing, travel, productivity, mompreneur, and systems. These have changed and shifted over the years based on my interest, but they’ve mostly remained the same. 

So those are all elements of my voice. Those are all things that I love to talk about and things that I know connect with my audience. 

I know my audience is here for branding and marketing and those are the things I “sell” in my business. 

I also know that my audience loves productivity and systems and is an extension of the work I do and things I’m super passionate about. 

Most of my audience wants to travel and love when I share my experiences with them and some of my audience are moms or maybe planning for it in the future. It's not that your audience has to connect with each piece of it, but try to find the ones that offer your ability to show up as your authentic self and connect with your audience in some way.

Think about answering this question, “Who am I? What are the things I love to talk about? And how can I create that brand experience for my audience by sharing those things?”

Your connection pieces have to be about more than just what you sell. You can't constantly be pitching your services and your products. Your audience is going to get tired, unfollow, and unsubscribe. 

Spice it up. 

CONCLUSION

As you're thinking about these different pieces I share today, as you think about how you want your audience to feel, your everyday language, the three words to describe your voice, pulling in your values and your mission, don't neglect also thinking about some of the things you genuinely love to talk about and how those can ultimately support your clients. 

It's one of my favorite exercises that I teach entrepreneurs who don't have a consistent content strategy as of yet, as a great way to get started in refining their voice and finding what their audience resonates with.

The connection piece is key and everything I shared with you today will allow you to first identify who you are and how you want to show up in the world and then build that connection with your audience.

I wanted to take a minute to remind you to grab that free ebook that I've put together for you, where I am sharing The 15 Lessons to Propel Your Online Business. 

It's the ultimate guide of shit I wish someone would have told me. I talk about a lot of the elements that I see holding entrepreneurs back from reaching the income level and the impact that they desire.

And as you can probably imagine, I made the same mistakes. 

Whether you're just thinking of starting your business or you're three or four years into it, I recommend that you head to brandmerry.com/lessons to download your free ebook. 

Because even if you get one little golden nugget from this ebook, I know it is going to support you in achieving your goals. 

Head to brandmerry.com/lessons to download your free ebook today.

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MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

10 Ways to Improve Work From Home Productivity

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

This is for you if you have found yourself working from home. 

Maybe it was by choice. Maybe you decided to become an entrepreneur and set out on this great, big, beautiful adventure of working for yourself. 

Maybe it was not by choice. Maybe it just happened, in the year 2020, in which you found yourself suddenly working from home. 

Today, I want to talk about how to remain productive when you work from home, in the midst of the chaos. Especially if you have children and the distractions and all of the things.

I've been doing this for five years now, and I have a few things to say, specially 10 ways to improve your productivity while working from home.

MY WORK-FROM-HOME EXPERIENCE

A little backstory on my work-from-home-experience: I left my nine-to-five in 2016 to start my own business, which is this one here, Brandmerry. 

At the time, I was at home with my son. It was just him and me as I was growing my business every single day of every single week so that we could replace my income and get it to where it is today. 

So I know a thing or two about working from home with a baby, with a toddler, and now with a kiddo. 

Now, I will be 100% transparent with you. Our lives have changed a lot in the last five years. 

My husband is now home with us full-time as I was able to retire him from his job. So now my day-to-day looks very, very different. In fact, I am very rarely interrupted, which is kind of nice. 

But I remember what it was like back in the days.

I've also found that it's actually a little harder to be productive today, and that is because now I've got a full eight hours. 

Which I know, I'm sorry. If you don't have that, please don't be mad at me. 

I was once where you are now. 

But I have a full eight hours to work on my business every single day. When this first started, when we moved from living in our RV full-time, where I was juggling Wi-Fi and new locations, and moving around, to spending our time in our apartment, I struggled a lot. 

I found that I was actually struggling to get things done because I had too much time. That when I used to have to focus on two-hour increments in the morning, in between nap time and after dinner, that I was able to actually be more productive. 

That actually is a reference to Parkinson's Law, which says that we fill the space, so we will come up with a million things to do and a million different distractions if we've got the time to do it. 

So I want to share with you ten ways to increase productivity. 

Whether you've got a little-bitty pocket every single day to work on your business, or you're working from home for eight, maybe nine, if you're an entrepreneur, hours every single day, here are 10 ways to make sure that you are showing up as your most efficient self.

TEN WAYS TO INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY WHEN WORKING FROM HOME

Number One: Create a Big Picture Goal

I talk about big-picture planning in this video right here, where I map out how to plan six months at a time in your business. 

One of the things that I talk about in this video, as well as any of the yearly trainings that I host for my paying clients, is that you've got to start with the big picture. 

You really have to understand what you're working towards. That's going to help you determine all the small things that you need to do to get there. If you don't know what you're working towards, then you'll sit in the overwhelm of "What do I need to do? What task is next, what requires my focus,” over and over again.  

And you're going to find that you're actually not doing the things that are going to get you to the end result.

So I always recommend that you're super clear on the big-picture goal. 

Maybe for you as an entrepreneur, that is the amount of money that you want to make for the year, the revenue for your business. 

Maybe if you're working a nine-to-five, it's just your quarterly goals that you've set out with your supervisor. 

Or if you're working on a project, maybe that project over the next 30 days is the big goal. 

Regardless, you want to know that the actions that you're taking every day are ultimately leading to something. That's going to really help you in the little microplanning that is necessary for productivity.

Number Two: Have 3 Main Goals Every Week

The second thing that I recommend is a piggyback off of the first one, and that is to have three main goals every single week. Now, if the shit hits the fan, then you know that if you've done those three things, you've shown up as the best version of yourself. 

Productivity does not mean just pushing and pushing and doing and doing. It means being efficient and doing the most productive things that are going to move you closer to your goals. 

So when you're focused every week on three core elements, you'll feel good at the end of the week when things might not go as planned. 

I recommend planning out your three core pieces every single week before the week even starts, which leads me to tip number three: prep your week on Sunday. 

I absolutely swear by this.

Number Three: Prep Your Week on Sunday

Every single Sunday, I sit down with my Google Calendar, I look at my calendar on my wall, and I go into my task-management software, which you can use even if you're not an entrepreneur, and I look at what is happening that week. 

• When do I have calls? 

• When am I recording content? 

• When do I have meetings with my team? 

• What are some of the goals that I have for the week? 

• What big projects am I working on? 

• When am I going to work out? 

• When do I have an infrared sauna planned? 

• When do I have things on the schedule with my family? 

Everything. I want to know what is happening that week. What that allows me to do is really kind of head in with a great mind space and I can also move things around based on my schedule. 

For instance, if I thought that I was going to record a bunch of content one week, and then some of my clients were like, "Hey, we really need a session," I'm not going to have the capacity to record a bunch of content and show up and serve my clients at the highest level, so I want to rearrange my schedule to fit what's going on so that I can, once again, be my most productive and happy self.

So I spend every single Sunday looking at my calendar and planning out what's going to happen that week. 

If there are gaps and spaces, I might plan something fun for myself like a pool day, infrared sauna, plan my workouts, all those different things. 

You can even go as far as something I've been doing lately which is actually writing out Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and my main goals for each day, which is incredibly helpful.

Number Four: Use a Task Management Tool

Now, this is really popular with entrepreneurs and small-business owners because you're the one that is saying, "This is what we're doing every week, and this is how often I need to check in on my accounting and this is what I need to do this." 

A task-management software is really great at setting up recurring tasks and deadlines. But I’ve got to be honest, even if you're not an entrepreneur starting your own business, I recommend using this just in your day-to-day life. 

I started doing this when we were traveling in our RV, which we did from 2019 until 2020. 

I would plan out where we were going and the things that I needed to do for each of those locations. I use task management for when we need to pay bills, when we have recurring tasks on automate, dentists, all those different things. I set them up in my task-management planner so I don't forget about them.

So whether you are running your own business, which this is non-negotiable, you need a task-management planner or you're not and you just want to organize your day-to-day, I highly, highly recommend. You don't know what you don't know, and there's a lot floating around in your head, probably, that is really bogging you down and making you feel overwhelmed. 

So I'm a big fan of just getting all of that out into a task-management planner, maybe into an idea dump, and assigning it later so it's not just living in your head and popping up every once in a while, distracting you. You've got it scheduled. You've got a plan in place. 

The task management planner that I love to use is called ClickUp.

Number Five: Use Your Calendar

Use your calendar, please. 

Now, you might be like, "Michelle, you're using a task-management calendar and a regular calendar?" I absolutely am. 

My regular calendar is to make sure that those priorities, the calls that I have with my clients, the doctor's appointments, the infrared sauna, my workouts, happy hour with the girls, are all on my calendar. That is the priority. 

That's what I look at first for the week. 

Then I schedule all my individual tasks in between them. So I am a big fan of utilizing your Google Calendar, making sure that the things that you need to do are on there. And honestly, I find that my Google Calendar best serves me in making sure that I am taking care of myself, that I'm scheduling the things that are important for my well-being, which make me the most productive version of myself.

If you're running on empty, there's no way that you're going to be able to show up as the best version of yourself. 

There's no way that you're going to be able to show up and be productive in the work that you're doing. 

You've got to take care of yourself. It’s one of the most important parts of being productive with the work that you're doing. 

I will use my calendar to schedule my workouts every day. 
I use it to schedule individual things that I'm doing, chiropractor visits, family time. 

Yes, I put family time and date night on my calendar because if I don't, I'll schedule something else to go there, and then I'll be mad at myself. 

Use your calendar. Embrace it. You all have one. You've got it on your phone, got it on a tablet, got it on a computer, got it on your watch, maybe you like a physical planner. 

Just make sure that you're scheduling that time: that priority time, the time that you're taking care of yourself.

Number Six: Set Some Boundaries

Speaking of taking care of yourself, you need to set some boundaries, boo. 

Oh my gosh, I am not going to say this is the easiest thing. In fact, I'm not even going to promise you that I'm going to help you all set your boundaries here. 

I actually have an entire podcast about it, on the Beautiful Climb podcast. 

But if you want to get anything done, if you want to take time for yourself, want to get your work done at home, you need to set boundaries: most likely, specifically with your family. 

Let's just be honest, right? Whether you've got your spouse, your partner, your roommate, your parents, your kids, you need to set boundaries.

I remember in 2020, when we moved from our RV into my parents' house temporarily, before moving into this apartment, we were trying to juggle, "Do we go back out on the road? What is happening?" And I had to set some boundaries with my parents. 

I was like, "I'm working right now. Don't open that door." 

It doesn't matter if they're older than you or younger than you, you need to set clear boundaries. 

Now, this is going to come from experience. It's going to take time. I remember when I first started my business, my son was really young. I mean, he was like eight months old, so I couldn't really explain to him what boundaries were. 

But I started putting these boundaries in place with myself, reminding myself that it was important to have uninterrupted time, that he was totally okay playing on the floor with toys while I wrote an email, I didn't need to hold him every five seconds. Or sometimes, I'd even put them on my back during nap time, if he was fussy, and stand and write an email. But it was all about me really understanding that I needed the time to work on my business, to do the tasks at hand, and also take care of myself.

So even today, my husband is home full-time with us and I have very clear boundaries in place of, "I need uninterrupted time in the morning so I can work out." My son is old enough now to understand that you don't interrupt Mommy when she's on the Peloton. So, he lies on the floor next to me. Will read a book. Pretends to be an Avenger in the same room. 

And these boundaries only come from our next tip, which is communicating.

Number Seven: Communicate

You've got to communicate what you want. If you need the space to work on your business, if you need uninterrupted time if you need time to take care of yourself, first, schedule it. 

Make it a priority, and then have conversations with the people that you love, that you need that time, whether that's uninterrupted or minimized interruptions. 

As someone who's been working at home with their son for a very long time, I'm going to say accidents happen. But the majority of the time, we understand when I've got coaching calls or I'm recording a podcast, that we've got these clear boundaries in place. 

And you know what? This is helpful not just for the productivity of your work, but for relationships overall. 

So make sure that you're clear on the boundaries that you need to set and then communicate with the ones that you love. 

They don't know if you don't tell them. Don't assume that they know. 

And sit down and have these conversations. Say, "This is what we're working towards," circle back to the big picture. "This is the time that I need to do X, Y, and Z. Thank you so much, how can I return the favor?"

Number Eight: Get Ready Every Single Day

Please get ready, every single day. 

I have clothes on right now. They're not the fanciest clothes. They're not a button-down shirt and some trousers and some shoes. I don't wear shoes at home, but I'm not in my pajamas. I'm not in yoga pants. 

I love you, I do. I know that you are so comfy in your yoga pants, but you might be too comfy. 

You've got to get yourself dressed. This is one of the easiest productivity tips ever. 

I have a rule that I put on pants with a button or a dress. I very rarely wear dresses, so it's mostly pants with a button. Those can be really comfy shorts with a button, nice jeans with a button. 

But I'm putting myself into the mindset of "Get shit done."

If I'm in my loungewear, if I'm in my baggy sweater and I'm really, really comfy, I'm just going to be kind of there. Kind of focused, kind of not, super chill. 

We've got to elevate our energy a little bit, which is one of the reasons I love working out before I start my day, but I also love to get dressed. 

Again, I'm not saying to do your hair, do your makeup, do the whole thing. 

Really, all I'm saying is put on pants with a button 🤣

Number Nine: Minimize Distractions

Now, I know that you are going to have these boundaries in place. You're going to communicate with the ones that you love, and you're going to start to minimize some distractions. 

But you most likely distract yourself more than anyone ever will. 

You have tabs open, you are on Facebook. That Facebook tab is always open. You are scrolling Instagram every time you have a quick break. You're checking in on something because you have notifications on. You're checking your email every 10 minutes. 

You are distracting yourself. 

Set clear boundaries with yourself. This is going to help you laser in and focus on the task that you're doing. 

I run my entire business online. The only way that I get clients is through online marketing, yet I am only on social media once, twice max, every single day. I do not keep my Facebook tab open. I do not have Facebook notifications set on my phone. I do not have Instagram notifications set on my phone. They will distract me. That notification comes in, I'm going to stop what I'm doing and be like, "Oh, what's going on?"

I have zero notifications. I don't even have email notifications on my phone because I have very specific times throughout the day where I'm checking my email. 

If you're really stressed out about this, put an "away" message up that says, "I only check my email this time and this time. I will be getting back to you within 24 to 48 hours." 

It's amazing when you set these boundaries for yourself that you're going to notice that you're able to focus even more. 

A really great exercise is to write down, as you're going through your day-to-day over the next two or three days, every time you're distracted. And then figure out ways where you can minimize those distractions so you can really focus on what you need to do.

Number Ten: Change Your Scenery

You already have all the other things in place and you're still sitting there like, "Michelle, I have my button pants on. I've minimized distractions, but I'm not feeling the creative juices." 

Change your scenery. 

I learned about this one kind of on accident with my son when he was little. I noticed that if I was trying to work and he was fussy, we were just battling the entire time. 

And when I would change our scenery, when we went for a walk and I’d record an email that I wanted to write or we’d grab a snack and play outside in the grass so I could plan my schedule or we’d spend our day at the coffee shop so he could play and I’d sit and work.

Anytime that I shifted our scenery, I found that our energy shifted, which meant our productivity shifted. 

Don't keep pushing your head against the wall over and over again, trying to focus. Sometimes, just go outside. 

I really loved this when we started traveling full-time when we would go to a different place, and I loved it because I noticed that every time we went to a new location, the scenery would reignite me. 

It's one of the reasons I love traveling. Anytime I'm kind of in a slump, creatively, I'm like, "Let's book a trip." I know that that's not possible for everyone, just at the drop of a hat, so just consider going for a walk, going outside, going to the coffee shop. Go to a wine bar and work. Order a salad and a glass of wine and get some shit done.

CONCLUSION

I hope that this was incredibly helpful for you. I know it was a lot of information. There were 10 tips to increase productivity. 

I hope that most of them were new to you, things that you've never tried, and ones that you're eager to get started on today. 

And remember, I don't believe that productivity is just working yourself into the ground. It's being the most effective and the most efficient at what you're doing. 

And what you're doing is moving you towards your goals. 

Sometimes that looks like your priority and where you want to be your most productive is self-care, and sometimes that looks like it's what you're doing with your work.

If you are an online entrepreneur thinking of starting your own business, I'd love to invite you to check out my free marketing class, where I'm actually teaching you how to be more productive with your content creation and with your marketing without relying on social media because as I mentioned, it’s very distracting. 

Go to brandmerry.com/marketing to check that out and watch your free training.

P.S. Have you tuned in to The Brandmerry podcast? I release new episodes every Thursday on topics around branding and marketing! Check out past episodes and be sure to subscribe at brandmerry.com/podcast

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- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

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- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

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MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

How Brand Storytelling Increases Revenue [Case Study]

How Brand Storytelling Increases Revenue [Case Study]

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

LISTEN ON SPOTIFY

LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS

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Today, on the blog we are bringing it back to storytelling. Our focus at Brandmerry is on branding and marketing and how storytelling plays a crucial role in every single aspect of running your online business.

In some recent episodes of the Brandmerry Podcast, we've started to dive in and talk about the principles of storytelling.

In fact, episode five was all about the three key factors for telling better stories in your marketing. 

Then in episode six, we talked about writing your ‘About Me’ page, which is one of the first pages that I recommend my audience write because it's a really great practice in writing your brand story. 

Today I want to share with you a case study that just so happens to be my story. 

They often say that sometimes you are the best example, right? That sometimes your story is the best connection piece. 

My intention in sharing this with you is that you can look in with your marketing lens and listen to the story, pay attention to how I'm structuring the story, pay attention to where I'm connecting with my audience, offering value, offering education, and offering inspiration.

You're going to get an opportunity to hear my story and then you're also going to have an opportunity to dissect it and figure out how you can improve yours when it comes to your marketing. 

Now, this particular example is pulled from my free on-demand training, the Build a Better Brand Method. 

In this free training, I share multiple facets of the branding process. I talk about the six phases of what I call the Better Brand Method. This is the same method I teach inside of my program You! Branded. We also dissect storytelling, and I offer up this case study, which we’ll get to in just a minute. 

We talk about your ideal customer. I offer advice for getting core information about your ideal customer that will improve your branding and ultimately your marketing, and we jump into messaging. 

So this is a small piece of that on-demand training. If you haven't listened to that training yet, you could head to betterbrandmethod.com and get signed up after you listen in to this. 

Brand Storytelling: Case Study

I want to share with you how I've used storytelling from the very beginning of my business, once I figured out this whole branding thing, and how I've used that to create over half a million dollars in cash revenue and become a digital nomad.

I spent eight months building a website and a “brand”.

 In the beginning, I honestly didn't do the work. I struggled for eight months to brand myself and to sign a single client. 

It's not that I wasn't doing things. I was doing things. Many of you are also doing things, but not the branding work. 

I spent a lot of time building a website. I had a logo, I chose my colors. I chose my font. I had a Facebook group back in the day. I had all the backend ready to go. My client onboarding, my emails, all of those different things.

I was also showing up online. I was on Facebook almost daily. I was slowly trying to grow my email list. I was showing up in other people's groups. I was posting on social media. I was doing “the things.” 

But as you guessed it, I was not profitable. 

I didn't make any money. Then right when I was getting ready to leave my 9 to 5, I had a moment where I was like “I'm going to scrap the whole thing and I'm going to rebuild it.” And that's when I accidentally implemented what is now my six-part framework. 

All of that started from my story, every single piece.

So let's take a glimpse into what that process actually looked like with storytelling. 

So at first, my story allowed me to rediscover my strengths and my mission, my values and my authentic voice. So I already had some good content to start showing up with because I could start sharing these things with my audience. It was a small audience of like 15 people, but you know what? There were 15 people!!!

Then storytelling helped me get to know my ideal customer on a more intimate level. This was very important because I was able to then create stories that would resonate with them and where they were on their journey. 

From this, I was able to determine how I wanted my audience to feel, tie in that emotional piece, because I knew who they were and I knew who I was. 

Then I rebuilt my website. I rewrote all my copy. I updated all of my visuals. Redid the entire website that took me eight months in just one week because of these pieces that I had already implemented with my story. 

Then I worked on really refining my message. 

I didn't have testimonials at the time. 

I hadn't had a client. 

So I used my story to connect more deeply with my small audience. I started showing up, I started sharing more about the things that were happening in my life. I started talking about the power of storytelling. I started to share my mistakes with branding. 

I just kept showing up, but I knew who my audience was this time. Before I was guessing. Now I had done the work and I knew who they were so I could craft my messages for them.

People started to notice.

The same audience I had before began to take action and the only thing that changed was what happened on my end. 

My clarity on who I was, who I was serving, and the connection. 

Within three months of having my new solid brand built, I made $15,000 in my business. 

Then I booked out my one-on-one. 

Then I made $100k within a year. 

Now here's what I want you to notice. My email list size did not change. 

I still had about 15 people on my email list. In fact, the first $20,000 that I made in my business, $15,000 was within those first three months, and then I signed another client at the beginning of January the next year. 

That first $20,000 in my business came from those initial 15 people. 

They weren't new people. 

I was showing up in a different way. 
I was connecting more deeply. 
I understood who they were. 
My offer didn't change either. I could just message it better.

All that changed was my brand clarity and my approach to communicating with them. 

Sometimes it's as simple as one sentence that they just hear differently.

I was able to do that because I had taken the time to really get in touch, not just only with my story, but their story.

Who the heck were they?
What were the struggles?
What were those desires?
What was standing in their way? 

Storytelling plays a role in everything.

It plays a role in your specific niche and your selling position, and ultimately what you offer to solve your audience's problem. 

It plays a role in how you communicate the benefit of your offer with your audience through brand messaging. 

It plays a role in building a deeper, emotional connection with your audience, leading to more conversions.

It plays a role in showcasing your authenticity.  86% of consumers say that authenticity is a key factor when deciding what brands they like and support. Storytelling will help you stand out in a saturated or crowded market. It is in fact, the only thing that will. 

Because again, you can have the exact same offer as somebody else. What makes you different? 

Your story. 
Your connection. 

And storytelling will give you content to share when you are just starting out, that won't be a waste of time or energy, because it will be focused on building.

CONCLUSION

Your next step, to gain more information on the exact branding process I used and now teach my clients is to watch the Build a Better Brand Method training.

This on-demand training will give you the signature six-part framework, a look into the ideal client process, and my step-by-step process for building core brand messages in your business.

Watch it now at betterbrandmethod.com.

---

- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

---

- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

---

MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.