Defining Your Brand

February 24, 2014Nina KovnerGROW

People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe.  -Simon Sinek

 

Here is the audio version of this post. Thank you so much for listening. Enjoy!

According to one of my go-to awesomeness creators on all things marketing and business, Seth Godin, he states “A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.”

So, when we think of creating, building and growing a brand, such as a salon, Pilates studio, or education business, we must begin with defining our WHY and our promise, which are the foundation of our brand story. Without a story, and I am not talking about an old school mission statement, we are not a brand; we are just another business that can be easily replaced with another.

Your brand is not your name, logo or the colors you choose for your business card, the words you use or wall paint. That is your brand identity and ultimately become your brand image. And while those choices you make are very important and critical, having an awesome logo or name and no clarity around your WHY or promise, will not matter in the end. You see, its your WHY and promise that once defined, help guide you into the best name, logo, colors and words, not the other way around.

Here is a series of questions for you to ponder to begin to define your brand.

1. What is your WHY?
Why are you in business? Why should I choose you over someone else? What problem are you trying to solve? Passion Squared WHY is to help empower the people I love through providing proven ideas, systems and processes to help create awesome in biz + life. The problem I want to solve is small business failure for beauty and wellness professionals.

2.What business are you in?
Hint: Its not haircuts or exercise classes.  Passion Squared is in the empowerment business.

3. What is your promise to your team, clients and community?
After engaging with your business, what will the outcome be? Passion Squared promise is to share honest ideas, insights and inspiration that will empower the community to take action on those ideas and create awesome in their business, with love.

4. What three words best describe your experience?
If you can get it to one word, even better. Passion Squared one word is empowerment. My three words are awesome, create and empowerment.

5. If a client were writing a 5 star YELP review about your business, what would it say?
If it matches or comes close to your why and promise, you are awesome. A client of Passion Squared would say after engaging with my business, my client had more clarity around what steps they needed to take to grow and felt empowered to create awesome in their business.

Begin here. Take the time. Get the team involved. Listen to what your clients say about your business today. Read your YELP reviews and Facebook page comments. Rome was not built in a day and neither are real, sustainable brands.

PS: Your brand is not the product lines you choose to carry or use. It’s actually the other way around. Based on your brand why, promise, story, identity and image, you choose the product line that fits your brand.

(shared with LOVE from Nina)

Changing Tracks

February 17, 2014Nina KovnerGROW, MY TRUTH

Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge. – Eckhart Tolle

 Here is the audio version of this post. Thank you so much for listening. Enjoy.

Change. It’s one of those things that is always tossed around as inevitable yet so many still try to avoid it, whether we are conscious of it or not. I recently experienced something that made me really stop and think about how we many times fear change, or see it as such a negative thing it almost paralyzes us.

This is what happened.

When the new iPhone iOS7 came out, from my perspective, it seemed as though everyone hated it. Typically when Apple launched as new iOS, people got so excited. Including me. New features. New toys. Awesome, right? But with iOS7, all I heard was what a nightmare it was and be ready to have a ton of time on your hands to relearn how to use just about everything. The issue that stuck out most to me was the changes in iCal, which basically runs my life. Every move I make is on iCal, even trash day.

Life has been a little upside down and nutty for me the last several months, and the last thing I needed was my iCal messed up. Seriously, in my mind, if that happened, I would have to crawl into a hole, for real.

The update could wait. It was too dangerous and scary. At least that is what I thought, based on all the noise on the social web. So I waited. And waited. Until…

Facebook launched the new app called Paper, which is actually a really cool & new way to experience Facebook. But, I had to have iOS7 to get it. OMG. Are you kidding me? So it happened. I decided it was time to update my phone. The thoughts running through my mind were crazy. But I took the plunge. And pressed update…and waited.

What comes next is truly where the lesson was for me. After several months of fearing the update, fearing losing all of my information, fearing not being able to use my lifeline called iCal, I turned on my phone and to my total disbelief, it was awesome. Everything was essentially the same, only a bit more awesome looking. More intuitive. More seamless. More new. That was it.

In business and in life, we can see change as negative, or we can see it as opening up more space, creating new opportunity, creating more awesome. Whether its making that long overdue change in your team, systems, or programs, whether it’s a relationship that’s run its course, not all change is negative. Once we accept that, it is truly amazing how much time we can save and awesomeness we can create.

(shared with LOVE from Nina)

Until You Consider

February 3, 2014Nina KovnerMY TRUTH

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it. – To Kill A Mockingbird

 Here is the audio version of this post. Thank you so much for listening.

As I opened up the TMZ app Sunday morning, my heart sank, another beloved celebrity, another drug overdose.  Then comes all the voices on the internet, some singing praises and sadness, many passing judgement. It happens. Every time. And every time. I sit in horror and sadness.

I never knew Philip Seymour Hoffman, or Cory Monteith, or Chris Farley or many of the millions of souls who lives are taken by drugs, or mental illness.

What I do know, however, all too well, is my own battle and the battles of my loved ones.

Suicide resides on both sides of my family as does addiction.  I have sat by the bedside of loved ones as they survived their 3rd heroin OD in as many years.

I have come close to taking my own life, twice, and have battled with addiction in many forms. So you bet I understand. And I have immense compassion.

Its time to get serious about mental health. Its time to acknowledge that so many of our problems as a society stem from not addressing mental health issues. Homelessness, mass shootings, crime, prison overcrowding, overdoses and suicides, so much of it stems from mental health.

Until you have climbed into my skin, you may never really know what it feels like to be in so much pain that dying seems like the best solution. Until you have climbed into the skin of a heroin addict or a schizophrenic, or someone who is bi polar, you will never fully understand. But instead of judging and blaming, how about become part of the solution.

You see, one of the most tragic things about mental health is we struggle in silence. We don’t have a disease that people rally around and raise money for. No, we are the forgotten ones until a famous person tragically shows up in the news. Then one 24 hour news cycle later, we are forgotten again.

What can we do? Get educated. Show some compassion. Listen. Stop judging. Talk about it. Lift the stigma.

Just like any movement, the more people that become aware, the more conversations we have, the more we can bring about change.

While there are many quality facilities that offer help, there are not enough. We can do better. For ourselves, our families, our friends, our co-workers and our communities.

This is not about politics, its about life.

(shared with LOVE from Nina)

My tribe

The Tribe

January 27, 2014Nina KovnerENGAGE, GROW

“A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate.”

Seth Godin

 

My tribePictured: Erin + Carrie of The Hair Nerds, Josh XO and Douglas McCoy of The House of POp

Here is the audio version of this post. Thanks so much for listening. Enjoy.

As I write this post, I am preparing for the ISSE show, which is, if you don’t know, the kick-off of the annual hair show season for hairdressers. And it’s pretty awesome.

One of the most exciting parts of this weekend, is connecting with my tribe, offline. What is even more amazing to me, is that most of my tribe I have only met in the last 1 1/2 years. Ahhhhh, the power of the social web. Shared interests and empowering platforms such as Hairbrained, Facebook, Instagram and blogs like The Hair Nerds brought us together. And now, you cannot keep us apart.

So many people complain that social platforms are making us less connected, I say, it is what you make it. This goes for both our business and private lives. We can see these platforms as empowering connectors, or time sucks. The choice is ours.

Where the real magic happens, is when those online relationships go offline. Because in the end, we all crave good ol’ fashion face to face connection and a sense of belonging. There is nothing like a big, tight hug from someone you admire and respect. It just seems to make everything better.

If  you are one who is not sold on social and how it can empower your business, I challenge you to take a step back and think about how you are using the Internet. Are you using it as a tool to build relationships? To engage and provide value? Because in the end, that is why we are here. To connect, to share, to love, to provide value and to serve.

I hope to see you online or on the road. And give you a big hug.

(shared with LOVE from Nina)

Just Ship It

January 20, 2014Nina KovnerGROW, MY TRUTH

You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do. -Henry Ford

Here is the audio version of this post. Thanks so much for listening.

How many great biz ideas do you have right now that you have not taken action on? How many times have you talked about doing something awesome and never followed through?

Many of us can relate to the questions above, and its what I call a shipping problem.

You see, we can have all the most awesome ideas in the world, but unless we “ship” them, launch them, initiate them; they are just awesome ideas that will never have any impact on our business or the world.

If you find yourself unable to ship, there may be a few things happening that you need to explore.

Are you afraid?
Do you not have the resources or knowledge?
Do you have too much on your to-do list?
Are you a perfectionist?

All of these things are real and worth exploring, but not always an excuse to not ship your idea.  Now I’m not talking about a $100K remodel, I am talking about ideas, programs, products or services that can bring value to your world and help grow your biz.

Typically, what I have found working with my clients and community, is it is all four that stop so many from creating awesome. So lets break it down.

Fear
Most of us fear failure to some degree. But if we are going to ever create awesome, we have to use that fear as creative fuel, bust through, and do it anyway. It’s takes a TON of courage to create stuff. And even more courage to launch and ship it.

Resources + Knowledge
In today’s world, there are a gazillion resources at our fingertips as well as information to help us ship our idea. We just have to want it bad enough to find those resources and knowledge.

The To-Do List
In order to do important things; we have to let go of our obsession with the to-do list. If we get really honest with ourselves, most of the stuff on that list can be deleted, moved or delegated.

Perfectionism
Is deadly. The idea that something is ever going to be perfect enough is one of the most dangerous thoughts we have. Why? It can prevent us from doing just about anything. And guess what? It’s never going to be perfect. Ever. Its not meant to be perfect and neither are we.

I wrote my new book, Follow Your Heart, on January 1, 2013. I sat on it for almost 9 months. Why? Fear, my perceived lack of resources, knowledge and my to-do list.  I have long lost the need for anything to be perfect, however, this did creep into my head when I recorded the audio version of the book. For real’s. Upon listening to the book, I began to judge its contents, to the degree that I had to stop listening or I probably would not have shipped.

As I prepare to finally release my book into the universe on January 26th, I see how I was 100% responsible for not shipping. Regret? Never. But what an incredible lesson it was for me, to always remember to look in the mirror, and realize my ability to create awesome and ship awesome is my choice.

(shared with LOVE from Nina)