Its All In Your Head Passion Squared

It’s All In Your Head: My Truth About Anxiety

May 6, 2016Nina KovnerGROW, MY TRUTH

“I promise you nothing is as chaotic as it seems. Nothing is worth your health. Nothing is worth poisoning yourself into stress, anxiety, and fear.” Steve Maraboli

(this post was originally published on February 10, 2014. I have gotten so many requests recently to discuss the topic of anxiety I chose to update it today)

Anxiety sucks. And its real. It can rob of us so much joy. It can paralyze us and isolate us. I am continually asked about this topic as I have shared openly that I live with anxiety and panic disorder, and on Saturday, a beautiful member of the Passion Squared community asked that I share some ways that I have been able to deal with it.

First and foremost, I am not a doctor. Duh. But I am in treatment and continue to battle this crippling condition, successfully (most of the time), thus, my ability to speak on the topic from MY experience.

Lets begin with the definition of generalized anxiety disorder explained by The National Institute of Mental Health…

“All of us worry about things like health, money, or family problems. But people with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) are extremely worried about these and many other things, even when there is little or no reason to worry about them. They are very anxious about just getting through the day. They think things will always go badly. At times, worrying keeps people with GAD from doing everyday tasks.”

So yes, it is all in our head, and for us, the fear and worry are very real.

The following are the ways that I treat my anxiety today…

1. Therapy
I consistently see a therapist. Knowing that I have a mental disorder, I have accepted that one of the best ways to keep my head straight is to treat it. When we have a physical health issue, we see a doctor. Mental health is no different.

2. Eating + Exercise
One of the best pieces of advice I was given that works for me was about keeping my blood sugar regulated, meaning, eating some type of protein every 3-4 hours. In addition to that, I am very mindful of how much I mix caffeine and sugar. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE espresso and drink it every morning. But I do not drink Venti Iced Mochas (sugar mixed with caffeine). Now on the exercise front, it works. And while I am not yet to the point where I do it consistently, when I do, my anxiety is greatly reduced.

3. Vitamin B
Again, I am not a doctor and am not saying what works for me will work for you, but keeping loaded up on B vitamins has absolutely helped me. And when I am not staying loaded up on B’s, I can feel the difference.

4. Music
Whenever I am absolutely freaking out, I throw in my ear buds and listen to meditation music, Zen type stuff. It seems to really help calm down my heart rate. At the same time, if I am getting ready to present in front of an audience and cannot catch my breath, which is often, I will listen to my fave hip hop song, it seems to work for me as well.

5. Gratitude + Meditation + Prayer
One of the things I have learned about anxiety is that it can go from bad and to worse the more we focus on it and all the things we are fearful of. When I make my gratitude list, for just that moment, I get out of my head. It works. Same goes for meditation and prayer. Now, I am not religious, but I do my own kind of prayer. The meditation thing, I do by listening to meditation music as mentioned in #4.

6. Take A Walk
I know, I get so angry when people are like…”Just take a walk, you will feel better.” OMG, do you have any idea what I am going thorough right now? But in all seriousness, removing myself from the current environment, just for a few moments, helps. So if you are at work, walk outside. At home, move to another room. Anything you can do to change your environment can help.

7. Give Someone A Hand
This is a big one. The more we focus on our fears, the more fearful and anxious we become. So again, like the gratitude list, its good to get out of our own heads. Helping someone out, a co-worker, a boss, a friend or neighbor helps me get out of my head, and move past the anxiety I am feeling in that moment.

8. Medication
Now again, I am NOT A DOCTOR. I am only speaking from my experience and plead with you to go back to point 1, see a mental health professional and together, decide what the best treatment for you is. I have chosen not to be consistently medicated. Reason being, I tried, and I had disastrous results. My choice has been to work my ass off to battle this disorder the most natural way I can. However, I do have a prescription for a medication that I take ONLY when I am in a serious and debilitating attack. I am proud to say, I only have to take this 1-2 times a month, at most. And it is always a last resort for me.

9. Healthy Boundaries + Creating Space
Last but not least, I have created a space of peace and calm in my world. I have removed toxic people, toxic places, and most toxic things. I have sacrificed a lot to do this, but as an adult, I get to choose. And so do you. This could mean saying NO more, pairing down that to-so list, removing projects that are overwhelming you, staying offline from time to time, etc. It is a choice. As hard as that is to grasp.

Living with anxiety blows but we do have a choice of how we are going to let it control our lives. And like anything worth having in life, it takes work.

A big shout out of love + gratitude to Duke Strange, who inspired this post.

If you are looking for some daily inspiration and help with keeping you on track, sign up for my Love Notes Daily, one of the most loved services I offer.

Love + Awesomeness-
Nina

#QandAwesome 43 Perfectionism + Courage

April 30, 2016Nina Kovner#QandAwesome, GROW

In this episode of #QandAwesome, I talk the dangerous side of perfectionism. It takes courage to drop the excuses and create. And while it’s uncomfortable, the truth is everything awesome in life is generally uncomfortable. Thank you so much for watching! 

 

The Miseducation of A Brand Passion Squared hd

The Miseducation of A Brand

April 18, 2016Nina KovnerGROW

“A cool logo does not make you a brand.”

My life’s work has been about creating brands, building brands, growing brands and reinventing brands. And each day I see the term brand used, is another day my heart breaks a little bit more as the word seems to become more misunderstood. And don’t get me wrong, it is perfectly OK to simply have a great business, but a great business is not the same as having an awesome brand.

What A Brand Is Not.
A logo
A website
A URL
A trademark
A name
An Instagram account
A building
A paint color
A business card
A business
A product
A service
A sticker
Etc…

What A Brand Is
A brand is an entire experience. How I feel when engaging with you and the decisions and actions I take (over time) because of that feeling. i.e. click, call, book, tell my friends.
A brand is…
An experience
A feeling
A connection
A culture
A relationship
A story
Which ultimately leads to a decision and choice to take action. Over time. Again and again.

According to Seth Godin, the master of all things marketing and one of my most early mentors of marketing… “A brand’s value is merely the sum total of how much extra people will pay, or how often they choose, the expectations, memories, stories and relationships of one brand over the alternatives.”

Several elements go into creating a brand of long term value. And yes, brand identity (logo, colors, fonts, image, etc.) is a part of creating an awesome brand, but it is not the brand. Big difference.

You can have a beautiful logo and no brand recognition.
You can have a cute sticker but no brand value.
You can have a beautiful building but no clients.
You can have a killer Instagram following but no relationships.
You can have a beautiful paint color but no connections.
You can have a fancy, overpriced website but no visitors.
You can sell a product or service one time but have no repeat clients over time.

So let’s play a game…
When you think of Passion Squared, how do you feel?
When you chose to do business with, follow or subscribe to Passion Squared, why did you make that choice?
When you recommend Passion Squared to your friends, what do you tell them and why?
When you engage with a Passion Squared coaching session, workshop or class, how do you feel when you leave?

If you said you feel empowered, have more clarity, feel loved, inspired, informed, you trust me, it feels like I understand you; that is when my brand has created some form of value for you and you made a choice of exchanging time and money for that experience.

And know this… All the work I have done over the last 5 years building the Passion Squared brand got us to this point. Each move I make, each workshop I teach, each program I create, each story I tell, each piece of content I share, each blog I write, its all strategic. Its all by design. And quite frankly, it has nothing to do with my cool logo. Cause the reality is, I had the logo long before you chose to engage with my brand. And the logo was meaningless and had no value, without all the other efforts I have put into creating something of value for you, consistently, over time. Again and again.

However, when you see my logo, if you know my brand, it inspires a feeling. A feeling I work daily to create. You see how this works? It’s not as simple as someone saying, “I am going to teach you branding”.

Creating a brand of value is much more than a cute logo or a bunch of followers on Instagram. Remember that.

Love + Awesomeness-
Nina

PS: I also wrote about this topic a few years ago here.

 

Change The System blog Passion Squared hd (1)

Change The System, Change The Experience

March 28, 2016Nina KovnerENGAGE, GROW

“It is not the strongest or the most intelligent that will survive but those who can best manage change.” Charles Darwin

As a young businessperson, one of my coaches once shared a simple yet profound concept; change the system, change the result. And today, I would add experience before result. Change the system, change the experience, which changes the result.

Simple, yes. Easy. OMG no! That is why businesses suffer and become irrelevant, that is why so many small biz owners feel angst instead of excitement at the thought of change. But guys, I am here to tell you, I know this first hand. I have lived it. This is the truth.

While I am thinking of biz models pretty much 24/7, and how I can help empower the people I love with ideas, concepts and actions, this one thing has been weighing heavy on my mind, so here it goes…

The Client Journey Has Changed, Have You?
As a paying client of two hair salons @sugarskulls @larisadoll and an eyelash extension salon @ilianaladma, and as one who is an awesome social listener and student, I have witnessed what is awesome and not so awesome in many of the salon business models. The one thing that stands out so much to me right now is how clients are booked. And no, I am not going to shove online booking down your throat again, you can read that here and here.

Passion Squared Glam Squad Sugar Skulls Larisa Love Iliana Ladama

No, what I am talking about is creating space and time for the “new” client journey + experience. The one that includes capturing the experience in order to create a relevant and compelling story to share, as well as help your clients facilitate the story they want to share about their experience.

If we want to capture the empowering opportunities of the social + digital web, we must change the way we do business. And that means changing the amount of time we give to that experience.

But Nina, I Don’t Have Time!
If you find yourself saying “I don’t have time to capture pictures, I don’t have time to Instagram this experience, I don’t have time to Snapchat this story, I don’t have time to pre-book the next experience”, then I say it’s time to take a big step back and look at how you are managing your time and the amount of time you are giving to each client.

Now, I know you will say, “but Nina, this is how I make money, more clients, more money.” I get it. And I will say back to you, if you understand the social + digital web, and clients passion around sharing experiences, and want to provide the best experience possible, then if you create space to do that, you will actually make more money because your experience is more awesome and your clients will share it.

Change Is Constant, Period.
Change happens. The only decision you need to make is if you are going to fight it or embrace it and re-think how you can capture your awesome experiences.

Love + Awesomeness-

Nina

PS: If you are an owner and want to learn more about how to create more awesome in your biz + life, and learn how you can create awesome on the social + digital web, check out my A School for Owners program.

PPS: This idea of client experience in the age of social + digital has nothing to do with the age of the salon, the stylist or the client. In fact, it has nothing to do with age at all. As defined by the awesome Brian Solis, it has everything to do with Generation C, the connect customer, who is not defined by age but by behavior. And “their” passion is sharing experiences, whether it be via a social platform, a review platform, or any other way they can share. If you need more proof then what we are witnessing every day as humans, I highly recommend you read The End of Business As Usual by Brian Solis and The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk.

#QandAwesome Personal Posts On Social Platforms

March 26, 2016Nina Kovner#QandAwesome, ENGAGE

In this episode I share the truth about “personal” and social platforms. The truth is, nobody can nor should tell you what is right for your brand or audience. But until you have clarity around your brand and audience, it will continue to be difficult to know where the line is. Thanks so much for watching!