The Importance of Understanding Who You Are

Will a client really connect with me if they don’t know what I stand for?

As a creative business owner, developing a brand identity can be somewhat overwhelming. Believing a beautifully designed logo, an attractive website and good looking art means people will easily connect with you is a misunderstanding that is upheld by many small business owners. I believed my brand was my creative work and my presentations.

Two years into my second business, I realized something was missing. I felt I wasn’t connecting with my clients, or at least not connecting with the right clients. Why weren’t clients banging my doors down for my wonderful services? Delving deeper into who my clients are and what I have to offer them helped me to develop my own unique brand identity. As I started to think about who I was and what I had to offer developed into a migraine headache that was becoming more and more painful.

Then came the conflicting intentions:

What credibility do I have?
What do I offer to compel them to use me?
There are far better skilled people than me?
I don’t have the experience and the knowhow of my competitors.

It was time for reflection and brainstorming. By utilizing an online tool called E-Scan (http://www.entrepreneurscan.co.uk), I began exploring my entrepreneurial make-up, which they refer to as my Entrepreneurial DNA.

As a result, I spent some time on self-awareness and self-reflection. I would ask myself, “Who do I admire and who inspires me?” I was surprised with the results. The people I admired were people who had similar traits and beliefs as mine and were all successful in their own right.

I sent emails and text messages to friends and colleagues and asked them, “What do you see when you think about me?” Their responses all identified character traits similar to those people who I looked up to. This was the first step in understanding and developing my brand identity.

Ask yourself the following questions:

What makes you different from other people? Standing out amongst the crowd means that customers won’t be saturated with the same offers from similar people or brands. Once a customer is put into this situation, they start to look at pricing. If they can get a cheaper product that carries a similar brand, they will go for it

What can you bring to the table that is better than others? Be bold, don’t be shy. Focus on being the expert and study your subject. The more you know, the more you will be able to offer your customer and stay ahead of the competition.

What “zing” do you create? In other words, what’s your unique selling point? Be the one that is known for putting out quality resources within your industry. Do it with pizzazz, in a zingy way. Think about being different.

Identify how you overcame your weaknesses. These skills can be easily passed onto your client if you are in the business of providing solutions. When you think of it, isn’t that what we all do as entrepreneurs, that is, provide solutions?

What is your story, how did you get to where you are today? What survival strategies did you use and how can you apply these in your business in order to help your clients get to where they want to be?

What will people remember you for? People may not remember every word you spoke about on stage or at an event, but they will always remember how you made them feel.

Take a few minutes to think about who you are, what you stand for and what you want to be known as in the world. Understand what your clients are looking for and what their compelling needs and desires are and work towards finding ways to help them resolve these issues.

So what do I stand for? I work with women business owners who have developed a creative business whilst working in the corporate world; I teach them how to create leverage by creating information products and systems on how to get booked solid.

Understanding who you are is the first step to developing your own unique brand identity.

Resource – Visit http://www.entrepreneurscan.co.uk to see how an E-Scan can help you with your personal brand identity. By taking an Entrepreneur Scan to find your unique entrepreneurial DNA. your brand can be directly related to your current strengths and, as you develop your capabilities, your brand can evolve right along with them.

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Neelam Meetcha

Neelam Meetcha specializes in assisting women entrepreneurs in the UK with their start up businesses. She is a serial entrepreneur and has a passion for working with women business owners. She is a creative writer and her expertise is how to leverage time by creating information products for your business. Neelam is a Certified Book Yourself Solid Coach trained directly by Michael Port. "Control the pace & win the race."

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