Invisible Details

We’ve had an incredible first season of Invisible Details and we’re very proud of what we’ve created. Whether you’ve been listening since the beginning or just started recently, thank you! We hope you’ve received an incredible amount of value from our show. In today’s episode we’ll explain a little bit about why we’re pausing the show and some of the exciting things we have coming up.

Logo? Check. Mission statement? Check. Target audience? Website? Check and check. The external components of a brand are fairly easy to spot. You can get a sense of what you need to have in place with a quick Google search or a trip down our podcast archive. It’s not that the obvious things are unimportant. On the contrary, every facet of what brings a brand to life holds great value. There are also many unseen parts of a brand, and it’s a journey we like to take to find those invisible details. These are the things that keep the clock ticking and locked in time. What is it that makes McDonald’s a stand-out brand in the fast food industry? What should you be reminding yourself (and employees) of as often as you can? What do you need to have written down and solidified so you aren’t caught off guard? We’ll answer these three questions and more on today’s show where we talk about some practical things your brand needs that may not be as apparent.

When your business is not yet financially viable, you have to have something that pays the bills. Running a business is not cheap, plus with the fact that you need to keep the lights on at home, there has to be a means of income somewhere. Not everyone has the luxury of being able to work on their business full time. Many people support their business ventures by working a day job or bringing in finances by some other means. For some, this may work quite well. They enjoy their day job and it provides them the peace of mind that their expenses will be covered so they can work on their business on the side without concern. (This is one of the cornerstones of overlapping; be sure to check out the book at OverlapBook.com) For others, their day job is one they dread every single day. It drains them and is a continual source of frustration. They may feel trapped, either because of the paycheck or the seeming lack of work elsewhere. When you feel stuck in your day job and you feel like it controls you, you are doing a disservice to your business and passion. So what would it look like to take control of your day job? What steps could you take to not only improve the job you have now, but perhaps even the company you work for? What sort of mindset would you need to transform yourself from getting burnt out at work to thriving and being fulfiled at your day job? On today's episode, we talk about what it might look like to support your business with a day job (you don't hate!), how a simple mindset shift could change your actions and behaviors toward your day job, and why your business probably should be put on pause until you get your day job situation in order.

When learning to ride a motorcycle, one of the earliest things they teach you is to always keep your eyes focused on where you want to go. “Don’t look too long to the left or to the right unless you want to go there,” the instructor says. “Your eyes will lead the bike to that point.” It doesn’t even matter if your head is pointed straight forward. If your eyes wander too far away from where you want your motorcycle to be, your body slowly starts to lean in that direction, and it can obviously lead to devastating results. Doing anything professionally requires much of the same focus. Too much deviation from your goal, too much sidelong glances at what others are doing and you might find yourself straying away from your objective. If you’re truly helping people and you run your brand off the road, who suffers the most? The same people you’re trying to help. Finding success doesn’t mean you have to be the best in the world. On today’s show we’ll be talking about what it means to define your own success, ways to practice putting your customers first, and why slow sustained growth is better than a flash-in-the-pan success.

There is an interesting divide in businesses around the world when it comes to their various practices. Many companies seem to want to do anything it takes to make money, while others take pride in having some level of virtue and wanting to do the “right thing”. The “right thing” can be incredibly subjective, not to mention controversial. If one business says they are doing something ethical, does that necessarily mean that any similar company doing the opposite is not? The values of a company determine its direction. They define what you will and will not do as a business or a brand. It’s one thing to set these values internally, but it’s another completely to make them a focused part of your external brand. In today’s episode we’ll be talking about what it means to define your brand’s ethics, where ethics should sit in regard to the public, and how you can help consumers become more mindful when it comes to the things they buy.

There is often a confusion with the term “branding”. Many people often think a brand is what something looks like, how it’s made or presented. People often equate “design” and “brand”, even though it’s only part of the picture. All that being said, design is an essential ingredient of a memorable brand, and the best cakes require the best ingredients (yes, I used a cake metaphor.) Charli Prangley is a web and graphic designer who is passionate about helping designers do their best work. She currently works for ConvertKit, an email marketing service for creators who want to make a living. She’s built a massive audience on YouTube, where she makes quality videos about design. Charli joins me on the show today to talk about how design and branding work together. We’ll also talk about when to invest in design for your business, when to hire out, and how to communicate your brand values through design.

Many of the conversations I have with creative professionals or people wanting to get started in business in some sort of creative industry usually come around to this question: “what’s holding you back?” For most people, I’ve found that the biggest obstacle is putting themselves and there out there for the whole world to see and critique. Sure, the possibility of success is there, but so is the possibility of rejection from the people you’re wanting to help the most. The fear of rejection can be incredibly powerful. The idea that you might put an incredible amount of work and passion and time into something just for people to reject it can be absolutely crippling. Why would anyone purposefully put themselves into a situation where the things they create could be mocked or put down by others? What if you spend weeks, months, or years pouring your heart into a project or business only to have it met with poor reviews, negativity, or bad press? The answer is: you might, and that’s okay because the solution is to plan for it. If you plan for the worst, you’re ready for when it comes. This is a topic really close to my heart, and I want to encourage you. On today’s episode I’ll be talking about how to deal with negativity, poor reviews, bad press, and a general feeling that you’re just not good enough.

When you make the decision to shift away from your current pursuit to something different, sometimes the transition isn't too big. There may be some overlap and you may not have to rebuild your audience or following. But what if you want to change industries completely? What if you decide that what you have been pursuing is not what brings you fulfillment and you find a passion in something completely different? What does that process look like? On this final part of our three-part series on reinventing yourself, I’m joined by my good friend Sarah Dayan (https://frontstuff.io) to talk about the process of changing industries (in her case from hand lettering to development), how that affects your brand, and how to make the switch even when it feels uncomfortable.

In the first episode of this three-part series, we talked about pivoting without throwing everything away. Pivoting is a process in and of itself and you can still bring along a lot of what you’ve already learned and built. Starting from what seems like zero can be complicated, especially when you’ve been in your current industry for a while. People might know you a certain way, you may have built up an existing audience, and your network might still be comprised of the field you want to depart from. You may still have some foundation from your previous direction, but there is a lot of new ground to cover. If you want to be known for this new thing, you have to take the steps to get there. This episode is the second in a three-part series on reinventing yourself. In today’s episode we’ll be talking about how to take beginner steps even though you have a lot of experience, and where you should be focusing when you decide to take the big steps of change.

There may come a point in your career where it seems like there is a significant fork in the road. Maybe the fork in the road has come because you’re not sure if you’re passionate about what you’ve been doing anymore. Maybe your business isn’t viable or major changes and shifts have happened that now require you to make a decision. You can either continue down the same road you’ve been going or you can change directions. This might be a small shift, perhaps in business practice or something minor. It also could be as large as moving into another industry all together. A move like this can be overwhelming at many levels. Does this mean all of the work you’ve done to date is useless? Do you have to just throw it away because it may not exactly apply? On today’s episode we’ll be talking about how to make significant pivots in your life or business without completely throwing away what you’ve already made, accomplished, and achieved.

This is a short conversation that Kyle Adams and I had a few days after the launch of Instagram's new video service IGTV. It is raw, unscripted, and very on-the-spot from our perspectives on using the service and the future of the platform. IGTV is an interesting subject of discussion because of its desire to take a piece of the long-form video market in a unique way. Its dedication to vertical video and insistence that users must adjust their consumption habits is incredibly thought provoking, which lead to this conversation. Whether or not you prefer to consume content on Instagram, there's no denying that IGTV is making a large impact in the space already. There are certainly some concerns we have that are likely simply growing pains of a new service that hopefully will get ironed out over time, and it will be fascinating to watch it develop.

Today's episode is a quick show to announce that all of the episodes for Invisible Details are now public and free. In the past, the majority of the shows on the seanwes network were available only to seanwes members, with the exception of the week's latest episode and a selection of hand-picked episodes from the show. This is no longer the case, and we're excited to be able to share that all of the shows on the seanwes network are now released to the public. This change is the the result of some changes to our business model happening at seanwes. There is a much more in-depth explanation over at seanwes tv e224. I invite you to watch the seanwes tv episode linked above for a bit more context, but in this short episode I also talk a little bit about why the changes are happening and what you can expect going forward.

You've come up with an idea, you've validated it with your audience, and you know the story you want to tell. Now you have to sell your product. The process of determining a price for your products can be difficult. Making sure the price is fair but also wanting to make a profit can be an endless cycle, not to mention the costs of actually producing the product itself. Objectively you need to sell your product, and if you want to sell it you're going to need to figure out the final price. In this final part of our four-part series on nice to haves, we'll talk about things you need to consider before deciding a final price, how packaging plays a role, and what you have to think about between making a product and getting it to your customer.

The worst mistake a business can make when talking about a nice to have product is to define its specifications...and that's it. Certainly the features of a product are important, as many people in your target audience might be interested in those facts, but facts don’t sell nice to haves: stories do. Story is what gives life to facts. It moves people beyond what we can see into what we feel, engaging parts of our mind that process the world differently. The inclusion of story in society is what gives us history and culture. Story is inseparable from life, and as such should be closely tied with your product. Incorporating story into your copy and description is essential to getting people to care enough about your product to want to buy it. This episode is the third of a four-part series. We’ll be talking about how build story into your nice to have product and attract the kind of people who will become customers.

An idea is just an idea. You can’t market, launch, or sell an idea, no matter if it solves problems or not. If you want to sell something, you’re going to need to have someone willing to buy it. When it comes to products that are nice to have, you’re already starting with an uphill battle. This doesn’t make it impossible, but there is work that needs to be done. Unlike problem-solving ideas where you can simply answer the question of, “do people have this problem?” you have to tackle viability from a different standpoint with nice to haves. The questions are different, and the answers can be more complicated. Acquiring data is one of the most important parts of deciding to move forward with producing an idea. Without data, you’re flying in the dark and hoping that someone will want to buy it at some point. This episode is the second of a four-part series. We’ll be talking through questions to ask, data you’ll want to collect, and how to better determine if your idea is actually viable.

Most businesses are built on a very understandable, palatable concept: find a problem, solve the problem, and sell it to the people who have the problem. This is a surefire way to make money in the 21st century, because much of the upfront work has already been done. While many people who want to make a living provide for themselves by solving direct problems, there is a vast number of others who want to make a living doing something that doesn't solve a direct problem. How do you come up with a price for your art? How do you determine the value of those snazzy jeans you designed? Why do people spend their money on certain things and not others? What do you do when your product doesn’t provide any sort of monetary return? This episode is the first of a four-part series. We’ll be talking about the subjectivity of value and how to start on the path to developing a brand based around what some would call “nice to haves”.

Keeping up with the modern trends can be an arduous task with great reward. Staying in business requires knowing your market and adjusting as things change over time. On the other side of the coin is the idea of remaining consistent with your brand over the years. You’ve established yourself, you know what you’re about, and you’ve established solid patterns and systems. How do you balance staying relevant with your target market while not compromising on what your brand is built on? On today’s show we’ll talk about how to balance the natural evolution of a brand with remaining consistent to your core audience.

One of the lesser-appreciated but equally important parts of any business is research. Knowing your market, understanding your target audience, and analyzing your current status. Taking a look at the numbers in any form can feel daunting. The moment you start looking over your site analytics, social media data, or the numbers from last month’s sales, lots of questions begin to spring up. Knowing how to evaluate the data is a skill that takes time, but it also requires you to disassociate yourself from the numbers themselves, which can also be hard. What do you do when the numbers are less than what you want, or when they aren’t what you had expected? It’s far too easy to get caught up in the calculations and the math and forget to see the realities of analytics. The “numbers” represent actual people, which is the most important focus. In this episode, we talk about how we look at the numbers and analytics and how to work on staying objective while studying the data.

Any time you start something there is a desire to have that thing find success, whatever level of success that may be. Perhaps it’s completely passive income, making seven figures a year, having a certain amount of clients, or just having enough to do the things you really want to do. Goals, dreams, and aspirations are all very important. Having a path in front of us helps to determine where we walk and what we do. There’s a lot of advice out there about envisioning the future, deciding who you want to be and then modifying your behavior to fit that persona. We’re told to decide how successful we want our business to be and then “make it happen”. While these pieces of advice can be helpful, it also introduces the problem of looking too far ahead and not looking enough at where you are right now. Having a desire for success is important, but the process of building a brand is not one that grows immediately, and sometimes you have to step back and focus on your short term actions rather than what might happen in the future. In today’s episode we’ll be talking about the decision making process for your brand, how to make short term decisions based on long term goals, and how to make decisions based on your current business situation.

The idea of putting imperfect work out into the world is unpleasant. You know if you worked just a little harder, just a little longer, you might be able to get it to where you envision. Late nights, tweaks, updates, rehauls and refreshes. The bar for completion keeps getting higher and higher. Deadlines start coming up and the project is nowhere near the level you want it to be. Sound familiar? Maybe you’re working on a project and waiting to share it with the world until it’s done. You want to put the finished product on display and share it as people will experience it. You only get one shot at a first impression, right? There’s a problem with this methodology, and the problem lies with humanity’s incredible ability to move on and move on quickly. Knowing how to achieve the result of your vision is more important than the vision itself, and on today’s episode, we’ll be talking about how to keep yourself from procrastinating on shipping, why imperfect work can actually work perfectly, and why you may not want to wait until it’s done.

If your body seems to be having some sort of health issue, the first thing anyone does is attempt to diagnose it. You identify the issue, sort out the causes and symptoms, and even see a professional if need be. Many people also have regular checkups with physicians or doctors, sometimes not because anything is externally wrong, but just to make sure everything is going well under the surface. The process of evaluating something gives you the opportunity to ask objective questions and really get a sense for what is happening “under the hood”. Whether it’s your body, company, brand, or anything else, you now have a framework to get a sense of the health of that thing. A brand is no exception, and in fact brand evaluation should be part of a regular schedule that you maintain throughout the year. Without taking a good honest look at the status of your brand, you run the risk of overlooking symptoms of deeper problems that could be detrimental down the road. In today’s episode we’ll talk about some methods you can use to evaluate your brand, how frequently you should conduct evaluations, and some easy steps to get started without getting overwhelmed.

It’s not enough to simply have an idea of what you want your brand to be or how you want to be perceived. In order to remain consistent and to truly communicate what your brand is, you need to construct your brand identity. Whatever your brand projects is part of its identity. Words, imagery, color, tone, personality, it’s all wrapped up under the umbrella of brand identity. Your brand identity is the tool that gives you assurance that what your audience is seeing is consistent with what you want your brand to be. It takes the philosophy and internal workings of your brand and externalizes it for people to experience. On today’s show we’re going to provide an introduction to the idea of brand identity, how to develop a filter for what you already have, and some simple steps to get consistency fast.

Having a brand means having a certain kind of reputation. It means you are perceived in a certain way by someone else, whether positive or negative. The requirement of any brand is having someone else on the other side of it: a customer, a target audience member, a competitor, and so on. If nobody knows about what you're doing, your brand doesn't exist. Getting in front of people is not something that comes naturally to most. When you put yourself out there or when you allow your work or creativity to be public, it can be scary! The best part is: you're not alone. There are a lot of other people struggling with putting themselves out there because building an audience can be nerve-wracking. On today's episode, I want to share some of my experience with building and audience and help to alleviate some of the most prominent fears that hold too many people back.

Every few months or so people proclaim loudly that email is dead and [insert new platform here] is the future of communication. However for all of its flaws, email is not yet dead, and is nowhere close to being so. Estimates show over 3.6 billion email accounts across the world, and research groups have estimated that over 236 billion emails were sent in 2017…per day. Yes, that’s 236 billion emails a day, or 86 trillion emails in a year. Of course, a response to this might be, “How can my emails compete with 236 billion other emails in a day? How does this matter?” It matters because even though the scale is growing, people are becoming more and more sensitive to what comes into their inbox. Anything they want is purposeful, and what they don’t want is marked as spam. Today’s show is not about methodology or a how-to on how to set up your automations, but instead a look as to why email is still relevant and how you can leverage your brand through email. We don’t believe email is dead, and furthermore we believe that email can be one of your brand’s biggest assets. On today’s show we’ll talk about email automation, how to build trust through email, and why you should take great care with your audience’s inbox.

You might have heard the expression, “underpromise and overdeliver”. It’s the idea where you tell your customers or clients what they can expect, then giving them above and beyond what they expected. Sure, the expression is a cute one, but the idea of overdelivering is an interesting one. What exactly is the promise? Is it just as simple as knowing what you’re going to make and holding back some information about it? This episode is one of our conversational shows, exploring the idea of the promise and delivery, and if it actually pays in the end to overdeliver.

As hard as you may try, it’s impossible to please everyone that comes across your brand. Many people will love what you’re about, and some people will not resonate with it. Of course, there will always be people who don’t trust or like you. Trying to convert those people is often a misuse of energy, so it’s typically more constructive to work on building trust between you and your actual target audience. Building a brand is ultimately about building trust. When people trust you, they are more likely to stick around, both as a customer and an advocate. But what happens when that trust is broken? Broken trust and negative perception can come anytime and from anywhere, and it pays to be prepared for it. On today’s show we’ll be talking about how to prepare for the unknown and ways to show and prove to your customers that they can trust you again.

Everything you do for your brand should be associated with some sort of goal. When you sit down and take a look at the direction you’re headed and what needs to happen next, you set a point that you want to get to. Goals come in many shapes and scales, from publishing the latest newsletter to shipping your flagship course to hiring your 100th employee. When handled right, they can provide incredible direction and satisfaction upon completion. Once you start adding more goals to the list, however, they start to feel overwhelming if not handled or processed correctly. Which goal or task takes priority? How do you know when to work on one thing and not the other? Having a process to manage your goals, prioritize your projects, and actually accomplish anything is important for the health and focus of your brand. On today’s episode, we’ll be talking about some of the ways we approach goals and projects and offer some suggestions to get you deeper focus and see results faster.

You’ve probably never heard of Gary Dahl. Gary had an idea in the 1970s that would go on to make him millions. The idea? The Pet Rock. It was literally a box with a rock in it that people bought for $3.95. Originally created as a joke, Gary’s ridiculous idea resonated with the culture of the time and it became one of the weirdest business stories of our time. And that’s just one story. Determining the viability of a product or service can lead to a lot of sleepless nights. “Would people even buy this? Should I pursue it? Is this a waste of time?” There’s a disconnect between you and your idea. If you’re not overwhelmingly sold on it, it’ll be tough to sell anyone else on it. Here’s the good news: your idea is probably not as awful as the ones we’ll be talking about today! In today’s show, we’re going to be talking about some of the weirdest business ideas you’ve ever heard, and how the right idea at the right time can make all the difference to the right person.

Do you remember the last time you had an experience with a brand that made you absolutely delighted? What was the circumstance? How did it make you feel? We so often look at business with only the transactional side of things in mind, when most customers remember primarily the feeling of the transaction. When you add delight into the mixture, you improve the chances of that feeling being a positive one. Sweating the details can look different for different situations, but in every case it is an important factor of building a positive brand image. On today’s episode, we’ll talk about how much time you should spend on the details and offer some suggestions to make your customers’ experience delightful.

Today marks a big milestone for Invisible Details: we’ve reached our 100th episode! To celebrate, we turned on our cameras and opened up the broadcast to all of our listeners for a special public live show. On today's show, we talk about our favorite brands, things we can learn and bring into the new year, and our hopes and plans for the next one hundred episodes of Invisible Details.

One of the best ways to measure the success of your business is to set goals and track your progress to achieving those goals. Your goals might be conversions achieved, sales numbers, contacts subscribed, or any number of other things. In most cases, your customers or audience members have to perform some sort of action to hit these overall goals. Customer actions are the building blocks to accomplish your brand goals. For example, in order to hit a revenue goal, you have to have a customer take a certain action and purchase your products. As you list out the customer actions your business requires, you may start to see barriers or blocks a visitor might experience between first encountering your brand and performing the action. This is called friction, and friction often reduces the chance a person will actually do what you want them to do. On today’s show I’ll be discussing a few examples of friction, how to reduce friction, and how to improve the experience to turn potential customers into paying customers.

Ideas are worthless. The only thing that matters is actually doing something about those ideas. Taking action is the variable that counts. Once you have an idea, you might start to work on it. You put in some work here and there, but realize after a while the scope of what you want to do is larger than you originally anticipated. You start adding to your process, revamping what you have. You redesign, you scrap and start over, you lie awake at night because it's simply not done. Why does it seem to be such a long time between having an idea and actually putting it out there? Why does taking action become paralyzing so much of the time? On today's show we’re going to talk about getting your ideas off the ground and avoiding the feeling of paralysis when it comes to taking action.

Your going to love todays episode. Language is a fascinating topic, and along with language comes the conversation about spelling, grammar, and overall structure of your communication. There has been an interesting observable trend over the last decade or so, a trend that has slowly diminished both the social requirement of good writing and increased the necessity of speed in our communication. The results are apparent and incredibly interesting as you study the nature of how people connect on the internet. Typos are just part of the charm, right? Not only this, but the internet has also connected people from all over the world, providing easy access and communication between peoples of multiple languages and cultures. This means there are more people speaking more languages in more contexts. If you are writing copy in a language that’s not your first but is the language of your target audience, the pressure is higher than ever to get it right. How you present yourself to the world influences how they see you, think about you, and feel about you. Today we’re going to talk about the role of spelling and grammar in your messaging, how much it matters in what contexts, and what to do if you’re writing in a language that isn’t your native language.

A business relies on cash flow. In order for a business to survive, there has to be some source of income. This can look like product sales, services, donations, investors, or other means of financing. The common denominator is that there is income coming in (see what I did there?). The internet has brought about a lot of opportunities for businesses to thrive online, but it has challenges of its own. Hosting your business on someone else’s platform or building your income streams solely off of someone else’s business model is easy, but comes at a cost. For example, many creators on YouTube have attempted to build businesses on the platform through ad revenue. A viewer sees an ad, the ad counts toward an impression, and the creator gets paid after a certain amount of impressions. Yet over the last year, this type of monetization has become inconsistent at best. Creators blame the “adpocalypse” and that YouTube is to blame for their decrease in income from ad revenue. Is it really YouTube’s fault, though? Today’s show will touch on the YouTube and platform controversies but we’ll also be talking about different ways to build toward having multiple sources of income, separating your various “income eggs” into different baskets, and keeping the future of your business in your own hands.

Today’s show is going to be a bit different. Today we’re talking about video games. Video gaming can be a bit of a controversial topic here and there, but we’re not necessarily talking about the content of video games as much as some of the lessons we can learn from some of the philosophies applied to gaming. Why do people buy games? Why is there such a huge investment by consumers into consoles, computers, games, and micro-transactions? What can we learn from a $100 billion industry about building brands, and how do we apply that? On today’s show, we’ll talk about some of the lessons we’ve learned from the gaming industry, and we might just have a little fun along the way.

One of the first things we learn to do in life is to recognize faces. Some research suggests that babies are able to recognize their parents within only a few weeks of being born, and that it could only take a few months of repeated visits from friends or family to recognize them as well. As we grow older and learn to study and memorize our surroundings, this process gets easier. We can instantly spot our friends from across a large room because we have learned to process what their face looks like into a specific response. Instant recognition is one of the main reasons why companies take great care in their visual branding. They want consumers to immediately know what they’re looking at and the company it’s related to. Without the luxury of massive scale like the larger companies, what can smaller businesses do to build recognition among their target audience? Is it better to be the front person and be the recognizable one, or have someone or something else the thing everyone remembers? On today’s show, we’re going to talk about the recognizable features of your brand and how you can leverage a simple picture of yourself to make all the difference.

One of the questions we ask on this show most frequently is, “Who is it you’re trying to reach? Who do you want to help?” Establishing who your target market is arguably required homework at the start of your brand. It defines your methodology, messaging, and focus. If you have no target, you have no direction. Target audience can cover any number of factors, from varying demographics, business levels, industries, and deeply specific niches. Knowing who you’re trying to reach brings great clarity to everything you do. But what if your business is not necessarily tied to a single target audience? What if you can actually reach multiple kinds of people with your products or services? What if you have several products and each of them work for a person in a completely different market? In today’s show we’ll dive deeper into establishing a clear target audience, if it’s okay to have multiple target audiences, and how to evaluate how far your reach can go.

When it comes to the overall look and visual identity of your brand, it can be easy to fall into the trap of the endless redesign. Whether it’s been six months since your last logo update or the website you just can’t bring yourself to ship yet, redesigning can be paralyzing. On the other hand, your visual identity may actually need an update or a refresh. It might have been a few years and the way your brand looks doesn’t necessarily match the way it’s naturally evolved over time. Either way, if you’re basing the decision on your own subjective feelings about how everything looks, that may not be a good enough reason. When does it truly make sense to update your brand’s visual identity? How do you know when the redesign is ready? In this episode we talk about preventing the endless redesign cycle and how to plan and prepare for the longevity of your brand’s visual identity.

A new alert appears on your screen. You have a new subscriber! You get that warm fuzzy feeling as you click into their contact profile. They’ve put in their first name so you know what to call them, and there’s even a little avatar that was pulled in from their social media. They’re an actual person, someone who was interested enough to sign up and follow you. You’re excited. There seems to be some growth happening. Then things seem to plateau. You’re still getting subscribers, but people are dropping off. That steep upwards curve you once had seems to be leveling off, and there’s no apparent reason why. Self-doubt starts to creep in. Was it something you said or did? Are you no longer relevant? Are you actually helping the people you want to help? There’s really only one way to find out what’s happening with your audience growth, and that’s by getting good old-fashioned data. There are plenty of ways to get data, but certainly the most rewarding is through relationships. On today’s show we’ll be getting practical on how to interact with your audience so you can get the right kind of data to help the people you want to help.

Having a website in this day and age is nearly non-optional, as more and more people get connected around the world and are searching for solutions to their problems. While the internet may seem oversaturated with offerings, products, websites, social media accounts, and services, it is still the primary way that most people get their information. If someone is interested in you or your business, they’re going to search for you on the internet, and you need to be ready for that moment. This of course raises the important question: what should be on your website? While we aren’t going to be talking specifically about web design or how to develop a website, it is important to understand some of the philosophies of website strategy and content. In today’s show we’ll be talking about some of the fundamental principles of an effective website, how to position your content around your target customer, and why your website isn’t really about you, even though it is.

Last week Kyle and I were in Austin, Texas for seanwes conference 2017. Because we were traveling and putting on the conference, we didn't get a chance to record an episode together, but there was a conversation we had recently that we wanted to share. Giving things away for free is a great way to attract new leads. It opens up reciprocity, of course, but it also allows you to truly give someone value. Whether the content is freely available and shareable on your website or if it's a lead magnet someone has to give their email address for, it's never a bad idea to give. Our conversation today is about a different sort of method when it comes to giving products away for free. It's not necessarily a solution, but it's an idea worth exploring.

Whether you’re in business to sell products or services, at some point you’ll need to decide what exactly you’ll be selling. Not only that, but as you grow you’ll need to decide what happens if you want sell more than one thing. If you do decide to start creating more things to sell, it can be easy to lose focus on the bigger picture, which is understandable because you want to sell the best version possible. Fragmentation starts to creep in, and while you’re busy making sure your new thing gets off the ground well, everything else just sits to the side, not being taken care of. Knowing how to assign priority and where each new product or service fits can make or break the “structural integrity” of your business. In today’s show, we’ll be talking about the importance of having multiple offerings or products and how to stay focused on what you’re doing when there are many things fighting for your attention.

You’ve probably heard the saying, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” It’s a nice sentiment, but like most platitudes, it lacks any sense of practicality. Not only that, but the phrase “it’s who you know” might imply that you’re only getting to know people in order to gain something from them, which is remarkably disingenuous. How then is it “who we know”? Do you just try and find the biggest names possible and try to become friends so you can get a favor later on? Spoiler: no. Relationships vital to the success of your brand, not only the ones on the inside but also the outside connections you have. How you build your brand usually comes as a result of the people who help you. In today’s show, we’ll be talking about the importance of building relationships inside and outside of your brand, and how to leverage the relationships you already have.

You have an idea. It might sound crazy, but you believe that with hard work and dedication, your idea can be successful. Maybe you’ve been building this idea for years, but it’s time to finally get serious. Whether you are just starting out as a brand or have been building your brand for many years, it is always important to know where you’re from and where you’re going. Asking specific questions will help to lay the building blocks that will help you define your brand. Getting started can sound complex and intimidating. Surely you have to have everything completely figured out before starting, right? A brand is the culmination of a lot of things, certainly, but it starts from simplicity. A simple idea with a simple vision. In today’s episode I’ll be taking a look into some of the simple questions to ask as you’re getting started, or if you’re looking for deeper clarity as you go forward.

Building a company, product, business, or organization requires a lot of knowledge, hard work, and determination. You have to be sure that what you’re building matters and that you’re doing the right thing. When you believe you’re doing the right thing, you assume a level of confidence that you need to have to push forward. You believe in your brand, and you are sure that you are right as you proceed. Confidence, as you may have heard, is key when you’re a leader. You know how to move forward, how to ask questions, how to direct your brand in the way it needs to move. You’re sure of yourself, your goals, and your methods. Yet…is that arrogant? Is it arrogant to believe you have the right solution, that your work is quality, and that you have the solution for your customers? What is the difference between looking confident and arrogant? In today’s show, we’ll be talking about looking confident without coming across as arrogant, and how to uphold yourself and your brand in ways that attract people rather than repel them.

To make your brand stand out above the rest, you’ll have to create great content. But ideas seem so hard. Even if the ideas you have are relevant to what your brand is all about, they can seem lousy. If your content ideas are lacking, you’re not destined for failure. You just need a new perspective. In today’s show, Kyle Adams takes over to talk about how you can take those seemingly lousy ideas and turn them into epic pieces of content your audience will crave.

Over the years of building a brand, growing a business, or pursuing a passion, everything comes in cycles. Just like in life, there can be seasons of plenty and of need, times where it seems like success overflows and times where it seems you can’t find any. Our experiences often swing in pendulum, with varying amounts of time between the extremes, and sometimes we find ourselves in the most difficult seasons with no apparent relief. The stress feels endless, there’s too much work, too many projects, too many expectations, too many deadlines, not enough time, not enough resources. Other times it may just be difficult to stay the course. You’ve been working hard for years and you haven’t seen the results you want. How long do you keep showing up when it’s hard? How do you find purpose in the difficult times? In this episode, I want to talk about three primary reasons I believe consistency is important, especially in the hard times.

The universal aspect of business is at some point you’re going to have to deal with another person, and if you’re trying to *stay* in business, there will have to be some sort of monetary exchange. Even if you have a product or service that you give away for free, you’ll still need to have people using it. That’s the point, after all. When you have people buying your product or using your service, at some point you’ll have to deal with an unhappy customer. It could be a product that was damaged in shipping, a tool that doesn’t work as expected, issues with the service, website downtime, or any infinite number of problems. Support tickets, refund requests, and angry emails become more likely as more people encounter your brand. It’s not fun, it’s unavoidable, but it can be a great tool if you know how to handle it correctly. In today’s show, we’ll be talking about how to deal with unhappy customers, critical emails, refund requests, and why your process for handling these things is important for your brand.

Feel like you haven’t been able to expand how you want? Seems like you’re just spinning your wheels and hustling but you’re looking for another push? It might be time to consider collaboration. Collaboration is when two parties unite together to produce something that will appeal to both of their audiences. This can open up a lot of opportunities and work to benefit both you and the other brand. There are a lot of ways you can seek out collaboration, and in this show we’re going to go over some ways you can seek out collaboration with others.

One of the realities of doing anything in this world is that you’re always building up a perception about yourself. People are going to feel and think things about you, no matter what. Naturally this means that everyone has a brand of some kind, whether or not you have a business or are trying to build anything. Connecting this to what you’re doing, however, carries a lot of weight. What is a personal brand, anyways? Is it as simple as slapping your name on something and calling it good? On today’s show, we’ll be talking about personal branding, how to scale when it’s just you, and some of the perks (and challenges) of the personal brand.

Let’s talk about haters. If you’ve been around the internet for more than five minutes, you might have seen or heard someone complaining about “the haters” or saying catchphrases like “haters gonna hate”. It’s generally used to describe a negative or critical person, specifically in relation to you or your brand. It’s not even just complaints or frustrations, but any sort of criticism that might come at you, both online and offline. Can you escape it? Is there a magic way of preventing this kind of criticism? On today’s show, I want to talk both about what to do when people are negative towards you or your brand, and also why I believe the term “hater” can be more harmful than helpful.