The Pursuit of Purpose with Amy Austin

Brand confidence is the result of clarity and consistency. In episodes 111 and 112, I share the value of being clear and consistent with all aspects of your brand and your business. And the end result of that is brand confidence, the topic of episode 113. Show notes 

If you do a quick search on the power of consistency, you'll find articles about business, habit building, recruitment, personal success, and customer services - just to name a few. I'm going to add marketing and branding to the list. Clarity paired with consistency are two important elements of building a brand. Clarity of who you are as a business and a brand contribute to clarity in marketing and messaging.  But clarity of branding and marketing will not mean a thing without consistency.  Show notes 

Clarity is critical for success in so many aspects of life - ranging from personal to professional. Are you clear on the purpose of your business? Of your life? Do you have clarity on what your brand stands for? Does your audience know and understand what your business can do for them - or that it is for them? As Brene Brown has said - Clear is kind, Unclear is unkind. A lack of clarity creates more work for your prospective clients, your clients, and your team. Clarity guides decision making and ultimately saves you and your team money, and helps you earn more too.  This episode dives into the areas of marketing and branding where a lack of clarity may be hurting your business.  Show notes

More to the point, where I've been? Excellent question and one I needed to answer before I was ready to start releasing new content. I've done that - this episode will give you some insight into what I've been doing and why I haven't released a new episode since February. Show notes

"Am I crazy to have all these different business ideas?" A friend and client asked me this question over coffee recently. No, she is not crazy. She is just full of ideas – and those ideas all happen to be business opportunities. As you think about acting on all those business ideas swirling around in your head, think about what connects them to the vision of your business. That connection is what I mean by a through line. If you are feeling as though you have too many business ideas, concerned that people may not understand the connections, or maybe you haven't recognized the connection yet…. I'm guessing it is there, hiding in plain sight. It's likely already visible to those around you. You just need to step back and allow it to become visible to you.

My goal at the end of the year was to bring purpose to 2022. I paused production of the podcast, spent time with friends and family, and directed my creative energies to art and the opportunities that have come from it. How have you started 2022 with purpose? 

How hard is it to engage your customers in a conversation? For some businesses, it is easy. And for far too many, it seems to be quite challenging. But why is that? Is it the desire to be more efficient? Hit a growth target? Achieve arbitrary metrics that may or may not impact the quality of the work or service we provide? Or is it that we've become too focused on all the internal workings of the business that we've lost sight of the fact without customers, we don't have a business? Honestly, I think it is a combination of all these factors. Bottom line, engaging customers in a conversation is good for business. 

It was a Speaking Your Brand episode that inspired the primary focus of this episode. In a recent keynote address, Carol Cox suggested resistance comes with living your purpose. Resistance or tension comes with anything worth having and that includes living the truth of our purpose. And if we are not feeling one of those maybe we need to dig deeper into our search for purpose. Resistance can come in internal and external forms. External examples might come from others criticizing or judging you and the way you lean into your purpose. Internal are obstacles we put in front of ourselves such as imposter syndrome, perfectionism, or people-pleasing. Show notes 

What if I told you there were three steps to get better feedback? Three steps that would lessen the stress you feel when faced with a performance evaluation. Carole Stizza has developed a formula that will do just that. When we go into a performance evaluation or ask for feedback from a client, we often start with a prescribed form. And as a result, we listen to the responses but neglect to ask questions. Carole shares this is often because we view an evaluation as a one-way conversation rather than an open dialog for questions and conversation. Her research lead her to realize when we did ask questions, the questions were too broad or didn't include the context of what would make the responses relevant. Show notes 

What is return on relationship? The purpose of the relationships you have should be considered and reevaluated periodically. Especially after a year like 2020, when relationships of all kinds were pulled in various directions, aligning the value of the relationship with the purpose it serves is more important than ever. How do you figure out where your relationships stand? Think about the purpose. Is the original purpose of the relationship still valid? Has it evolved over time? Has it diminished? Maybe the purpose or the value of it no longer exists? In this episode of The Pursuit of Purpose, I discuss how to evaluate the return on relationship for a variety of key relationships in both our personal and professional lives.  Check out the show notes for a variety of resources and a valuable worksheet to assist in determining the purpose of the relationship. 

Branding. Marketing. What is the difference? Is there a difference? Everyone has an opinion. Including industry professionals - there isn't a standard definition of either branding or marketing.  Branding is.... Marketing is... There are so many different ideas, opinions, and nuances to these two words. Clients wanting a logo believe they need branding. Is it? Or is it marketing? Or maybe they want a blog written. Is that branding or marketing?

How do you respond when clients ask for services you don't offer – but they think you do or should? It is easy to let this question get under your skin or at the very least, start that little voice of self-doubt in your head chattering. Whether you start wondering if you SHOULD be offering the service or if you get anxious wondering how best to respond, a clear and concise understanding of WHY you are offering the services you do will lead you to the best response to these requests.

Do you aspire to be a thought leader in your industry? My guest Carol Cox helps women create a signature talk to put them on the path to thought leadership. Being a thought leader is about inspiring your audience to dream with you - helping them see your vision of the world and benefit from this newly imagined version of reality. Carol and her team at Speaking Your Brand help women turn their personal stories into inspirational talks. Show notes   

A recent episode of Gary Vee's brought me to the idea of connecting self-awareness to purpose. His core message was that success comes from being self-aware. And I believe success comes from an understanding of our purpose.  As I listened more closely to this short episode, I realized the definition of being self-aware and purpose are intertwined.  Also in this episode, I celebrate the 100th episode of The Pursuit of Purpose and share what I've been listening to lately. 

Is your fear preventing business success? Does your business have a clearly defined niche? And, if not, are you hesitant to declare one? If you are in this camp, I'm guessing your thoughts might include some or all these ideas: Is this niche too narrow? Will I be leaving an opportunity on the table? Will I be giving up potential income? My clients need more than what my niche can offer them. If I narrow my scope of work, they will need to look elsewhere for what they believe I should be able to do for them. And prospective clients will skip past me because I don't do it all. I've expanded my services to better serve my client's needs, I can't walk away from that now. If I do that, I'm letting them down. But …. this additional service does not play to my strengths. Fear is a weight, holding you and your business in a place of uncertainty, confusion, and frustration. For more information, check out the show notes.  Connect with Amy Austin on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter

As more and more businesses are moving to online courses and programs, experiential learning has become a hot topic. In this episode, I talk with Romy Alexandra about creating a learning experience to ensure our audiences learn and retain the content of our program. What is experiential learning? Experiential learning focuses on the idea that the best way to learn things is by actually having experiences. Those experiences stick out in your mind and help you retain information and remember facts. Alexandra shares the philosophies of David Kolb, a psychologist and educational theorist known for this theory as well as his learning style inventory. For more about Alexandra, her work, and resources from this episode, check out the show notes.  Follow Amy Austin and Austin Marketing at:  LinkedIn Instagram Facebook Twitter Website 

Are you a purpose-led business looking to define success metrics related to your purpose? Do you work with a shared vision and intention but struggle to articulate the role purpose plays in the success and growth of your company? Many leaders intuitively know there is a benefit to knowing and embracing your brand purpose but have yet articulated the metrics to prove its value. This episode is meant to help you define those metrics.  Resources and connect with Amy via the show notes page Follow Amy at Twitter @AmyMAustinMktg LinkedIn @AmyMAustin 

Do your messages leave your audience empowered to take action? The call to action in a marketing message should give them a sense of empowerment, a feeling of confidence that the action they are about to take is the right one.  In the final episode of the encore presentation of the Marketing to educate, engage, and empower, I talk about the value of a clear call to action and empowering your audience to take action.  Download the complimentary worksheets on the show notes page. 

Are you engaging your audience in a conversation? Your marketing message should engage your audience in way that makes them want to know more and take the next step - working with you. Social media has changed the definition of engagement in marketing circles. The number of likes, shares and comments is one aspect of engagement but I don't believe it is the most important aspect. Be sure to download the complimentary worksheets to apply this strategy to your marketing tactics. 

In part two of this marketing strategy series, I talk about the importance of educating your audience. The foundation of any marketing strategy should be the who, what, where, when, why, and how of what you need your audience to know. But too often our desire to be creative gets in the way and we miss several of these key elements. Be sure to download the complimentary worksheets to help you create marketing messages that educate, engage and empower your audience. 

A primary goal of your strategy should be to educate, engage, and empower your audience through your marketing efforts. Because these three words are so important, I encourage all my clients to use these three words as a filter to run all marketing messages through. This week's Pursuit of Purpose episode is an encore presentation of episode 44, which ran in May 2020.

Saying yes to your true self - your Brave Yes - can be scary and rewarding. My guest, Shawn Fink, helps women move toward embracing their authentic selves. During our discussion, Shawn and I talk about how difficult it can be to step into our brave yes, the steps necessary to do so, and how fear can get in our way.

Recently I was reminded that asking for help is a strength even though the action itself is hard. This is exactly why it is so important to ask for it when you need it. And I was reminded of the importance of modeling the behavior. My experience came from my daughter but it could have just as easily come from a co-worker, a client or a direct report. When we are viewed in a leadership role, letting those we lead know we routinely ask for help is equally as important. This lets them know it is acceptable to ask when you need assistance. As I thought about how hard it was for my daughter to ask for help, I realized she likely didn't have any idea how often I ask for help.

How can coaching questions benefit your brand? I wouldn't have thought of this either until I heard a recent interview on the Dare to Lead podcast between Brene Brown and Michael Bungay Stanier. As I was listening to him share the seven essential coaching questions, I realized these are very similar to what I ask of clients when helping them define their brand. When you put yourself in the position of answering his seven questions about your brand, you'll find some insights you may not have considered previously. In the podcast, I share more detail on how I use each of these questions (or a variation) to identify key pieces of the brand equation.

Authenticity is not a brand value. Authenticity is knowing what your brand values and then living them. Stop using authenticity as a catch-all for what you hope to be… take the time to define the values your brand represents. By definition, authentic is real or genuine: not copied or false: true and accurate: made to be or look just like an original. When it comes to branding and marketing, we've all heard that consumers today want authenticity from the brands they become loyal to…. Especially if those consumers are Millennials and Generation Z. And those two segments of the population represent 144 million people. So brands want to be authentic…. Even if they don't know exactly what that means. Show notes

"Comparison is the thief of joy," Theodore Roosevelt How do you respond when you hit a milestone in your business? Do celebrate when you hit a milestone in your business? Or do you compare what others have done to your accomplishments? Roosevelt's quote is true. When we focus our time and attention on what others are doing, we rob ourselves of the opportunity to celebrate our wins.   

We've all been there.... working while anxious about how you are performing. Are you doing the right thing? Are you meeting expectations? Will your boss agree with your assessment? Can you do more? "When you are anxious, you are thinking about the future. Being able to see the future, or envision what is possible, is a fabulously important skill." And when this vision includes a view of "what if" and "how come," the anxious feeling enters the equation and achievement is rooted in that feeling. Dr. Susan Bernstein calls this anxious achievement. After pushing herself too hard in management consulting - and passing out during a client presentation, she knew something needed to change. She decided to pursue a PhD in mind/body psychology and help people with career issues. 

Daniel Pink digs into whether there is such a thing as perfect timing. His book When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing attempts to answer this question and explain how there is more to timing than most of us believe. Holly Adams and I both read the book recently and decided to bring our discussion of it to the podcast this week. We share our thoughts on larks, owls, and third birds - which we think we are - and other key takeaways from the book. 

Is the use of jargon a pro or a con in business? This has been a popular topic lately. And I don't know that there is a right answer. But first and foremost, you need to know your audience and how well they are going to understand the jargon you fall into using frequently. If you spend a lot of time explaining the words you are using, you might be relying on jargon too often.  Show notes  

"Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind." I shared this quote from Brene Brown recently. And just putting it out into the universe has brought so many examples of this to light. In this episode, I share my thoughts about the variety of ways that uncertainty and the lack of clarity make the task at hand harder - for your audience or yourself. Why do we make things harder than they need to be? 

What you'll hear in this week's episodes are snapshots from the seven most popular interviews that when brought together take you on a journey of purpose, strengths, and how incorporating those into your brand and storytelling efforts reap many rewards. The links for each episode will be included in the show notes. As I mentioned last week, I spent time looking at the most popular episodes. And what I have found is that my underlying goal is apparent in these interviews. My intention has always been to showcase conversations that either highlight individuals who are living their purpose and how they got there; or those who understand the underlying importance of intentionality with business decisions and how connecting those decisions to the business purpose is critical.

Let's talk about why a brand strategy is important. Having a strategy for your brand saves you from unnecessary work, it helps you make decisions rooted in the purpose of your business, and it offers confidence in the direction your business will go in the future. Brands are the sum of all experiences with your business. Break that statement down: if brands are the sum of all experiences with your business, then the brand needs to influence all aspects of your business. This means your brand should be a filter you run all business decisions through - whether it is financial, people, operations, or marketing. All decisions need to be checked by brand. Just like finance has a voice, same with human resources, operations, and marketing. For more information, check out the show notes.  Find The Pursuit of Purpose on your favorite podcast player:  Google: http://bit.ly/POPonGoogle Spotify: http://bit.ly/POPonSpotify iHeartRadio: http://bit.ly/POPoniHeartRadio Stitcher: http://bit.ly/POPonStitcher Apple: http://bit.ly/POPonApple

What is a niche? Niche is an important part of your brand and marketing. And how is a niche different than your target audience?  Or is it the same thing? Or part of your target audience? In this week's episode, I explore the various definitions of niche, how temperament can be a differentiator for our brands, and the benefits of niching down.  Show notes  Listen to The Pursuit of Purpose on these podcast players: Google: http://bit.ly/POPonGoogle Spotify: http://bit.ly/POPonSpotify iHeartRadio: http://bit.ly/POPoniHeartRadio Stitcher: http://bit.ly/POPonStitcher Apple: http://bit.ly/POPonApple

Simon Sinek's latest book, The Infinite Game, is about understanding the difference between the infinite mindset and the finite mindset. He recently did an interview with Brene Brown on her podcast, Dare to Lead. It is well worth the time to listen - in fact, I've listened to it twice. In this week's episode, I share my thoughts regarding this conversation as well as how clarity, consistency, and confidence helped me reach an initial step in a long-term goal.  Show notes Listen to the Pursuit of Purpose on these podcast players:  Google: http://bit.ly/POPonGoogle Spotify: http://bit.ly/POPonSpotify iHeartRadio: http://bit.ly/POPoniHeartRadio Stitcher: http://bit.ly/POPonStitcher Apple: http://bit.ly/POPonApple

Assessments are all about mapping personal and professional success but when Kristin Sherry wanted more and the answers weren't there - she wrote her own. YouMap®️ reveals the four pillars of career fit: strengths, values, preferred skills and interests. Kristin Sherry used her strengths to chart a course toward an assessment that not only offered insight into who we are but also give us an action plan on how to use the results. But this conversation isn't about the assessment or how she did it, it is about WHY Kristin did it. Show notes Listen to The Pursuit of Purpose on these podcast players:  Google: http://bit.ly/POPonGoogle Spotify: http://bit.ly/POPonSpotify iHeartRadio: http://bit.ly/POPoniHeartRadio Stitcher: http://bit.ly/POPonStitcher Apple: http://bit.ly/POPonApple

For human resources executive, Kim Hamer supporting your employees with cancer is personal. She has seen firsthand the impact a supportive leader can have on an employee coping either with their own cancer diagnosis or the diagnosis of their loved ones. Kim credits her husband's boss for giving her and her children three more years with Art, her husband, after this first entanglement with cancer.  This experience led Kim to write her book, start her podcast, and redirect her professional energies toward helping managers and leaders be more supportive of their employees. This topic is close to my heart because I have been there and understand how challenging it can be for an employee who has a loved one with cancer. Knowing how and when to be supportive is not easy.  Listen to the Pursuit of Purpose on these podcast players:  Google: http://bit.ly/POPonGoogle Spotify: http://bit.ly/POPonSpotify iHeartRadio: http://bit.ly/POPoniHeartRadio Stitcher: http://bit.ly/POPonStitcher Apple: http://bit.ly/POPonApple

Do you consider the learning styles of your target audience? No. Me neither. Until this week. As if there aren't enough things to consider, learning styles are not typical. Last week I started teaching a course at a local community college and decided to do a learning style assessment to help me get to know the students better. The results were fascinating - and telling. And the more I thought about these learning styles, the more I wondered how we could use these in determining our communication and content development strategies. 

January has been the shortest and the longest month. Christmas seems like yesterday. But the last two weeks have felt like a month or longer. Why? I started teaching a course at a local community college. Just when the teaching arrangements were finalized, client opportunities started to come again. And like many American's, I decided to focus on my health - so I changed up how I'm eating and participated in the 21-day meditation challenge through Ten Percent Happier. Add to this, life. And I was feeling very overwhelmed by January 30. In this episode, I share a Brene Brown strategy that helped me overcome or at least manage, the overwhelm. It is the F'ing First Time (FFT). 

Successful brands start with trust. As Scott J. Miller starts building his new brand, independent of the Franklin Covey company, it must start on a foundation of trust. Miller recently moved on to become an entrepreneur, focusing on leadership development, keynote speaking, and continuing on as the host of the On Leadership podcast. One of Miller's goals with starting his own business is teaching his three young sons how businesses operate and that hard work generates success. During our conversation, we talk about why this lesson is important for his boys to learn, our collective thoughts on rebranding, and most importantly, what makes a brand successful. 

Don't forget about PR - public relations (not press release). Public relations is a valuable way to increase brand visibility. In a recent episode of Building a Story Brand, Donald Miller included the press release as one of the key pieces of a campaign. While I agree with him, I believe he was thinking too small. He should have said don't forget public relations. A press release is only part of the public relations effort. My guest this week, Julie Livingston of Want Leverage Communications, shares how public relations can elevate the presence of a brand but it is not enough to just send out a press release. The way we consume media has grown and evolved over the last 20 years, which means public relations needed to evolve as well.

Brand and branding often are thought of as confusing and frustrating or to go the opposite direction - oversimplified as being only the logo, color, and tagline of a business. Making these five mindset shifts will lead to branding success. I'd like to say these five mindsets were of my own creative writing and intellect - but that would not be giving credit where credit is due. I found these from a post by dailycreative.io. When I saw their post, I was struck by the truth behind these five mindsets.  In this episode, I provide context to each of these mindsets. 

After being asked many times, I'm sharing how I come up with content ideas. When I bumped up my LinkedIn activity from occasional to daily, I needed more ideas than ever before. And before this, I agonized over writing a post to the point it may never be posted. So how do I find all these ideas? Well, that is a work in progress. 

Imagine living a life of possibilities. Viewing each instance, each encounter, each challenge with the mindset of there is always a possibility. Some may say this sounds fluffy. Others may turn their nose up at it. But this attitude, mindset, or, as my guest on this week's podcast calls it - purpose - is vital to her very existence. Meet Melissa Ciciola  Melissa spent her time during the pandemic doing what many of us have done - reflecting on our lives, searching for answers, reflecting on where she had been and how she got there. But I bet her results are very different than most. She put words to her purpose and is now living her best life as a result. For more background and resources, check out the show notes. 

Over the last 60 days, I've posted daily on LinkedIn.  Back in August, I made the decision to up my game on LinkedIn. The platform has the potential to be a benefit for business development for my business - especially with the pandemic turning traditional networking into a bigger challenge than it was before.  So later that month, I found a LinkedIn strategy course that fit my needs and objectives. I started an accelerated version of the course a couple of weeks later. One of the assignments was to post daily for 30 days... well that turned into 60 consecutive days.  This episode is about what I've learned from the experience. 

Financial anxiety. At some point in our lives, we've all faced it. And with the uncertainty of the pandemic happening around the world, many of us are probably living with it currently. This is where someone like Lindsay Bryan-Podvin can be helpful. Lindsay is a financial therapist. As we discussed the role of purpose in our money relationship, Lindsay points out that in order to achieve our purpose we need to have money - and that money is necessary for most things in our lives. Money belongs in a neutral space.

Your brand is what is said about you when you are not in the room. A brand strategy will help you make sure what is said is what you WANT to be said. And to get there, a strategist will help guide the way. As I've talked about before, the brand is a clear understanding of the who, what, where, and when of your business. It is what drives your business. It brings the purpose of the business to life. It is the personality in terms of how you speak and how you make those you serve feel. It is a deep understanding of the problem you solve for those you serve. Brand strategy is the plan that brings the brand to life. The key role of the brand strategy is to bring the ideal target audience and the business together. And that strategy touches every interaction you have with your audience.

October's favorites are more about looking forward to November than reflecting on the learnings of October. It is about recognizing and honoring those with lung cancer and becoming more aware of how we speak to those with cancer. And it is how we can teach our future leaders to reframe traditional roles - in business and in life. November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month. Given my family history of lung cancer, it is important for me to do what I can to raise awareness. This also includes being more aware of how we talk about a person's cancer - by following their lead.  In closing, I reflect on Brene Brown's conversation with Abby Wambach and the role-reframing she presents in the book Wolfpack. 

Asking for help is not a weakness - it is a sign of strength.  In this week's episode, I talk about different ways our subconscious tricks us into believing going alone is our best option. Additionally, I share a few suggestions to consider when it comes to getting support or help with our work. 

The Jeopardy song. James Earl Jones' voice. The Netflix sound. Did you hear each of these in your head when you read the words? These sounds represent specific brands. Sounds - whether it is a song, a voice, or a recognized tone - immediately bring something to mind. Jodi Krangle, my guest on this episode of The Pursuit of Purpose, is a voice artist who helps bring brands to life with her voice. Our discussion focuses on what she wants to know about brands to help her bring her best voice to the brands that hire her.  Check out the show notes for more information. 

Content planning is not easy. As I've been working on increasing my presence on LinkedIn and producing the podcast each week, I've found keeping up with content has been challenging. This week has shown me I need a plan. In this episode, I'm sharing nine tips I'm working to incorporate into my planning to stay ahead and not stress over finding ideas to share. 

Are you spending as much time and effort promoting your new service as you did to develop the service? There are five tactics you should include in your next campaign effort. But all too often we focus our attention on the development and then rush the promotion. As a result, we maybe only do one or two tactics.... and expect that rushed effort to produce results. But does that ever work??  In this episode, I share my thought on five tactical elements to include as well as a rule to live by when it comes to balancing production to efforts.  Bonus campaign worksheet available here.