Be Visibly You

08/06/2022

Hello 👋🏻

I’m sorry it’s been a little quiet in here.

There are a few changes to the original retreat idea which I’m currently working on and which will slightly change the direction of things - it’ll still be about confidence but with a bigger emphasis on branding and sharing your story!

I’m hoping to have everything in place by Friday next week 🙌🏻

03/06/2022

Do you have an ideal client avatar or profile?

This was one of the things I used to hate doing. It always seemed so contrived and fake. And then when I started teaching people how to create and grow their brands, I was insisting other people engage in a task which made me groan.

Now, I’ve found a fun way to do it, I’m learning to love it.

I live for stories. I read for at least 10, 080 minutes a year (and that’s only the fiction stories before I go to bed.) I love losing myself in the worlds’ of others, being part of decisions made, ideas and dreams realised.

When it occurred to me that creating an ideal client was like creating your very own character, your very own person who can be anyone you want them to be, it completely transformed the entire concept for me. You can carry them around in your pocket, consider how they would make decisions and why, imagine them in scenarios alongside you and construct role play between them and your friends.

I never had an imaginary friend (I had - and still have - a Puffalump) but I presume it’s kind of like that. The ideal client becomes your business sidekick and your confidante. Before you create content, you run it by them, ask them what they think, if it will resonate with them. Before you change a whole section on your website, you check in with them, make sure it’ll be a good fit and not a knee jerk reaction to something. Before you introduce a new product or service… you get it, right?

Do you have an ideal client? 👍🏻 for yes. 👎🏻 for no.

31/05/2022

It seems a little mean expecting you to share your brand story when we haven’t yet shared ours, so here it is.

Be Visibly You is a story of trying to make life better for female business owners and entrepreneurs. Too many women fail to truly value and appreciate themselves.

It’s time to inspire women:

To have the confidence to be themselves, to show up, stand out and command the attention they need for success.

To equip them with the mindset and the tools to become visible, to shine and to proudly showcase themselves and their business.
To value themselves and project themselves with confidence and assertion.
To measure their success based on themselves and their business and offers, no one else's.

If you haven’t, share your brand story. We know it’ll be good.

30/05/2022

Everyone has a brand story - even if you’re not directly involved with your brand or feel you’re merely the glue that holds everyone together or a cog in a bigger machine, you owe it to yourself and your clients to find your story and share it.

People buy from people. Don’t roll your eyes, you know it’s true.

People connect with stories - yes, more dramatic stories tend to receive a better initial reaction but the ones which really impact are the stories which build true connections and where people begin to see you as part of their lives.

Do you know your brand story? Share it in the comments if you're confident with it. If not comment with 🤔

Love,
Victoria ###

29/05/2022

I’m pretty rubbish at gloating about myself - not through lack of confidence: I hate the attention! This is one that makes me feel really proud every time I remind myself of it.

"She asked questions I hadn't thought about - she was genuinely interested in my answers and my business; excellent, open-ended questions which were cleverly worded. Like a business coach - brainstorming, getting to the nitty gritty, answering the well needed questions, fully understanding your customer and the problem you solve. ”

I worked with Rachel last year and at the time I was “just” a brand photographer. It was at this point I realised my passion went deeper than photography and I had this huge urge to do more for people. It’s why I’ve expanded Flaunt and Flourish to include specialist branding services, photography and content.

And it’s why I teamed up with Sarah from Draw a Line Coaching to offer female business owners and entrepreneurs the retreat of a lifetime!

On the topic of retreats. What’s your opinion on a business retreat?

Love,
Victoria ###

29/05/2022

I’m pretty rubbish at gloating about myself - not through lack of confidence: I hate the attention! However, this is one that makes me feel really proud every time I remind myself of it.

"She asked questions I hadn't thought about - she was genuinely interested in my answers and my business; excellent, open-ended questions which were cleverly worded. Like a business coach - brainstorming, getting to the nitty gritty, answering the well needed questions, fully understanding your customer and the problem you solve. ”

I worked with Rachel last year and at the time I was “just” a brand photographer. It was at this point I realised my passion went deeper than photography and I had this huge urge to do more for people. It’s why I’ve expanded Flaunt and Flourish to include specialist branding services, photography and content.

And it’s why I teamed up with Sarah from Draw a Line Coaching to offer female business owners and entrepreneurs the retreat of a lifetime!

On the topic of retreats. What’s your opinion on a business retreat?

Love,
Victoria ###

28/05/2022

I don’t know about you but one thing I see often is women being hyper critical of themselves. Sometimes it’s warranted; sometimes it’s not.

Go back to the activity you did yesterday. Were you being fair to yourself? Did you give yourself a red heart because one person said something negative about you or your product or service?

People have differing opinions and that’s when we can be cruel to ourselves. Finding the balance between cruelty and honesty is crucial in business. If you know you’re not delivering in the way you’re promising, you can take steps to improve things.

Scale back on what you promise. If the problem is that you’re over promising and under delivering, reconsider what your offer is and realign to ensure what you can deliver is amazing.

Check in with yourself. If you don’t absolutely love what you’re selling, why are you selling it? One of the real joys to having your own business is in being able to make your business your own. Sure, there are aspects to running a business that can become monotonous and tiring but if the very core of what you’re doing doesn’t make your heart sing, you’ll never get people raving about you - people feel passion.

Listen to what people are saying about you. Are the negatives things you can improve or want to do better with? If not, can you remove them from your offers completely? Do the positive things align with what you enjoy doing and is there a way to do more of those?

If you can be truthful with yourself, you'll know that you’re much kinder. It’s just as important to value what you do well as it is to improve what you don’t.

Love,
Victoria ###

27/05/2022

Take a minute to pause and reflect on your brand.

How do you (really) think others perceive it?

💚 With extreme confidence
💛 With a fair amount of confidence
❤️ With little confidence

Victoria ###

26/05/2022

What is brand confidence and why is it important to your business?

Unlike confidence, where we’re looking at how you perceive your own worth, brand confidence deals with how others perceive your brand’s worth.

Gaining brand confidence begins with knowing what your business has to offer, how you want to appeal to your ideal client and in your abilities to deliver what you say you will.

When you deliver what you promise, you start to build customer and client loyalty which in turn builds their confidence in you. As their confidence builds, your brand strengthens and grows. The more you repeat this the stronger and more widely recognised your brand becomes.

Why? Because when people have confidence in you, it shows you’re trustworthy and therefore reduces the risk of doing business with you (particularly if you’re offering premium products and services.)

Invest time into ensuring that what people say about you is outstanding and your brand will grow and grow and grow.

Love,
Victoria ###

26/05/2022

Self belief is incredibly powerful.

Your self belief is the root, the foundation to everything you do. If you stripped yourself back to the root of yourself, so without the qualifications, confidence and all the material aspects of your life what would be left?

Would you really understand and know your worth? Would you truly believe in yourself?

If you’re interested to read more then please find the link to my blog below ⬇️

https://www.drawalinecoaching.co.uk/post/the-root-of-the-problem

Happy Thursday everyone
Sarah x

25/05/2022

“Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.”

Do you find there are really simple quotations which simply stick with you?

I love Oscar Wilde’s literature - “The Picture of Dorian Gray” is up there with my all time favourite texts - which is why I think this one particularly resonates with me. But maybe it’s also because it completely rings true, especially when you’re a small business owner.

The one thing that makes us unique and stand out from everyone else is ourselves. You may experience competition in your industry, your business may be very similar to someone a few streets (or pages away) but when we embrace ourselves for who we are, life looks very different. Competition ceases to be an annoyance or a threat; it can become collaborative.

Do what you’re best at. Do what you’re passionate about. Do what you love. With hard work and authenticity, you’ll thrive in your business.

Love,
Victoria ###

23/05/2022

See you on the 19th September? Be Visibly You: The Retreat will be in Old Kilmun House in Dunoon 🤩

Be Visibly You. A business retreat. Featuring workshops which combine mindset (eradicating limiting beliefs, saying goodbye to imposter syndrome & stepping into your power as a confident business owner) & visual branding (brand photography, personal storytelling, strategy & content planning.)