Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to Sustainable Photography. I'm Inguil Kolnas, and today I have praise Santos McKenna with me. She's the founder of the branding studio Come Plum, where she photographs female entrepreneurs and she also helps them scale their businesses for social impact. Her work has been featured in Vogue and Forbes, and she had a project called Ethical Weddings that won a 20 on the rise award from the Rising Tide Society. We're also going to talk a little bit about that today, and I just am so excited to introduce her to you.
You're listening to Sustainable Photography, a podcast all about business tips, inspiration, and confidence building. I'm Ingrid Colness, the host of this podcast, and after over a decade as a photographer, I now help talented photographers run sustainable businesses. And for full transparency, you should know that I'm a mentor who with paid offers and I will probably mention some of those in this episode.
Hi, Frase. Welcome to the podcast.
[00:01:04] Speaker B: Thank you for having me. So happy to be here.
[00:01:07] Speaker A: I've been waiting excitedly for this. We just recorded an episode on your podcast and now we're recording an episode on my podcast. And I think it's really nice that we can just kind of connect and switch episodes like that. That's really fun. We met a few weeks ago when you did a mentoring session for Kristen Sweeting's program, and I was just like, I have to talk more with this girl. I need to know more about her views on branding and everything. So can we just start with you telling people who you are?
[00:01:39] Speaker B: Yeah. I love our Sweet meeting a few weeks ago and fun to share this space here today. So, again, thank you so much for having me. It is so interesting when people ask you to encapsulate. Okay, can you, like, just share a little bit about yourself? I liken it to, you know, if you haven't seen a friend since, like, the pandemic, and you just have to ask the most loaded question when you ask, like, so how are you? But really, like, can you encapsulate the last four years of your life and how everything shifted when the whole world shifted? That's what I'm really asking. How are you? And so when I have friends ask me to introduce myself, I'm like, okay, well, I can tell you some fun things about me. I just like to paint a little more color too. I love to walk my dog every day. We've been taking him to the dog park. His name is Bubbles. He has a crazy underbite. So speaking of branding, if you want to go to his Instagram, it's Ubbles. But I go by Bubs. And whenever me and my husband imitate him, we always just like, stick our teeth out and pretend to be him. It's like, kind of mean, but he's kind of the best. And he's recently actually ran into the street and it freaked me out. And I actually had a nightmare about it again last night. He's fine, but I just. I love dogs. I call them buddies and, like, just say hi to them on the street. So I'm kind of that crazy person. If you're not a dog person, like, I accept you. We can still be friends. But for the people who are dog people, you'll understand that just like once, once you have a dog in your life, like, it really helps with your anxiety. It does help you make more friends because people make assumptions that if you have a dog, you are a kind, normal person. I don't know why I have those assumptions. That's a little bit of color in my life and some of my daily routine, I do get to walk in the morning and afternoon and we get to play fetch and ball together. Other things I'm currently upset obsessed with, I love to make my own, like, ginger apple cider vinegar, lemon juice concoction in the morning, which makes me sound so Californian and so kind of health nut. But it really is just so good for you, for inflammation and also just to get your day started and body started. So those are kind of a fun way to paint a little bit more about me and my not professional life, a little bit about my family life, a little bit about what I like to eat. And then professionally, I run a branding studio called Come Plum and we love to help small business owners check branding off their to do list. And sure, we do things like help people create websites, we do brand photography, we do brand coaching. And yet the deeper thing I think we offer is really helping people feel inspired and resourced and confident. Because there's so many people who have a dream. There are so many people who are called to do the thing they are called to do. And we can give them frameworks, we can even work for them. But I think the main things is they just need inspiration. They need to know that it's possible. They need resources, they need those frameworks, they need those templates, and they need to have the confidence that they can do it. And so that is my greatest joy. When I see that shift in people, when I see them change from, I'm overwhelmed, I'm stressed out to wait. This can actually happen and I can, wow. Actually make the world a better place by doing this thing I love to do. It can be a win, win, win. So that's what I get to do professionally as well. It's a lot of fun.
[00:04:56] Speaker A: Perfect. I love that. Okay, so it's really nice to know a bit more about you. I think it really helps to know who you're hearing, speaking and what's important to them. And you do talk a lot about how your brand should be aligned with your personal values. So I'm assuming the values thing, like thinking about your values when it comes to your brand. I'm assuming that also applies to photographers. So what's the best way to reflect your values in your branding?
[00:05:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:25] Speaker A: So that you can show up as you.
[00:05:27] Speaker B: Yes, totally. It's really interesting because personal brands, branding and your personal values, there's a lot of overlap, but they're also kind of different. So let me explain a bit of a framework so we can chat a little bit through that. And so if you are a solopreneur or you're the founder of a company, oftentimes you will be the face of your brand or your business. And because authenticity, honesty, humanity is often what people crave, we want you to show up as your true self when you're also working and presenting your brand. And yet there are still some parts of you that are appropriate for work and with your clients. And then there's some parts of you that are meant to be for your closest people and your closest friends too. So it's not that you're being unreal or you're messing up, but it's also being intentional about the parts of you that you are showing to the world. So let me give an example that's common, kind of in our industry too, is that there are a lot of photographers who are parents and it's up to them to choose whether or not to showcase how much of their family is shown on some of their professional pages. And it's not that they're lying about it, but it's also a sense of privacy and a values and of how much they want to be able to show their kids or some of their personal life. For some people, it's all in. They want you to see the more behind the scenes part of their life, how they are working in the garden, working in the yard, or doing school pickups, et cetera. And also getting ready to photograph your wedding day on the weekend. Right. And for some people, perhaps their value is transparency, perhaps it's relatability. Maybe they are wanting to appeal to other Busy parents, busy working parents. And there are some people whose values might be higher on actually I want to showcase what it's like to be a woman in a male dominated workplace. Maybe I want to show what it's like to be a minority or someone with a disability. And those are the values that I show more too. And so when it comes to who you are as a person, we are all dynamic, multidimensional people. And when it comes to our business, we're also serving a specific type of client. So it's still thinking about, okay, what will serve this client best and what is that Venn diagram or what is that overlap of values that I can show? What is that overlap of I can show as well. So I often tell people to choose three or four top values that you want to show. You'll hear me talk a lot on our podcast, the branding your business podcast, or a lot about our social media with things that will pertain to inspiration, resource and being confident whether it is with business or with branding. Those are the top things that I want to talk about. And for some of the time it will integrate my family some of the time it will integrate. I talk about Bubbles a lot and my husband Barry a lot and even my parents a lot too. But I also have boundaries of what I want to share and what I want not to share. And so I encourage people to have some intention when they're thinking about their marketing and their branding too. Very similar to I know how you coach people is to have intention and planning at the foreset too. So you're also not confusing your audience with all the parts of you. Not that it's bad, but you want to talk about a few things and go deeper rather than all the parts of you that also you might not have permission to share. Especially if you are in a partnership or you have a bigger family. You might not want to share all the things, but focusing on the few things that you are an expert in that you're comfortable with sharing, that you have permission to share and that will serve your audience and that will attract the right people to you. That's a bit of the framework I like to use with our clients when deciding the intention they're putting around their brands as a business and their personal brands as representatives of their brands and businesses. Does that make sense?
[00:09:24] Speaker A: Absolutely. Yeah. Makes a lot of sense. And I think the keyword is intentionality. You need to just decide. But is there like an easy way to decide which things to choose to speak about and which things to maybe just be for you?
[00:09:39] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a good question, because these are important things that we have to think of. I'd like to talk about the patron saint, Brene Brown. I don't know if you listen to her, follow her, but she talks a lot about shame and vulnerability, too. And she talks a lot about how these personal stories, stories actually forge deeper connections. And she also talks about it's better to share stories that you've already processed and gone through versus using a podcast to go through them live. Unless that's your shtick. There's a lot of cool podcasts out there that it's like two sisters sitting on a couch and they're really talking about the people they went on a date with last night. You know, if that's your stick, that's great. But I have talked a lot about because one of my values is confidence and because one of my values is authenticity, too. And because I'm more in recovery, I've talked a lot about an eating disorder I've gone through. I've talked a lot about how it's had me in its throes on and off from my early 20s and in my teenager dom. But it's also because I'm in recovery and going, having gone through that, that I can talk from experience. But if I'm in it again, it's actually not a healthy place for me to talk about on my business platforms, but it is a healthy place for me to talk about with my therapist and some of my closest friends who can support me, too. And so that might be a framework of discernment, of, okay, do I have a right to share? And also, am I using this to process, or is it something that I can share and add value because I've already processed it? Because people need to hear those stories. But as a person of wisdom and someone who's had experience with that already, and so Brene Brown has taught me that, and I felt it in my gut that that has been one of the most honest things to share publicly and in big rooms when I've already processed it. But if you have smaller, safe places to share it, I think it's okay to share it while you're in process.
[00:11:33] Speaker A: Yeah, that makes so much sense. And another thing that I know is important to you is doing something that's bigger than yourself. You did a project called the Ethical Weddings. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
[00:11:47] Speaker B: Yeah. So Isabelle and I are similar in that we are maybe post our wedding photography phase of life, which I love, and also shoot like the Right, Weddings for sure. But when I was in the throes of it, I was also doing a lot of weddings and also a lot of photojournalism. And so I remember traveling to Guatemala and being able to photograph a cacao farmer and telling his story and how he told me the story of chocolate and how he was working really hard so that he could send his son to college and a living wage there is about eight doll a day. And so he was working very hard in that sense on his farm, using his giftings, using his lane. And I got to tell his story through photojournalism. And I remember flying back to California and to photograph this wedding that I had previously booked. And I was really excited for them because I think weddings are important. Weddings are incredible. They're milestones, need for celebrations. But it just sat with me really weird because this is even an average wedding, but an average wedding in California is. And even then it's increasing since. But maybe an average wedding probably cost $40,000. And so I had a hard time thinking about my friend Pedro in Guatemala when the next day I was photographing what seemed extravagant and what seemed disconnected to the rest of the world. And it didn't sit with me well. And I was like, but how these things are both good. I don't think people should sit stop weddings. I don't think they should stop being married. But how could I connect these stories together? And the more I talked with the folks getting married, the more I realized that people wanted to do good. They just needed help, resources, a framework, inspiration and confidence to be able to do it. And so I created this platform called Ethical Weddings, which gave people ways of thinking differently, of, okay, if you're going to get your bridesmaids gifts already, you can actually purchase fair trade chocolate from Pedro's farm and gift that. So you're supporting him while also thanking your bridesmaids for being your bridesmaids.
[00:13:56] Speaker A: That's amazing.
[00:13:57] Speaker B: You want beautiful florals at your wedding, great. But did you know? Here are five questions that you can ask to make sure they're not importing it from halfway across the world. How can they find things that are local forage? How can you make sure they're planting other plants after or using sustainable farming practice? The same thing with catering, with photography, with videography too. And so it was a lot of me doing research on my end to equip people so that they could do good with their wedding day. And so it was this amazing project that combined both my talents, my experience, but also helped me answer the divide inside of me. And so for those of the people who are listening, I know oftentimes we follow our passions, but I also encourage you to follow when you have that ick, when something doesn't feel good or something doesn't feel right or aligned. Because there's often an opportunity and a call and ask for you to dig deeper. What if you're the one who's to figure out how to make those connections work for it to feel good in you? Because it often will be good for other people too. And so there's all these opportunities that are out there as well for people to do good with their businesses. And that's just one way we did it with our business.
[00:15:09] Speaker A: I love that. I think that's amazing. And it's a really good way to really show your values without it being like, these are my values, like you're doing something bigger than yourself. And I think maybe we underestimate our abilities to do something bigger than ourselves. We, like, maybe leave it up to someone else because we're like, what can I do? But I think that is a great example of something that you've done. And other people could do something similar with something that they're passionate about. So I think that's really inspiring.
[00:15:42] Speaker B: Yeah. And it doesn't have to be like, we created this platform, we had events, etc. But remember, some of the big things are actually small things. What could you do today with the clients you work with? What could you do today at the coffee shop you go to every day? Just genuinely ask people how they're doing and look them in the eyes. That makes a really big difference. And a lot of those little acts turn into big acts. Right. And so our little thoughtfulness of buying compostable goods versus just throw away plastic, it seems small. But in the long run, if a million people are doing a lot of little acts, that will make a difference in our world too. And so maybe you are called to do a big shift in your business. Maybe you are called to donate some of your profit or some of your talents. Please do that. And also just doing things intentionally, well, even in our small, everyday things will also make a difference too. So I hope that's an encouragement and feel, makes it feel less intimidating as business owners to do good in our business as well.
[00:16:43] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, you're saying it's really important. And I do think that there's a lot you can do and it doesn't have to be a big thing. But if you do want to do something and make it a Part of your brand. Do you have any ideas of how someone might be able to find their, like, passion project?
[00:17:01] Speaker B: Yeah, that is a great question. Well, it goes back, I am repeating something in Bill and I have talked about is going back to your values, going back to things that are important to you. And some values are oftentimes big words that are not tangible. Right? Like sustainability could look and express itself in so many ways. When I say the word inspiration, it could express itself in many different seasons of life. So I want you to write down your values and I also want you to write your current life circumstances and some of your past experiences that are also what make you you. And I also want you to write down things that give you energy and things that break your heart. And so once you put all these out on a whiteboard, a piece of paper, you start seeing the connections, right? So I'll use myself as an example. So my personal values are beauty, humor and authenticity. Praise as a person, loves those three things as a business. Ours are inspiration, resource and confidence. Right? And so if I look at those on a piece of paper and then I also look at some of my life circumstances right now, okay, we run a branding studio, but also I have experience with a lot of people in my family and just in my genetic makeup, we have gone through a lot of mental illnesses, or I'm a children of immigrants, or I'm a woman in her 30s living in California. Like, these are interesting life circumstances. And here are some things that recently lit me up. And here are things that recently broke my heart, things that really light me up. Okay, I like, of course, can't stop talking about dogs. But I also get really lit up when we threw a block party on our street, when I get to wave to my neighbors. That's what my dog has helped me to do, is meet my neighbors. And so, okay, this is a really interesting thing. I love building community. I love people feeling like they feel like home where they live.
Things that break my heart recently are when people graffiti anti Semitic things on a local business here in San Francisco. That makes me so angry. This is a friend of mine, small business, community person. I'm so angry about people not understanding the nuance of many issues in our world. Okay, what can I do to bring these things all together? And again, maybe we put on the best friend hat. Maybe we bring a best friend, a partner, and to be like, hey, do you see any connections here? Do you see me light up? Or do you see things that break my heart? Or do you see me living out Values this way. Could I connect some of these dots and just have a big brainstorm session? Maybe you figure out maybe from the example I gave, like, oh, maybe I should just host more dinner parties that feel safe, where people can talk about nuanced, scary, political, religious topics that people don't want to talk about. And maybe because I'm often what people feel like is a safe person to talk to, I can set the tone and we can have dinner conversations, right? Like, it could be part of my business. Maybe I do it with my clients, maybe I do it with my friends. But you start experimenting, you start piecing together. My real encouragement is not only to brainstorm, but just try, like, dip your toes in the water, look for inspiration, attend other people's events who are trying things and have some self awareness. See, like, wow, that speaks to me. Or, wow, I could really see myself do that. Because I truly believe that business owners, creatives, artists, we are made for a purpose. And we have that special, like, pull and calling. And oftentimes we ignore it because we have a lot of practical things to take care of because, you know, the everyday tasks of life can get overwhelming. But if we give ourselves space to listen to that thing that we're nudged and called to do, we don't have to do it perfectly. But it's the journey of discovering what it is that's the beautiful part of the journey. So just start, just give that a little try and see what happens.
[00:21:00] Speaker A: That's very encouraging. It makes it. Well, you make it seem like it's possible for everyone to find something that they can do differently. And I also think that an important part of being aware of your values is that it's going to be so much easier for you to kind of put out the right vibe and start attracting clients who want that, who are interested in that.
Come on over to Instagram and say, hi. You'll find me at Ingrid Kolness. And I'd love to know what you want more episodes on, who you'd love to listen to as a guest, or maybe you'd like to be on the next mentoring episode. I'm Ingrel Kolnaz on Instagram. So come on over and let me know what you want more of.
Is there a right way to kind of communicate your values so that your clients will pick up on it?
[00:21:57] Speaker B: Yeah, there's a few ways that I've seen in this past year, whether I'm inspired by other clients or things that we've tried out that I think are some of the best ways to do it. And so really simply, and it's not so outward facing, but I want you to say your, what we call our brand foundations, which is your mission, your vision and values. I want to say it every time you do a discovery call, right? Because when we have a client inquire with us, we say, hey, okay, this is what this call is about. I want to hear more about you and your vision, and then I want to hear about what you're looking for. And then I'll share a little bit about us and what we can do to help you. And when I say a little bit about us, I tell them this vision we have for the world. I tell them why we exist, I tell them what our values are. And so that's one way to do it. Because I want you to say it often. I want you to say it so often it rolls off the tongue. Because if you've learned anything in marketing, it's that you have say things a bajillion times for it to actually sink into people's heads and for them to associate it with you. And so the point at where you're kind of tired of saying is probably when people are actually starting to listen. So say it on every discovery call. Integrate it into your about section, into your pricing guide, so that people also have this expectation of, hey, this is how these people operate, this is what they value. We have a lot of alignment there. And that we're literally repelled your wrong people. Like, we have a page at the end of our pricing guide. We will work well together if. And it just kind of showcases what inspiration, confidence, and resourcing kind of look like, what it's fleshed out as. And we put the opposite also. Well, like, we won't work well if this, but we will work well if this. So it's a little bit of this, like this or that. And so that's another way to do it. I have another good friend of mine is that she made a great carousel post about her values and she pins it to the top of her Instagram. And so when someone lands there, they look at her first three posts, they know what she stands for. And so it's not so in your face, but if you're really looking, you can find it. But again, I implore people to inject your values into a lot of what you do, into everything you do, because I know what it's like to feel misaligned. And maybe people listening might feel like there's something off. Oftentimes if we are stressed, if we are burnt out, it's because a value of ours isn't being expressed or values being, like, shunned or put down too. And the opposite is true. I hope that many people listening know what it's like to feel like fully themselves, to feel really aligned, and what they get to spend their time with and what they get to spend their energy on. And oftentimes you can step back and say, oh, it's because my values, personal values, a beauty like, I got to go to museum, or I got to go to a walk, or humor, like, I got to joke around with my friends, or authenticity. I got to have a real conversation with YNGVILLE today on her podcast. Really filled me up today. And so when we have that alignment, we have to remind ourselves and our audience of it. If we can repeat that and show that in different touch points of our brand, it starts to sink it into our audience, and it starts to sink in for ourselves, too.
[00:25:04] Speaker A: That seems like a very powerful way to do it. So just kind of being upfront and direct about it, that is maybe the best approach then. Yeah.
[00:25:12] Speaker B: Yeah, totally.
[00:25:13] Speaker A: Yeah. Is there something else other than stating your values that you would recommend for being able to stand out?
[00:25:21] Speaker B: Yeah. So having a niche, having a differentiator.
Some people will talk themselves down, like, oh, you know, I'm just another photographer in California, or I'm just another one of this. And yet people are so unique. Like, we are. Like, even when we have siblings, it seems like we're a lot alike. And yet once you get to know siblings, you're like. Like, you all are totally different people. Right? And so Ingville and I, we both know how to use a camera. We both know how to use a microphone and have a podcast. And even though we share so many values, I am so glad Ingville and I are so different. I can so appreciate what she brings to the table. And we have to remember that we all are like that, too, that our differences are actually what makes us more beautiful and stand out more. And we have to have the confidence to start talking about it and show these sides of ourselves, too. And so it's also that acknowledgement of, wait, I am a multidimensional person. Oh, wait, there. I'm serving an audience who's also multidimensional, too. How can I talk about these parts of me? How can I talk about these parts of our business that are really unique, that are really tailored for the uniqueness of our clients, too, and being able to talk about that. So it's both our values, but also it's the how we carry it out. Okay, so praise. You talk a lot about your values, but how is it in the day to day, how is it when you are one on one with your clients that you are inspiring them and resourcing them and being confident? For us, it's us asking actually a lot of open ended questions. Even though a lot of us will hire, a lot of people will hire us as consultants if we can help lead people to their own conclusions about their brand and their business and their leadership. I feel like that's just a great human way to make people feel inspired that they can do it actually themselves. And maybe they needed someone like us who has a little more experience and can ask the right questions to leave them there. I feel like that's a differentiator for us. And so for those people listening, I want you to look at. Okay, yes, you have a lot of wedding photographers and you're also a wedding photographer. But what is that special thing that you know feels good when you do it? What is that special thing that when people write reviews about you that they're like, like they did this and this was really special. And it could be as simple as they made sure to straighten my wedding dress before we took portraits. I loved her attention to detail. Like it's those little things that you can get feedback from. There's those little things that you can notice in yourself that you can talk about that are differentiators too. Right. You're not going to say like I'm a dress straightener photographer, but you can also talk about it in your, about me. You can also highlight it or highlight that as a review as well. Because there are little things that make you different. There are little giftings that you have that set you apart. It's just about listening and being self aware to find them and highlight them.
[00:28:20] Speaker A: That's so true. I agree. And another thing that I thought of is very often I see photographers who are maybe doing rebranding, who are maybe even building a brand for the first time or are just kind of deepening their thoughts on their brand and they go immediately straight to the logo or even just updating their website.
I think that maybe there are some things that would come before that, but I would love to know your opinion and how you.
Maybe not the process, but what would you think are the right order of doing things? And maybe there are some less obvious things that would come first.
[00:29:00] Speaker B: Yes. So I want to acknowledge it's really fun to create a logo. It's really fun to get a new template for a website. So I get that as a visual person, it's really fun to do. And I mean, that's a lot of what we do as a brand studio. But a lot of times on our onboarding calls and our discovery calls, I try to talk people out of that or at least delay that because we work with a three step framework when it comes to branding. And in that last step, we call that brand expression. This is like creating your logo, figuring out what your photos will look like, et cetera. But the building blocks are first, your brand foundation. And again, we talked about that earlier. That's your mission, your vision, your values, even your story is in there too. Your deep why, what you do, what you do. Because it's really hard to create a website when you don't even know the soul behind it and the big why behind it. So we need that brand foundation first and then we need that brand strategy. So it's really knowing who our audience is. And over time. This is the coolest thing about iterating and having a business over the years too, is that you start off as one thing, right? Oftentimes people will like, I'm a photographer. And you're like, what kind of photographer? You're like, anything that requires a camera, right? You're just so broad. But I know for me and my story, I see you nodding your head. This probably happened to you too. You try a lot of things and over the years you refine what you're really good at with in photography and the people you really like to serve, like the specific kind of demographic, what their values are, what their hopes and dreams are. There's like a certain kind of person you really resonate with. And so your strategy involves really knowing your audience and continuing to know them in every season too, as you change as a person, as they change as a person too. And so that strategy changes over time. Because I know, for me, I got into branding because I realized I loved having conversation like this. Conversations like this where I was talking to other businesses, owners, really hearing their hopes and dreams, because I was going through it too. I could empathize, I could sympathize, and I could also not just deliver them photos. I was like, hey, I read this great book. Hey, I've just found this great framework. Hey, I just found this new marketing app that made my life. I would just start sharing all these things with these people who I just got and lit up by. And so my strategy has had to change over the years as I refine that person more and more, and also seasons and Times and trends have changed too. And so strategy is a big part of it. And so I again, brand foundation, the first part, the second part is brand strategy. And then the third part is really figuring out, okay, now that I know where my client shows up, what groups they're attending, what books they're reading, what podcasts they're listening to, what needs they have right now as they've also grown up, maybe at first they needed me to photograph their wedding, but now they're also starting their business. Now they're maybe also starting their families. Now they're also figuring out how to prepare parents and working moms, et cetera. My strategy is gonna change over time. And oftentimes that middle part is what needs to be changed more than your logo. If you were going to invest hundreds and thousands of dollars, perhaps taking the time to figure out, how do I best serve my client, how do I best express this calling I have in me is probably what should take your time and money. And then having your expression meet that strategy before anything else. But if you jump straight to expression, you're gonna like spend a lot of money that might be not invested well in the places that it'll really make a difference. And so that three part strategy is really what we like to coach people through. And what I really want to encourage people to spend their time thinking about.
[00:32:42] Speaker A: Yeah, I think maybe it's about kind of skipping to the fun part, the aesthetic bit, like the thing that you think is what will make a difference. But I do think it won't last as long if you just do it straight away. You need to do the deeper work. So I agree.
[00:32:59] Speaker B: I get that.
[00:33:01] Speaker A: And another thing that I know can be a little bit hard for some photographers is when they're reaching a certain point and they want to do more. Maybe they want to save some time and outsource some things. Maybe they want to have an assistant to do some social media marketing for them. How can you do that? How can you grow as a business without losing your personal touch and your values?
[00:33:28] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a really good question. Yeah, when we start off, we're pretty in touch with what we want our brand experience to be, what we want people to think and feel and say about us, because we are a team of one. But what happens when. And you should start to hire team members because more people will love what you do, and yet you're only still going to be one person. You should be delegating these things out again. You should keep yourself as the visionary, as a leader or Even like the brand manager of your brand, and then bringing people on who have aligned values who will represent your brand well and also training them to do the same. And so a big thing that we help folks do is to create a brand guide. And so this is often the unspoken things about our brand, but actually written down so we can train people and so we can tell them, hey, this is our brand foundation. Here's our mission, vision, values. How does that resonate with you? Like, do you also want this for us? Our mission is to see 10,000 women feel equipped, resourced and inspired to do the thing that they're called to do. Like, do you also want to see that in the world you could be of any gender, you could be anywhere in the world, but if you also want that, cool, then spend your energy and time with us. This is the world that we're trying to create, right?
And then it's also getting really insular, especially when it comes to someone else writing your marketing, especially when it comes to even training an AI to help you write your emails. We also have in our brand guide, what is your tone of voice? How conversational are you? How humorous are you? How professional are you technical? How big of words do you use? So whether you're training a human or an AI, because yes, you can do this when it comes to branding too, as you can teach it like, hey, this is my voice. Read the other things that I have spent my heart and soul writing. Learn, learn the phrases I use, learn this diction that I use too. And so you can train others to do that and yet you don't have to make them carbon copies of yourself. I know with our team I want them to be fully themselves and yet there are what we call like system of procedures and ways of doing things so that you can still deliver that brand experience that we want and you can do it in your way. And yet I want that same end feeling for them to associate that with our company complem too. And so it's bringing on the right people, giving them resources and a guide to train them really well and yet empowering them to also find the magic and thing in them. Because we could have complementary values, right? If my values are beauty and humor and authenticity as praise the person, perhaps some of my team members, theirs are technical aspects like they really want excellence and things San Juan that perhaps they're is more systems too. I truly am describing people on my team, but they're also really kind people who want to help people feel seen and known and loved and like okay, There is a lot of alignment here. I will send you out on all their jobs because I know you'll represent our brand well, too. And there might be people who, their values might just be getting things done fast and making. Blowing things up to scale, making a ton of money and not thinking about the effects. You know what? Like, that is your lane and that's your journey, but you're not going to join my team because those values don't line up. And so those are kind of our story, but also really practical ways we train others as they scale their brand, have a brand guide that really defines your brand foundations, your strategy, your expression, and so they know how to carry it out. Whether it's humans or AI that you're training. Bring on people who can share especially those brand foundations with you on whose values complement your brand, and then empower people to be themselves, to find the magic in themselves so that they can interpret your company's brand values, their mission, et cetera, in their own special way. But it will still accomplish your company's goals.
[00:37:26] Speaker A: I love it. I think that's a great way of doing it. And I think the way that you explain it makes it seem like, okay, so if I do my homework, then it's easier to find someone that'll align and I can keep growing without it being so scary.
[00:37:40] Speaker B: Exactly. And I can. I'll send it to Engville. But we have some resources to help you figure out what your brand foundations are too, and I think that'll really help some folks.
[00:37:50] Speaker A: Nice. Yeah, I'll add that to the show notes. And speaking of, I'm of course going to add your links and everything to the show notes, Instagram and website. But can you let us know as well where we can find you and keep learning from you?
[00:38:04] Speaker B: Yeah, so we share a lot of resources. So we also have a podcast called the Branding your Business. This podcast, you can find us on Spotify and Apple podcasts online. Our website is Come Plum. So come like you're going somewhere. C O M E and Plum, like the fruit. Plum. It was. A lot of people asked me the story behind our name, and it was a name I thought of when I was like 15 years old because it kind of rhymed together and made me happy. But these days, we're actually playing around a lot with what Plum could be as an acronym. Is it Purposeful Living Unleashed for many. Like, that sounds really cool, like we're playing around with it. But all that to say it's complum. And you can also find us on Instagram, at complum and @brandingyourbusiness podcast. So that's where you can find me on the interwebs.
[00:38:49] Speaker A: Perfect. Thank you so much for having this talk with me. Praise.
[00:38:53] Speaker B: Thank you so much. In Vil, you bring a lot of life and that you are sharing generously. Your wisdom means a lot to our world and I know it's making our world a better place. So thank you.
[00:39:03] Speaker A: Thank you so much.
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