The concept of building a brand can be very hard to digest when you’re thinking that you just want a simple business that also happens to make $100,000 a year.
When I think of brands I always envision billion-dollar companies.
Apple, Tesla, Google, Nike, etc.
Rarely do I think about the solo entrepreneur starting things with a simple website but the principles aren’t any different.
What causes people to fall in love with the billion-dollar companies are the same things that will make them fall in love with you.
The $99,000 Week
In 7 days, I did something that I thought was pretty cool.
I made more in 7 days than I ever did in a year of working for someone else.
It was actually a $120,000 week when you include Paypal and my other businesses but let’s keep it simple.
I didn’t do a crazy email campaign.
I didn’t use ads.
I simply said that I was going to raise the price of the Blog Simple Framework.
Nothing exciting.
I sent out some useful emails and I let Blog Simple Framework Members do the rest.
I can attribute the sales to the price increase and members spreading the word, but at the heart of it all was Blog Simple Framework‘s brand.
If Blog Simple Framework had a shitty brand then members wouldn’t bother promoting it.
If Blog Simple Framework had a shitty brand then people wouldn’t have heard good things about it before and finally decided to pull the trigger.
The problem that you can have when you think about building a strong brand is that it’s hard to quantify its benefits. It’s not always something you can measure and it takes a long time to build up.
The $27,000 3-Day Trip
I had an idea for two products but I wasn’t sure if my audience wanted them.
I mean, I had a feeling that they did, otherwise, I wouldn’t have thought about them.
So what I did was write an email on a Tuesday letting them know that the next day I was going to open the doors to these two products for 3 days.
By Saturday, I had made $26,885.53.
Not everybody can do that. This was 100% all brand.
Because people trust me (my brand) they trust that I’m going to provide them with value. If I can do that then they are ready for me to give them more value.
So as we start this climb with building a brand I want you to understand the importance of establishing this foundation.
Yes, you can create awesome content, knock it out of the park with Pinterest or SEO and finally get those ads, but if you want to play the long game, then you need to start with your brand on day 1.
Or day 7,214 if you already have a site.
Hero Branding
It’s time to dive into the Odd Noodle Universe!
Not sure why I called it the Odd Noodle Universe but it kind of gives it an epic feel, right?
This is your first stop off of the Dream Roadmap and you are going to go through the Pocket Business Handbook.
It sets the whole foundation for your business. You skip this and you’ll find yourself moving back to the beginning over and over and over again.
However, when you nail it down, everything else is magical.
It’s important that you go through the full course before returning here to your Dream Roadmap because if you can’t do what is necessary to build a strong brand, nothing else is going to work.
If you left the last section with multiple business ideas then I would suggest you go through the exercises for each idea.
You might find that some ideas just aren’t resonating with the Hero that you’ve created or you feel you don’t understand them as well as you do for another idea.
If you were in college then this would be considered the weed out course. The course that makes people drop out.
That’s why understanding your Hero inside and out is one of the most important exercises that you can do for your business.
Our Members that were lost and have gone through the exercises are now found.
It really changes the game with regards to everything that you do moving forward.
It’s tough. I’m not going to sugarcoat it.
This is the hardest set of exercises that you’re going to go through.
When you start going through the exercises you’ll have this urge to run with your first answer and be done with it. But 99% of the time you need to dig deeper.
Literally, when you find the Hero that resonates with you, you will feel it.
And once that Hero is established, the rest of this journey becomes a LOT easier.
This is putting the first piece in the puzzle. Consider it the corner piece that all other pieces connect to.
If it seems like I’m overselling the importance of this course, believe me, I’m not.
There is a reason why it’s included in the Dream Roadmap curriculum. Even if you don’t go further with any Odd Noodle course, I want you to leave with the foundation that the Pocket Business Handbook builds.
Your 1,000 True Fans there.
Do it justice.
One Hero
After doing the branding exercises you should have a Hero that has a lot of problems and emotions. You want to help them with all of them!
That’s great but for now, I’d say try to narrow down your hero as much as possible so it’s easier to build a solution around them.
If you’re still loving a couple of your business ideas, that’s fine. Just make sure there is one Hero for each.
And don’t sweat how much you should narrow your Hero down to. Over time you’ll find what works for you as we continue to go on this journey.
Especially once you settle on the Promise.