Any time that I mention brand in this handbook, I’m talking about you and your business.
Your Pocket Business.
A brand is not just limited to mega-corporations.
Got it?
Good.
With that out of the way, let’s begin.
Do you know the biggest struggle people have when starting a business?
Resonating with people.
That seems crazy because most people would say “coming up with an idea” or “making money“, but none of those things matter if you can’t resonate with people.
Remember Audience + Offer?
If you can’t resonate with your audience then there is no point in having an offer. But what do I mean when I say “resonate“?
What I mean is get people to like you.
It’s getting easier and easier to connect with people, especially with social media networks that have 100s of millions of people on them, but the problem is once you connect, can you resonate with them?
Can you get them to hand over their attention?
More importantly, can you get them to trust you?
Many brands fail because they don’t resonate with people and they don’t resonate with people because people don’t understand what their own brand is about or what the people they’re trying to connect with are about.
Why is this important?
Because every single business on this planet operates under the same system.
- Get them to notice you
- Get them to pay attention to you
- Get them to trust you
- Convert that trust into money
That’s business. Oh, it’s really important that you remember the 4 things above. I’ll talk about them a lot.
You’ll see.
Your business isn’t so special that it gets to operate outside of this system.
This is why it’s so important for people to understand who you are and what your brand represents.
If they do understand that then they get to decide if they should pay you more attention and trust you.
Starting a blog and writing about cooking doesn’t mean that people understand what you’re about.
Oh, you’re just another cooking blog? Cool.
You need to be seen as more than that if you really want to make the money that you dream about.
Got it?
Moving on.
Finding Clarity
One of the purposes of this handbook is to help you find clarity with your brand and then figure out how to bring that clarity to your audience.
When you find clarity, your message becomes clearer.
When people come to visit your site they will better understand what you are about.
They will understand WHY the site exists and more importantly why they should care.
If you can’t get people to care about your brand then you don’t have much of a business.
Blogging Problems
Many bloggers face the problem of having nobody really care about them or what they do.
You see this all of the time with people saying “I’m not getting any traffic” or “nobody is signing up for my mailing list”.
Many times it’s because the people don’t care about your blog because they don’t truly get what your blog is about.
A cooking blog to most people is just another cooking blog.
If you want to be remembered by people then you need to be different enough so that they do remember you.
If you’re really interested in starting a blog that gets people to notice then check out the FREE Blog Simple Guide.
This handbook is made publicly available because to us it’s the most important aspect of building a long-term business.
Everybody should have this information.
That sounds crazy when you consider the other courses we have teach you about building a tribe, getting traffic, and making money.
The reality is, those things become so much easier when you understand what you want your brand to be and can then effectively communicate that with your potential audience.
Understanding your brand means you understand your message.
Understanding your message means you understand your content.
Understanding your content means you understand your audience.
Understanding your audience means you understand what offers to create.
Understanding your offers means you have your whole business plan in place.
You’re set once you understand.
Work in Progress
I think it’s important to understand that your brand is a constant work in progress.
Going through this handbook will not be easy because you’ll have to make decisions.
Everyone can’t be your Hero (don’t worry, we’ll talk about the Hero later).
You can’t try to solve all of the problems at once.
There can’t be 20 different transformations at the beginning.
Note: Don’t worry, we will get into all of this stuff.
The more narrow you make things, the better off you’ll be but the more difficult it is to achieve.
Over time, you may see that you need to adjust things slightly and move the barometer. That’s okay.
It happens.
But before you go any further with your business, I suggest you go through this handbook.
Maybe even multiple times until you have your brand down pat and understand what you’re trying to achieve.
My Failures
Every single business failure that I’ve experienced has come from the fact that my brand lacked clarity and I didn’t fully understand my Hero.
(Sidenote: If you want to read about some of my business failures then you can get started on the story of how my first book made $0.)
It’s like getting into a fight with your partner. The fights always happen over a miscommunication.
However, when you know each other, then everything seems to go smoothly.
Or maybe that’s not how all partnerships go. Hm, okay, only pay attention to that analogy if it applies to you.
Otherwise, let’s go and see what a brand actually is.