Last week I was called to the stage to be a part of a business growth panel, our subject was Making Your Mark In The Digital Landscape.
It was a disco leg kind of morning, which I know to some might surprise them. I can look cool, calm and collected when I’m up on a stage, but I can tell you that inside it’s another story. There are nerves, I’m not immune to them, who is.
What I was most nervous about was I was on a panel, with people who I look up to who are further along than me into their business lives, and who know their stuff.
The little imposter inside me always sparks up during times like this, it’s says things like why are you up there, you’re not good enough – Why did they pick you, you’re not going to offer any value to the audience. That little imposter is crazy!
But it’s one of the reasons why I choose to say yes to events like this, because I want to get over my inner imposter, I want to show them that I am good enough, and to the world I want to show that everyone is worthy, no matter what level of life or business they are at.
So I sat there on stage, legs shaking.
First of all I steadied my breathing, I calmed it down and took deep controlled breaths, this relaxed me. I then positioned my legs on the tall stool in such a way that they were supported and not visibly shaking. It helped me continue.
The first question I was asked was:
“Could you tell us about the approach you took when getting started and share any lessons that individuals who are just getting set up in a new business should consider.”
I answered:
The start of Quirq was delayed, I jumped in to the business to help get the brand off the ground in the January, but it wasn’t till almost 4 months later that we could actually launch the brand. Unknown to me, this time would be a huge gift. I was like a bull, waiting for the gate to lift, I wanted to jump out the gate and get this business up and running and announced to the world. But, I couldn’t, I had to wait.
The waiting gave me time to get clear. I worked on gaining clarity in this time to who we were, what we wanted to stand for as a brand and who we wanted to talk to. I mapped out a digital strategy, and came up with a vision, mission and values (not ones that would last forever, but ones that would last us the start up years, we could gain more clarity down the line as we grew our client base and learned more about what they needed from us). I got ahead with content and scheduled a bulk load in advance so that I was ahead. I got to connect with others through networking in person and the online world where I could build some intrigue.
When we finally got to launch, I was ahead of the game and I didn’t feel like I was drowning in tasks trying to keep up with everything. If you can afford to take the time before your business launches to gain clarity, form a plan and get ahead of the curve I’d highly recommend it.
The second question:
“You and Toby came together to work on Brand You. Tell us how that collaboration came about and as a relatively new business, how did that reflect your digital strategy objectives.”
My answer:
Brand You is our podcast (in case you’ve been hiding under a rock and you haven’t seen me posting about it every chance I get). When I was about 6 months into Quirq, Toby called me and asked if I’d be interested in creating a podcast together, all about personal branding, I jumped at the chance.
Toby is a brilliant local Photographer who I had met when I first started Quirq through the local networking scene. He had shot my headshots for me, and while talking to him many times I got to learn more about the work he does bringing people to life through there professional imagery. With his background in acting, he really knows how to make someone’s essence shine through a photograph. I knew he did a lot of photography for people to share as part of their personal brand so I knew he’d be a great host to work alongside on something like this. He’d bring a different side of knowledge and expertise for the world of personal branding than I would.
From my point of view and through the lens of Quirqs marketing strategy, I knew this would be a great idea for so many reasons.
First of all, I wanted to create a podcast for Quirq at some point down the line. But, I also knew it was no easy task, it takes time, planning, creating, editing, equipment etc. Doing a podcast with someone else would mean that I could split the time, and we could cover tasks between us. Knowing Toby, I also knew that he had a lot of equipment already for his photography, his lighting would also make me look amazing (no make up artist required 😂). The way we work it is that I do the planning for the episodes, we both then shoot them in bulk, then Toby does the creative editing afterwards, this split works really well for our individual skills.
My other concern before creating a podcast on personal branding was that it could be a bit flat if it was just me recording it week on week. Having Toby there means that we have great conversations and bounce off each other, it makes the podcast more interactive and alive. We also never run out of things to say and opinions and stories to share.
Strategically, the reason I said yes to a podcast was because I had to market Quirq myself. To do this we need content, and creating a lot of content for a business alongside creating for my own personal brand and clients too is a lot of work. I knew that by investing time wisely into creating long form content, that could then be split into short form content, which would be a really smart way of getting the content I needed for Quirq without individually creating lots of short videos.
Being a personal branding agency, to draw clients to us through our marketing we need to practice what we preach. We need to show the human behind the brand and we need to grow know, like and trust with our audience. I knew that videos were the way to go to do this quickly, and especially long form content videos, there’s no where to hide, you really get to know, like a trust the people in longer form content videos because it’s hard to fake your personality for that amount of time and you really are so visible and vulnerable in a podcast when you’re having conversations with each other.
A podcast might not be the right thing to do for everyone. But it’s an option that you could look into as part of your personal brand strategy. Just don’t underestimate the work thats required to make a podcast a success, and the time in which it takes to grow one.
The third question we actually ran out of time for, but I’ll share now:
“If someone in the room wants to take one first step towards growing their business today, what should it be?”
In my head I’d prepared an answer to this question, which went something like…
Get connecting – Most of the time small businesses don’t have a product that people really need, without any competition on the market, that’s also easy to go viral with and sell. So the old saying your network is your net worth really does stand. You need to get connecting with others, whether that’s online, in person or both. To grow a business you need people, you need customers, referrers, collaborators, cheerleaders, supporters.
I still stand by this answer, it will help your business grow. But when I got to the panel event, I started speaking to someone who I knew there, Mark. And we started talking about this question, and he said something that I actually think trumps my answer. You need belief!
You need to believe in what you’re offering and in yourself. This sparked something in me. Because I was thinking about Quirq while I was answering this question, but really before Quirq there was another business that I still have alongside it today, but that also taught me the belief piece. You 100% need belief first, before anything else falls into place.
I’d taken my own current belief for granted, I’d forgotten that this came first. And it’s something I’ve had to grow over many years, my belief in myself.
If you don’t believe in what you have to offer, you’ll never share it with the world. If you don’t believe in yourself you’ll never have the confidence to do the scary things to share it with the world. If you don’t share your business with the world, you have no business you just have a secret hobby.
So whether you’re prepping for your first big panel or plotting the next bold move in your business, start with belief. It’s the quiet confidence that turns your ideas into action, and your business into something the world can’t ignore.
