Today is LONG with opportunity.

Thanks to the eight years in advertising working with brands such as Nike and Starbucks and another year freelancing at Nike and though I began my business as a branding coach and know the value of clarity of message, of your authentic ability to deliver that consistency of message and of the connection and engagement it all brings, I am the first to say work on YOU before ever worrying about a fancy website…

I call working on YOU, working on the “content”(the actual content you share in newsletters, trainings, paid or otherwise, is also key, but let’s start with the content of you, first).

You are the content, the material we need to work with in order to make the actual business’ing work.

In order to be the woman who creates a massive difference for others (the real thing that grows your business-turned-movement or soulful empire) and who, as a result, others are constantly sharing and/or talking about, you must be the woman who leads from the inside-out…

In other words, the woman who expresses her emotional intelligence every day by:

• Feeling excited about doing whatever heavy emotional lifting and healing there is to do so she can feel more alive, lighter and can then give from that light.

• Asking herself, ‘how did I contribute to this situation?’ before ever pointing the finger at anyone else.

• Showing up, being there in a big and ongoing way for herself and others. In other words, says no when she needs to, but from a place of love and, you could even say, elegance. She, not only does what she says she will do, but goes above and beyond, not for lack of boundaries, but in genuine expression of the overflow of energy and love she has, as a result of the personal development work she continually says yes to.

• Desiring to be known for solution, not problem, not interested in drama but in creative, loving solution for it…

• Using the things that anger or disappoint her from life or that she sees happening in the world to create even more change within and outside in her community (hello, inspired action, action, ACTION).

• More easily surrendering and letting go of what is causing her unnecessary suffering because –> pain is human and suffering is optional. She can also more easily surrender to being wrong which, psst, we hear is surrender at its best or at its highest vibration…

• Sensing when ego vs. heart or truth is doing the talking/leading…

• Being less afraid to ask others close to her, ‘how can I be better?’ and/or ‘what do you see as the things that are (still) holding me back?’ and, as related, to ask or finally get the support she needs in any new area of self development she may need an observer and mentor in.

• Genuinely believing life is happening for her, not TO her.

In the name of leadership, visibility and the monetary success that comes with reaching goals, focusing on growing the internal brand of our being will only help to grow the external one.

But don’t forget, the visual brand or packaging IS important, let me be clear on that. I mean, how can it not be?

We need the dress to match the song…
But, from my experience, we forget or don’t even know, many times, what the packaging or brand elements even include. We move into the external brand creation thinking it’s only about the photographs or the fancy website, but it’s ALL branding…your mindset being one of the more important predictors of a great, authentic brand (more to come on this and the graphic below in a COMPLIMENTARY PERSONAL BRAND TRAINING I’ll be doing for you soon)…

The more honest you become in your personal internal work, the more honest your brand becomes — a wonderful thing. In fact, it’s what we need.

You.

We call it something new every day…authentic, real, engaging, connection-oriented, but they all have one thing in common: a return to your soul, your truth, or, as shared in the newsletter on Saturday, to your soulution-oriented self that attracts, inspires trust and connects and truly relates with others.

Both your INNER BRAND and OUTER BRAND are and will be part of the energetic expression that will go out into the world to bring back, not just fans, but kindred or kismet clients.

Though the color, photography or “look” of the packaging isn’t technically the most important, it all does, in fact, carry with it a vibrational tone or feeling that, without saying a word, shares with this special and ideal audience who you are, what you stand for and what type of transformation they can expect to receive (the last, by the way, being what you need to make sure that your tagline includes).

Of course, beyond the visual look and feel, we have the words or stories you use to express on Facebook every day, the signature program you choose to run with, the titles and names you give your work, the talks you hopefully decide to put more of yourself into etc. — again, this is all branding and it’s all important…

People may not remember what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel. I know you’ve heard that one before and experienced it, likely, many times…

And that’s just it — traditional branding is important because making others FEEL something (that they are looking to feel or create) connects you to them forever.

And, working on self is important because, well, for the same reason. Because making others FEEL something (that they are looking to feel or create) connects you to them forever.

Let’s work on both and dance about it…

I’ll be sharing more on the COMPLIMENTARY PERSONAL BRAND TRAINING training I’ll be hosting for you creative, multi-passionate and multi-dimensional driven changemakers. Stay tuned…

Until then, enjoy your business, enjoy your life!

 

 

p.s. Send us your burning branding or authentic brand-related questions for the complimentary training coming up and I’ll see about adding them to the training, {mwaa}.

Our soul or soulution self is as real a part of who we are as our human self.

I have one main question for you today ~ might we remember her spark more often? Bring her into the everyday allowing her to help see us through…? Using her as inspiration for our brand, a mark or measure for how, or in what ways, to continue evolving, loving and surrendering?

We are a dichotomy in the best of ways.

And, as a result, we get to dance between two realities (we don’t have to, we get to), experiencing both worlds and all they have to offer us. Though they inform each other, the worlds are unique and, therefore (as you well know as a creative and spiritual woman) what you are able to take in and experience throughout this life AS both human and soul (and acknowledging both every day), as a result, is extremely unique as well.

In other words, I know you find an appreciation in experiencing ALL of you, the very depths of you and the surface parts of you (this is, of course, tied to the whole “we can be deeply spiritual and a fashionista” thing). As I’ve said many times before, you are multi-passionate and multi-dimensional, a god-send for your evolution and brand. 😉

When we understand, more and more everyday, that we are both human and soul, and use all the bells and whistles given as that human AND that soul, we are able to experience greater moments of surrender, peace and joy.

As the Creative Heroine says to herself often, you are soul, you are creativity, you are resilience and you, my dear, are always just on the other side of reinvention or greater stillness. Walk around the corner and there she is — there YOU are.

Though we are human, we are not problem (no matter how much the happenings of our lives or that our minds may want us to think that we are)…we are soul. This means that we can always find or BE part of the solution. In fact, we always have the seeds of solution available in us to bloom anew…in other words, to:

• Put the puzzle pieces in business or life back together in a way so as to feel more alive,
• Experience greater healing which leads to greater world peace,
• More fully understand self love and, therefore, self compassion and…
• See the value in our most honest expression…the authentic expression of who we are or most want to be.

Remembering what we are made of (soul and soulution), in other words, where we come from and who we truly are at our core also reminds us that although we may experience sadness, that we are not sadness, and that just because we may feel heartbroken or trying for the 12^th time to make something/anything/everything work, that we are not brokenness.

Again, the truth is that we are possibility, both in our humanity AND in our spirit.

As a true Creative Heroine, you are a woman who moves from problem to solution in hopes of expressing to the world who you really are.

Remember this as you move towards your goals, brand and big business and you will meet them all.

Remember that you are both human and soul.

Remember, too, especially as you move towards great goals, your gorgeous business-turned-movement and, generally, toward great change and evolution what Arianna Huffington’s mom said to her:  “…mistakes are not the opposite to success, but a stepping stone to success.”

Life may not all work out as you design it, but adopting this truth, or, in other words, adopting the Creative Heroine mindset, the growth mindset, one that says that trip-ups are a natural part of creation, evolution and of creating lasting change in the world, will help you lean into your resilience and create something even greater than may have originally been on paper.

How does this help your brand and business, you ask?

Recognizing that you are more, that you are depth embodied…that you are soul as much as you are human helps you keep you going (the #1 success strategy in entrepreneurship), adding to the well of resilience and creativity we most need as creators and thought leaders (creativity = a fancy way of saying the act of moving from problem to solution).

When you begin to be seen and get known for being solution is when you begin to lead and separate yourself from the pack. It is you as leader that creates the biggest expression of you possible.

And that’s all that great branding really is ~ YOU as your biggest expression.

In short, surrender to that which hasn’t worked up until now and allow more space and a platform for your  s o u l to shine and speak every day on Facebook, via your blog or newsletter.

THIS is where to start from, THIS is where we lead, express and succeed from.

And the sun shone brightly…

Enjoy your business, enjoy your life!

 

 

 

p.s. This is who you are — soulution.

 

Today, I wanted to share something that I am planning on sharing with my mastermind group soon…

The topic: creativity and, specifically, the blocks we might experience as creative women…as humans. As we all know or have experienced, certain seasons in life sometimes bring back a less-than-helpful closed mindset, a tenativeness/timidness or a worry that we just aren’t good enough…that it’s just not going to happen for us…

But, as creative women, this just isn’t true…we can create out of this downward spiral and we can remember that that life is like a spiral staircase and though we might run into the same or similar situation or thought at times, we are now higher up on the staircase…wiser, able to bring in a new aspect of the woman we are today, to help us through this particular situation.

As creative women, what we also know or eventually realize is that any “creative block” we might experience (anything that stops the flow of us being who we naturally are, or, in other words, who we are as solution (soulution)-oriented people), is also likely a block to our success. We’ve all felt it…when we feel blocked creatively, we feel blocked, period.

Creativity = moving from problem to ecstatic or electric solution (isn’t that what it feels like getting a new and rather AMAZING idea in the shower or in yoga? Ecstatic! Like an electric shock just hit you?).

In order to keep on with that particular and amazing life force flowing through us, coming up with innovative and soulful ways to support our clients (and our families), we want to, not only recognize the blocks that might start to make themselves into our psyche, but commit to, most of all, being known for our solutions (soulutions) rather than our problems.  If we can commit to being this, we can BE anything we want in this life…CEO, Speaker, Thought Leader, Activist, Author, and the list goes on…

I trust the share below will help you reflect. Are you currently experiencing any of these blocks? Have you allowed them to make you feel blocked? And, if so, how you can shift your thinking to continue being the brand of woman who leads and loves and, as a result, is stepping into a greater version of herself every day, hour and minute by committing to being the solution in everything she says, does and shows to the world…

Together, let’s take the blocks below and make them the blocks we stand on to reach higher levels of success. This is your true nature –> to create and continue creat-ing, knowing her greatest strategy to success will have been that she kept going…

The Four Creative Blocks that Double as Success Blocks — How to Think Differently 

What happens when we’re feeling blocked? When we’re not feeling creative or when no ideas, nada, zero, zilch are coming (or, maybe they’re coming but the ideas don’t feel aligned or like the spark they usually feel like — what do we do then? Or, is the better question how might those blocks present themselves in our daily lives (what do they look like?) and, in being more aware of them, can we manage to simply nod in acknowledgement of them and continue moving forward to the realization of our dreams anyway?

Block #1: Believing Only Some People Are Creative or Have the Ability to be Supremely Successful.

If you’ve ever thought you were born with the creative, success or solution gene missing, the good news is you’re wrong. 🙂 In those more tender moments, it’s potentially and simply that you haven’t accepted creativity as a process yet (just like success, creativity is a process and your ability to channel your inner Creative Heroine, knowing you always have the power to move from problem to solution, will see you through).

The great thing about finally accepting your creative nature and practice as a process (truly accepting it as your new consciousness, not just saying you do) is that you’ll allow greater joy and physical wealth into your life. Any time you accept or surrender to your nature (your flow)  –  flow and abundance you will receive!

In other words, by accepting that creativity, as with success, is a process, you’ll be creating space in your life (read: in order to let the magic of the universe IN, more money and just MORE into your life, your mind and life can’t be already chalk full of a family of doubts, worries or fears).

Acceptance and the act of surrender releases those and makes room for what, also naturally wants to come in…

And that’s exactly the point — your heightened joy and abundance is mainly due to the fact that the majority of your precious time will not be spent beating yourself up because something didn’t work out, that you didn’t reach a goal or because only two people liked your latest heartfelt post on Facebook, but instead on the many other things that are working well and growing.

Focus on the many things that are working and growing and you’ll be doing the work of accepting your creativity (and success) as a process!

Here’s another way to look at it — when more or most of your creative time is spent focusing on creating, on what lights you up or focusing on the practices, people or experiences that are allowing you to express even more of your true yourself, you become not only a more content person, but hopefully a more grateful person. It’s in this space of gratitude where the magic happens. The more gratitude we feel for what is working and growing in our lives, the more that continues to work and grow!

As the success graphic above shows, it is your nature and it is natural to zig and zag. That’s just it. Let’s love up our zigging and zagging, it’s part of our creative and entrepreneurial spirit

“Creativity is like washing a pig. It’s messy. It has no rules.
No clear beginning, middle or end. It’s kind of a pain in the ass
and when you’re done, you’re not sure if the pig is really clean
or even why you were washing a pig in the first place.”
~ Luke Sullivan

Block #2: “I have to be professional” or “This isn’t professional.” 

The killer of all brand personality, therefore creativity and therefore success, is using the “is this professional?” filter vs. the meaning or on-brand filter (these are two filters I had shared with my group a few weeks ago — if you want to see them, email me and let me know). Having had my own experience with this for a number of years early on about 12-15 or so years ago (and knowing it does little to bring us the happiness in business and expression we most want), I can say that for me and the clients I’ve worked with, it’s definitely a block to our flow…to the expression of who we naturally are.

In my relationship with this, I overthought what and how I shared. I was able to keep the multi-passionate and multi-dimensional Michelle going when I was with clients, however, in marketing myself, I kept the fullness of me and of who I really was at a five out of 10 (note: being entrepreneurs we need to allow ourselves to shine a 10+ out of 10 — to show our true selves).

Moving from what’s professional to what’s personal and understanding that what your potential clients and tribe want from you IS the personal, or, in other words, the real you  –  the full you  –  is how to tackle this particular block.

Over the years, I’ve seen this be true time and time again. In fact, one of the things that I can attribute the last two or three bumps in monetary success to, is to exactly this: being exactly who I am, without overthinking and, definitely, without asking myself if something is what I should be sharing or not. I share what I truly believe, to the tune of a 10+, on all topics (basically whatever I am thinking about any topic) and I do it over and over again every day.

For example, for a time, I thought I could only share my thoughts on branding as that had been my specialization over the years. False. Or, maybe some of you have thought that you can’t share too much about your personal life because it will affect your business negatively or that people won’t care. Also false. They do care and you, as the (thought) leader you are, can share your thoughts on anything (people want to hear your stories, thoughts and beliefs about a variety of topics. Why? Because before they invest with you, they want to make sure that more of all of you, is in alignment with more of all of them).

With soulmate clients, or, in other words, with the ideal clients who will be growing with your business-turned-movement, you can never say the wrong thing, remember that.

You can’t say the wrong thing to the right person
nor the right thing to the wrong person.

Be professional in your work with clients, yes…show up on time, over deliver and deliver when you say you’re supposed to, give impeccable customer service, AND, when speaking about your creative ideas and expressing who you really are to the world, don’t be professional, just be you!

Block #3: Copying People vs. Copying Principles.

Every time we even think about copying someone else, we give away our soul’s (creative) power. In other words, copying others, or even thinking about doing so, is a creative block because it gives a very clear signal energetically to the natural abilities that run through us that our particular force is not as good, valuable or as powerful as someone else’s. Living in that long enough starts to make it feel like fact, when, of course, nothing could be further from the truth.

The key: resist the urge to look at what people are doing so much and, instead, ask yourself why they are doing it. In other words, be inspired by others! But instead of only looking only as far as what they are doing (say, you see them launching that program or traveling the world doing their events, as just two examples, and you feel “I want that…I want to DO that”), don’t stop there…ask and stay longer in the reviewing why they are launching that program (what is it allowing them to do with their business model or how does this support them in potential revenue or joy goals?) and why they are traveling the world doing their events (how is this helping them grow the portable part of their business, when push comes to shove, why might or might NOT this be what we actually want for our lives with young children?).

It is wonderful to be inspired by someone and knowing how to use that inspiration is what can either add or detract to our own creative power.

Your ideas, those that come without ever having to look at what someone else is doing, are valuable. Follow those ideas and potentially mix in some of the answers you receive when you do your deeper review of why someone else might be doing something and why it might fit with their life, but, not yours…

Block #4: “But it’s all already been done before.” 

The killer of big ideas, maybe even the biggest idea you’ve ever had in business is believing that it’s all already been done before.

It hasn’t.

Resist the urge to allow that little or loud voice to deter you from the very creativity that will see an idea, whether similar to someone else’s or not, through in a unique and powerful way. You are you and only you will be able to deliver this particular program, service or produce this product in the way that you can.

There may not be any “new” ideas, but there IS a way to make new connections between old or existing ideas. Ahem, welcome to the world of online and offline business, a world full of people taking what’s previously existed and creating a subtle remix of what’s needed or wanted in the marketplace!

Do YOU, allow that creativity to flow and infuse your particular knowledge, stories and truth into everything you do and you’ll feel that you will always be creating something new…

Be the ecstatic or electric solution (soulution) every day. Remember that this is your brand and that this is who you truly are.

You are not blocked. In fact, the door to success is wide open for you!

Enjoy your business, enjoy your life, Creative Heroine!

 

 

 

p.s. If you want the meaning and brand filters I discussed above, let me know. Sending you love from L.A!