SPEAKER_01 0:01

Hey there, Maureen Cana here, founder of the MindSights Academy, neurocoach to executives, leaders, entrepreneurs, and a neuroleadership trainer using insights from neuroscience to help you deliver results by learning to walk matter, be in control of your brain, manage yours and others' emotions, change behaviors, flourish and exceed expectations. Welcome back to another episode of Lead to Excel podcast. I have to guess. The three of us discuss the course in a bit of detail, and our focus in this episode is on branding in particular, but also looking at pricing. We discussed the structure of the course. So without saying too much, grab your drink, put your feet up and listen in.

SPEAKER_02 1:13

Good afternoon, everyone who is watching or listening. My name is Blessing Enakinil, and I would like to welcome you to our conversation this afternoon on launching a business. My name is Blessing, like I said earlier, and I'll introduce you to others. I've got Caroline on here, and I've also got Maureen. Maureen, would you like to introduce yourself, please?

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Yeah, my name is Maureen Ciana, and I'm a neuroleadership and resilience trainer, business consultant, and also a neurocoach. And I am the CEO and owner of the Mindsites Academy, which is an online academy for leaders and organizations as a home. So I leverage on brain science to help people work smarter, and in a sense, I say rewire their brains so that they can be more effective in everything they do, lead at a higher level, and achieve greater performance.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

So that's thank you, Maureen, for that.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Caroline?

unknown 2:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Hi, I'm Caroline Lyons. I actually run a fintech company, but my background is in branding, and I have been a brand strategist for many years. I still work in branding as well. I have my own business called Words and Stories, and basically I listen to people, particularly startups. I listen to their words to help them tell their story. Basically, ask them a series of questions that come to understand who they are, what they do, and why anybody should care, and basically discover their purpose and their authenticity and the authentic reason for why they exist. And that's what my background is in.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

Thank you, Caroline. Okay, a little bit about me. Um I run several companies, so I'll start with one of them being Blessing by Blair, which is a luxury and wedding luxury weddings and event outfits where we design and produce luxury wedding parties, social events for our clients. We also run um corporate events, international trade and seminars, things like that. So on an international global level for national government and for individual organizations as well. On the other hand, also I do own a cake company, which is a culture cake company called Le Cuture Cakes, where we design cake, and our main motto is always creating an edible experience for our clients. So I suppose two ends here to this conversation is one, I do run several businesses and I have started up quite a few businesses, and also in the business of running events, there's a lot of project and project skills that I use, and this is what we are bringing to the table to share with everyone in this conversation, I suppose. Thank you for that introduction. I'm gonna go straight to the course itself. So, Maureen, would you like to tell us about this course? What is it called? What is the structure?

SPEAKER_01 4:25

Right. Yeah, this course is called Launch Your Startup Business. And the structure of the course is that it's for eight weeks. And the idea is that we'll have a live session and then we'll have an self-directed online session. So it's going to kind of be alternated, but there's a week where you have two self-directed um study areas. And the reason why I've designed it this way is really most times you see people um courses advertised, and people go on courses, or you take courses where you go, you're taught everything you need to know, and then you go, and then you're meant to then implement it. But the idea of this is that we'll keep touching base with you. So one week we're covering certain topics, you go away, work on it, come back the next week, and then we can actually discuss what you've done. Or if you've got issues or questions, you can bring those in and then we'll cover the topics for that day. And the self-directed areas, those are really areas that you really need to work on your own. So it's it's a time for you to go off and really get all the information you need to then implement. But because you're working with a cohort, you also have other people you can be interacting with at that time. So one of the things we'll also do in the days you're self-directed is also set up a space for you to actually interact with each other if you need to. And then at the end, um you also then come into our leaders' community where you can still keep working together as a group and then also benefit from the wider community of other people who've been in business or who are in leadership.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

Okay, thank you for that, Maureen. Um, I'm gonna um talk to you, Caroline. When it comes to starting out a business, people often just jump in and get going, especially with social media now being so accessible to everyone. We just think as long as we have a product or a service and we can text or type, we can put something on social media and off we go. Business assets. Um, there and there are loads of business supposedly business businesses up there um on social media. What would you say is branding? That's the first question. Second question is why brand your business? Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

Um that's really interesting point. The the first thing that I will be talking to the people on my part of the course where I'll be talking about is having a strategy and how important it is to actually think before you do. Um, so I'm I yeah, I don't think with branding, we always start with first of all creating that strategy. Um, it's asking a series of questions to be able to really articulate who you are, what you offer, and why anyone should care. Because if you don't know that, then you're not going to be able to get yourself out there, find the right clients that you want to promote yourself against, yeah, and make meaningful connections with people. So branding is a number of, it's it's not as simple as just a logo. Um, a lot of people think to have a brand means I've just got a logo. Um, a brand is something that's really thought about. So, like I said, we start with with strategy, we work out who we are, why, what we offer, why anyone should care. We uh work out our purpose, our reason for being, and the reason we get up in the morning, and then we look at how do we become an authentic brand that people are going to be able to communicate with and connect with. Once we've articulated that, we then move into how we communicate, what's our tone of voice? So that means that we need to think about who are we talking to, how should we talk to them? So you might be a company that's a bit quirky and a bit individual, so your tone of voice is going to be very different to a company that's going to be very business to business, speaking to financial advisors or um financial directors and stuff like that, the way that you speak to someone like that compared to a more consumer business, consumer-facing business, is going to be very different. So it's working out how to align yourself to your audience, um, coming up with a tone of voice, coming up with a name for your um for your business, um, thinking about a name from do I want a name that's going to say what it is that I do, like Sarah's cake shop, for example, versus Uber, which is a um a car taxi service company. Uber doesn't mean anything related to the car um services, but it's a very interesting name and it's um and it's uh it's a one-worded name, so they've got a great um website and everything that means you can have uber.com and everything like that. There are there are just loads and loads of different um things to it. So, yeah, you've got your tone of voice, you've got your name, and then you start to look at okay, how it how are we going to look? So, this is the identity part of creating a brand, and that looks at everything from creating a logo, creating a colour palette, um, creating um all the different marketing touch points. Are you going to be an online brand or are you going to be more do you have a store? Um, looking at all the different ways that you're going to apply your identity to the different touch points that you're going to communicate with your different audience members. And all of that needs to align back to your tone of voice and to your strategy. So it all everything always is in alignment with each other. And once you've um got your identity, which will comprise the logo, the colour palette, the typeface, the uh the different ways that we communicate it, we'll look at all the different marketing channels about where you where your brand needs to live. And once we've done that, then we create a go-to-mark market plan about how we're going to get the brand out there. And then once you've done the last part of what I want to talk about during my my part of the course will be um how do you maintain an engagement with your customers? Um, and finally, the last bit is very importantly getting paid for what you do as well, and how you how that whole journey, that brand journey, will go from trying to find your customer all the way through to um getting paid paid at the end. So there's a lot there's a lot of stuff with branding. Um, it's uh definitely much more than a logo, I think. Um there's a lot to think about, and it all all starts with a strategy. So I I think like from what initially asked me, um people shouldn't just go out and just start up a business. You've got to really think about it. Um, and brand brand strategy and branding ties into your business strategy. They should the two of them should um marry in some way.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

I hope that answer I like that. That's yeah, I really like that because you're absolutely it's one of the things that you I see so much. You know, people want to start a business and then they just jump in and then start a business without thinking about the branding and you know, thinking about how they want to look, thinking about the message they want to give out. You know, it's just a case of I've got an idea, I'll do it. So, you know, and that's one of the reasons why I feel this course will be so beneficial to so many people because instead of just jumping in, and then what you tend to see a lot of is people start and then suddenly they realize, oh, I need to brand, and then they then go back and start rebranding well, branding, not even rebranding, starting all over again. But you see, you can cut all that off by doing it right from the beginning. And I think in the process of thinking about all the things that Caroline has spoken about, it would actually help you structure your business and help clear give you clarity about where you're going as well.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

Definitely. Yeah, absolutely 100% agree. And um that's yeah, I think also what one thing that people tend to do is uh they think about the branding suddenly and they're like, oh gosh, I've got to do something um with my branding. Um, right, I'll just I'll get a designer over here to do a logo. Absolutely speak to this other person about doing something else. But they're having thought about it, and it needs to it has to start with a strategy and it and because this is the most meaningful brands are the ones that are consistent, the ones that we the ones that we believe in, and we sort of go back to time and time again, they're very consistent with their messaging and the deliverables and their and that that um creates trust. When it's like how we are with people, I think, when the reliable friends that we have, the reliable people that we know are the ones that are consistent in the way that they deliver their the most successful business people are consistent like that. Um so it's it's the same thought process that needs to be thought about with your with your brand.

unknown 13:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:44

Yeah, I I I believe truly that people buy people. You know, people won't book me for um as their event planner or as their wedding planner because my website is pretty. No, they it's when they have that conversation with me and they're confident in my voice, in what I say, they like me, therefore they book me. You know, believe people buy people. Same thing with wedding cakes, whatever it is you're offering, people buy people. So your brand must must look like you in a way. Your brand must represent you, it must have your essence. Um, so I am all for having a like you're saying, having a designer somewhere, designing your logo doesn't mean that's your brand. It has to be you, it has to it has to reflect your product or your service. So you like you're saying, having a strategy of what it is you're offering, who you're offering it to, why you're offering it, will reflect strongly on what your brand needs. Thank you for that. Okay, next question I would like to ask Maury. When you come to business, you ready for this? There is a mindset that you must have if you're going to start up a business. You can't just use the same mindset you had as an employee as a business owner. It is not the same. Because when you start up a business, don't forget you don't have a HQ department somewhere. You are the pro you are production manager, you are service delivery, you are HR, you are finance director, you are your every department when you start up. So you need to have a specific mindset when it comes to starting up a business. Maureen, can you tell us a little bit more about the mindset?

SPEAKER_01 15:32

Yeah, right. For me, this is really the foundation of a successful entrepreneur or business owner, and that's why I've put this into the first module, because without it, you you struggle. And that's why a lot of times you find people starting off in business, and then a few months or a year later or so, they kind of go, I can't take it anymore. It's too much for me. Now, to the I think without going into too much detail because we don't have time, the mindset itself, you know, what is in our brain particularly is what determines the actions we carry out, the decisions we make, the behavior we have, the habits we have. And if you don't understand how to control your brain, when situations happen, which they will in business, because in business things change constantly. If you are not prepared, it's so easy to get stressed, to get anxious, to get overwhelmed, but also to feel lonely. Because once you start, there's a whole bunch of emotions that will occur as things start happening. So it's so important to be able to understand first and foremost what who am I, why am I doing this? What do I need to know? Okay, what's actually happening? Because, and it's not a case that you know what I'll say is it's also it will help you to really know what to do once those emotions kick in. Because when you start a business, one fear is one of the biggest things that really grips people or stifles or stifles people or prevents people from moving. And it's it's not it's a natural emotion. The reason why is because that's your brain at work, doing that's your brain literally doing its work, and that is trying to protect you from what it does not understand. So it's really being able to have what I will call. I don't want to even give it a term, but I call it the entrepreneur's mindset because it's a mindset that will get you through the tough times, it's the mindset that will prevent you from you know coming against an obstacle or challenge and running back or crumbling, basically. So, and this is what we're going to go into more detail in the training, and it's not a one-module training, it's going to you're going to see it throughout the training, throughout the eight weeks and even after, because you're going to need it. Because at every stage of setting up a business and running a business, you need to have the right mindset to take you through each of these steps. Because even now that I'm in business and I've been in business for a long time and done so much, my you know, there are times that I come against situations that I've got to stop my brain from taking off and saying, no, this is what we're doing, brain. And if we don't have those tools, it it will it will really be difficult to really sucks to be successful as a business owner.

SPEAKER_02 18:57

Thank you for that. I totally agree. I think sometimes we get carried away with um whatever the project or product is, and we we develop our skills in say, for instance, oh, I'm going to be a web designer. We develop our skills in web designing, or okay, I'm going to um again, I'm going to make cakes. You develop your skills in making cakes, but you forget that you're running a business. You need to develop your skills in business. Whether you like it or not, you have to be a master at marketing, master at sales, master at staff management, master of all of that, and everything around running a business alongside being a master of your trade. But most business owners, most entrepreneurs just get on with the skills that they need for that actual thing they're doing, or forget that they're running a business. And I think that's one of the main things that we're going to be looking at in this program is that when you're running a business, if it is a business and not a hobby, then you need to have a business mindset.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

Um, it's very important. And in sometimes it's um you may even, like depending on what the business is, you may even let go of being the person who actually does has the skill set and be more about um looking for other people who are going to do that skill for you. So you can start to bring a team together, yeah. Um, and more of a I guess management manage manage a team of people rather and and cultivate that environment, I suppose. Which means letting go of the dreams sometimes, but realizing that there are there are more, but you know, there's a more benefit in having a a really great team together than you trying to be that um person.

SPEAKER_02 20:36

To do everything, exactly. And again, if you look back in a at Henry Ford, he had buttons on his best request for whatever he needed. He didn't need to build information, but he knew people who knew the information. So, you know, like you're saying, it's being open enough to to to let other people in who can then help you because you can always outsource other aspects of your business if you don't want to do it yourself. But if you're not aware that that is part of the job, you're not going to do it. And you think you have to do everything yourself. So while you're busy designing and building your website yourself, you're not actually running your business. Um, so keeping busy doesn't necessarily mean that you're being productive as a business owner. So these are things that we really need to highlight, I think, for startups that it they all look shiny on Facebook, they all look lovely on Instagram, and everyone can write uh uh uh something or the other to put on Lily PIN, but what is happening underneath the water? You know, what what what exactly does it take to run a business?

SPEAKER_01 21:35

So we will end the part one here. The rest of our discussion is in the part two of this episode. So make sure you listen to it. Again, thank you for tuning in. And please don't forget to subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to it. And remember to leave a five-star review for us so that other people can also find this podcast as well. And my offer to give a one to one session with a lucky person who has reviewed is still open. So leave a review because that lucky person might be you. So I look forward to seeing you in our next episode. Bye for now.