Hi, Solopreneur! 

Happy Wednesday, and welcome to issue #32 of Solopreneur Doorway, your weekly insight and inspiration to turn your skills into solutions people buy.

I appreciate you sharing the newsletter and helping me reach my first subscriber goal of 1,000 readers!

This week’s issue is a 4.5-minute read.

🛠 The Toughest Piece of Your Solopreneur Venture to Build and Sustain is NOT Your Offer: It’s Your Brand (3 Ways to Start)

Does your solopreneur biz have a brand?

Before you say, “Absolutely, Erik!” let’s be sure we’re on the same page.

Your brand is NOT your logo, web site colors, blog post design, or business slogan.

If you want to know if your brand is a dusty haystack in a potato field or a golden haystack in a Claude Monet sunset, here’s a simple step.

Ask your customers to answer this question:

⚡️ Consider this:

• If Apple opened a hotel, you would have a good idea of how you might feel as you walked through the lobby
  

• If Porsche started an airline, you would have a good idea of how you might feel as you walked down the center aisle

Powerful brands make you feel.

When I launched my solo finance business, I had no idea how to ignite or expand my brand. Initially, I thought nice suits and ties would be the key (not even close). 😕

As I collaborated with clients, I began hearing bits of positive feedback from them around the topics of research, security, and communication.

Hmmm.

• Research

• Security

• Communication

I used those themes to purposefully craft a brand that helped my clients feel confident. In each client meeting, I emphasized my research, and I strived to simplify complex strategies.

When clients left our meetings, I wanted them to feel that the strategies would transport them from uncertainty to confidence.

To update my brand’s report card each year (and a step I suggest you consider), I asked my clients 1 powerful question:

“How do you feel when we work together?” 

If I heard them mention confident or secure, (and other similar words), I knew my brand was getting stronger and expanding in the right direction.

🔥 If you’re in the first three years of operating your solo business, your brand is still in the early stages. Yes, your website, color palette, slogan, and blog posts will help craft a brand image, yet it takes quite a while before your customers will feel a deep brand loyalty to you and your business.

Here are 3 powerful ways to develop a brand that attracts and retains your ideal customers.

Ask Your Customers the Key Question: “How Do They Feel When They Interact with You?”

Whether you offer designs for cool restaurants, personal fitness plans, or graphic design solutions, it’s paramount that your business stirs and elevates the appropriate client emotions.

Yes, perhaps it’s sappy to integrate feelings with business; yet, companies have built billion-dollar revenue streams on pure emotion.

Disney makes kids feel magical, Hallmark makes people feel loved, and Harley Davidson makes folks feel adventurous. Think about the brands you most adore. I guarantee they evoke a powerful emotion in you.

When you start to build your solopreneur brand (or if you’re unsure whether you have one), start with the lead in question of ‘how do you feel?’

You can gather this information via 1:1 conversations, surveys, and feedback forms.

I prefer hearing my client’s response during a conversation since voice intonation and body language speak volumes. If you don’t have the opportunity to chat with your clients, then forms and surveys are a good choice, too.

In time, you’ll see a pattern of similar responses from your audience, which is the starting point for your brand’s identity.

If you like what you hear, you’re in great shape. If not, then I invite you to spend some time watching and reviewing powerful commercials.

Watch and Review Powerful Commercials

The most innovative agencies know how to augment a brand’s identity with powerful, 30-second stories that illustrate a positive customer transition. When you describe your product and interact with your customers, try to underscore their journey in a unique manner.

Your ability to develop a story and make your customer the hero will give you tremendous leverage.

Recently, the creative agency Anomaly hit a brand home run for Hotels (dot) com with their TV ad, “The Artist.” The ad illustrates a heartfelt transition when a dad books a hotel reservation that appeals to his artistic daughter.

While you and I don’t have the budget to hire Anomaly, we do have YouTube. Spend a few minutes watching the best ads of 2023, and you’ll start to incorporate more emotion into your pitch, presentation, and client collaborations.

When you develop a unique story that resonates with your audience, you take a big step toward filling the gap between you and your competition.

Study Your Competition and Fill the Gap

Mercedes, Toyota, and Subaru make cars. Each gets you from point A to point B. Yet, each automaker works diligently to craft and express a unique feeling that appeals to their target audience.

If you want to feel luxurious, you choose Mercedes. If you want to feel like you made an economic choice on a reliable car, you buy Toyota. If you want to feel safe and outdoorsy, you buy a Subaru.

The auto field is highly competitive yet each auto maker fills the gap that their competition opts to ‘ignore.’

When you create your products and offers, think about what’s unique about them. Try to find the gaps that your immediate competitors opt to by-pass, and then fill those gaps with a powerful story and positive client transition.

🔑 Your Takeaways

• Ask Your Customers, “How Do They Feel When They Interact with You?”
  

• Watch and Review Powerful Commercials
  

• Study Your Competition and Fill the Gap

📣 Business Article of the Week

The NY Times posted a sensational article on March 31 that highlights how graffiti art and mosaics are adding cache to new neighborhoods. If you subscribe to the NY Times, you can read the article here.

The story illustrates how an everyday neighborhood can appear more appealing to a specific audience if it ‘lives’ amongst unique and dynamic urban art.

The lesson?

Consider building your brand with off-beat stories and dynamic transitions. People don’t buy similarities. They buy differences.

Stay curious and keep opening doors.

-Erik

Whenever You’re Ready: 2 Ways I Can Help You

1. Your 1:1 Strategy Session: Let’s improve your business model and strategy. I’ll use my 14+ years of solopreneur and entrepreneur experience to listen, overhaul, and give you a new strategy you can apply.
   

2. A Free 30-Minute Exchange: Share the most pressing challenges in your business. I’ll provide you with immediate and actionable steps to improve your business model and strategy. In exchange, I would like to ask you a few questions about your solopreneur adventure so that I can improve my online offers. No sales.