The relationship between your brains and your brand
Editorial note from 10 July 2020: A portion of this original post was moved to a separate blog post that can be found here. That portion summarizes the research we did on mindset. After discussing some feedback with Peer Advisory Group members, we made the decision to move this on its own because how D&Co interprets the relationship between your brain and your brands is so important — it deserved its own post.
your brain & your brand
While your mindset has a remarkable influence on your behaviors, it’s not the only aspect of your ‘brains’ that needs to be given attention, consideration and opportunity to develop in order to succeed. At D&Co, we mind your brand & the brains behind it. In the past few years that D&Co has been operating, we have learned that there is only so much we can do to support the business side of our clients’ without properly supporting the development of mindset & thinking, as well. The converse is also true, you can develop your mindset to the maximum growth potential, but that’s not going to guarantee the creation of a solid business strategy. Combining a focus on both — and knowing when to focus on one side over the other is where D&Co truly thrives at partnering with our clients to succeed. We reduce the amount of time it takes you to sift through all of the information that’s out there and help point you in the right direction faster. We distill our experience & knowledge down to only the most relevant information you need to grow your brand.
Outlined below is a great example of how to make sense of what we mean by the brains and the subsequent business development activities associated with each. Please note that this is not a comprehensive list! There are so many nuanced aspects for each category and description, but this will give you an overall idea.
brains
Mindset
Essentially, this is your belief about your ability to influence and change your own intelligence and talent which drives your behaviors. This is why so many coaches focus on this. It really is a big deal.
It’s also why it’s very important to understand things in your life that are causing you to doubt yourself and question your abilities — moving toward a fixed mindset. Conversely, it’s important to recognize the relationships, activities and experiences that bring you joy, passion and contentment in your life. It’s easier to focus on your mindset when you don’t have to work through the added pressure of external stressors.
Related topics include: mindfulness, meditation, burnout, stress management, toxic relationships
Decision-making
Another very important aspect of owning your own business is the ability to make decisions. Ideally with confidence and the open-mindedness to know when to pivot or adapt to change. There are a variety of ways to help improve your decision-making ability. One way I help clients make decisions is to first consider all choices. Remember that sometimes no change is a choice. You always have a choice. Then, articulate and weight out the pros and cons to each choice. If you literally have to write it down on a paper, so be it! Sometimes it helps to visually see everything laid out before you. Soon, you’ll be able to do that automatically in your head and come to a clear decision more quickly.
Related topics include: pivoting, strategy, mission, goals
eQ
Emotional quotient or emotional intelligence. Why is this an important as a business owner? Having emotional intelligence allows you to read other people’s signals, empathize and react appropriately and effectively (PsychCentral, 2018). In business, this has considerable benefits whether you’re managing and motivating a team or working directly and negotiating with clients. Understanding emotional intelligence also requires you to do some introspective work on yourself. Learning about your own strengths and weaknesses, areas where you thrive and other areas where you need support and what triggers you to react in a certain way will give you the tools to need to prepare and proactively mitigate any risks.
Related topics include: leadership development, personal development, team building
Creative process
The creative process has four key stages to it: preparation (information gathering), incubation (opening up your mind and letting it wander), illumination (making connections between your ideas) and lastly, but certainly not least verification (polishing your ideas using critical thinking) (Inc., 2014). Why is this important? The creative process is about the ability to prime your brain toward developing ideas and then later using a different part of your brain to filter those ideas down using critical thinking.
Related topics: innovation, creativity, ideas, critical thinking
Critical thinking
This might start to get confusing, isn’t critical thinking part of the creative process? Yes, in a way. Where the creative thinking suspends judgement to develop net new ideas, critical thinking is the mode of thinking that relies on the self-guided discipline of attempting reason at the highest level of quality in a fair-minded way. It is based on ‘intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reason, depth, breadth and fairness’ (criticalthinking.org)
Related topics: analysis, decision making, information gathering, evaluation
brand
Mission statement
In short, this is what you’re trying to accomplish. The 8-word mission statement is an incredibly powerful tool that we use with our clients to help them articulate and refine exactly what it is that their doing. This helps to also distinguish if their mission is something contributing to their unique value proposition or if it’s how they are executing on the mission that makes them uniquely positioned in comparison to substitutes or threats. The 8-word mission is comprised of a verb (what action you’re taking?) + target (who are you doing it for?) + outcome (what are you specifically hoping to achieve or change?). Trying to get as close to 8-words as possible, removes the ‘fluff’ and forces you to use words that more accurately describe what you do.
Strategy
Sadly, this term has been overused beyond belief. First and foremost, strategy is not a synonym for ‘sales pitch’. Many coaches will use the word ‘strategy call’ in place of ‘sales call’ - because what sounds more appealing as a small business owner, being sold to or having someone figure out your strategy in less than an hour? Please, hear us out. A solid strategy that will bring you success is not a task you can check off your to-do list in less than an hour. In the most simplest form: for whatever situation you are trying to solve for, it’s looking at the current state, knowing your desired state and however you plan to bridge that gap is your strategy. This should be the singular ‘red thread’ that is woven throughout what you do. It can serve as a rubric for whether you are staying on track. Defining this can also help with your future decision-making ability too.
Unique Value Proposition
What are you doing that’s different to your competition or substitute offerings? Once you have worked through defining this for your business, it becomes a lot easier to sell. At D&Co, we take a more consultative approach to selling which means when we recommend something it’s because we truly believe it will add value to your business.
Making money
You’re doing this job to take home some cash, otherwise you’d just be volunteering doing this activity, right? Let’s clear up some words and what they mean so you can be accurate in how you’re describing what you’re talking about. This is just an overview, we will save the accounting specifics for another day. Revenue in layman’s terms means sales, or the money that was generated from your normal business operations. Your sales revenue is simply the price for your goods/service x the number of goods/services sold (Investopedia). Costs are the things you had to spend money on for your company, or your expenses. Revenue minus costs equals your profit (i.e. how much is left over after). Ideally, you want your business to be profitable or in other words have some money left over after you’ve paid your expenses.
Operations
What are you offering? How are you delivering that good or service? Operations is a catch-all word for everything that your business is doing to keep it running and earning money (Shopify). When you work for yourself, you might overlook this step, try to figure it out along the way and not worry about optimizing your processes. However when you hear the phrase ‘time is money’ it directly relates back to your operations. It means all the time you’re spending on ‘figuring it out’ is an indirect ‘cost’ to your business and is eating into your profitability.
How has the relationship between your brain & your brand impacted your ability to progress with your company? What has been your experience with this and where could you use some help?
