Member Article

The Importance of Being You When it Comes to Your Business and Branding

With a career that has seen her involved in the communications of iconic brands such as National Geographic and a creative steer for much loved mag, Olive, Nicki James, 31, from Essex is no stranger to creative communication, and she’s now known as a champion of female entrepreneurs, promoting visibility. She is on a mission to release the magic of other women in business by giving them permission to be themselves - show up, get visible and kick imposter syndrome into touch.

Personal brand strategist, champion for female entrepreneurs and Founder of Just Brand You, Nicki can now claim having become a global bestselling author in the international book charts, after the release of her new book ‘Just Brand You!’ She said; “I learnt a long time ago that you can’t hide behind logos and websites. You have to be seen, be heard and use who you are to help and attract your clients. Women have a right to step into their genius, celebrate themselves, own their purpose and be true to who they are!”

Sharing stages across the world alongside the likes of Google, and with an online community of several thousand, Nicki is passionate about spreading her message to empower others.

Nicki’s whole approach to business is driven by her realisation that it is absolutely essential to be YOU to be happy, successful and fulfilled – she said; “I am passionate about fighting against the misconception that you need a split personality as a business owner - one person for work, one person for home - the rocket fuel that helps you fly - is you! The secret sauce needed to grow a business isn’t the latest ‘marketing magic’’ - but your own individual magic.”

Since launching her business in 2017, Nicki has experienced rapid growth as she sees the impact that truly connecting to your audience can have. She now runs a multi 6 figure business and has experienced highs of 50K months after ‘being more her.’ She practices what she preaches, but she hasn’t always had a voice.

“When I was 6 years old,” remembers Nicki, “I was told it was better ‘to be seen and not heard’ and that it was indeed safer to keep quiet and hide.” - Nicki grew up with an alcoholic father with aggressive tendencies who had regular visits from the bailiffs. “Blending into the background was actually a honed skill. It was my coping mechanism. It’s taken me a lot of personal development work to fight against this intrinsic belief that it’s not safe to stand out, and I see many of my clients struggle with deep-rooted beliefs from past experiences that are also keeping them hidden. It’s important to seek support if you feel parts of your belief system is holding you back – don’t let imposter syndrome win - it’s crucial to stand out and stand up when starting out.”

Nicki was challenged to step out of her comfort zone and into her potential by her Grandma, a fabulously forthright lady who saw more in Nicki and encouraged her to do more and be more, from a total place of love. This ‘done with love’ encouragement is very much Nicki’s own coaching style as she encourages all to “be a little more you and a lot less them.”

Helping her clients powerfully communicate through genuinely showcasing their values, their qualities and their real character, rather than showcasing some over polished, sculpted corporate version of themselves she is turning much of traditional marketing on its head encouraging female entrepreneurs to build a brand based around the woman and not the business, as she helps more women cut through the noise in the online space, by claiming their own unique part of it.

**5 Top Tips On The Importance of Being You When it Comes to Your Business and Branding **

1. Define who you are and bring that to the table with your brand. There is no mask to be worn here. You don’t need to become something you are not. The most successful business people I know are just owning who they are and rocking it. It’s about working out why you are special and different to everyone else that does what you do and showing that every single day.

2. Niche down = sales up! A common misconception when first starting out is to try and appeal to everyone. If you create something that appeals to the masses then surely you will attract more people because you are more diverse, no? Nope! When you think about the type of customer who truly sets your soul on fire and talk to a smaller number of people you have more chance of converting them to paying customers. Don’t go too broad. Understand your customer inside and out and reap the rewards from doing so.

3. Start building connections by telling your story. It’s true there will be a million people who can teach what you teach, there is no such thing as new news, but there is ONLY one you. So how do you stand out amongst your competitors? Especially when they might have more experience than you? You need to use your story and the journey you’ve been on so far as this is your individuality in a crowded market. It’s a way for you to teach your lessons in a way no one else can. You can use your story to help people to identify with you and relate to you. When people feel a connection with you they are more likely to buy.

4. Have a vision of where you want your business to be. A big mistake entrepreneurs make is that they launch into the world, logo and website in hand and think that they will by magic get to where they want to be. Be inundated with clients and it just doesn’t work that way. Having a vision of what success will look like for you when you get there and a strategy to get you there is the key to brand success. We can’t brand our business for where we are now. It’s about looking to our future and aiming for that.

5. Don’t wait for everything to be perfect. Perfection isn’t a thing in the entrepreneurial space and you will forever be overtaken if you don’t just take action. It’s better to do something and learn from the mistakes if it doesn’t quite go to plan than to do nothing at all. Make some noise, show people you are here and get people knowing that they need you. You might not be polished and perfect but you are going to attract more people being true to who you are.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Chocolate PR .