What It Means To Build A Brand

On this episode of She's Crafted to Thrive, our guest is Danielle Maw. She is a brand expert, business coach, and graphic designer, and we are going to talk about what it means to build a brand. We're going to answer questions of like, what is a brand? Why does it matter so much that you have a personal brand? And how do you actually do that? Like, how do you actually build a brand for your creative business? Like, what does that look like? I wanted to have this topic on the show because I've had a lot of people reach out to me via my Instagram from other places really curious as to like, how do you build a brand behind your, you know, your creative business? And I really wanted to have someone who has worked with creative entrepreneurs before and is a creative entrepreneur as a graphic designer, and I thought Danielle would be a great fit for you guys. What I love about our conversation is that she shares her own personal journey of building a personal brand for her business and what that actually looks like and how to do it. She gives us some practical tips and tricks along the way and some mindset shifts that we all need to think about, because building a personal brand is not just logos and websites. It's actually more personal than that. So you have to stay tuned to hear more about all of that detail.

Welcome to She's Crafted to Thrive. I'm your host, Nikita Williams, and this show is for all the ladies who are making and creating things that they love. You will hear conversations about the real everyday struggles of juggling life and business while trying to maintain passion and harmony. As women, we have the skill of getting things done, but sometimes we get in our own way. It's here where you'll see that you're not alone. You'll discover that success does not mean perfection. Fear and negative thoughts and challenges are all a part of the journey. And on this podcast, you'll find the inspiration and tools you need to have a life and business that thrives. Welcome, welcome, everyone. I am so excited to have Danielle Mall on the show. She is a branding designer. She is a business coach, a strategist. I just love her to pieces. She has so much gems. You should follow her on Instagram. We'll talk about that later, but I'm so excited to have her on. So please, please, please share a little bit about yourself.

Thank you so much, Nikita. Yes, I'm very excited and I'm so thankful that you invited me to be on your podcast. So about myself, I'm actually a very serial creative person. I discovered that ever since I was young and I was a child and I found creativity to be something that I used to escape from a lot of the things in my life growing up, such as my parents getting divorced and also just finding that there's a lot of loneliness and things going on in my life as a child. But right now I'm actually happily doing my business as a coach and also helping people develop their brand, especially online businesses. And I, yeah, I really enjoy that. That. I actually am married. I also have a little Siamese cat that I don't feature very often on Instagram, but I'm definitely a cat person.

Yay, me too. There's quite a few listeners I know that are cat people. They're just fur people in general, but I'm a fur person too. I love cats.

Aww. Yeah.

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being on. I'm, you know, we kind of came to know each other because I was looking for some branding expertise for this show, for She's Crafted to Thrive. And I'm just, you know, I'm kind of still in the beginning stages and I noticed that a lot of my listeners were saying, well, how do you start branding your business? How do you even get, like, do you really need a brand? This whole concept of branding as a person behind your business is kind of new or not understood in a lot of ways, especially for people that are in the creative space. But before we jump into that, I would love I would love for you to share with us kind of like how did you get into this world of branding and having your own business? I know you just mentioned you like love, you know, creative type of businesses, but what led you to right now?

Well, the thing is, when I was in my teens leading up to my career, I actually didn't know exactly what I was going to do. And coming out of high school, I noticed that The only courses that I really enjoyed were English, graphic design, and what's the other one? I think it was English, graphic design, and arts. So I knew I was going to do something creative with myself. I just didn't know what I was going to pursue. But I do know that I've always been a Photoshop dabbler. Like many people, many designers started out as that. They just play with Photoshop on their own. They built their own website when they were like trying to build something for themselves. Back in the day was Geocities that was really popular. I mean, I feel so old just talking about that, but—

Geocities? I don't even know what that is. Really?

Well, it's when you sort of craft your own little one-pager of a website by throwing a lot of animated GIFs and like fonts onto a page and you call it like your own little, I guess, your own little nook on your webspace. So those are really popular back then. And after I graduated, I actually denied myself of that at first because I thought I needed to become a, you know, pursue a career that was more pleasing to, like, financially. And I thought that I would want to go into nursing, but that didn't work out. And math was definitely not my strong point, biology definitely not so much, even though I had an interest. So I guess I slowly just figured it out and I applied for an art program, a design program actually. And then once I got accepted in that design program, I realized that, yeah, this is what I wanted to do. And I guess from there I've been since then trying to really find jobs within my industry. And it's been really hard. Like if you work for corporate and you're looking for a job to be a creative and you want to work at a corporate as a graphic designer, I've experienced so many things from like layoffs to just having jobs cut really short and/or the pay just doesn't work out. So I decided to do my own thing between things like coffee shop jobs and going back and forth between like working as an in-house designer. So all those years of just trying to figure it out. And finally I moved just pretty much over a year ago and my husband and I moved to Calgary because we're originally from Vancouver. And I had an option of whether I want to still do part-time something else or go full-time in the business. And I decided to go full-time. So that's sort of what led me here today. And, um, yeah, and I found that the biggest thing that actually helped me build my business was really establishing a brand. And that as designers especially, it's very important to establish yourself as an expert and to really develop that brand for yourself.

Well, you know, it's so interesting that you say that. I, you know, we have a lot of photographers on the show and it's kind of, I just thought about it this way. It's kind of like, they're like, I don't know how to make myself stand out. And for them it's their editing process of how they edit and how they shoot kind of with different lighting. And I would imagine as a designer, like a graphic designer, there is kind of like the same kind of concept with that, you know, the way you use different types of design elements in your art. I'm wondering if that's true.

Yes. If you're a photographer or designer, a lot of my clients are also photographers. And if you're somebody who's a creative in your service space, but you also need a portfolio, like you have a body of work to show, what I find is having your very own style visually helps. But then that's not the only thing that you need to consider as well, because I mean, it's great that you establish your own style, and that's very important as somebody who definitely works with clients who hire you for the quality of work and the style of work that you do. However, to differentiate yourself further, you really have to define the type of audience you want to serve and really understand what is the extra value that you bring to them. Because so often, I think a lot of photographers and designers, we always think about the need of the customer in terms of, oh, so obvious that they need photos for their brand, or it's so obvious they need a logo for their business. But then because we know there's so many different designers, there's so many different photographers, it's like, well, why would someone want to hire you specifically? And what is the other What is the value that you actually bring more than just your photos, more than just your style? And so finding your niche and digging deeper is definitely something that I highly recommend that a lot of photographers and designers do. Because for me, when I first started doing design, I felt like no one's listening to me, no one hears me, no one sees me, and my work doesn't suck. A lot of people were like, "Oh, your work is nice," but then they either don't end up working with me or they end up probably hiring somebody else. And I realized that it's a lot to do with our business skills and monetizing our creativity. And so often we're very familiar with creating our craft and being highly creative. But then when it comes to the business side, like, we don't really think about how do we market ourselves and how do we put ourselves in the position of our customer. And, you know, what is it that they actually want? Because if you think about it, like for instance, if you're a photographer and you're marketing to moms and you are doing newborn shoots, I think photos do speak for themselves. But then sort of like, how do you put a voice to your own brand? Like, you know, instead of just saying, oh, I shoot for moms, like, well, can you further that? Can you deepen that message? Like, well, I shoot for moms who just gave birth. Okay, so then what else about it? Well, the fact that moms gave birth and they want to remember and cherish this moment, and also to be able to have high-quality photos that they can keep for years, maybe even create a legacy and maybe pass these down to like generations. So dig deeper than just like, I take photos, right? Right. And so I think that's like the really important thing is to really highlight, you know, who is it that you serve? And also, what is the additional value that you bring and how do you express that? Because for me, like a lot of the clients that I work with as a designer, they come to me for a logo. That is the external problem. It's like, I need a logo. I need to look—

Yeah.

Like everybody starts there, right? Oh, I have to have a logo. Like you have— it's like every creator's person. Like that's the number one thing they like. It's like their one thing on the checklist. I know I started that way. Like, I got to have a logo. Like, it's just where people start.

Yes. Yes. And that is sort of like the thing that is the thing that brings people to you in the beginning because they see your portfolio. They're like, oh yeah, I need one of those logos too and I need to get started. But then as I talk to my clients even more, I realize that they don't really need a logo. They actually needed a brand because the thing is, if I just gave them a logo, then it's not really going to help them establish their business and it's not really going to help them with the messaging and how they put themselves on the internet. But not only that, it's like, it's not just a logo, but, or a visual logo or visual brand, it's the messaging also with all the elements that you use with your logo. Because sometimes if people decide to, you know, like put together your own graphics with your logo, you're going to be like, oh, but I still need a background pattern. Oh, I still need the right font. Oh, and I don't have the right accent colors. So that is what constitutes a visual brand. That's why if I, usually just give a business a logo, I find that, dang, should I just refer you to someone who will do it for $5? Or should I really like, you know, I just want to try to serve to bigger capacities.

So for the audience, like for the people that are listening, what is— and I think this is a really important part— what is the definition of having a brand versus just having like a logo, like how would you describe having a brand?

So if you're talking about the visual side of a brand, so branding basically sort of has two ways of looking at it. Your branding is like your visuals in terms of piecing together your colors, the mood board, like your, your photography and anything that basically helps create that visual vibe of your business. So that's why it's more than just a visual logo. But when you're talking about your— not your branding, but your brand message, like your brand, like coming up with the right copy, coming up with the right pitch, coming up with the right tone to your business and really selling the solution to your customers.

It's—

that is when your brand message is the expression and the experience of your business that you provide to your clients. And that is And that is really the core piece to really selling and monetizing your business, really.

Yeah, I like to think about it as like the personality. It's the personality behind the business. Like, you know, it's kind of like when we go to Chick-fil-A and I always think Chick-fil-A because their brand, you know, some people love them, some people hate them. But Chick-fil-A in the United States is like, everybody loves Chick-fil-A. Okay. Because one, they make fried chicken. Who doesn't love fried chicken? And they're nice about it, right? So you get a thank you, please and thank you. They're like taking care of you. They're closed on Sunday. They're a Christian company. You know, they're all these things. And then the way they speak to you makes you feel good. And I think, I think in general, the world before maybe the 2015, maybe, I don't know when this changed in the concept of even small businesses need a personality or a brand behind what they do because everybody's doing something right. Everybody is doing the same thing to an extent. So what cuts the noise is like your personality and how you talk to people and how you make them feel when they look at what you're doing or what you're selling.

Yeah. And I love that you highlighted Chick-fil-A because now I'm thinking about their waffle fries and their fried chicken is really good. But yeah, it's definitely something that a lot of people who are solo entrepreneurs in the web space should definitely apply to themselves as a brand because else, it's so hard to stand out. And I mean, Simon Sinek says it best when he says like, oh, you know, people don't hire you for what you do, they hire you for why you do it. So, and yeah, and I know that's kind of butchering a little bit of what he says because he has like a different way of saying it, but basically that's, that's pretty much it. And, you know, people buy stories, magic, relations. That's based on what I believe it was Seth Godin who says that. So I think going beyond of just what you sell and You know, telling your customers why you sell it, bringing your story into your business really helps you as a personal brand and also being specific about the audience that you want to help so that you can also identify all their problems and solve them. Because as a problem solver, you actually get to help your clients in a more valuable way. And then that's really going to help you expand your business.

So for you and your business, like in your branding business, so just so everyone knows, Danielle has kind of shifted to being more focused on coaching, which is important because I, you, you guys know that's what I do. And so coaching is important because nobody really understands the concept of building this brand. Like you really have to work through it. Like I feel like it's kind of like therapy when you're talking about building a brand for your business because you got to know the why, the who, how do they feel, the what, the when, the where. You have to know all of those kind of things to kind of build this brand, right? So for your business up until now, like how did you start that process of creating a brand? Because your brand online is super cool. I love it. So like, it's like so like real and very like—

Thank you.

Down in your face, but like I'm nice about it. Like I love it because it's just like, I don't know how to explain it except you gotta go look at it, but I just really appreciate it. So how did you start to formulate your own brand and your business? And now, how have you been helping your clients to do the same?

So I guess it started really from my own place of, you know, coming out of school and also working, trying to freelance, and realizing that, you know, I can't just say that I just offer graphic design services anymore because a lot of people, they don't really understand what I exactly do. And that's how I realized I needed to— in order for me to help other people, I need to also help myself get seen, and I need to like help my own business. So I really came from a place of, you know, I got to learn about brand strategy and I got to learn about what my business is about. And then I really have to learn about, you know, where my customers want to go with their business and how I'm going to apply that. So I really spent a very good chunk of my time, um, pretty much just zeroing in on branding myself. And I realized who I wanted to help. And once I had that target in my mind, Like, um, like the step-by-step of like, you know, oh, identifying the niche and identifying who I want to help. Like really just digging into not just who, like we talked about maternity photographers helping moms, but then like, what is the thing that the moms need? And then I thought about what are the things my clients need? And I realized that I wanted to zone in on helping creatives and especially, and especially, um, other photographers and also other service-based entrepreneurs because they also have have the same desire that I have, which is how to monetize my own creative business. And that was the thing that stumped me. So I was able to learn how to do that for myself. And then I want to teach them how to do that for themselves too. So that is sort of how I booked photographers. And it's funny because one of my very first photography clients that I booked, um, I never met her before, like in person. And I know that it's very common nowadays to do business with people that you've never met in person. But when I first landed a client on social media, it was literally like eye-opening. I was like, this is possible. Somebody just decided to drop me like $1,000 to book my services. And I got so excited. I told my husband and I was like jumping up and down. I was like, oh my gosh, I did it. If I could do it, then I can help other people. Hey, understand how to do this too. Because to get really deep into it, you just really need to position yourself as the expert, but you also need to figure out what is it that your clients need from you? What is their deepest desire? It's beyond I need a logo, and it's also beyond, you know, for example, skincare. I want to use this example because one of my clients is in a skincare niche. So what happens is, if you think about it, a lot of clients may, or your customers may want to resolve their skin problems, whether they have oily skin, acne-prone skin, or they have very high pigmented skin. And then you're like, okay, I'm a skincare company or I'm a skincare brand and I want to appeal to them. And on my website, my copy and what I say, what I do on social media, on my Instagram. I just want to talk about acne and how my product can remove their acne, make them blemish-free and all that good stuff. So that only speaks to your— that speaks to your audience. Sure. And then you can say, I want to help teenagers. Okay, sure. So that, that has a target, right? But it's not really strengthened when you're not applying the emotional side the internal side to their problem. It's like, you can talk like that, but I find that it's more, it's more standard, standardized that a lot of people know that like, yes, I have acne problems. Yes, I want to get rid of my acne. But what, but what else? And if you're honing in on your branding, what you could bring to the table in terms of talking about their problem in a different way is not just about their surface issues, but talking about internally. It's like, you know, I know that You know, as a teenager, you're always hanging out with your friends and taking photos, but you feel so insecure because you always have your skin problems and your acne and you want to cover yourself up. And sometimes you don't even want to be in public places because you don't know when your breakouts are going to happen. And it just sucks that, you know, you could be out partying, but you decide to stay home and eat Cheetos on the couch, watching Netflix by yourself instead, because you're just having a horrible skin day. And I think when you speak like, people pick it up, they're like, oh, she gets it, or they get it, right? Versus like, my product is XYZ, the features are ABC, whatever, right? And you're not really targeting the customer and helping them really understand why they need your product and understand, and you're not expressing that you're understanding their situation.

So Yeah, no, I totally agree. Yeah, that's such a good example. Like, yeah, there's lots of companies out there doing that, sharing their products, but it's about who are they serving. And I think that, that's like one of— like, I think that was like a really good example, just using that as an example, because we all have been there at some time in our, in our lives. We've all had zits.

Yeah.

But we were different. Like, for example, just to prove your point again, it's like when I was a teenager, I didn't have issues with my skin. So, and even right now, if I were a teenager right now and I saw something that says, "You're a teenager and if you have, you know, you have zits and stuff like this and you want clearer skin," that wouldn't be for me. Like, that wouldn't be for me because I didn't have that issue. Now I am in my 30s now. I have chronic illness, I have hormonal issues. So I do a lot, I deal with, I feel like I'm a teenager all over again just now with skin issues because I deal with it so much. But if I were watching that same thing, I still wouldn't connect to it because you're talking to someone that's not me. And so because I now, like, there's now tons of different companies out there. There are some companies that specifically speak to me. They're like, if you're a woman and you're in your mid-30s and 'You have deal— you're dealing with this illness or that illness,' or— that sounds great. But if it's a commercial that comes on that says, 'Aren't you tired of feeling, you know, like you have to put on makeup and, you know, you have to be on all the time, like you have to put that like beauty mark on the— on your camera all the way up to 10 so nobody can see your blemishes.' Yeah, you're talking to me. Like, that's a me right there. So I think it's so important to what you're saying. Like, you have to know who you're talking to. And then I want to go back to something you said earlier. You said when you were talking about your own coming to, you know, share your own brand and you said you had to get clear with yourself. And I'm like, what do you mean by that? Like, I think a lot of people are a little worried about like, well, I don't want to share like me, like that's too personal. But what do you say to that? Like, how did you have to get with yourself in order to start to put your brand together?

That's a really good question because as a personal brand, one of the scariest things that you would do for your business is to actually put yourself out there. And I'm so glad you asked this question because I've had a lot of obstacles putting myself out there initially. And I think it stems from a place of insecurity and being afraid of judgment from other people. You know, what would people think? What would people say? And even to this day, even when I post content, I still have sometimes that voice telling me like, are you sure you want to post this? What are the consequences? And I would think about like, well, what's the worst that could happen? I mean, I think that anything really, really gets twisted on social media. And sometimes you mean well, but then you also come across different for each person. I've had people not like the fact that I'm blunt. I've had people who sometimes think that, I guess Yeah, like that my content is kind of blunt and I've come to terms that, you know, my personality is blunt, but I do mean well for people. And I think I sit well knowing these days that I have good intentions and I know that not everyone knows it. But here's the thing, like I usually— what helped me was I think about the extreme, like the role model in my industry or the role model in my sort of the people I look up to, and I'm like, they're actually people who are very blunt. The people that I follow, they give you the truth. They don't sugarcoat it. Like people, even like Jasmine Star, like she's very sweet, but you know she gives it to you when she's like, "You gotta know, this is what you gotta do, boo." And then Gary Vaynerchuk just swears on like all his episodes, and I still watch him. He just yells at you. I'm like, I'm not like that.

Yeah, right, right.

But I can see that the role models that I follow are very much along that sort of a personality and they have that character. And for me, that's how I learn. I mean, I don't beat myself over things that I don't perfect and things, but sometimes I do need that kick in the butt. And I think a lot of other people who follow me, they do too, in order to take action. So I think just knowing that you come from a place of good intention is one thing, and knowing that putting yourself out there is not really the end of the world. But plus, if you dig deeper, like for myself, I always I always wondered what was the thing that's holding me back from putting myself out there? What is the ultimate fear? And if you can dive deeper into that, I assure you that you might unlock some things that's really going to help you really grow yourself and your business. Because I think growing your business really comes from a place of self-awareness. And I take that from Gary Vaynerchuk. And I've been really gnawing on that for the past years about self-awareness and self-development. And one of my biggest fears was going on video. And I realized for a lot of people, that's one of their biggest fears too, public speaking, going on video. And the thing that really helped me realize what was the underlying fear was, honestly, it's not really about making videos that scares me. It's really about what are people thinking and will people like me and what if they judge me? But the worst part was When you make videos, you're actually taking a look at yourself. And most people, here's the thing, they never spend much time looking at themselves because it's such an uncomfortable thing to do. Some people hate looking at themselves in the mirror. Some people hate listening to their own voice. So when I started making videos and I started having to edit my videos and I watched myself, the first thing that came to my mind was like, oh my gosh, I sound like this. Oh my gosh, I actually look like this. Oh, so from this angle, I'm actually like that. I'm just like so critical of myself. And you start realizing that a lot of this is really internal issues we haven't really dealt with. The fact that we haven't accepted ourselves and we never took a good look at ourselves. We never developed the self-respect for ourselves. Maybe we've been telling ourselves the most negative and demeaning things, but Once you start doing video, that all comes to life. Like, you're like, this is how I looked at myself. Like, I never knew that. So for me, that was my awakening, was that I realized that's how I saw myself. And I think it was more shocking for me to see that than to be like posting a video. Because I tell people, like, for example, if you want to be a personal brand and if you want to be on video, the thing is you don't have to make videos to post. Make videos so you can watch yourself. And nobody— a lot of people will not even get past that phase because you just cringe. At first you'll just cringe. But the thing is, if you can't get past watching yourself and making videos on your phone that you can easily delete whenever you want, then you're not going to be able to make videos that go public or go on YouTube or go on live, right? So I think it's dealing with ourselves.

So Yeah, no, I totally agree with that. Yeah. I mean, the first, my first podcast just, and it's not, I think it's anything. I mean, anything that you're putting yourself out there, whether you have issues like, I talk about this all the time. When I first started doing like marketing and services and stuff, I always had this tug of war with my clients about them sharing a picture of themselves, just a picture like on their website. And I was just like, I don't understand how you, expect to be a photographer for someone else or to create something that's so unique and beautiful and not show the people— show people who made it. Like, it didn't make any sense to me in my head. It didn't make any sense. And the response I would get back from them was like, "That's just too personal." And my response back to them is like, "Isn't what you're making just as personal?" like even if you're a photographer, you're capturing a moment that they probably never had before and you're there, like you're creating that moment and helping them capture it. Like that's what's happening here, okay? So the fact that you're involved with that is very personal. So why are you afraid to show yourself, you know? And so it's kind of like totally like you're saying, like you have to get used to it, but I have to tell tell the truth here. Like, when I first started my podcast, and I'm like, yeah, I don't know if I want to be hearing myself talk every week. Like, I don't even like hearing myself talk when I do like solo casts. Like, that's why my solo casts are like 15 minutes, because I'm like, I don't want to hear myself talking. Like, that's too long. But it does definitely open yourself up to seeing more about yourself. Not that you're like in love, in love, like completely conceited, but you have self-respect for yourself. And I think that's a place that most of us think we have until you actually have to do the work, prove that you have that kind of self-respect for yourself. And I love how you're saying like, yeah, just start, start off slow, like maybe do a video and keep it in your phone and like look at it. Yeah, it's going to be awkward. Let's be real. If you have never done that, it's going to be awkward. Totally. That's, that's what I tell people who are asking about starting a podcast. I'm like, yeah, just start start leaving voice notes to yourself and listen to them. That's still weird to me. 20-something episodes in, it's still weird, but it's such a big part, you know, of accepting who you are and building that brand of who you want to be and who you want to share what you do— share what you do with other people.

So yeah.

I love that you just said that though. So yeah, you gotta— you gotta— you have to embrace yourself. In order to serve someone else.

Totally. Yeah, that, that's pretty much the, the foundational of it, that you do have to embrace yourself in order to help other people. And like, because people are looking up to you and they want to show up, but if you're not showing up, how will they show up for their clients and their business? And I think that's the thing. And the biggest thing is getting over ourselves first, which I think I think it's probably one of the biggest roadblocks to a lot of people wanting to build a business is that we have these underlying issues of how to get over ourselves and how to really come out of our shell. Also acknowledging, you know, everything from the extent of our strengths to our weaknesses and really appreciating ourselves for what that really is and just being honest about it. It's like if you're really just not good at something, you can be honest about that. It doesn't mean you're not good. It doesn't mean that you're saying you're not good at anything, but there are things that we're not good at and we just got to be honest about that.

So yes, so true. Nobody's good at everything. That's why there's other people that are. We all have different gifts for sure. So I have a question for you. Like, what is like the number one piece of advice that you've ever been given that has served you well in your life or in your business?

This is also a really good question, but it's funny because it actually ties into what I said about Gary Vaynerchuk. He's His advice is very straightforward. And I like that he says you got to be patient with yourself and self-awareness is key. And that is for me magical because I think for myself, I've never been really patient. I've always been like, oh, you should have been here by now. You should have started your YouTube channel like 3 years ago. You should have just you know, you should be making this much by now. And then I think that's just a lot of pressure we put on ourselves that we definitely shouldn't. Because if we do that to ourselves, we're actually hurting ourselves and our business by thinking that we need to be by some place. And by not being there, we're writing ourselves as not successful, not an entrepreneur, or that we're not going to make it. And those are self-esteem issues and also Yeah, things that I had to deal with myself personally, knowing that my timeline is different from other people's timelines. And we always are striving, but we have to think about it in a way where, you know, are we making progress and are we really learning something each time that we don't get somewhere? Or are we really just beating ourselves up but not really acknowledging the fact that we got somewhere? I think if people who actually keep journals, like I started journaling recently and you know, you really get to see where you've come from. And for us, sometimes we feel like we haven't gone anywhere. But if you talk to somebody who's been with you on this journey, they probably like, wow, you know, you've grown. Like there's like so many things you do differently now. Maybe like you, you speak differently in your captions or like on your Facebook, you show up differently. But we ourselves, we don't notice it because we're probably thinking about it from a perspective perspective of, but the dollars are still the same, like, still the same amount, or I made less this month. And we sort of judge ourselves too hard for that. So I think Gary Vaynerchuk really helped me see the things about like, you know, don't be so hard on yourself, like self-judgment and things like that. And just build yourself from a place of self-awareness. Because that actually really opened up my eyes a lot, the self-awareness piece and how just understanding myself helped me to launch forward in my business.

Yeah, yeah, no, I totally agree with you. I think in the last 3 years myself being here and away from family and going through a lot of personal things, I've had to kind of like have that. I've always felt like I was really in tune with myself, but I was always afraid of sharing what I I felt, if that makes any sense. So like, especially in my business, even more so because I don't know if it's a cultural thing or just maybe my own mindset, just feeling like, oh, nobody needs to know that much information. Like, nobody needs to know all of that. That's a little— I mean, there is a thing called oversharing. I'm seriously— but I don't overshare. I just share enough to share my journey without people feeling like Oh wow, she's, you know, whoa, you know. So I feel like we all have to find that balance, but we do all have to share something to really connect. And I do think it starts with being okay. And like you said, being self-aware. And that takes a lot of work.

Totally.

It takes a lot of work. And journaling is so good for that. Like, if you need to journal and you haven't started and you keep hearing about it, I think it's one of the best ways that you can become self-aware because you start to look back and you realize, oh wow, you know, you can see where you need to make shifts or where you are stuck, you know. I think that's a really— a lot more affordable way to do it than going to a therapist, even though that works too.

Yes, totally. Yeah, I have seen a therapist to help myself too, because just dealing with a lot of the stresses that come with building a business and also moving and also just a lot of issues that come up when you're trying to get your business going and even relationship issues. So hiring a therapist has definitely helped me and in a very good way too.

Yeah. So what are some tools that you use in your business right now that every entrepreneur, especially a creative entrepreneur, needs to have? To look at it, at least for their business?

Do you mean like digital tools or do you mean like—

Digital tools or just life. I just had a girl on the show and she was telling me about this app called Things app and it's not like an entrepreneur app, but it's like a Post-it app, but like digital. And I'm in love with it. So like any kind of tools that you find helpful.

For somebody like myself who shows up and online and creates video content, I use Videorama and that has been really helpful. I'm slowly transitioning to not use it because I find that I want to start editing more from my own desktop. So if you're starting out on video, Videorama is a good one if you have an iPhone. I'm not sure about Android phones. And yeah, it helps you edit your— you get to use it to edit your videos. It comes with images that you can just plop in so you don't have to separately go download a different library and add your own images. So they have a library embedded in there for you and you can also connect it with your iTunes and put music in there. So it's really easy to use and I've been editing all my YouTube videos on there pretty much so far. The other thing that I would recommend is also, I think a lot of you guys have probably heard of InShot. InShot is also video editing. App and that also helps as well. I recently have been using or testing rather Clips. It's actually really good for people, maybe even like yourself who like to do a lot of either Insta Stories or talking, creating videos where you're just talking. Because what it does is you get to talk into using this app and it records your voice and your It does a video of you, but it also creates the captions for you so you don't have to put them in yourself.

Nice.

Yeah, it's really, really easy. It's fun. It's free. There's no watermark from what I've seen so far anyways. And yeah, so it's called Clips. So as you're speaking, like, it just basically puts all the words in there for you so you don't have to, like, put it in yourself if you decide to use that. Yeah, great for Instagram posts and Insta Stories.

Cool.

Yeah. Is it the same as Clipomatic? I think there's another one called Clipomatic or something like that.

Yes. It's very similar to Clipomatic. And I think there's another one called AutoCap as well. It just depends on your preference and which one you find you like better, but very, very similar.

Yeah. I need to get on that. I do a lot of Insta Stories and I'm always like, I really need to be putting captions on this, but I just don't have the time or the patience to do it. Again, working on that patience thing. So, I will put notes to that in the show notes. You guys have the links to that, those tools that she just mentioned. So tell us where we can find you online, like what's cool, what's coming up with you and your business, or if you have any courses or anything like that so we can hit you up.

Cool. Where you can find me right now, I'm the most active on Instagram @unbrandedlifestyle, and I'm also searchable for The Unbranded Lifestyle on YouTube. And yeah, that's where I produce weekly content. I decided to be very consistent there. And also, since you're talking about courses, I do have a course coming up and it's actually a free course.

So hey, free.

We all love free. And the thing with this is, speaking of what you said about photos and how people are maybe a little bit intimidated by creating their own, you know, being in their own photos and showing up online. I created this course that helps people take better photos of themselves so they don't have those dark photos on their Instagram feed and that they can actually show up for their brand more and connect with their audience. It's basically on my website. It's really easy. It's at theunbrandedlifestyle.com and you can check that out right on the menu bar or And yeah, so I'm looking forward to that because I think I— the thing is creating a lot of content is hard and especially if you need to take a lot of photos and you may or may not be in the space to hire a photographer full-time for your business right now. So I think that to build your know, like, and trust, you got to get something in there. And yeah, it's a great way to start and it's free.

Yeah, I love it. So we'll have a link to that too in the show notes. Um, yeah, totally. Content is one of those things. It's so hard. It's like so much of it and having some tools like that, it's really helpful, especially if you're doing batch, like batch content, like you're doing all this stuff so you can have it ready to go. So, um, I should have an episode on batch content. I don't do batching. I am not that organized. So, but someone I know is. So anyway, uh, thank you so much for being on the show, Danielle. I really, really appreciate it. This was such a real conversation about branding, and I really wanted it to be exactly what we talked about. Like, we really need to get in touch with ourselves and like share a lot of what we're going through in order to know who we're going to serve. Like, we have to know those things. We have to know both sides. We need to know who we're serving, and we need to know who we are to serve them. So I just love that you shared all that good stuff on here, and thank you. Thank you again.

Awesome.

Thank you so much, Nikita Williams. It has been wonderful.

All right, ladies, that's a wrap for this episode of She's Crafted to Thrive. Thank you so much for joining me. Please share with your friends and be sure to like and subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes. In the meantime, check us out at sheescrafted.com to check out the show notes for all the goodies and things that we talked about, and there'll be links there for you guys. So in the meantime, just remember, you are crafted to thrive.