Month: October 2011

Find Your Brand–Why Start-Up Companies Need to Do More than Put a Pretty Logo Up!

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Facing financial hardship and need to find a long-term solution out of it by starting a business at home?

Or perhaps you are a transitioning professional who wants to stop relying on your employer but build a viable, thriving income for yourself.

You may be a high school or college student who is just starting out in your career and need guidance.

Or your an artist, author, or musician who needs to get name recognition.

Perhaps you are a ministry leader or community visionary who needs to build a good foundation between constituents, donors, and community.

Whatever your situation, if you are going to start a business, ministry, or promote your artwork, you need a logo. And even more than that, whether you realize it or not, you need branding.

Cheap, easy, and free ways of designing logos will not give you a distinguished brand which will mean you will not reach your goals.

Building a brand is a creative process that requires times and effort. It is an investment. But the return on investment is well worth it.

One thing’s for sure: You can’t wait for handouts or for the government to get its act together.

What you need is an invigoration of the pioneer mindset, the puritan work ethic, and the American Dream.

But with a modern twist—to work smarter, not harder. You need to have a plan.

Face it, you get out of things what you put into them. In other words, if you want the milk, you have to buy the cow. If you think cheap, you will always get cheap.

The long-term benefits of knowing your why and having a clear life and business goal will bring you out of the endless cycle of going nowhere and will result in a transformation of life and business. It will give you wisdom and direction. It will also bring you true hope for your future. Plus, you will be modeling this attitude of success and achievement for your children. You will be giving them the tools they need to succeed, no matter what the job outlook is when they graduate.

Unmasking your authentic identity takes some work, yes, but the work is well worth the investment and time. It takes time to make something of lasting value—nine months for a baby, for instance…

Because when you take your business seriously, your prospects will take your business seriously. And then you will have a life and business that truly sizzles!

Are you ready to unmask your business? Then take my FREE mini-video course at http://www.makeyourbrandsizzle.com Or just enter your name and email on the top right hand column of the page.

Once some serious help to propel your image to the next level? Then find out more about my extensive tutorial course at http://www.brandidentityquest.com

 

QUESTION MARK HEAD 2
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The Netflix Fiasco–Why Listening to Your Customers Is So Important

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Today I read an interesting article about Netflix and how they’ve lost 800,000 customers. More than likely you are aware of this fiasco made by the CEO of one of the biggest video rental companies in the US.

The CEO decided to split their product in two and raise their prices. This caused a great deal of anger with their customer base, and as a result, many of them dropped the service.

From what I have read, I understand that the CEO decided to do this without any market research. He did not listen to his customers at all but arrogantly decided to make this decision.

Now Netflix is admitting their mistake and doing damage control. I don’t know what the outcome will be, but as a Netflix customer myself, I hope they get it straightened out soon!

This fiasco made by Netflix underscores the importance of listening to your prospects and customers. It’s so important to have your ear to the ground and know your audience. Making arrogant decisions just because you have the power as the business owner may result in loss of market share!

So listen to your customer. Do market research. Get to know your audience.

This fiasco made by Netflix is a great object lesson in why that’s so important!

 

 

Steve Jobs–Remembering Apple’s Visionary Founder

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Earlier today, I was shocked to learn that Apple’s founder Steve Jobs died. I had talked about him very recently in my Brand Identity Quest webinars. He has had a huge influence on my life!

In fact, I would not have become a graphic designer without him!

When I was a high school student, I was the editor of the entertainment page and had to design it the old fashioned way, with galleys. It was horrible.

But Apple started to make it’s way in my life during my senior year and I must confess, at first I scoffed along with the rest of my family. Our school paper got an Apple IIe and started to print the galleys ourselves on a Daisy Wheel printer. I’ll tell you, it was awful! But it saved the school a lot of money.

But this experience turned me off graphic design work. I was a writer and wanted to work for a magazine.

Then fast forward a few years later in college as a journalism student. In our production class, the school had just switched to IBM computers with the PageMaker desktop publishing program. I made a brochure on this program and found that I had a natural eye for design.

Then I started a Christian arts anthology. In my spare time, I would go to the computer science lab and work on the Macintosh SE/30s. I found that PageMaker worked faster and easier on a Mac. After two issues of my anthology, I was hooked!

After college, I wanted to learn how to design on a Mac. I turned down jobs that were on PCs. Yes, everyone thought I was crazy!

Then my big break came! An editorial assistant job at The Navigators. This eventually turned into a full-time graphic design job after being mentored by the art director, Mike Hames. This happened because I had the vision to start the anthology in college, which forced me to learn about graphic design and showed off my potential in this area. Mike taught me everything he knew about design. Eventually, he left the organization and I took over many aspects of his job.

After getting married and having a child, I started my business, AngelArts. I managed to find used Macs and have quite a collection of them now, including the forerunner to the iPad, a little tablet called the Apple Newton!

But even though I am a Mac nut, I do not own an iPod, iPhone, or iPad. I do want an iPhone soon, though, and I know an iPad would greatly help my high-functioning autistic son.

Steve Jobs is truly an inspiration. He started this company in his garage and through his vision turned it into one of the largest companies in the US.

His life teaches us that you have got to believe in yourself and work hard to achieve it. Jobs has had a huge impact on the whole world. He has had a huge impact on my life! We are all better off because of this tremendous visionary!

Rest in peace, Steve! My heart goes out to his family and my prayers and thoughts are with them!