Brand Compass: Personal Branding for Consultants & Experts

I dig into the meaty topic of ‘POSITIONING” in this solo episode.

Spending time on your positioning is a highly rewarding way to really know how you are literally going to position your messaging and branding around the problem you solve and who you solve it for. It also informs your pricing.

In this discussion I walk you through my simple three service priority areas I have developed after being inspired by Michael Hyatt’s thinking around Vision, Alignment and Execution.

This will help you to quickly spot a starting point for your positioning work. I also give you advice on where to look if you are wanting to increase profitability.

Join me won’t you? You may need a notebook for this one.

- - -

𝗦𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗬 𝗥𝗢̈𝗦𝗧𝗟𝗨𝗡𝗗 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

Shelley is a systems-led brand strategist working with knowledge experts…those who teach, educate, consult, advise or mentor others. Her specialism is in value propositions, the product eco-system sitting inside brand strategies. 

South African born and British-grown, Shelley has worked with 150+ brands across 30+ industries through her consultancy and agency work, and spends the majority of her time running her group programme, teaching micro businesses how to transform their expertise into a momentum-building brand machines.

==================

All episodes are video recorded and can be watched in the website show notes at shelleyrostlund.com/podcast, or on YouTube. (Click here for the full audio transcribed version).

This episode is about a topic that burns bright, burns out, then returns again.

Have you ever asked yourself: how on earth, in this digital world, do you separate your personal YOU from your work YOU?

Well, I’m here to tell you my friend – you are asking the wrong question.  

What you should be asking yourself is: how can you comfortably be MORE you, MORE of the time?

Today we live in a weirdly freer and more accessible world, however we are more overwhelmed, stretched and agitated by channels and the sheer quantity of information and data thrown our way.

Match that with changing working environments and tools that facilitate more online working and less in-person time and I can understand why this topic of “when exactly do I switch off being work me, to shift into casual, personal me?”

Join me in this conversation where I share why this age-old concept of personal brand is really a structure that you can use to help you navigate including all of the dimensions of you...the fuller YOU…into your every day. Yes – that includes work too.

- - -

𝗦𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗬 𝗥𝗢̈𝗦𝗧𝗟𝗨𝗡𝗗 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

Shelley is a systems-led brand strategist working with knowledge experts…those who teach, educate, consult, advise or mentor others. Her specialism is in value propositions, the product eco-system sitting inside brand strategies.

South African born and British-grown, Shelley has worked with 150+ brands across 30+ industries through her consultancy and agency work, and spends the majority of her time running her group programme, teaching micro businesses how to transform their expertise into a momentum-building brand machines.

==================

All episodes are video recorded and can be watched in the website show notes at shelleyrostlund.com/podcast, or on YouTube. (Click here for the full audio transcribed version).

Speaking is something we have all experienced from other people. As professionals we attend conferences, events and even professional development opportunities and there is always someone up on a stage in front of us.

What if that SOMEONE…could be you?

Have you thought about adding speaking to your toolkit of how to get in front of your audiences and gain more visibility as an expert in your field?

OR – do you quiver just with the thought of it, but realise that it’s probably a pretty valuable thing to be able to do?

This episode is for you. I have asked just the right person to come and chat to us about what speaking looks like, as well as how and why we should get uncomfortable and give it a go.

“Feel the fear and do it anyway.” As they say. Yikes. I’m feeling the fear myself having been asked to speak on a stage in the near future and it’s not my natural habitat (YET….)

- - -

𝗚𝗨𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

Jackie Goddard who is Speaking Trainer and Coach who helps business owners, leaders and authors to gain confidence delivering paid talks to share their knowledge and leverage their authority in their space.

She is on a mission to empower yearning speakers to get excited about sharing their ideas, stories and life lessons.  

She teaches her clients how to craft engaging talks, use their voice and breath better and sharpen their overall performance skills.

Jackie has over 25 years of experience working in and around the performing arts as an actor, director, producer, and teacher, facilitating acting and voice workshops.

𝗦𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗬 𝗥𝗢̈𝗦𝗧𝗟𝗨𝗡𝗗 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

Shelley is a systems-led brand strategist working with knowledge experts…those who teach, educate, consult, advise or mentor others. Her specialism is in value propositions, the product eco-system sitting inside brand strategies.  

South African born and British-grown, Shelley has worked with 150+ brands across 30+ industries through her consultancy and agency work, and spends the majority of her time running her group programme, teaching micro businesses how to transform their expertise into a momentum-building brand machines.

==================

All episodes are video recorded and can be watched in the website show notes at shelleyrostlund.com/podcast, or on YouTube. (Click here for the full audio transcribed version).

I’m excited to have this conversation with THIS guest today. She is a smart cookie.

She will help you to shift your thinking around one-to-one services.

As I see it, we, as service providers, have three deep challenges:

1. We have to extract our extraordinary value from our heads and shape it into something that other people understand and grasp.
2. We need to match our knowledge and what we can do with a REAL NEED in a client or customer and create a solution
3. We then have to decide how we deliver that solution to the client to bring about the results we promise.

My guest on this episode is going to drum home the message of “pick one” offer (or service) and get this right…before you start to build. We will specifically work on Number 2 above.

Now, I want you to listen openly to our conversation and see what could be possible for you, if this type of service is your preference.

- - -

𝗚𝗨𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

Janine Coombes is a Service Positioning Expert who helps coaches and consultants to earn drastically more from their 1-2-1 services without slogging their guts out or moving to a more complicated business model. 

She has an extensive background in business and marketing including working with big brands like EE, Orange and Europcar

What I love is that Janine’s hands-on experience is also backed by formal training. She has a business degree, a post-graduate marketing diploma (CIM Dip) and for the last 7 years has been helping small, service-based business owners to position and sell their offers. 

She regularly speaks on stages like Atomicon, You Are The Media and MarketEd.Live.

𝗦𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗬 𝗥𝗢̈𝗦𝗧𝗟𝗨𝗡𝗗 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

Shelley is a systems-led brand strategist working with knowledge experts…those who teach, educate, consult, advise or mentor others. Her specialism is in value propositions, the product eco-system sitting inside brand strategies.

South African born and British-grown, Shelley has worked with 150+ brands across 30+ industries through her consultancy and agency work, and spends the majority of her time running her group programme, teaching micro businesses how to transform their expertise into a momentum-building brand machine.

==================

All episodes are video recorded and can be watched in the website show notes at shelleyrostlund.com/podcast, or on YouTube. (Click here for the full audio transcribed version).

I thought it was time we had a little more of an educational or practical episode. This is a workshop-type episode with a download (no email needed) to help you do the work.

I dig into the concept of product ecosystems and the five categories of products or services you will have in a well-functioning ecosystem 

I know how easy it is for service-based businesses to:

• over-think and over-complicate their offers
• competing with themselves (I explain this)
• have growth (annoyingly) stumped purely by ambiguity 

Grab a pen, a piece of paper (or download my worksheet), and some Lego®️ (I explain in the episode) and…join me.

- - -

𝗦𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗬 𝗥𝗢̈𝗦𝗧𝗟𝗨𝗡𝗗 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

Shelley is a systems-led brand strategist working with knowledge experts…those who teach, educate, consult, advise or mentor others. Her specialism is in value propositions, the product eco-system sitting inside brand strategies.

South African born and British-grown, Shelley has worked with 150+ brands across 30+ industries through her consultancy and agency work, and spends the majority of her time running her group programme, teaching micro businesses how to transform their expertise into a momentum-building brand machines.

==================

All episodes are video recorded and can be watched in the website show notes at shelleyrostlund.com/podcast, or on YouTube. (Click here for the full audio transcribed version).

I discuss the dichotomy of: is there a point when you think you are inspiring someone, but actually you are just throwing so much out there (in your passion to get it out), that you are quite frankly…intimidating people.

This conversation is (obviously) heavily tainted by my own subjective opinion on this. But I’d invite you to consider this dichotomy with me and get in touch to let me know your thoughts. 

Why do I think this important? How we behave and project ourselves to the outside world, has an impact on who we attract to work with us and that affects our quality of life and work. It’s important to know when, and if, what you think of as inspiring is actually being experienced as intimating.

As consultants, coaches, mentors or advisers to others, I would hope we would really rather not intimate our clients. In my experience that has always been a tactic that disengages and shortens the life time you have with a client.

Join me in this conversation where I’m going to come at this from an observational point of view so that it helps you to calibrate where you sit on this spectrum.

- - -

𝗦𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗬 𝗥𝗢̈𝗦𝗧𝗟𝗨𝗡𝗗 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

Shelley is a systems-led brand strategist working with knowledge experts…those who teach, educate, consult, advise or mentor others. Her specialism is in value propositions, the product eco-system sitting inside brand strategies.

South African born and British-grown, Shelley has worked with 150+ brands across 30+ industries through her consultancy and agency work, and spends the majority of her time running her group programme, teaching micro businesses how to transform their expertise into a momentum-building brand machine.

==================

All episodes are video recorded and can be watched in the website show notes at shelleyrostlund.com/podcast, or on YouTube. (Click here for the full audio transcribed version).

There is a point in your journey as a solopreneur or micro business owner, where you’ll need to start asking for some REAL help.

(So…not your friend Kevin who tinkers with websites, your neighbour Sue who does a bit of writing in the evenings and Jill’s son Rory who is great at Art and can snap you up something special for your social graphics.)

I’m talking about proper help, the deep and talented kind that makes the difference. When you get to that point in time, and it can happen any time really – you will find yourself having to answer some reality checking questions like:

-       What is it that you really do?

-       What’s the problem you are solving?

-       How do you solve it differently to others?

-       How do you make your clients feel?

-       What are their pains, aches and challenges?

-       Where is your business going into the future?

And, I’m not even going to go into the even more detailed nuances you’ll have to wrap your head around – like visual styling, audio branding, colours, and fonts.

Yes, I’m talking about when you have to engage freelancers, consultants or an agency to help you to pull your professional socks up to be a grown-up brand that wants to not only be taken more seriously – but wants to be smarter at how they are doing business.

Come join me, as I talk to my guest about how you will be able to distinguish the ‘cheap’ help from the help that will make the difference.

- - -

𝗚𝗨𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

Liz Jostes is a Digital Marketing Consultant and co-founded her agency Eli Rose in 2011. They offer online marketing, social ads, and content strategy for small businesses and internal teams.

Her corporate employed background, before starting her business, was centred around consumer behaviour and buying habits. She is highly tuned into what causes a customer to make the buying decisions they do. Perfect for a digital marketing consultant!

𝗦𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗬 𝗥𝗢̈𝗦𝗧𝗟𝗨𝗡𝗗 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

Shelley is a systems-led brand strategist working with knowledge experts…those who teach, educate, consult, advise or mentor others. Her specialism is in value propositions, the product eco-system sitting inside brand strategies.

South African born and British-grown, Shelley has worked with 150+ brands across 30+ industries through her consultancy and agency work, and spends the majority of her time running her group programme, teaching micro businesses how to transform their expertise into a momentum-building brand machines.

==================

All episodes are video recorded and can be watched in the website show notes at shelleyrostlund.com/podcast, or on YouTube. (Click here for the full audio transcribed version).

I’m going to stretch your thinking a bit and play with what the difference is between a subject matter expert and a thought leader. And…how do we recognise someone as “thought leading”. I’m going to share what I think they have in their professional toolbox.

In essence, my gut feeling is that there is a top tier of 20 to 25% of subject matter experts who can be described as thought-leading.  

These special, insightful experts have this extra ability to look at things on a much larger, macro level and they can almost perceptively feel the winds of change.

Join me in this conversation where I share the 5 items I think are in the metaphorical toolbox of a Thought Leader. Perhaps you may recognise one or two of them from your own toolbox of gifts. (Whoa…you have the makings of a thought leader, my friend!)

- - -

𝗦𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗬 𝗥𝗢̈𝗦𝗧𝗟𝗨𝗡𝗗 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

Shelley is a systems-led brand strategist working with knowledge experts…those who teach, educate, consult, advise or mentor others. Her specialism is in value propositions, the product eco-system sitting inside brand strategies.

South African born and British-grown, Shelley has worked with 150+ brands across 30+ industries through her consultancy and agency work, and spends the majority of her time running her group programme, teaching micro businesses how to transform their expertise into a momentum-building brand machines.

==================

All episodes are video recorded and can be watched in the website show notes at shelleyrostlund.com/podcast, or on YouTube. (Click here for the full audio transcribed version).

How often do you hear people (usually marketeers or do-gooders who fancy themselves as marketeers) say: “YOU HAVE TO BE VISIBLE.”

Well, I’ve been more of a subscriber to the idea of: “do what works and be consistent.” (And, I am a marketeer by broad trade terms.)

However, I’d invite you to approach this ‘having to be visible all the time’ thought, and balance it with fresh insight from my guest, Mai-kee.

She learnt the hard way about what certain kinds, and levels, of visibility activities ended up being harmful for her. Today she teaches others to re-evaluate whether they are safeguarding themselves and others first – before dashing head long into doing MORE.

After listening to this episode, you will realise that IT IS possible to be quieter, and still, more of the time and…less frenetic and focused on pace.

By being quieter, you will still have impact – it may even be MORE meaningful for you and your audiences if you do.

Come join us. You will not regret it.

- - -

𝗚𝗨𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

Mai-kee Tsang (She/Her) is The Sustainable Visibility® Mentor, ICF Certified Trauma-Conscious Leadership Coach, Podcast Guesting Strategist and Public Speaker.

She helps socially conscious leaders become sustainably visible so they can continue to make a deeper difference to those they serve - all without compromising their own capacity, safety and values in the process.

𝗦𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗬 𝗥𝗢̈𝗦𝗧𝗟𝗨𝗡𝗗 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

Shelley is a systems-led brand strategist working with knowledge experts…those who teach, educate, consult, advise or mentor others. Her specialism is in value propositions, the product eco-system sitting inside brand strategies.

South African born and British-grown, Shelley has worked with 150+ brands across 30+ industries through her consultancy and agency work, and spends the majority of her time running her group programme, teaching micro businesses how to transform their expertise into a momentum-building brand machines.

==================

All episodes are video recorded and can be watched in the website show notes at shelleyrostlund.com/podcast, or on YouTube. (Click here for the full audio transcribed version).

A short, digestible tid-bit to snack on as a quick reflective prompt, a rally for new thinking, or to just throw a challenge out there for you to take up - should you choose to. These are dropped in between my normal episodes.

This episode is about thinking about growth differently. I’m going to invite you to think that may NOT be about increasing what you are doing or generating MORE, it may be about being smarter and better at what you already doing.

Are you feeling frustrated…knowing that you want things to be better, but you just don't know what better looks like? I tackle this with the people who come and do my group programme with me.

How do we move from frustration to freedom? Well, first take a step back, breathe. Then click ‘listen’.

I’ll help you to think about this a bit more.

- - -

𝗦𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗬 𝗥𝗢̈𝗦𝗧𝗟𝗨𝗡𝗗 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

Shelley is a systems-led brand strategist working with knowledge experts…those who teach, educate, consult, advise or mentor others. Her specialism is in value propositions, the product eco-system sitting inside brand strategies.

South African born and British-grown, Shelley has worked with 150+ brands across 30+ industries through her consultancy and agency work, and spends the majority of her time running her group programme, teaching micro businesses how to transform their expertise into a momentum-building brand machines.

==================

All normal episodes are video recorded and can be watched in the website show notes at shelleyrostlund.com/podcast, or on YouTube. (Click here for the full audio transcribed version). There is no video available for POD BITE episodes, like this one.