Joy First®

Picture this: A room full of 5 yr olds listening to 'Golden' - when that three-part harmony hits... their little faces lit up - they could feel the harmony (and I got about 1000 cool points from my kids for being the mum who not only came in for career day, but managed to work KPop Demon Hunters into my presentation about Colour Psychology) 

If your visual brand is as on-point right now as the Huntr/x high-notes - customers are doing the exact same thing as those kids. They're lighting up in your funnels, on your website and in your social feeds.

But how do you know if you're peddling visual harmony or discord?

In today's episode, I'm breaking down why some brands make you feel instant trust while others make you want to close the tab (even though you probably can't quite explain why).

• The neuroscience of how your brain processes visual harmony (and why your brand should care)
• What Gordon Ramsay and fine dining can teach us about brand consistency
• The five elements I adjust most often in Design Time hot seats (and how to audit yours)
• Why mixing colour groups creates the same discomfort as notes out of tune
• How to identify visual discord in your brand using the "scramble test"
• Real metrics: why harmonious brands show higher conversions, longer time on site, and better word-of-mouth
• The biggest harmony pitfalls facing most Founders, and how to fix them

LINKS FROM TODAY:

• Starling Bank rebrand analysis: https://www.tiktok.com/@joyfirstworld/video/7550797369546198294
• Free Brand Personality Quiz: https://go.jnicholesmith.com/quiz
• Book a Call to talk about your rebrand: https://go.joyfirstworld.com/branding
• DM me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jnicholesmith

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Picture this: I'm VP of brand at a tech startup, locked in a battle with our UI/UX designer over whether our app's greys should be warm or cold. She's insisting on blue-based greys: Apple does it, all the big tech brands do it, so obviously it's correct for technology, right? Wrong.

And today I'm going to de-code for you why this seemingly insignificant detail reveals everything you need to know about colour psychology.

• What happens in your mind with colour before your cognitive mind analyzes anything
• The four groups of colour and how they correlate with personality types (with the exact science behind it)
• How to choose colours strategically based on psychology, not just preference
• Why certain colour combinations create delicious harmony while others trigger instant distrust
• The critical questions to ask before choosing any colour for your brand
• Real examples of brands getting colour psychology right (and catastrophically wrong)
• Why it's so important to stick to colours from one 'group' to get the results you want with your brand
• The psychology behind every major colour from brown to pink (including which one to avoid entirely)

• Free Brand Personality Quiz: go.jnicholesmith.com/quiz 
• Tara Lynn & Co. photography (sunshine brand example)
• Janna Scharfenberg website (seaside brand example)
• The Ad Girls rebrand: theadgirls.com (fireside brand example)
• Natalie MacNeil website: nataliemacneil.com (fireside brand example)
• Dr. Romie Mushtaq - Busy Brain Cure book
• Starling Bank rebrand breakdown (mentioned)
• Dealing with Whiteness podcast series (previous season)
• Color psychology resources and tools
• Book a strategy call with Nic
• Super Bloom program information
• Color Joy program

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As a serial entrepreneur as well as a branding expert, I've always had extremely high standards for how, where and when brand is worth investing in... and extremely high expectations for the kind of return I want to see on that investment.

I've always bent over backwards to create this for my clients - but it always felt like 're-inventing the wheel' each time... a long, painful process for me and them, that always resulted in something fantastic, but often no one could really explain why it was great, or how we got there. As someone who loves science, systems and repeatable successes, that was never good enough for me.

When I did a Masters in Marketing I thought for sure I'd find the missing link, the secret, the guarantee. But no. It wasn't until I got certified in Applied Colour Psychology that I found the answer, the key to creating visuals with more predictable impact on behavior...

What if I told you that your brand, just like you, has a personality? A frequency. And what if there was a predictable, repeatable, profound framework for you to understand and lean-in to that personality and get better results in every metric that matters to your business? 

Today I'm sharing the breakthrough that transformed how I build brands and why it might be exactly what you've been searching for. We're diving into the psychology behind brand personalities. I'll introduce you to the four personalities and show you how when you find yours, and build your brand in exclusively that vibe, you can create more solid and predictable emotional responses in your customer (which as you know, is the key to driving purchase).

You'll discover how to reveal your brand's natural frequency, learn why trying to force a personality that isn't authentic or aligned creates problems (and how to fix it), and you'll hear how to audit your current branding for psychological consistency.

• Daily Mail Article Quoting me about Ellen DeGeneres' Farmhouse
• Starling Bank's Rebrand: Long Version | Short Version
• Joy First Founder's Circle
• Colour Brand® Colour Psychology Method overview
• Personality Type Quiz
• Joy First® Brand Assessment 
• Super Bloom® branding client case studies

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Twenty minutes. That's all it took for me to go from casual observer to completely bought-in advocate of a brand I'd barely heard of before. No pressure tactics, no manufactured urgency, just pure value, delivered with integrity.

Last week I experienced the psychology of a Joy First brand in real time.

Today I'm pulling back the curtain on the exact psychology behind building a Joy First Brand for the Joyconomy, including why Harvard Business Review says emotionally connected customers are 52% more valuable than just satisfied ones.

The profitability in Joy First brands isn't just about making people happy. it is about creating deep connections that transform casual customers into lifelong evangelists who can't help but tell everyone about you.

I'll show you the exact moment I knew this company understood something most businesses completely miss, and how you can reverse-engineer that same psychological magic in your own brand.

We're diving deep into the neuroscience of joy, the difference between satisfaction and obsession, and why some brands create customers for life while others struggle with constant churn.

I'll reveal which big brands have mastered these Joy First principles (and have seen massive revenue increases as a result), plus the cautionary tales of billion-dollar brands that abandoned these principles and watched their stock prices crater within weeks.

You'll discover why purpose-driven joy hits differently than gimmicky happiness, how mirror neurons make joy literally contagious, and the ancient Greek concept that explains why some customer experiences create lasting transformation while others are instantly forgotten.

Plus, I'm sharing specific examples of how small businesses can implement these principles immediately from the language you use to describe your services to the unexpected ways you can exceed expectations without breaking the budget.

• The exact neurological process that happens when customers experience Joy First brands (and why it creates addiction-level loyalty)
• Where and why dopamine is released in the joy process (and what this means for your brand)
• The critical difference between satisfaction and joy (and why most businesses are stuck in satisfaction mode)
• How several major corporations just proved Joy First principles drive real revenue (with specific numbers)
• Real examples of small businesses creating unforgettable customer experiences with simple psychological touches
• The customer journey audit that reveals exactly where you're missing joy opportunities

• Joy First branding services: https://go.joyfirstworld.com/branding
• Joy First Founders' Circle: https://go.joyfirstworld.com/jffc
• Joy First Brand Assessment: https://quiz.joyfirstworld.com/brand
• Color Joy program
• Ben & Jerry's linked prosperity model

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While banks failed and bread lines formed in 1929, the beauty industry became the fourth largest industry in North America.

In 2008, as the economy collapsed, Lego achieved record profits.

During the 2020 pandemic, the pet industry exploded with 16% growth.

What did these industries have in common? They weren't selling products: they were selling different versions of joy.

Today I'd like to introduce you to something trend analysts are calling the Joyconomy, and it's already starting to reshape how every successful business will operate in the Ai-fuelled future. This isn't another marketing trend you can ignore. This is the fundamental rewiring of how humans make buying decisions in our anxiety-driven world.

For 20 years, I've been building Joy First brands: businesses that compete on delight rather than desperation, connection rather than unworthiness. While everyone else was optimizing for pain points and fear-based tactics, I was obsessed with feel-good brands that made people's lives better through their products, services, social impact and even their marketing.

That "soft" approach? It just became the hardest competitive advantage in business.

Forbes just declared the Joyconomy a major trend for 2025 and research shows Joy First brands are outperforming traditional competitors across every metric that matters. But here's what most people don't understand... this isn't just about happy marketing or feel-good campaigns.

In this episode, I'm breaking down the five dimensions that separate Joyconomy winners from fear-first businesses that are about to get left behind. I'll show you why luxury brands use 40% more positive emotional language than mass market competitors, how one Italian car company made a radical decision that defied decades of industry wisdom, and why the whole basis of Web3 culture points to a massive shift away from individualism.

This is your roadmap to the future of business. The question isn't whether the Joyconomy is coming... it's whether you'll be ready for it.

• The five dimensions every Joy First brand must master to survive and thrive
• Why fear-based marketing is becoming losing its superior effectiveness (and what works instead)
• The surprising psychology behind why luxury brands don't use problem-solution frameworks
• How to use colour as a competitive advantage when everything has gone grey
• Why community and collectivism are about to disrupt the influencer economy
• The real reason health is becoming the new hustle (and what this means for your business)

• Book a Call with Nic: https://go.joyfirstworld.com/branding

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This is a special, intimate, informal storytelling episode. After a full season of sharing other peoples' stories of finding Joy First ways of working, I thought I would share mine - especially since as of tomorrow I am now officially celebrating 20 years in business!!

Want to watch the Video version? Visit my Facebook profile: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1FbNQEVjn5/

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I can't wait for you to meet today's guest. Jennifer Waters and I first connected nine years ago when she joined one of my very first online programs. She had a pet photography side-hustle, and she was desperate to escape a toxic marriage and build financial independence as a single mom

I knew I really liked Jennifer straight away. But what I couldn't have known, was the profound journey she was about to embark upon, that I would witness first-hand. Over the course of a decade, through high highs, and the lowest of lows, Jennifer transformed not just her business, but her entire life.

Jennifer's story isn't your typical entrepreneurial success tale. It's much deeper and more beautiful. Jennifer is here today to share what happens when life strips away everything you think you know and love, and forces you to discover (and build) something entirely new.

Spoiler Alert: She's not a pet photographer anymore, but she's just picked up the keys to her third location expansion in only 18 months for her current business, which is one she never intended to start.

How did she get here? One thing that makes this conversation really special, is our exploration of grief.... something none of us ever really want to talk about. Jennifer lost six dogs in three years. Six heart dogs. Her business, her brand, the book she was writing... her entire identity disappeared along with them.

What emerged from that grief will change how you think about business, creativity, and what's possible when you stop trying to force things to work and fully commit to what brings you joy.

Jennifer, who now runs her unexpected business from her dream house on Lake Superior (the same lake house she once believed was impossible for a single woman to afford), ships her products worldwide, has a 75% customer loyalty rate and still hasn't even written a business plan.

I love this story of joy first working, because it's so rare to talk to someone who has built something from a place of pure love and trust... which in our day and age of reason and cynicism, is the most radical strategy of all. But Joy First works. And Jennifer is living, smiling proof.

• How Jennifer navigated six devastating losses in three years without losing herself
• The moment she realized pre-grief was stealing her present joy
• Why her most successful business has no business plan (and never will)
• How she went from $24 in her bank account to a thriving company in just a few months
• The ancient principle that explains why clearing grief creates space for joy
• Why building from love instead of market research can work better

• Dogkind Candle Company website: dogkindcandles.com
• Jennifer's social media: @dogkindco (Instagram and Facebook)
• My book "Million Dollar Dog Brand" (referenced in our conversation)

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In this beautifully revealing, intimate conversation, Carrie Green opens up about the darkest period of her business journey. In this episode Carrie shares with us the most generous and honest reflection on entrepreneurial burnout that I've ever heard.

Having founded the Female Entrepreneur Association (FEA) in 2011 (which she grew into 7-figure business with a network of almost 1 million women) Carrie is an international bestselling author (She Means Business, Hay House) and an online business trailblazer. But today we're stepping back from the shiny stuff in her list of incredible achievements to talk burnout, motherhood, and the darker sides of business success.

"I'd be getting home from work every night saying to my husband, I don't think I can do this anymore," she reveals. "I felt so trapped by it all."

While Carrie's body was screaming at her to slow down... she pushed on through... until she physically, mentally and emotionally could not go on. But that's not the end of our story: we discover that Carrie's just closed out her best launch of all time, after slowly having found her way back to her health, wellbeing and magic.

In this episode we explore the complex reality of managing a team for a multi-million pound online business, the weight of avoiding difficult conversations, and how hiring full-time "experts" to solve your problems can backfire spectacularly. Carrie's brutal honesty about the real challenges she's faced as a leader and the emotional toll of getting some of it wrong, is so wildly refreshing.

If you've ever felt trapped by your success, questioned whether you're cut out for leadership, or wondered how to rebuild when everything feels broken, this conversation is for you!

• The physical warning signs Carrie ignored before her body forced her to pay attention
• Why hiring "experts" to solve your problems often creates more chaos than clarity
• How avoiding difficult conversations with team members nearly destroyed her business
• The specific work and practices that helped her rebuild
• How energy and frequency directly impact business results
• Why Carrie believes success should equal joy and what happens when it doesn't

• Carrie's Instagram: @IAmCarrieGreen
• Female Entrepreneur Association
• Patrick Lencioni's leadership books (especially "The Motive")
• Her podcast (recently hit #59 in Apple's business charts!)

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Today I'm sitting down with Ruth, the brilliantly creative mind who, when asked what her current job title is, replies with a laugh, "Today we're going with digital product strategist."

This sense of fun sets the tone for our entire conversation about what happens when you follow joy instead of rigid business rules.

Ruth's journey from corporate banking job to creative entrepreneur wasn't planned, it unfolded naturally as she simply shared what she loved making. Whether it was photographs, websites, online courses, or physical products like t-shirts and journals, Ruth's magnetic energy comes from a place most business coaches never talk about: genuine excitement.

"I'm not purposefully sharing to get a client," she reveals. "It's just this homepage has brought me joy. I can't keep it in. So I'm just going to share it." This approach has led to clients consistently finding her rather than the other way around something many of us dream about but struggle to achieve.

We also dive into the fascinating parallel between building a business and Ruth's two-year journey to achieving a challenging physical goal, where we learn about her philosophy on persistence. When most people try something once and declare "it doesn't work," where as Ruth has shown up Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for years.

I love Ruth's comfort in her own lane whether in business or at the gym. While many of us are constantly looking sideways, she's focused firmly on her own path, completely unbothered by how fast or slow others might be progressing.

This conversation isn't just about business or strategy, it's about finding joy in the process, sharing from a place of genuine excitement, and showing up consistently without comparing your journey to others.

If you've been feeling the pressure to niche down or follow conventional business wisdom, but something about it doesn't feel right, this episode might just give you the permission you've been waiting for.

• Why Ruth gets clients without actively seeking them and the mindset that makes this possible
• The truth about passion projects and why they don't always need to make money
• Ruth's approach to personal goals that mirror how she runs her business
• Why Ruth writes all her content herself (without ai)
• How she balances "joy projects" and "income projects" to keep her joy and business sustainable

• Ruth's website: RuthXO.com
• Liz Gilbert's book "Big Magic"
• Our Joy First Founders Circle community
• The Colour Joy

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Today I'm sharing what might be the most important conversation of this entire Joy First season. I had the incredible honor of sitting down with Rha Goddess – organizational soul coach, author, and one of the wisest voices I've encountered on the subject of intentional, purpose-driven work.

This conversation couldn't be more timely. As we navigate economic uncertainty, political chaos, and the ongoing aftermath of a pandemic that changed everything about how we view work, Rha's insights offer both a challenge and a permission slip.

The Great Resignation

What happens when 50 million people quit their jobs, and then another 50 million the following year? What are we all sensing and seeking in this massive reshuffling of priorities? And most importantly – how do we move forward when we know we're not going back?

Rha's new book "Intentional Ambition" explores exactly this territory, diving deep into what it means to renegotiate our relationship with work after the Great Resignation. But this isn't just about finding better work-life balance – it's about a fundamental shift in how we define success, ambition, and the role work plays in our lives.

One of my favorite quotes from Rha in this episode responded with: "If it ain't joyful, I ain't doing it." This speaks to my soulllll. Not just a cute boundary – this statement is a radical act of resistance in a world that has conditioned us to de-prioritize our joy and happiness.

We explore the fierce nature of love (which is not what you might think), why comfort and joy are not synonymous, and how to distinguish between what she calls "wounded ambition" versus "true ambition."

Whether you're considering a career pivot, feeling burned out in your current role, or simply questioning the traditional definitions of success that never quite fit, this conversation offers both profound wisdom and practical guidance for creating a new relationship with work... a relationship where joy leads.

• The three stages we go through when redefining our relationship with work
• Why choosing joy is both a form of resistance and surrender
• How to use your energy (not just your time) as your compass for decision-making
• A simple daily practice to identify what's draining you vs. what's energizing you
• The difference between "wounded ambition" and "true ambition"
• Which discomfort might actually be growth in disguise

• Rha Goddess's new book: "Intentional Ambition"
• Move The Crowd website
• Rha Goddess website
• @RhaGoddess on all platforms: LinkedIn Instagram

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