brand therapy

When you’re walking in the woods it is nice to have a compass, right? I mean, it can save you time, it can keep you from getting lost – it helps make sure you’re actually getting to where you want to go.

In business we need a compass too, we need to know our own personal true North so we can make decisions and navigate obstacles and be confident that we’re always going to get back on track.

Spend more time in your sweet spot.

Put you in charge of you!Are you a business owner, artist, coach, consultant, or creative who feels driven by a sense of purpose? Do you feel that you are too often misunderstood? Do you keep attracting the wrong types of clients? Do you keep saying yes to projects that don’t excite you, that don’t tap into your true talents or align with your values? If you are nodding your head yes, then please read on.

Brand therapy is a process to help you find and understand your compass, your values, the patterns and priorities that are core to how you approach business. The purpose is to get you spending more time doing what you’re great at, work that gives you satisfaction and aligns with your values, and to be doing that work with and for people who in turn value you and what you do.

Not everyone needs this help. Some people frankly don’t care – they focus only on the numbers and not the heart of the business. Others have already figured these things out and are therefore more focused on executing – walking the path. However, if you’re one of the many business owners who feels awkward when asked, “what do you do?” who is hesitant because you feel that the story you’ve been telling isn’t getting you to where you want to go, then it’s time for some brand therapy. To build the brand you want you first have to understand the relationship between you and the brand you currently have.

So how does this work?

brand not blandIt’s a structured process
Typically, for most businesses led by a single owner I recommend starting with three sessions. Each session is between two and two and half hours – my clients tell me that gives them a nice balance of in depth exploration without getting burnt-out. We begin with a questionnaire that I call the Whole Brand Thinking™ framework – which sounds a little fancy-shmancy, but hey, I worked hard on it! Seriously, the idea is to give structure to the discussion and the framework makes sure we explore your personal positioning from 10 distinct perspectives:

  • Origins
  • Creed
  • Iconography
  • Rituals
  • Lingo
  • Antis
  • Leaders
  • Context
  • Expectations
  • Community

The questions are open-ended by design (sorry, no multiple choice here), but also don’t get stressed if you don’t have an answer for every section – it is quite normal to have gaps in some of these areas, but identifying those gaps ahead of time helps focus the process.

It’s a dialog
Once you’ve submitted your responses, I’ll review them and we’ll schedule the first session – this way we can hit the ground running and not waste session time. We’ll use your responses in these ten areas to guide the discussion throughout all three sessions, however as we explore together in this way it is inevitable that we will unearth some areas for deeper digging. I will ask you to take some time between sessions to explore these areas through customized exercises that may involve writing lists or journal entries.

Absorbing and Exploring
The exercises assigned between sessions are centered on you and the things you are passionate about in your business. Usually an assignment is prompted because you’ve touched on an area of particular expertise or domain knowledge that needs to be absorbed more fully so it can be communicated with greater clarity. Other times you may respond to a session question in a way that hints at a personal subtext or a unique point of view that needs to be brought more fully into the light. These little assignments often yield great insights into your relationship with your brand.

Scheduling
Since it takes time for you to do the assigned exercises and for me to review them, it is typical to schedule our sessions one week apart, however, we can adapt that to suit your needs.

The wrap-up
At the end of the third session we’ll have a discussion to recap the primary ideas unearthed by the process. It is not unusual to find 3 to 5 major concepts that drive and motivate your approach to business. Understanding those makes it possible to help clarify your direction and gives you that compass to chart a course out of the woods and onto the path toward success as measured by your own yardstick – not anybody else’s. After the session I will send you a follow-up email with some notes and a summary of the key concepts we’ve found.

Break it Down

So, to recap: We begin with the Whole Brand Thinking™ questionnaire, which you will be asked to complete and I will review before the first session. We then do three sessions of discussion and Q&A (each session about 2 to 2.5 hours long), with some homework assignments between sessions and an email summary of findings sent after the last session. You also get a recording of each of our sessions in mp3 format so you can review them as often as you like.

Because this work is so personalized everybody’s experience is different, but what is common is that people who felt frustrated and uncertain about the steps they were taking come out feeling clear and confident about themselves and the decisions they make. This process opens you up to a better understanding of yourself, your vision for your business and the patterns that drive your choices. Quite often by the third session a few very specific action items that are unique to your situation will have revealed themselves.

This is about your foundation

To be clear, we delve here into “soft” values, not spreadsheets, but it is exactly this type of information that will save you from wasting time and resources spent grinding without a strategy or marketing without a message. Together we’re laying a cornerstone in place upon which you can build the kind of success that is meaningful to you. The goal is to put the foundation in place to shape the business you want instead of letting the business you are in shape you.

Three sessions with questionnaire and homework review: $1500, fee schedule $500 per session.

How do I get started?

If you’re ready to schedule your first Brand Therapy session then I would love for you to get immersed in the process right away: Please begin by answering and submitting the Whole Brand Thinking questionnaire. You can reach the WBT form through the link to follow. Please note, this is a password protected page so when prompted use the password “wholebrand”. Whole Brand Thinking questionnaire – Once I receive the form with your answers I will call to discuss details and schedule your first session. If you’d prefer to chat a little bit about the approach first then please email me at brandtherapyseries@equationarts.com and we’ll set up a time to talk.

Laurie Foley“I know lots of people who would rather have an emergency root canal than talk about their personal brand. David’s genius is helping people realize that they already have a brand and encouraging them to learn how to consciously embrace it and use it as a vital tool for marketing their services. His Whole Brand Thinking technique is wonderfully thorough and fun to explore. He first caught my attention as a speaker where I couldn’t take notes fast enough during his presentation. I highly recommend David for one-on-one consulting and as a compelling speaker who knows how to connect with a group.”

~Laurie Foley, Online Business & Marketing Coach, Laurie Foley, Inc.

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