In the past four months we’ve seen creative entrepreneurs, small businesses, and organizations cope with what has become of 2020 by narrowing in on their focus, pivoting away from what they don’t want to be doing in their business, doubling down on what they’re best at, and amplifying their strengths to their dream client. We invite you to find the same clarity by answering two simple prompts that we always ask our clients when they’re going through the Braid Method:
If you could only do one thing what would it be?
This question helps us understand what it is our client really wants to be doing all day, and what they want to be known for. It helps us understand as their branding agency how to position their expertise within their business vision. This doesn’t mean you’re only actually doing one thing – we know you’re either wearing many hats or love having variety in your business! And it doesn’t mean that you will alienate clients with cash if you narrow in on a niche – if anything, it will be a classic trope of playing hard to get and make you even more attractive to clients who are begging you to make an exception for them. However, answering this prompt will help you identify your core genius and as you say yes or no to opportunities or clients you can run it through the lens of “does this support my one thing?”
We always follow up the question of what you really want to be doing with what you no longer want to do:
If you could stop doing one thing what would it be?
The answer to this question will give you some insight as to what is distracting or diluting your aspirations for your brand. Just yesterday we had a client tell us “sometimes it’s easier to define who I am and who I want to be by pinpointing what I am not.”
TRY THIS – A BRANDING EXERCISE: Take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. On the left side write down “If I could only do one thing it would be ______.” Under that write down why, for whom, and what experience, education, or talents you have that support that one thing. Then on the right side write down “If I could stop doing one thing it would be…” and under that statement explore why you’re still doing it and whether it needs to be outsourced, simplified, or discarded altogether.
LISTEN TO THIS: Braid partners and sisters, Tara Street and Kathleen Shannon, are on Autumn Witt Boyd’s podcast talking about the benefit of having a signature offering. Listen here or by searching “Autumn Witt Boyd Legal Road Map” anywhere you listen to podcasts.
