Clarity Week Exclusive: get 15% off any course using the code, ‘GROWFORWARD’ at checkout. Expires 12/18/21.

How to Increase Your Initial Velocity

The beginning stages of launching a brand are FULL of decisions to make.

I’m guessing that the last few months (or years) have probably included learning about your target audience, creating a business plan, deciding on your perfect offer, and making hundreds of other decisions for your business.

And now, how about your brand?

What *emotions* should you audience feel when they encounter your business?

What guiding principles you will stand for *above all else*?

How will you infuse your *personality* into your business?

Why should your ideal clients *care* about what you sell?

These are the types of questions you answer when you dedicate the time to building a psychology-driven brand.

You need a brand that’s true to your ideals, values, strengths, and beliefs. You need to connect with your ideal clients on an emotional level. This is what a psychology-driven brand strategy does for your business. It allows you to magnetically draw in clients happy to pay your worth.

This is why we’re here! To help you get this right. To ensure you put your best foot forward. Because getting started the right way is crucial and sets the tone for the success of your business for years to come.

Why is it so important?

When I first jumped into online entrepreneurship, I made a mistake that cost me six months of brand-building. I limited my potential before I even got started.

Here’s what happened…

I decided to build a business around what I knew. Namely: being a military spouse with ambitious career goals. I built my entire brand around the brand name and website, the “Successful Military Wife.”

(Ha, groan.)

The problem with that misstep was that my value extends way beyond helping military spouses. It’s part of my identity, yes, but it unnecessarily limited my impact.

This kind of naming and brand faux pas can be avoided by establishing your brand the right way. As soon as I transitioned to my own name as my brand, things started falling into place. I started attracting more clients, making more money, and feeling aligned with my brand.

And that’s just one example of all of the decisions you make when you’re building a new brand. There are so many decisions you’ll be making in these early days:

… the brand name

… your first offer

… how you’ll explain your value

… if you’ll DIY everything, or hire help

… what your website will look & feel like

… and on & on.

Getting direction and help in your early brand-building stages is an awesome shortcut to getting the results you want, faster. This isn’t to say that you won’t make any mistakes. However, by finding brand-building mentors early on, you get to skip a lot of the mistakes *they* made.

The Best Ways for Your Phase
to Work with Kaye

When you’re in the Initial Velocity phase of brand-building, it’s important to maximize your results with minimal investment. You’re still in the process of proving product/market fit and building your portfolio of results. For this reason, self-service programs tend to be an ideal blend of lower investment (compared to 1-on-1 support) and also allow you to move at your own pace.

Each of the recommendations below have 3 options to get started, depending on where you are at in the decision-making process. You can choose to skip right to the course sales page to enroll now, you can watch an evergreen webinar to learn more about the program, or you can schedule a call with my team to ask any questions you have.

Brand New Brand is my in-depth, signature process for building a brand from scratch.

Enroll in BNB Now

Watch the Free Training

Schedule a BNB Clarity Call

The Brandfluency courses are 12 different courses, one for each archetype. Each is a treasure-trove of insight and inspiration to apply your archetype to your brand.

Enroll Now

Watch the Free Training

Schedule an Archetype Analysis

Branding Words of Wisdom

Are you more of an audio & visual learner? Here are some of my favorite videos with advice specifically around launching with confidence and clarity *from the start*. Psstt… want to see the latest videos as they are released? Subscribe to my channel on Youtube:

Subscribe on YouTube

39 Video Playlist: for Early Stage Entrepreneurs

See the Full Playlist on YouTube

Advice for Increasing Initial Velocity

I want to share some of my biggest lessons learned from this stage of business. Hopefully you can avoid a few of the mistaks I made.

Focus on doing what you can, with what you have right now.

In the beginning, the chicken and the egg scenario happens a lot. You want to have a website, but you don’t have your products photographed yet. You want to create a bunch of new inventory, but you need capital you don’t have. Or with a service business, you need a portfolio but haven’t had clients yet. This is totally normal.

If you can’t put a site up yet, use social media for now. Or a simple landing page. If you need clients, work with some (carefully chosen) beta clients in return for feedback. If you can’t afford a designer (common!) use Canva.com or templates in the beginning. Remember there’s always a way forward with the resources at hand.

Work and talk with real, live, human beings.

Try beta testing some of your ideas before you sell them full price. See if you can get a few fellow entrepreneurs to participate. Rather than depending on you, yourself, and, well… you…call in reinforcements! Use the beta tests, interviews, and surveys to make the decisions I spoke of above. You’ll prove to prospective clients how much you care. Added bonus, you’ll be networking with other like minded entrepreneurs. All while finalizing major decisions about your brand. This will be a great first step towards building credibility with your audience.

Decide: How will your brand make people feel?

Do you know which archetype you identify with most? Many people don’t – even when they have been running their business for years. To get started defining your brand archetype – take my Brand Personality Quiz. Once you know your brand archetype, your options are limitless. And don’t forget to check out my information pages dedicated to each archetype.

Bootstrap with self-education, courses, and group programs.

There are TONS of amazing resources out there to help you successfully launch your brand. A simple Google search will provide you with the tools you need to teach yourself. Take e-courses on sites like Skillshare or from your favorite entrepreneurs. Read books and articles. Or best yet, find group programs. Many experts (myself included) offer courses to teach material offered to 1-1 clients in a live group environment. These days, there’s SO much life-saving material out there on the web. Whether it’s free or a small investment, it’ll be worth your time researching to find the best fit for you.

Be YOU to find your people.

As you’re beginning to establish your business, it’s *especially* important to focus on building trust. People don’t know you yet. You haven’t built a reputation. It’s crucial that you share with your audience who you are, what you do, why you’re exceptional, and how you can help them. You business will thrive on your ability to create strong, emotional connections with your audience.

Collect proof points & credibility clues.

Challenge yourself to write a list of 100 reasons why someone should hire you. Think about your past jobs, education, and people you’ve helped. Also, think about all of the benefits and life changes your future client gets from working with you. Consider all the ways they save time and money. Think about all the pain/frustration you alleviate for them. When you’re done with this exercise, you’ll have a master list of all the reasons someone would be crazy not to hire you! You can use this list to help write your website and as a shot of confidence whenever you need it.

Start before you're ready and stay in motion.

Get the ball rolling. The great thing about launching your own brand is that it’s easy to go back and make edits down the road, if you choose to. Maybe after you’ve been at it for a year or two, you’ll decide you want a professionally designed logo. Or maybe you’ll decide you only want to use certain types of photos in your published content. Great news – this is all editable – brought to you by the gods of WordPress (or whatever platform you’re using).

Just remember, when you’re launching a new brand, constantly find yourself in action. Figure out where you fit, test your theories, interview potential ideal clients, network, learn and above all….work with clients! You’ve got this.

More Free Resources – Curated Especially for YOU

Initial Velocity Articles

Here are a few can’t miss articles we’ve published on building your dream brand from the start.