Deciding WHAT business you’re going to start first (or next) is hard for some people. And brand identification is the first and most important step to becoming a successful entrepreneur.
Here are a series of questions you should ask yourself to determine the next big chapter in your career:
1. What are your true passions?
Identify your passions and find a potential brand in there somewhere. Some entrepreneurs will tell you that passion has nothing to do with it. Find or carve out a niche where you can make some real cash and leave your passions for your downtime where they belong. Other greats say that without passion, you’ll have nothing to make you persevere through the ups and downs. I think both sides of the discussion have merit. Once you’ve made it and successfully branded a business or two that you have great passion for, you can if you wish, invest in projects that you don’t necessarily have passion for as long as you partner with people who do.
2. What drives you?
“X is the driving force behind…” A car doesn’t move without its driving force: ie., fuel combustion. Your brand will need some kind of “emotional fuel” to propel forward. Desire to succeed, desire to help, desire to get revenge, out-and-out hatred for an unscrupulous competitor. Identify your driving force so you can remind yourself when needed. You can cultivate drive in absence of passion, but you have to know the difference and how to “stomp on the gas” when you’re having a tough go of it.
3. What are your strengths?
Just as important as having passion is having specific traits and skills that we’re good at. You might not think certain strengths can be a benefit at all, yet they might be exactly what the world needs. I know a guy who has an almost neurotic ability to remember any fact or figure he hears. He’s in his late thirties and knows where the first Softball Confederation Championships were held in 1920, he knows what kind of cake Babe Ruth had for his 12th birthday… The guy’s crazy in my opinion, but he also built a business out of this knack of his! He distributes a monthly newsletter, which he charges for, detailing 50 useless facts that might be worth knowing. Scour your brain, ask your friends and family — find that winner and run with it.
4. Where are you weakest?
It’s good to always aim outside your comfort zone and do things you’re not comfortable. That’s how we learn and develop. However, there are likely more than a few things you’re really not good at, and it’s important to figure them out and write them down. Figure out what you can and simply cannot do. Figure out an action plan to improve on things that need practise, like public speaking, copywriting, or video editing. And remember, you can’t build a brand without a quality team behind you. People who can do certain things better than you.
5. What is your personality type? Type “A” or “B”?
You have to know who you are before you can decide your role in branding the company. Looking back, Tony Robbins couldn’t possibly be a Type B personality and become the “original” Life Coach he is today. His brand is built on energy and reckless enthusiasm. If you want to become the world’s most fantastic meditation guru, a laid-back temperament may just be what your potential audience is looking for.
6. What’s your story?
Are you someone who came from the bottom to the top? Have you been riddled with health or personal problems, but still managed to find a way? How many years have you spent refining your methods? Perhaps you found the next “Acai Berry” in the jungles of Peru while living with the Mashco-Piro indian tribe for two years. Spend some time writing your own biography and then decide what parts of that story can help you brand yourself.
7. What are your core values?
Your audience, your customers will be those who identify with the products and services you’ll be offering. Evangelist Bishop T. D Jakes didn’t get rich preaching to atheists. Gurus like Remit Sethi didn’t acquire their wealth by hosting get-rich-quick seminars for guys like Mark Cuban. Identify what’s important to you — what you will and won’t do. Ideas that you agree with and those you don’t. This is important for brand identification because you never want to say or promise anything that you don’t believe in and/or won’t deliver on once your business is launched, even if you got the takeaway for sale. Charlatans almost always get unmasked at some point and it won’t be pretty when it happens.
8. Can you really afford it?
A single man or woman can do anything if they set their mind to it. If you need “XXXX.XX” number of dollars and there’s always more “month at the end of the money” than there is cash, you need to identify how you’re going to come up with the cash: work more hours, sell stuff, apply for a loan with BB&T, seek out VCs or Angels — get a paper route, use the content, etc. Money should never stop you, but it may create delays to launch date and will definitely create the need for a different allocation of your financial resources.
9. Do you know anyone who can help?
You have an idea, are on the verge of putting the wheels in motion. But do you have anyone, a mentor who can help you make the tough decisions and help guide you to success? It’s going to take more than sheer will to brand a new company in this day and age, with so much competition. You need to build up your “rolodex” if you can’t think of a single person to can add value and expertise to your next business.
10. What if you could do anything and money were no object?
It’s gut-check time. Ask yourself the hard question: do you really want to do this? Perhaps this will become your reason to push yourself as hard as possible, to eventually have the freedom to do what you really want. However, maybe it’s something you can do right now and still make a career out of. Do you want to be a travel vlogger? Perhaps a sports-action-athlete? Could you spend the rest of your life looking after animals?
What’s yours?
Share your best brand identification tips. Tell us what you think of this post — or any others you’ve read on Previso Media.
Main image by Moyan Brenn
