Big Thinking

Happy New Year everyone!

Hopefully the Christmas period has given you the chance to relax, unwind, recharge your batteries and distance yourself from your business (just for a little while at least) to launch yourself into this year with a plan of action? Well, if you’re not quite there yet then hopefully this post will give you a little inspiration.

Now that it’s back to business in every sense of the word, it’s so easy to fast allow ourselves to get wrapped up in the day to day activities and before we know it March is just around the corner and nothing’s ticked off on our to-do list. What’s desperately needed this time of year is time to step back, reflect on where your business is and think about where you want to it be this time next year.

If you’ve got your to-do list together already (you clever sausage you) then let me suggest just one addition if I may? Spend just a few minutes looking at your current branding and ask yourself a few honest questions.

1. If you know exactly what your business is all about, who your ideal clients are and what they value about what you do then your branding should be communicating with them in a way that puts your business to the top of their list. Are you confident you’ve got this right for your business?

2. If you consistently communicate with your customers and prospects in a way that inspires and resonates with them then they’ll ache to work with you: whether you’re the cheapest or not. And if you can show confidence and professionalism throughout all of your communications: website, printed collateral and through all the social media channels then when these ideal clients and prospective customers find you, why wouldn’t you blow your competitors out of the water? Do you think your customers ache to work with you?

3. Once you’ve got all of this right, spending money on advertising, search engine optimisation and pay per click marketing makes sense. Why? Because you need people to find your business! But you need people to see your business in the way you see it, and too often there’s a discrepancy between the confidence and passion you have for your business and what people see on the outside. Are you doing enough for people to see what you see?

Take at least 5 minutes this week to slow down and focus.

If you’re keen to know more about growing your brand style into something rather magnificent then book a place with us on our Branding Masterclass starting 21st January. We’d love to see you there!

Tagged as , branding, branding masterclass, Rebranding, rebranding surrey in Behind The Scenes, Big Thinking, From The Studio

Oh my goodness we have soooo much to share with you and it feels like ages since we’ve blogged properly. I can’t wait to find a little time to update you on some of our projects – we have some really fun stuff happening in the studio right now and as soon as I can beat the inbox monster I promise I will share…

In the meantime one of my Branding Masterclass students introduced me to this quote via Pinterest and I couldn’t help but share with you.

Don’t you think sometimes we’re so focused on having stuff, and then getting more stuff, that we lose sight of what we already have? Something to think about hey? What do you think?

Image Credit: After a lot of sleuthing I managed to trace the image back to Sherbet Blossom. Enjoy!

Tagged as in Big Thinking, Inspirations

Thinking big doesn’t necessarily come naturally to everyone but don’t let that worry you, it is a muscle that can be flexed and toned over time.

To get started, all you need is a little desire to explore possibilities, about 10 minutes of undisturbed time and, if that’s the way you like to get creative, a big piece of paper and some pens.

Take a small idea, perhaps something in your business that you are already working on and see in what ways you can make it bigger.  Sometimes it can be easier to take a concept that’s less close to home to start your big thinking muscle work out, so pick an idea or product that’s in the public domain if you find that more accessible to begin with.

Place your small idea in the centre of your page, for those of you who are already familiar with mind-mapping this is a great opportunity to apply that tool here.

If you’re not, that’s ok, just follow your instincts and start to place images/words/ideas around your centre image with the intention of expanding it in as many directions as possible. Don’t censor what comes out, just allow yourself to play around for a bit.

Big thinkers give themselves a free creative rein when they need to.

Here’s a few questions that might prompt bigger thinking:

• How could you broaden the reach of the project or product? How could you get it to more people?
• Who else could you involve?
• What would this look like, if it had even more depth?
• What spin offs could come from it?
• Is this a franchise opportunity?
• Could you take it to more than one location? Where would that be?
• What already exists that might be considered a “bigger” version of this?
• Which of your other skills and innate talents could you be using and how?
• What shape would this take if someone else were at the helm? – here you could imagine which direction different people would take the project in. Pick people you know fairly well, either personally or from the public domain who are deliberately different from you and your approach this helps open up new thinking. You can even chose fictional characters if you want to explore even more creatively. How would Iron Man approach your project – what would Bill Gates do in the driving seat?
• If money and resources were no object what would you do?

Once you’ve flexed your muscle deliberately in a few sittings like this you’ll be amazed at the generalisation effect it has on other aspects of your life. What we are really talking about here is embarking on a mindset of greater possibility. Once you begin to open your mind to what’s possible, more and more actually becomes possible and whole new worlds start to reveal themselves to you – Enjoy!

Tagged as in Big Thinking

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Tagged as , decor8 eclass, holly becker, leslie shewring, NYC color photography styling workshop in Big Thinking, Fiona's Book, Flourish Stuff

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Tagged as in Big Thinking, Inspirations

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Tagged as in Big Thinking, Inspirations

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Tagged as in Big Thinking, Branding, Inspirations

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Tagged as , focus and flourish in Big Thinking, Workshops

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Tagged as , shawbrook bank, sure brook bank, sure brooks in Big Thinking, Marketing

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Tagged as , elizabeth cairns in Big Thinking