It’s a good thing I’d shaved my legs
Last week, I took Coco Chanel’s advice a bit too far. I was getting ready for a wedding on a Monday(?!) in the weirdest bedroom somewhere in the jaw-droppingly-delightful Cotswolds when I realised I’d brought all sorts of things I didn’t need (classic) but forgotten half the things I did need. Like a pair of tights. To go with a short dress and the purple heels I crack out twice a year. It could have been worse. I could have had legs like a wildebeest. (Luckily, I’d shaved them at some point within the previous month.) Or, you know, I could have forgotten my dress and rocked up to the converted barn in striped pyjamas, but I didn’t fancy upstaging the bride. Once I’d accepted that bare legs were my destiny, I went to put on some jewellery. Turns out I’d forgotten all that too. Going senile at 31 was not part of my grand plan… So what was that advice from Chanel? “Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off.” She might have been referring to whether you really need a statement necklace and earrings, but consider this in a business + brand context for a second. Often, our minds trick us into thinking that offering greater value means adding more to what we’re offering. Invisible pressure: engaged. So we offer three “signature” services instead of focusing on one. We add more deliverables instead of focusing on what’s most important. We post across five social platforms instead of focusing on two. We write for multiple audiences instead of focusing on one. We throw everything and the kitchen sink at our group program instead of focusing on the core value that’s actually going to help move the needle. That last one^^^? That was definitely a mistake I made when I first put The Captivation Code together. I remember talking through my curriculum with a mentor and I could sense she was overwhelmed by it before I’d even got halfway through. Gah! Less is more. Less is more. Less is more. So I stripped things back while keeping all the core transformational depth. Made the process simpler without removing any of the value (or the fun). Focused less on the education and more on the outcomes. Building an intentional brand is as much about removing what isn’t important as it’s about adding what is. So the next time you think you need to add another service, deliverable, platform, audience, font, graphic, brand colour, post, page, WHATEVER IT IS… Channel Chanel and ask yourself whether that’s really true. You cannot captivate with confusion. Less is more. The kitchen sink belongs in the damn kitchen, not in your brand. P.S. The Captivation Code is re-opening in the next few weeks! I’m so excited to tell you about it. You can add yourself to the waitlist here if you’d like to be the first to get all the details. Either way, I have some uber-super-duper free stuff to share with you soon. P.P.S. Believe in magic and miracles but most of all believe in yourself.
They told me not to
Get up early, they say. Don’t work from bed, they say. Post content consistently, they say. You have to launch, they say. Hustle hard now so it’s easier in the future, they say. How about do whatever tf feels good to you? I got up early only because my cat was whinging for food and I am her slave. I have been working from bed for about 3 hours because I’m productive here. I post, but not particularly consistently. I still get incredible clients hire me. (If you want to be one, you know where I live.) I’ve launched once (totally winged it) and I will again, but it’s not the only way to sell. I get work done somehow but there’s a ton of rest and play and white space in between and I’m in love with that. “They” can say what they like. Don’t let it stop you from doing you.
Instead of pursuing more, pursue THIS
“My parents and sister bought me a pen as a congratulations gift,” Olly said to me last night. He handed me the box. Heavy. Luxurious. The brand was Parisian. It’s the kind of pen you take care not to leave in the hands of a stranger. The kind of pen that has a home somewhere safe. The kind of pen you can use to stain paper for a lifetime. This morning, he explained that when his family had discussed getting him a fancy pen, his dad had other ideas. Olly proceeded to whip out a packet of 12 Bic biros in plastic wrapping. I seethed right through my pyjamas. AS IF we need more pens in this household, let alone crappy ones. (Suzi + Frixion pens 4eva.) “Don’t worry! I’m taking them to the office,” he reassured me. The seething subsided. A bit. Olly’s dad isn’t the only one with the compulsion to consume. We’re a nation of humans obsessed with pursuing more. Of the tangible and intangible kind. More money. More possessions. More time. More joy. More love. More lovers. More friends. More pens. More clients. More cookies. More freedom. More excitement. More adventure. More experiences. More confidence. That’s a lot of more. And many marketers love to exploit it. They hone in on what you don’t have, make you feel “bad” for not having it, and convince you that you need it. That when you have it, life will, in some way, improve. You don’t have to market your own services in this way to at least understand the concept. Because we’re surrounded by it! Every other thing we look at on our phones is an ad of some kind. And that seeps through our fingertips into our blood and bones and suddenly we feel like what we already do and what we already have is, in some way, not enough. It’s natural for us as business owners to pursue more. An element of it is inherent in who we are. But simply by being in business we’ve also become programmed to pursue more. It’s a dangerous path. Because when the pursuit of more is so… constant, it can take us on a direct route to burnout. This is a conversation for another day, but I’ve lost count of the number of friends who have – temporarily – sacrificed the health of their brain + body for the health of their business, and it’s not something marketers should be encouraging explicitly (yeah, I’m talking to you, Gary) OR implicitly. What about, instead of pursuing more, we pursued better? Because more does not necessarily equal better. Do you really need more clients, ? Or should you focus on finding better ones? Do you really need more time? Or should you focus on making better choices with the time you already have? Do you really need more money? Or are you trying to hit a specific number because Janet has GODDAMN YOU, JANET and you should actually focus on setting better goals and visions? Olly would much rather have one gorgeous pen than 12 rubbish ones. I would much rather have two incredible best-fit clients than 10 I don’t vibe with. You would much rather have a business that thrives off smaller amounts of smoking hot and on-brand content than reams of mediocre and time-consuming social media posts… right? If you answered yes to that last point, you need to build yo’self a captivating brand with a minimalist marketing plan.