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.
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