We’re gonna cover how to make your brand more word-of-mouth-friendly, so you can generate referrals and turn your small audience into a big one!

why this matters

Make your brand word-of-mouth-friendly:

Makes you more memorable. Telling a more word-of-mouth-friendly story about your brand makes it easier for your customer or prospective customer to remember you! If they can’t easily understand what you offer and why it matters to them, they’ll have a hard time storing it away in their memory for future use.

Brand strategy, BusinessAshley ChymiyOctober 8, 2018branding, brand strategy, marketing strategy

Get More Engagement on Social Media!

If you've ever experienced working on a piece of content and putting it out in the world, and getting almost no response, or just not really getting the response you wanted… that can be really frustrating!

You’re just missing a piece of the puzzle, and so the whole thing is just not working. It's like baking a cake, and you forget one critical ingredient, like flour, and you’re not really going to get a very good cake.

So what are the ingredients to a really active and engaged social media online presence?

Brand strategy, Relationships, BusinessAshley ChymiyOctober 6, 2018brand strategy, branding

What is a Brand?

A lot of us first encounter the idea of what a brand is, through the visual side: really clever logos, really beautiful colors, attractive visual branding, and a visual aesthetic that draws us in. And that makes sense because that's kind of the part of a brand that you can see at the very first glance, but branding goes deeper than just the visual representations of a brand.

Here’s how I normally define a brand in super super simple terms: Your brand is what you mean to people. It’s how they feel and think about you or your business - and like I said before, it's about more than just the visuals. Those are kind of the symbols in the icons for your brand, what's underneath the surface, but what do the symbols represent?

Brand strategy, BusinessAshley ChymiySeptember 11, 2018brand strategy, Branding

8 Easy Ways to Boost Productivity

When you struggle with motivation and staying focused, it can feel like fighting an uphill battle with yourself. You feel blocked by an invisible wall – whether it’s fear, self-doubt, distraction, or a sense of just being overwhelmed.

If you are having these thoughts, please know that you DO have what it takes, and what you’re experiencing is very normal. And it’s also solvable! You just need the right tools.

Take it from me – it is really, really hard to change these behavior patterns through sheer will power alone. (You'd think it’d be easy to control your own behavior, but it sure as shit is not.)

Because your subconscious is stronger than will power, and it's fighting against you.

But there are techniques and strategies that actually work. They vary from the woo-woo spiritual to the very mundane. Some of them provide a small boost today, others will have a slow-motion impact over the next 10 years, and others can completely change your way of being within a few days (that's not an overstatement).

Feel CONFIDENT in Your New Biz

Creating a business takes a heck of a lot of hutzpah. Because you’re reading this, I already know you have a rare entrepreneurial spirit and desire for more, deep in your cells. You’re constantly trying new things and pushing your own limits.

When you’re exploring new territory, it’s completely normal to feel out of your depth. It’s natural to feel underprepared – unsure of your ability to deliver and succeed. But you shouldn’t let that stop you from making big shifts in your life!

This post is about building confidence in your new business – the confidence you need to show up fully each day, ready for whatever comes at you.

Inspiration & Motivation, BusinessAshley ChymiyDecember 1, 2017new business owner, Business, motivation

Hiring a Biz coach? Know What to Look For!

Hey you, new entrepreneur!

Are you new to the online business world? Are you suddenly seeing ads every which way, showing beautiful women laughing and cavorting across tropical islands in designer clothes, promising that you, too, can have six-figure months in just a few short weeks?

Yea, me too. And I was especially bombarded with these ads when I started researching online business to prepare for my launch.

I’m not naming names, but you may have caught yourself lying in bed reading these people’s webpages at 2am in the dark, your eyes bugging out of your head, wondering if you, too, could make a million dollars this year in passive income, “retire your husband,” and go travel the world.

If that’s your dream, awesome! I fully support that. But along your journey, you may encounter people who promise they can get you there super fast in just a few weeks – big on promises, short on details.

Resilience as a New Entrepreneur

Hello, wonderful you! Ashley here, coming at you analog-style.

That’s right – I’m writing this post with a good old fashioned pen, on good old-fashioned paper, using my good old-fashioned hand. (Okay, it has to be typed up at some point, but this draft is totally old school).

Why am I writing this blog post by hand? Well, just moments ago, I was settling in at my desk to write my weekly-ish blog post. I’ve worked over the past few months to maintain a regular blogging habit, and it was time to reinforce it.

But just as I pulled open a new document, the power went out.

Yep – no flickering, no off, then on, then back off. Just out, FOREVER.

Okay, not forever. It will come back on eventually I’m sure (unless this is the end of the world, in which case this day is going very differently from what I expected).

I’ll be honest – for a split-second I thought, “Oh well! Too bad! The universe doesn’t want me to blog, I guess. After all, my blog post ideas are in a Word doc I obviously can’t access right now.”

How to Claim the Position You WANT!

Hey...where are you?

In bed? On a train? At the library? Your favorite café?

Whatever your answer is, that is your position. And if your position is where you want to be, woohoo! You’ve succeeded at deciding where you want to be and then going there. Well done!

But if where you are isn’t where you want to be, you need start by doing some positioning – that is, you need to figure out where you’d rather be.

Now let’s tweak this question – where is your business?

It’s still a simple question, but when it comes to your brand, the answer might not be so simple. If your business isn’t exactly where you want to be, you guessed it – it’s time for positioning!

My "Popcorn" Blogging Method

This post is all about quickly creating blog copy that feels fresh, alive, and authentic to your personality. And because I’m hungry and waiting for dinner to finish in the slow cooker, I’m using a food analogy.

Picture this: You’re about to make popcorn. With gusto, you unfurl the crinkly tri-fold of popcorn and Frisbee-throw it into the microwave. Beep-beep-beep, you enter the time indicated on the box, and hit “START.” Then your delicate dance with fate begins.

The popping slowly begins, crescendos to a popping mania, and lo, it dwindles back down to slow popping again.

You spring into action and hit the “STOP” button. With trepidation, you open the microwave and delicately drag the popcorn bag out of the microwave. It smells buttery and fresh. Unburnt… or so you hope.

You delicately open the bag, shake it a bit, and….

FEAR and How to Kick it in the Tush

Ahh, the F-word.

If you have ever gotten a new business or product off the ground, you may know something a little thing called fear.

One moment you’re chugging along, whistling while you work, happily chipping away at a project. And then the next moment, it’s like you run smack into an invisible force field – and try as you might, there’s no getting past it.

I’ll let you in on a secret: As I write this post, I’m in the middle of experiencing a spell of fear and resistance.

I’m getting closer to a big new launch, after working on it for weeks and weeks, and it’s like all my deepest fears are bubbling up to the surface. Am I hitting the mark? Is my copy going to resonate the way I want it to? Should I go back to the drawing board on that thing I don’t think is perfect yet? The list goes on.

Luckily I’ve been here before, so I see it for what it is – garden variety resistance.

Become Your OWN Productivity Coach

Hey there friend – if you’re reading this, you may struggle with productivity and motivating yourself to take action. As a result, you may feel totally stuck in your current situation.

If that’s you, I SO feel your pain. Trust me. I want you to know, first of all, that you are not alone.

Here’s my story.

Not so long ago, I struggled hard with feeling unhappy in my career. I hit my five-year anniversary of working at a large firm on marketing contracts with major brands and programs. The work was engaging and rewarding, and my coworkers and clients were incredible. But it was just so, so far away from the hopes and dreams I had for my career.

I needed to take steps in a new direction, and I knew generally what I needed to do, but the road seemed so long and difficult. I couldn’t even make myself start.

I was stuck in a loop of negative self-talk.

My 7 Favorite Podcasts for Creative Entrepreneurs

If you read my previous post, How to Become Your Own Productivity Coach, you know I’m a huge advocate of using any spare minutes you have throughout the day to listen to and internalize messages that motivate and inspire you to move forward.

It’s a crazy effective and simple way to “hack your brain,” challenge your own negative self-talk, and transform your inner dialogue into a constant encouragement and motivator.

So as a follow-up, I wanted to share a few of my all-time favorite podcasts for entrepreneurs and creatives alike, to help boost your creativity and productivity!

Attract your DREAM Clients to Your Biz!

Just about every part of your brand strategy comes down to knowing your ideal customer and the experience you want to give them.

You may be thinking, “Why focus on just one customer? Everyone can benefit from my product or service.” I hear you, and I understand your hesitation! But when you’re super clear about who your ideal customer is, here is the good stuff that happens.

You create “This is for me” moments. The best brands are for someone, and that someone recognizes it as being for them – like an exclusive club where they belong. And if you want raving fans who LOVE and identify with what you’re doing, and what you stand for, you want to build a brand that not everyone loves – some people will say you’re just not for them. And that’s okay. Uglydolls may be not for you, but they are for someone, and that's why they've earned $100 million+ in revenue.
You spark curiosity. When I happen across a business that appeals to my aesthetic, personality, and current situation, I immediately want to see and hear more – give me more eye candy! It’s a dopamine rush. That's one thing we all have in common – we all really, really like dopamine. I want to know what the business owner has to say to me, because they clearly understand me and know what I’m going through.(If you want to kill curiosity, make your content as generic as possible. Womp-womp.)

Brand strategy, BusinessAshley ChymiyMay 9, 2017Branding, Strategy, Ideal customer, Clients, Business, Audience

Market Research (For People Who Hate Research)

Does the phrase “market research” make you feel a little nervous?

(If not, awesome! But hang tight – the rest of us need to have a chat.)

The word “research” alone may be enough to transport you back to late nights in the basement of your school library, desperately poring over old books and clicking through JSTOR and Lexus Nexus hours before a big report is due.

I get it! You didn’t decide to start your own business so you can write book reports.

"Market research” can also evoke the idea of digging up dirt on the competition and plotting to steal their customers. Some people do that, but I promise, it's not what I'm asking you to do.

Brand strategy, BusinessAshley ChymiyApril 29, 2017Branding, Strategy, Positioning, Market research