Articles

Client Story: Cara Jones ~ Letting go and returning to her past.

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Cara Jones
Founder & Producer
Storytellers for Good

http://storytellersforgood.com

“When I was a kid I had big dreams. I wanted to do great things for the world. Now, as I allow my dreams to breathe again, they are just as big as when I was a kid.” ~ Cara Jones

Telling a Different Kind of Story

It is a cold, foggy day. Cara drives over the Bay Bridge, from San Francisco heading east.

She thinks about how it used to be. There’s no photographer there to drive her around in a big news van. Nobody to figure out the directions or carry all the gear.

“On that day,” Cara says. “I had to arrange all the shoot details and pick up the videographer myself. When I was a reporter, I used to show up at the station and everything was taken care of.”

Cara shared her business idea with Ryan Rigoli of Soulful Brand, feeling scared just talking about it. She had just graduated from the PCC at New Ventures West and planned to be coach for single women entrepreneurs. As Ryan asked her questions, Cara started second-guessing that direction.

Being Conscious of the Brand Ego

Posted in Articles, Reflections | 2 comments

For the sake of raising awareness, see if you can recognize your own and other brands you know in these 3 descriptions of common types of brands today (you may have a center of gravity around one of these, but on a given day, your activity pulls you towards another)…

Branding as a Journey for Inner Clarity

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Before I got into brand strategy and website copywriting, I was a graphic designer for about 12 years (up until 2009). That experience prepared me to see that the best branding process leaves clients feeling ready to promote themselves. My design clients showed up asking for a visual representation of their identity, and left feeling confident and proud when talking about their business.

But at the beginning of each project, they often didn’t really know who they were. This was my favorite stage of the process—the unknown that held the potential for self-realization.

I realize now, branding was truly never about the illustrations, the photographs, the placement of these elements together, or the colors… those were simply the things we focused on while traveling a road seeking clarity, asking the question, “does this feel like you?”

The Appropriateness of Sharing Personal Stories

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This post is in response to Amber Mac’s article on the FastCompany website…
http://www.fastcompany.com//1823437/mastering-the-uncomfortable-art-of-personal-branding

“There are many things we can all do to ramp up efforts on the personal branding front,” says Mac. “Often the last thing we think about is the important pieces that differentiate us all.”

This is beautiful… and I want to take it a step further—revealing ourselves as entrepreneurs can be easier said than done.

Is Spiritual Business a Contradiction in Terms?

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In those moments when ‘getting things done’ seems to be the only way to manage stress, a spiritual perspective can lead me to return to my body and remember what I’m really up to with my business.

I try to let my mind’s activity ‘boil down’ until there’s a clear answer about moving forward at the end of the boiling process. Like a little note at the bottom of the pot : )

Finding Inner Space at NextSpace

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Los Angeles, CA
January 17, 2012

Finding Inner Space at NextSpace

Matt gave a Brown Bag lunch talk called “Presenting Your Work with Greater Clarity and Ease“ at NextSpace, a business that offers innovative physical and virtual infrastructure as well as collaborative community for freelancers, entrepreneurs, and creative class professionals (as they call it, “coworking” : )

A few quotes from Matt that day…