Your YOU Factor

As I moved from Coffee Kids and Cocktails to a personal brand, this has come up a lot, and I’ve been on a journey to find what makes me special, or different. What sets me apart? Like, why would someone want to listen to me? What are my qualifications? Does it matter that I have a MBA? Does it matter that I’ve worked in the marketing industry for over a decade? Does it matter that I’ve done any of those things? 

Short answer – no. Thousands of people who have those same qualifications. Saying I have an MBA with concentrations in marketing and international business is fancy. Side note – no employer, EVER, has ever asked to see my degree. 

As I’ve been on a journey of personal and professional growth, I’ve been following a lot of business coaches, motivational speakers, and other industry professionals that are in the same field as I am looking to grow in. I have a few key favorites, so I  decided to dissect why I chose them. Why did I choose to take courses and listen to content from these people over others? What stuck out to me the most? 

It wasn’t because they had a certain degree, or where they had worked before. It was because I connected with their story and their values. These people were living how I wanted to live. I was taking in content from people that had achieved my goals while living similar lives to me. I could see myself in these people. There were pieces of their journey and story that connected with what I was or am going through. 

Remember, you are best equipped to help the person you once were. 

This quote has been pushing me, in this business to drive where I want to go. Who was I before? I was a stay at home mom that was struggling to find herself. I was struggling to understand what was next for me, in a world that seemed everyone was moving forward while I was moving back. I was a mom with a drive and knew I wanted something different, something better, something that was mine. But I also wanted to have the flexibility to be in my kids lives. I didn’t want to have to be on someone else’s schedule. I didn’t want to miss out on important pieces of my family life. I wanted to be in control of how much money I made, and make more if I needed to, while also scaling back if I could. I wanted to use my knowledge of marketing, and getting my MBA, and working for other entrepreneurs and business coaches to help other moms who felt stuck understand that they can create a life that they love through their strengths. 

I wanted to stop gate keeping all of the secrets that agencies have to grow an audience and build credibility in the market. I want to help other moms start businesses, side hustles, or passion projects that light them up. And because I had success working with over 150 entrepreneurs and top level executives in growing their businesses through marketing, I figured… why not do this for the masses? Why not make all of this available for you? 

The Market is NOT too Saturated

One of the best pieces of advice I got when I was starting out in my career, I will never forget. I was in the UK, and sitting at dinner with my clients after an event I had spoken at. We were talking about their real estate business and how they had grown it. She told me about all of the people that had doubted her and her husband since they were getting into a “saturated” market. There are already so many realtors. Why would you want to open a business that already exists? And she looked at me and said “No matter what you want to do in life, there is enough business for everyone. People will want to work with you because they will connect with you.” 

There is enough business for everyone. That really stuck out to me, and has been in the back of my mind as I’ve been working on creating my own business. It’s ok that there are other coaches, or other people in this industry that are similar to me. But what is going to set me apart is my story and my outlook on topics. 

It is 2024 and there are over 8 billion people in this world. You only need such a small portion of that number to make your business work. YOU could be it! You could be the solution that someone is looking for. 

If you are stuck on what is next for you, or how you are going to make this next phase work for you, I’ve outlined 5 ways that you can find your YOU factor and grow an audience for your personal brand.

And all of these are things that you can do before you even have an idea of what you want to do. So grab a pen and start writing down what comes to mind. If you’re driving, come back to the show notes later and brain dump everything that came to mind. 

5 WAYS TO FIND YOUR YOU FACTOR

1. Reflect on Your Passions: Take some time to reflect on what truly lights you up. What could you do all day, and even though your exhausted, it’s a good exhausted, you have a smile on your face. It’s something you’d want to do over and over again. What activities make you lose track of time? We want to do things where we don’t look at the clock counting down the minutes until the time is over. What topics do you find yourself constantly reading about or talking about with enthusiasm? Where do you find yourself researching, consuming content, and diving in deeper to topics?  
2. Identify Your Strengths: Think about the things you’re naturally good at. What skills do you possess that come effortlessly to you? These strengths are part of what makes you uniquely valuable and can be a cornerstone of your personal brand.Are you a good speaker? You could start a podcast. Are you a good writer? Start a blog, or write a book. Are you good at helping others and supporting people? Are you the organized sports mom that has all the spreadsheets, print outs, and color coded baskets to get through the season? There is a niche for that, because I am not that mom, and need all the help I can get when managing my 3 kids in sports, and would pay for the “Team Mom” handbook. 
3. Embrace Your Story: Your past experiences, both triumphs, and challenges, have shaped who you are today. Embrace your story and consider how your journey can be a source of inspiration or expertise to someone else is gold. This is where people will connect with you. This is how people will choose you over someone else. They will connect with this piece. And it shouldn’t be taken lightly. What problem did you have, and how did you find the solution? What challenges did you face that made you change your approach or gave you the aha moment that it was time to pivot? 
4. Seek Feedback: Reach out to friends, family, or colleagues for honest feedback about what they see as your unique strengths and qualities. Sometimes, others can see things in us that we may not recognize in ourselves.Look towards people you trust, accountability partners, those who are there to lift you up. Seeking feedback form the right people is the most important. Because everyone has an opinion, and you want to make sure that you are taking in the right type of feedback. If you don’t look up to someone, or don’t admire how they live their life, don’t ask them for advice. Turn to people that love and support you. Who have those deep conversations with you. Not everyone in your life is good for everything in your life. So even though this is an important piece of finding your you factor, make sure that you brain dump people who match the energy you are looking for. 
5. Experiment and Iterate: Don’t be afraid to try new things and explore different paths. Your “YOU” factor may evolve over time as you gain new experiences and insights. Be open to experimenting, learning, and refining your unique brand.

Just Get Started!

This is the most important piece. You will never know what works or what doesn’t until you start. Don’t spend all of your time being a consumer of information wishing you could do what someone else did. Just start, and fail forward. It’s ok if things don’t work. It’s ok if your content flops. It’s ok if you only reach 1 person. But keep going. 

One of the coolest things about the time we live in compared to the time our parents or grandparents lived, is there are so many more ways to make money. There are a more diverse range of career paths than ever before. You can make a business out of anything. 

Great at organizing? You could be a professional organizer, create guides and printables for others to grab. 

And – pretty much everything can be done in person or online now. We have the opportunity to talk about our strengths and how we can help people.