August 19, 2024 • 25 mins
Instagram:
@breannaaponte
@thesoftlifeceo
Website:
www.thesoftlifeceo.com
Community:
www.thesoftlifeceo.com/society
Free Training:
www.thesoftlifeceo.com/free-training-optin
YouTube:
@thesoftlifeceo
Relationship Restored:
www.relationshiprestored.com
@breannaaponte
@thesoftlifeceo
Website:
www.thesoftlifeceo.com
Community:
www.thesoftlifeceo.com/society
Free Training:
www.thesoftlifeceo.com/free-training-optin
YouTube:
@thesoftlifeceo
Relationship Restored:
www.relationshiprestored.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And in the same way that you've built your business,
you have to also build your life. This includes creating routines,
prioritizing your health and self care, creating boundaries, creating a
support system, and scheduling your business around your life, not
the other way around. Hey, I'm Brianna Aponte, your host
of the Self Life CEO podcast. I dropped out of
college at the age of nineteen to start my first business.
(00:22):
I worked seven days a week, wore way too many hats,
and was the true definition of a hustler. Years later,
I'm finally living the dream that I worked so hard
to make my reality. I've transitioned from a hustler to
a soft life CEO, working only two days a week
to maintain and run a high earning business that gives
me the freedom to live a life I love. Now
it's my mission to help as many entrepreneurs as I
(00:42):
can elevate their brand, increase their income, and reclaim their time.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Join me and.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Guest experts as we share our transparent journeys, work smart,
not hard, strategies, and the behind the scenes of running
a successful brand and business. You're tuned in to the
Self Life CEO if you're here. It means that you're
ready to do lessoner more, adopt work smart, not hard strategies,
and retire from a life of hustle and chaos. In
this training, we will cover my entrepreneurial journey, the phases
(01:08):
of entrepreneurship, the Soft Life CEO roadmap, and my winning
recipe to elevate your brand, increase your income, and reclaim
your time. Now, before I get into my entrepreneurial journey,
I do want to disclose that what I'm about to
share many people don't know. I am letting you into
a time in my life that was very tragic and
traumatizing because it was such a huge part of my journey,
So bear with me. When I graduated high school, I
(01:28):
thought my path was super clear. I was going to
be a teacher. It is all I ever wanted since
the first grade. But as I moved through college, something
just did not sit right. I felt unfulfilled, like I
was meant for something more. I just didn't know exactly what. Then,
the worst thing I've ever experienced happened. My boyfriend of
three years was murdered while getting his haircut. He was
shot nineteen times, and unfortunately I had to witness his
(01:49):
body at the scene. That experience and that loss changed
everything for me. It was a pivotal moment that really
changed the course of my life, and it was a
true wake up call.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
At that moment, I was in school.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
I was dancing for the NBA, but I knew I
needed a drastic change, so I did what seemed super
crazy to everyone. I quit the team and I dropped
out of college. I combined the only two things that
I was sure of at the time, which was dance
and teaching, and I spent all my money that I
had saved up to open a studio in downtown Cleveland.
I had no business experience, no mentor no true understanding
of what it took to actually run a business, just
(02:22):
the desire to create my own path and really live
life on my own terms, because, as I had just learned,
tomorrow isn't promised now.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
To be clear, I do not advise that you do
what I did.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
It resulted in me being homeless and living out of
my car for a period of time where I was
too embarrassed to tell anyone and too prideful to ask
for help.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Nothing about my journey was easy.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
I've made lots of mistakes, I've wasted tons of money,
and I had to learn things the hard way because
I didn't have anyone to guide me. But those exact
challenges is what molded me into the coach I am today,
because I know what it feels like to not have support,
to not have the resources, to not have answers. All
of this led into my journey of branding. Because I
couldn't afford to pay for the things I needed to
(03:02):
run and build a business, like a logo, a website,
social media marketing, content creation, all the things I had
to learn to do it myself, and with a lot
of practice, I got really good at it.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
I actually started to fall in love with it.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
I got to the point where I was feeling super
stagnant in Cleveland. I needed a change of scenery and
so I ended up moving to DC. This is where
I met my now husband, Trey, and I had started
to experience another plateau where I felt like I still
hadn't reached my full potential, but I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
What to do about it.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
After he saw how I built the brand for my
first business, he suggested that I start coaching and helping
other entrepreneurs do the same. He became my first official client,
along with a handful of friends such as Jordan Nicholson,
Ko Ko Lee, Tanail Moon, Calie Ray, Antonio Buchanan, and
Sean Delmar, just to name a few. As you can see,
(03:52):
those same people now have large followings, powerful brands, and
strategic full time businesses. So once I saw that my
strategies turned into real results, I knew I was onto something.
That's when Drey and I launched our branding and marketing agency.
It started as a two man show where I handled
all the day to day operations branding, marketing and personal
brand and business clients, where Drey handled the content creation,
(04:14):
back end support, long term business strategy, and corporate clients.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
After just five.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Months of being in business, Drey was able to retire
from his full time job and we ran the business
like that for over five years together. Over the course
of that time, we got to work with celebrities, athletes,
major brands, corporate companies, and we were even featured in
Jada Pickett Smith's Red Table Talk, all due to proper
branding in social media marketing shoot. I even helped dre
(04:39):
build his brand and had him become a published model,
the face of Shae Moisture Men and can be seen
in Target, Walmart, Dix and many other stores, featured on
product packaging and billboard campaigns. I was even gifted a
free car in exchange to post once a month.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Isn't that crazy?
Speaker 1 (04:55):
I share all this to say that this guy is
truly the limit when you know how to.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Properly brand you resis.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
After Drean I got married because fun fact we waited
for a marriage, we realized we.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Didn't want to mix business pleasure.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
We decided to go our separate ways as he launched
a podcast network and became an executive at Urban One
as the head of podcasting, and I rebranded the business
to be a for women by women marketing agency focus
on building magnetic brands and strategic businesses. Over the years,
I have crafted and perfected my services to get my
client's maximum results with minimum stress, hence the name Self
(05:29):
Life CEO. I'm super passionate about branding and marketing because
I know firsthand.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
How it can change your life.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
You are going to leave here with clarity on where
you are in your entrepreneurial journey and know exactly what
you need to do to reach destination. Self Life CEO. Now,
if you're someone who is looking for support or would
like to have me as your coach, I invite you
to join my coaching community, which you can do on
a free thirty day trial. Now let's get into the
four phases of entrepreneurship. Phase one is dreamer. In this phase,
(05:57):
the focus is the vision, the foundation, and the conceptualization
of your brand. Phase two is hustler. In this phase,
you wear multiple hats who say yes to everything and
experienced trial and air to solidify your brand. Phase three
is builder. In this phase, you invest time and resources
to build out systems and workflows to ultimately scale your business.
(06:17):
Phase four is leader. In this phase, you master delegation
and you stop working in your business in order to
work on your business. So now let's review the Soft
Life CEO roadmap. So for those of you who are
in the dreamer phase, there are four steps that have
to be complete in order to get you to the
next phase. Number one is to conceptualize. You have to
(06:39):
develop a clear and actionable idea for your business. This
includes identifying your passion and strengths to ensure that your
business idea is something that you are both excited about
and capable of executing. Conducting thorough research to understand the
demand for your idea, analyzing your target market, potential, competitors,
and industry trends. Validate your idea through surveys, interviews, and
(07:02):
testing to ensure there is a need and that your
concept addresses it effectively. Defining your business idea by articulating
a clear and concise description of your business. This should
include your value proposition, the problem your business solves, and
how it stands out from competitors. Developing a business model
to outline how your business will develop and make money.
Step two is to set up your business. This is
(07:25):
all about establishing the operational and legal foundation of your business.
The steps include deciding on the legal structure of your business,
registering your business name, website domain, and business email, operating
a business bank account, and setting up an accounting system
to manage your finances. Determining how much capital you need
to start and sustain your business, and obtaining any necessary
(07:45):
business insurance and contracts to protect your business.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Step three is to brand your business.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
You want to make sure that you create a distinct
and appealing identity that really stands out from the crowd,
but also is exactly what your target audience needs. This
consists of developed upping your brand identity by creating your logos,
choosing your color scheme and brand fonts.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
It is super important.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
That all of your visual identities are consistent across all platforms.
It is just overall professional and will allow people to
trust your brand a little easier. It consists of creating
your brand images to use for marketing and business Crafting
your brand messaging that communicates your business's values, mission, and benefits.
This includes tagline messaging, pillars, and tone of voice. Creating
(08:27):
a professional website that showcases your brand and provides information
about your products or services. Setting up your social media
profiles to connect with your audience and promote your brand,
and developing marketing materials such as business cards, brochures digital
assets that reinforce your brand's identity. The last step of
the dreamer phase is to launch your business. This is
(08:48):
where you introduce what you've been working on to the world.
This consists of creating a detailed plan outlining the steps
in timeline for your launch that should include pre launch activities,
launch day events, and post law lunch follow ups. Implementing
a marketing strategy to generate buzz and attract your target audience.
This could include a combination of online advertising, social media campaigns,
(09:08):
and email marketing. Tracking Key performance indicators otherwise called KPIs
to assess the success of your launch, Gathering feedback from
customers and making necessary adjustments to your business operations, marketing
strategy or product offerings based on their feedback, and building
consumer relationships by providing excellent customer service. Once those four
steps are complete, you are now officially in the hustler phase.
(09:32):
These four steps are honestly probably the hardest because it takes.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
The most time.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
You have to really make sure you have thick skin,
you know, because things are going to go wrong and
you're going to constantly be problem solving. So let's talk
about these four steps in more detail. Number one is
to test your concept. This is all about validating your
business idea or brand concept. This step includes gathering feedback
from customers or clients to ensure your concept is working
and getting the results you want, Collecting data and in
(10:00):
sites from past customers or clients, and analyzing what works
what doesn't in tweaking your concept to improve it. Step
two is to create your processes, develop efficient systems to
streamline operations. This includes mapping out all of the task
and activities that need to be completed regularly and identifying
the steps required for each task and create clear, repeatable processes.
(10:22):
Exploring tools and softwares that can automate routine tasks. This
could involve using project management tools, CRM systems or other
technologies that enhance productivity, and then writing down your procedures
for key processes in a way that can be easily
followed by anyone in your future team. This ensures consistency
and quality in your operations as you start to scale.
(10:43):
These are called SOPs, which stand for Standard Operating Procedures.
Step three is to build your resume. This is all
about enhancing your credibility and essentially getting your potential clients
to trust you. This consists of identifying the skills that
are most valuable to your business or industry and working
on honing them. This could involve taking courses, attending workshops,
(11:03):
or hiring a coach, building a portfolio of your work,
showcasing successful projects, testimonials, case studies. This ultimately will demonstrate
your expertise and the value that you bring, and then
networking with industry professionals, joining relevant groups, and attending events.
Step four is to analyze and adjust. It's all about
identifying and seizing opportunities for growth. This consists of continuously
(11:25):
monitoring the market for trends, competitors, and potential gaps that
you can exploit, spending a lot of time on trial
and error, adjusting your services or products to provide better results,
and identifying areas for improvement in your business. Once you
have gotten through those steps and you are now focused
on the building portion of your business, you are going
(11:47):
to then complete the builder phase steps. The first thing
in the builder phase is to invest in systems. This
is all about making sure that you have the support
you need to scale efficiently. This includes developing an infrastructure
for growth to ultimately expand and begin to grow your team.
Setting up systems that can handle increased valume and complexity,
(12:08):
such as the all in one platform GO High Level.
This is specifically what I now use for my business.
It literally does everything that you can think of under
the sun. This phase also consists of hiring a business
coach to identify areas for improvement within your business and
testing your systems for maximum performance and consumer satisfaction. Step
(12:29):
two is all about creating workflows to ensure consistency and productivity.
This includes analyzing your current operations and mapping out.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
The workflows for each service or.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Product, documenting your workflow in detail, outlining each step involved
in a task or process. This is going to serve
you as a guide for both you and your team
and really making sure that everyone follows the same procedure,
and then regularly reviewing and refining your workflows to adapt
to changes in the business or market conditions. You should
(12:59):
make sure to involve your team in this process to
gather insights. It really will help with fostering a culture
of continuous improvement. Step three is to automate, automate, and
automate some more. Automating repetitive task is going to save
you time and reduce the amount of errors within your business.
This consists of looking for repetitive, time consuming task and
(13:20):
making sure that those things are automated, investing in automation
tools that integrate with your existing system if the one
that you currently use doesn't offer it, and creating automation
schedules to work smart not hard for your social media calendars,
blog posts, and email newsletters. This can also include podcasts, YouTube,
anything where you have to actually create content. Step four
(13:41):
of the builder phase is to outsource task. This is
crucial because before you can step into the leader phase,
you have to know what you can take off of
your plate. This consists of determining which task are essential
for you to complete versus task someone else can complete,
researching and betting potential outsourcing partners for answers or contractors,
(14:01):
and clearly defining the scope, deadlines, and quality standards for
outsourced tasks. It is again so important that you do
this now before you get into the leader phase. You
don't want to be figuring this out when you already
have people on board, so do this in the builder phase.
Once these four steps are complete for the builder phase,
you are now stepping into phase four, which is leader.
(14:24):
Step one of the leader phase is to develop your skills.
It's all about enhancing your leadership and strategic skills to
steer your business effectively as a leader. This includes sharpening
your leadership skills and improving your ability to inspire, manage,
and develop your team. Taking advanced leadership courses, working with
a business or a life coach, Cultivating your ability to
(14:45):
think strategically, making strategic decisions that align with your long
term vision, and deepening your understanding of financial management. Step two,
which is the funnest but also sometimes the hardest, is
to hire a team. This is where you're going to
build your t team to manage the day to day operations.
This consists of identifying the key roles that need to
(15:05):
be filled to support your business's growth, learning to delegate effectively,
trusting your team to handle operations and make decisions in
their areas of expertise, investing in your team's growth through
training and mentorship, and creating KPIs for your business and team.
Step three is to create passive income. This is all
about establishing multiple streams of income to ensure long term growth.
(15:25):
The reason why I have this in the leader phase
is because this is a very hard task to do
or to make a priority when you're juggling all the
other parts of your business. So when you can finally
step out of your business and work on it, not
in it, this is going to be the time to
focus on really launching those different products. So this step
(15:46):
consists of creating products or services that generate income without
requiring consistent attention. This can include digital products like online courses,
templates or ebooks. Creating passive income by launching a community
element to your brand and offering monthly low subscris so
that you can impact more people with less time. And
we will talk more about this community element when we
get to my winning recipe for success. Step four is
(16:09):
to master your marketing. Optimize your marketing strategy to maintain
brand presence and drive growth. This consists of ensuring that
your brand message resonates with your target audience and clearly
differentiates you from your competitors. Consistency in branding across all
platforms is key. Developing a content strategy that showcases your
expertise and provides value to your audience. Building a steady
(16:31):
stream of content that engages your audience and builds loyalty,
leveraging marketing automation tools to streamline your campaigns and using
analytics to measure the effectiveness of those strategies, and building
sales funnels to drive traffic to your website and generate leads.
Once these four steps have been fully complete, which a
lot of these things you're going to have to go
(16:52):
back and tweak before they're actually where they should be.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
It is definitely something that takes.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
A little bit of patient and a lot of hard work,
but you will eventually reach the destination.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Soft Life CEO.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Based on the information you now have, which of the
phases are you currently in. It's super important to be
honest with yourself about where you are currently because imagine
if you use the GPS and you typed in a destination,
but you put in a false starting point, You'll never
reach the destination because the directions will be incorrect.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
The same situation applies here.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
If you're honest about where you're starting, you'll be able
to get to the correct destination. But the reason why
I created my community Soft Life Society is because in
order to fully live a soft life, you have to
address your lifestyle, and in the same way that you've
built your business, you have to also build your life.
This includes creating routines, prioritizing your health and self care,
(17:45):
creating boundaries, creating a support system, and scheduling your business
around your life, not the other way around.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
So I highly.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Recommend joining my coaching community so that you have the support, resources,
and accountability you need to make changes both in your
business and in your life. Now that you're familiar with
the soft Life CEO roadmap. I want to share my
winning recipe for elevating your brands, increasing your income, and
reclaiming your time. This is the exact approach that I
use to grow my own brand and business, and it's
(18:14):
also the same strategy we implement for our clients every
single day. I'm sharing this with you because I believe
in empowering entrepreneurs, whether or not you're in a position
to invest in working with me and my team. If
you're ready to roll up your sleeves, you can take
this approach and execute it yourself or alongside other entrepreneurs
in my community who are all on the same journey
as you to become a.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Self life CEO.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
But if you're not tech savvy, if you don't have
an eye for design, if you feel overwhelmed by the
idea of creating and executing a social strategy, or are
just plain all tired of constant trial and error, it
is time to invest in getting it done right. Let
me help you bridge the gap. Will help you position
your unique skill set with our brand and marketing expertise
to accelerate your business growth. I understand how scary it
(18:57):
could be to trust someone or to put all your
eggs in one basket. It. But remember, if I had
not dropped out of college and bet on myself, I
wouldn't be where I am or who I am today.
I would be honored to be a part of your
success story and support you on the rest of your
entrepreneurial journey. Now, let's dive in. Step one is to
elevate your brand. We do this with our service called Brandbuilder.
(19:17):
The brand Builder process starts by having you complete a
brand intake form where we gather the information needed to
provide a brand audit. The brand audit includes creating your
mission statement, brand vision, core values, unique value, proposition, tariat, audience,
brand voice, key messages, tagline, language, dues and notes, call
to actions, keywords and phrases, brand story, and elevator pitch Woo.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
That was a lot to get through.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
We then use the information from your brand audit and
intake form to create your logo, designs and brand board.
We review this with you on a brand presentation call
to ensure that you are in love with the brand
direction before we execute the final brand visuals. We also
create and review your wardrobe book book in order to
help you prepare for your brand shoot. Brandshew is the
most important part of the brand builder process because your
(20:03):
photos will make or break your brand's aesthetic. The photos
will be crucial for designing a professional website and launching
a strong social strategy that attracts and resonates with your
target audience. Our brand shoots include your studio rental, one
hour shoot, three looks a shoot, agenda, professional photographer, onset
crave director, behind the scenes videos and capturing, stock photos,
(20:24):
lifestyle photos, professional headshots, and photos for marketing material. All
photos are sent in forty eight hours and we include
editing nine photos that are hand selected by our brand
strategists in order to execute your full brand services. We
have studios in DC, Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, and Miami, so
you will need to travel to the location that is
closest to you. After we have your edits, we design
your email, signature, virtual business cards, and final logo designs
(20:47):
and brand guide. We include a primary, secondary and submark
design for your logos, and the brand board includes brand colors, fonts,
and inspo imagery. Your brand guide will include everything you
need to properly launch your brand and maintain your brand consistency.
Moving forward to end the service. We complete a brand
launch call where we review your brand launch blueprint, brand guidelines,
brand to do list, and next steps to ensure to
(21:09):
answer any questions that you have, making sure that you
leave feeling confident launching your new brand. Once your brand
is developed, we focus on step two, which is to
increase your income. We do this with two services that
go hand in hand. We call these services website Builder
and Social Builder. The website builder process starts by having
you complete a website and take form where we gather
the information needed to complete a website planning call. The
(21:32):
planning call includes creating and reviewing your website doc, which
will include your websites outline, the copy needed to design
the website, and your lead generator for building your email lists.
We then use the information from your website doc to
design your site. Once the website is ready for review,
we complete a website launch call where we handle all
of the revisions. We review your website launch blueprint, website
(21:53):
to do, launch list, and next steps to again ensure
that if you have any questions, we are able to
answer them and send you out into the world confident
about launching your new website. When you get a website
through us, you're not just getting designed, you're getting a
built in strategy to grow your email list, a custom,
mobile friendly website because at the end of the day,
most people will be viewing your site from their phone
(22:15):
and email newsletter template so that you can start marketing
your site like a pro, and a website tutorial video
ensuring that you can easily access and edit your site
in the future. The Social Builder service goes hands in
hand with your website because your social media is the
vehicle to drive traffic to your website. You could have
a beautiful site, but without a strategic social strategy, your
(22:35):
site will just be sitting in cyberspace with no views, clicks,
or buys aka, you are not making any money. The
Social Builder process starts by having you complete a social
intake form where we gather the information needed to provide
a social audit. The social audit includes reviewing your current
platforms any of the platforms that you have existing accounts with,
and providing you with a SWAT analysis to determine which
(22:57):
platforms you should actually be on so that we can
begin crafting your social media strategy. Once the strategy is
ready for review, we complete a social launch call where
we review your social launch blueprint, social strategy content pillars
offers plus call to actions, social media automations, first month's calendar,
Social templates page, Revamp social to do, launch lists and
(23:17):
next steps, ensuring to answer any questions that you have,
leaving you feeling confident launching your new social media strategy.
The thing that makes our social service unique is that
we provide you with everything you need to revamp your
current social platforms as well as provide you with everything
that you need to set up the new platforms, ensuring
that you have a cohesive brand identity across all platforms.
As I said, it is very beneficial to get the
(23:39):
website and social service together so that we're able to
craft a sales funnel, ensuring that your social media and
website are working hand in hand. Once your brand is developed,
your website is designed, and your social media strategy is set,
the goal should be to reclaim your time by creating
passive income. The best way to do this is by
launching online courses and building a community subscription. This is
where our final service, the Community Builder, comes in. Launching
(24:03):
a community element to your brand will allow you to
serve more people in less time, not to mention your members,
become walking billboards for your business, spreading word of your community,
and building your brand awareness. The community builder process starts
by having you complete a community intake form where we
gather the information needed to complete a community planning call.
The planning call includes creating and reviewing your community doc
(24:23):
which will include your community outline, your community pricing structure,
and the copy needed to build out the community. We
then use the information from your community dock and planning
call to build out your community. Once the community is
ready for review, we complete a community launch call where
we review your community launch blueprint, community growth strategy, community
templates to do, launch lists, and next steps, ensuring to
(24:45):
answer any questions that you have, leaving you feeling super
confident to launch your new community. This exact recipe is
what I did to get my business and personal brands
where it is now. My question to you is are
you ready to make today the day that change the
rest of your life? Thanks for tuning in to Soft Life, CEO.
I hope that today's episode gets you a little bit
closer to achieving your definition of a soft life. If
(25:07):
you're ready to start the journey from hustler to soft
Life Ceo. Go to the Soft Life ceo dot com
backslash society for a thirty day.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Free trial in my coaching community.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
If you found this episode helpful, share it with a friend,
leave a review, and don't forget to subscribe.
And in the same way that you've built your business,
you have to also build your life. This includes creating routines,
prioritizing your health and self care, creating boundaries, creating a
support system, and scheduling your business around your life, not
the other way around. Hey, I'm Brianna Aponte, your host
of the Self Life CEO podcast. I dropped out of
college at the age of nineteen to start my first business.
(00:22):
I worked seven days a week, wore way too many hats,
and was the true definition of a hustler. Years later,
I'm finally living the dream that I worked so hard
to make my reality. I've transitioned from a hustler to
a soft life CEO, working only two days a week
to maintain and run a high earning business that gives
me the freedom to live a life I love. Now
it's my mission to help as many entrepreneurs as I
(00:42):
can elevate their brand, increase their income, and reclaim their time.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Join me and.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Guest experts as we share our transparent journeys, work smart,
not hard, strategies, and the behind the scenes of running
a successful brand and business. You're tuned in to the
Self Life CEO if you're here. It means that you're
ready to do lessoner more, adopt work smart, not hard strategies,
and retire from a life of hustle and chaos. In
this training, we will cover my entrepreneurial journey, the phases
(01:08):
of entrepreneurship, the Soft Life CEO roadmap, and my winning
recipe to elevate your brand, increase your income, and reclaim
your time. Now, before I get into my entrepreneurial journey,
I do want to disclose that what I'm about to
share many people don't know. I am letting you into
a time in my life that was very tragic and
traumatizing because it was such a huge part of my journey,
So bear with me. When I graduated high school, I
(01:28):
thought my path was super clear. I was going to
be a teacher. It is all I ever wanted since
the first grade. But as I moved through college, something
just did not sit right. I felt unfulfilled, like I
was meant for something more. I just didn't know exactly what. Then,
the worst thing I've ever experienced happened. My boyfriend of
three years was murdered while getting his haircut. He was
shot nineteen times, and unfortunately I had to witness his
(01:49):
body at the scene. That experience and that loss changed
everything for me. It was a pivotal moment that really
changed the course of my life, and it was a
true wake up call.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
At that moment, I was in school.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
I was dancing for the NBA, but I knew I
needed a drastic change, so I did what seemed super
crazy to everyone. I quit the team and I dropped
out of college. I combined the only two things that
I was sure of at the time, which was dance
and teaching, and I spent all my money that I
had saved up to open a studio in downtown Cleveland.
I had no business experience, no mentor no true understanding
of what it took to actually run a business, just
(02:22):
the desire to create my own path and really live
life on my own terms, because, as I had just learned,
tomorrow isn't promised now.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
To be clear, I do not advise that you do
what I did.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
It resulted in me being homeless and living out of
my car for a period of time where I was
too embarrassed to tell anyone and too prideful to ask
for help.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Nothing about my journey was easy.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
I've made lots of mistakes, I've wasted tons of money,
and I had to learn things the hard way because
I didn't have anyone to guide me. But those exact
challenges is what molded me into the coach I am today,
because I know what it feels like to not have support,
to not have the resources, to not have answers. All
of this led into my journey of branding. Because I
couldn't afford to pay for the things I needed to
(03:02):
run and build a business, like a logo, a website,
social media marketing, content creation, all the things I had
to learn to do it myself, and with a lot
of practice, I got really good at it.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
I actually started to fall in love with it.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
I got to the point where I was feeling super
stagnant in Cleveland. I needed a change of scenery and
so I ended up moving to DC. This is where
I met my now husband, Trey, and I had started
to experience another plateau where I felt like I still
hadn't reached my full potential, but I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
What to do about it.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
After he saw how I built the brand for my
first business, he suggested that I start coaching and helping
other entrepreneurs do the same. He became my first official client,
along with a handful of friends such as Jordan Nicholson,
Ko Ko Lee, Tanail Moon, Calie Ray, Antonio Buchanan, and
Sean Delmar, just to name a few. As you can see,
(03:52):
those same people now have large followings, powerful brands, and
strategic full time businesses. So once I saw that my
strategies turned into real results, I knew I was onto something.
That's when Drey and I launched our branding and marketing agency.
It started as a two man show where I handled
all the day to day operations branding, marketing and personal
brand and business clients, where Drey handled the content creation,
(04:14):
back end support, long term business strategy, and corporate clients.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
After just five.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Months of being in business, Drey was able to retire
from his full time job and we ran the business
like that for over five years together. Over the course
of that time, we got to work with celebrities, athletes,
major brands, corporate companies, and we were even featured in
Jada Pickett Smith's Red Table Talk, all due to proper
branding in social media marketing shoot. I even helped dre
(04:39):
build his brand and had him become a published model,
the face of Shae Moisture Men and can be seen
in Target, Walmart, Dix and many other stores, featured on
product packaging and billboard campaigns. I was even gifted a
free car in exchange to post once a month.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Isn't that crazy?
Speaker 1 (04:55):
I share all this to say that this guy is
truly the limit when you know how to.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Properly brand you resis.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
After Drean I got married because fun fact we waited
for a marriage, we realized we.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Didn't want to mix business pleasure.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
We decided to go our separate ways as he launched
a podcast network and became an executive at Urban One
as the head of podcasting, and I rebranded the business
to be a for women by women marketing agency focus
on building magnetic brands and strategic businesses. Over the years,
I have crafted and perfected my services to get my
client's maximum results with minimum stress, hence the name Self
(05:29):
Life CEO. I'm super passionate about branding and marketing because
I know firsthand.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
How it can change your life.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
You are going to leave here with clarity on where
you are in your entrepreneurial journey and know exactly what
you need to do to reach destination. Self Life CEO. Now,
if you're someone who is looking for support or would
like to have me as your coach, I invite you
to join my coaching community, which you can do on
a free thirty day trial. Now let's get into the
four phases of entrepreneurship. Phase one is dreamer. In this phase,
(05:57):
the focus is the vision, the foundation, and the conceptualization
of your brand. Phase two is hustler. In this phase,
you wear multiple hats who say yes to everything and
experienced trial and air to solidify your brand. Phase three
is builder. In this phase, you invest time and resources
to build out systems and workflows to ultimately scale your business.
(06:17):
Phase four is leader. In this phase, you master delegation
and you stop working in your business in order to
work on your business. So now let's review the Soft
Life CEO roadmap. So for those of you who are
in the dreamer phase, there are four steps that have
to be complete in order to get you to the
next phase. Number one is to conceptualize. You have to
(06:39):
develop a clear and actionable idea for your business. This
includes identifying your passion and strengths to ensure that your
business idea is something that you are both excited about
and capable of executing. Conducting thorough research to understand the
demand for your idea, analyzing your target market, potential, competitors,
and industry trends. Validate your idea through surveys, interviews, and
(07:02):
testing to ensure there is a need and that your
concept addresses it effectively. Defining your business idea by articulating
a clear and concise description of your business. This should
include your value proposition, the problem your business solves, and
how it stands out from competitors. Developing a business model
to outline how your business will develop and make money.
Step two is to set up your business. This is
(07:25):
all about establishing the operational and legal foundation of your business.
The steps include deciding on the legal structure of your business,
registering your business name, website domain, and business email, operating
a business bank account, and setting up an accounting system
to manage your finances. Determining how much capital you need
to start and sustain your business, and obtaining any necessary
(07:45):
business insurance and contracts to protect your business.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Step three is to brand your business.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
You want to make sure that you create a distinct
and appealing identity that really stands out from the crowd,
but also is exactly what your target audience needs. This
consists of developed upping your brand identity by creating your logos,
choosing your color scheme and brand fonts.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
It is super important.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
That all of your visual identities are consistent across all platforms.
It is just overall professional and will allow people to
trust your brand a little easier. It consists of creating
your brand images to use for marketing and business Crafting
your brand messaging that communicates your business's values, mission, and benefits.
This includes tagline messaging, pillars, and tone of voice. Creating
(08:27):
a professional website that showcases your brand and provides information
about your products or services. Setting up your social media
profiles to connect with your audience and promote your brand,
and developing marketing materials such as business cards, brochures digital
assets that reinforce your brand's identity. The last step of
the dreamer phase is to launch your business. This is
(08:48):
where you introduce what you've been working on to the world.
This consists of creating a detailed plan outlining the steps
in timeline for your launch that should include pre launch activities,
launch day events, and post law lunch follow ups. Implementing
a marketing strategy to generate buzz and attract your target audience.
This could include a combination of online advertising, social media campaigns,
(09:08):
and email marketing. Tracking Key performance indicators otherwise called KPIs
to assess the success of your launch, Gathering feedback from
customers and making necessary adjustments to your business operations, marketing
strategy or product offerings based on their feedback, and building
consumer relationships by providing excellent customer service. Once those four
steps are complete, you are now officially in the hustler phase.
(09:32):
These four steps are honestly probably the hardest because it takes.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
The most time.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
You have to really make sure you have thick skin,
you know, because things are going to go wrong and
you're going to constantly be problem solving. So let's talk
about these four steps in more detail. Number one is
to test your concept. This is all about validating your
business idea or brand concept. This step includes gathering feedback
from customers or clients to ensure your concept is working
and getting the results you want, Collecting data and in
(10:00):
sites from past customers or clients, and analyzing what works
what doesn't in tweaking your concept to improve it. Step
two is to create your processes, develop efficient systems to
streamline operations. This includes mapping out all of the task
and activities that need to be completed regularly and identifying
the steps required for each task and create clear, repeatable processes.
(10:22):
Exploring tools and softwares that can automate routine tasks. This
could involve using project management tools, CRM systems or other
technologies that enhance productivity, and then writing down your procedures
for key processes in a way that can be easily
followed by anyone in your future team. This ensures consistency
and quality in your operations as you start to scale.
(10:43):
These are called SOPs, which stand for Standard Operating Procedures.
Step three is to build your resume. This is all
about enhancing your credibility and essentially getting your potential clients
to trust you. This consists of identifying the skills that
are most valuable to your business or industry and working
on honing them. This could involve taking courses, attending workshops,
(11:03):
or hiring a coach, building a portfolio of your work,
showcasing successful projects, testimonials, case studies. This ultimately will demonstrate
your expertise and the value that you bring, and then
networking with industry professionals, joining relevant groups, and attending events.
Step four is to analyze and adjust. It's all about
identifying and seizing opportunities for growth. This consists of continuously
(11:25):
monitoring the market for trends, competitors, and potential gaps that
you can exploit, spending a lot of time on trial
and error, adjusting your services or products to provide better results,
and identifying areas for improvement in your business. Once you
have gotten through those steps and you are now focused
on the building portion of your business, you are going
(11:47):
to then complete the builder phase steps. The first thing
in the builder phase is to invest in systems. This
is all about making sure that you have the support
you need to scale efficiently. This includes developing an infrastructure
for growth to ultimately expand and begin to grow your team.
Setting up systems that can handle increased valume and complexity,
(12:08):
such as the all in one platform GO High Level.
This is specifically what I now use for my business.
It literally does everything that you can think of under
the sun. This phase also consists of hiring a business
coach to identify areas for improvement within your business and
testing your systems for maximum performance and consumer satisfaction. Step
(12:29):
two is all about creating workflows to ensure consistency and productivity.
This includes analyzing your current operations and mapping out.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
The workflows for each service or.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Product, documenting your workflow in detail, outlining each step involved
in a task or process. This is going to serve
you as a guide for both you and your team
and really making sure that everyone follows the same procedure,
and then regularly reviewing and refining your workflows to adapt
to changes in the business or market conditions. You should
(12:59):
make sure to involve your team in this process to
gather insights. It really will help with fostering a culture
of continuous improvement. Step three is to automate, automate, and
automate some more. Automating repetitive task is going to save
you time and reduce the amount of errors within your business.
This consists of looking for repetitive, time consuming task and
(13:20):
making sure that those things are automated, investing in automation
tools that integrate with your existing system if the one
that you currently use doesn't offer it, and creating automation
schedules to work smart not hard for your social media calendars,
blog posts, and email newsletters. This can also include podcasts, YouTube,
anything where you have to actually create content. Step four
(13:41):
of the builder phase is to outsource task. This is
crucial because before you can step into the leader phase,
you have to know what you can take off of
your plate. This consists of determining which task are essential
for you to complete versus task someone else can complete,
researching and betting potential outsourcing partners for answers or contractors,
(14:01):
and clearly defining the scope, deadlines, and quality standards for
outsourced tasks. It is again so important that you do
this now before you get into the leader phase. You
don't want to be figuring this out when you already
have people on board, so do this in the builder phase.
Once these four steps are complete for the builder phase,
you are now stepping into phase four, which is leader.
(14:24):
Step one of the leader phase is to develop your skills.
It's all about enhancing your leadership and strategic skills to
steer your business effectively as a leader. This includes sharpening
your leadership skills and improving your ability to inspire, manage,
and develop your team. Taking advanced leadership courses, working with
a business or a life coach, Cultivating your ability to
(14:45):
think strategically, making strategic decisions that align with your long
term vision, and deepening your understanding of financial management. Step two,
which is the funnest but also sometimes the hardest, is
to hire a team. This is where you're going to
build your t team to manage the day to day operations.
This consists of identifying the key roles that need to
(15:05):
be filled to support your business's growth, learning to delegate effectively,
trusting your team to handle operations and make decisions in
their areas of expertise, investing in your team's growth through
training and mentorship, and creating KPIs for your business and team.
Step three is to create passive income. This is all
about establishing multiple streams of income to ensure long term growth.
(15:25):
The reason why I have this in the leader phase
is because this is a very hard task to do
or to make a priority when you're juggling all the
other parts of your business. So when you can finally
step out of your business and work on it, not
in it, this is going to be the time to
focus on really launching those different products. So this step
(15:46):
consists of creating products or services that generate income without
requiring consistent attention. This can include digital products like online courses,
templates or ebooks. Creating passive income by launching a community
element to your brand and offering monthly low subscris so
that you can impact more people with less time. And
we will talk more about this community element when we
get to my winning recipe for success. Step four is
(16:09):
to master your marketing. Optimize your marketing strategy to maintain
brand presence and drive growth. This consists of ensuring that
your brand message resonates with your target audience and clearly
differentiates you from your competitors. Consistency in branding across all
platforms is key. Developing a content strategy that showcases your
expertise and provides value to your audience. Building a steady
(16:31):
stream of content that engages your audience and builds loyalty,
leveraging marketing automation tools to streamline your campaigns and using
analytics to measure the effectiveness of those strategies, and building
sales funnels to drive traffic to your website and generate leads.
Once these four steps have been fully complete, which a
lot of these things you're going to have to go
(16:52):
back and tweak before they're actually where they should be.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
It is definitely something that takes.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
A little bit of patient and a lot of hard work,
but you will eventually reach the destination.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Soft Life CEO.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Based on the information you now have, which of the
phases are you currently in. It's super important to be
honest with yourself about where you are currently because imagine
if you use the GPS and you typed in a destination,
but you put in a false starting point, You'll never
reach the destination because the directions will be incorrect.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
The same situation applies here.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
If you're honest about where you're starting, you'll be able
to get to the correct destination. But the reason why
I created my community Soft Life Society is because in
order to fully live a soft life, you have to
address your lifestyle, and in the same way that you've
built your business, you have to also build your life.
This includes creating routines, prioritizing your health and self care,
(17:45):
creating boundaries, creating a support system, and scheduling your business
around your life, not the other way around.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
So I highly.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Recommend joining my coaching community so that you have the support, resources,
and accountability you need to make changes both in your
business and in your life. Now that you're familiar with
the soft Life CEO roadmap. I want to share my
winning recipe for elevating your brands, increasing your income, and
reclaiming your time. This is the exact approach that I
use to grow my own brand and business, and it's
(18:14):
also the same strategy we implement for our clients every
single day. I'm sharing this with you because I believe
in empowering entrepreneurs, whether or not you're in a position
to invest in working with me and my team. If
you're ready to roll up your sleeves, you can take
this approach and execute it yourself or alongside other entrepreneurs
in my community who are all on the same journey
as you to become a.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Self life CEO.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
But if you're not tech savvy, if you don't have
an eye for design, if you feel overwhelmed by the
idea of creating and executing a social strategy, or are
just plain all tired of constant trial and error, it
is time to invest in getting it done right. Let
me help you bridge the gap. Will help you position
your unique skill set with our brand and marketing expertise
to accelerate your business growth. I understand how scary it
(18:57):
could be to trust someone or to put all your
eggs in one basket. It. But remember, if I had
not dropped out of college and bet on myself, I
wouldn't be where I am or who I am today.
I would be honored to be a part of your
success story and support you on the rest of your
entrepreneurial journey. Now, let's dive in. Step one is to
elevate your brand. We do this with our service called Brandbuilder.
(19:17):
The brand Builder process starts by having you complete a
brand intake form where we gather the information needed to
provide a brand audit. The brand audit includes creating your
mission statement, brand vision, core values, unique value, proposition, tariat, audience,
brand voice, key messages, tagline, language, dues and notes, call
to actions, keywords and phrases, brand story, and elevator pitch Woo.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
That was a lot to get through.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
We then use the information from your brand audit and
intake form to create your logo, designs and brand board.
We review this with you on a brand presentation call
to ensure that you are in love with the brand
direction before we execute the final brand visuals. We also
create and review your wardrobe book book in order to
help you prepare for your brand shoot. Brandshew is the
most important part of the brand builder process because your
(20:03):
photos will make or break your brand's aesthetic. The photos
will be crucial for designing a professional website and launching
a strong social strategy that attracts and resonates with your
target audience. Our brand shoots include your studio rental, one
hour shoot, three looks a shoot, agenda, professional photographer, onset
crave director, behind the scenes videos and capturing, stock photos,
(20:24):
lifestyle photos, professional headshots, and photos for marketing material. All
photos are sent in forty eight hours and we include
editing nine photos that are hand selected by our brand
strategists in order to execute your full brand services. We
have studios in DC, Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, and Miami, so
you will need to travel to the location that is
closest to you. After we have your edits, we design
your email, signature, virtual business cards, and final logo designs
(20:47):
and brand guide. We include a primary, secondary and submark
design for your logos, and the brand board includes brand colors, fonts,
and inspo imagery. Your brand guide will include everything you
need to properly launch your brand and maintain your brand consistency.
Moving forward to end the service. We complete a brand
launch call where we review your brand launch blueprint, brand guidelines,
brand to do list, and next steps to ensure to
(21:09):
answer any questions that you have, making sure that you
leave feeling confident launching your new brand. Once your brand
is developed, we focus on step two, which is to
increase your income. We do this with two services that
go hand in hand. We call these services website Builder
and Social Builder. The website builder process starts by having
you complete a website and take form where we gather
the information needed to complete a website planning call. The
(21:32):
planning call includes creating and reviewing your website doc, which
will include your websites outline, the copy needed to design
the website, and your lead generator for building your email lists.
We then use the information from your website doc to
design your site. Once the website is ready for review,
we complete a website launch call where we handle all
of the revisions. We review your website launch blueprint, website
(21:53):
to do, launch list, and next steps to again ensure
that if you have any questions, we are able to
answer them and send you out into the world confident
about launching your new website. When you get a website
through us, you're not just getting designed, you're getting a
built in strategy to grow your email list, a custom,
mobile friendly website because at the end of the day,
most people will be viewing your site from their phone
(22:15):
and email newsletter template so that you can start marketing
your site like a pro, and a website tutorial video
ensuring that you can easily access and edit your site
in the future. The Social Builder service goes hands in
hand with your website because your social media is the
vehicle to drive traffic to your website. You could have
a beautiful site, but without a strategic social strategy, your
(22:35):
site will just be sitting in cyberspace with no views, clicks,
or buys aka, you are not making any money. The
Social Builder process starts by having you complete a social
intake form where we gather the information needed to provide
a social audit. The social audit includes reviewing your current
platforms any of the platforms that you have existing accounts with,
and providing you with a SWAT analysis to determine which
(22:57):
platforms you should actually be on so that we can
begin crafting your social media strategy. Once the strategy is
ready for review, we complete a social launch call where
we review your social launch blueprint, social strategy content pillars
offers plus call to actions, social media automations, first month's calendar,
Social templates page, Revamp social to do, launch lists and
(23:17):
next steps, ensuring to answer any questions that you have,
leaving you feeling confident launching your new social media strategy.
The thing that makes our social service unique is that
we provide you with everything you need to revamp your
current social platforms as well as provide you with everything
that you need to set up the new platforms, ensuring
that you have a cohesive brand identity across all platforms.
As I said, it is very beneficial to get the
(23:39):
website and social service together so that we're able to
craft a sales funnel, ensuring that your social media and
website are working hand in hand. Once your brand is developed,
your website is designed, and your social media strategy is set,
the goal should be to reclaim your time by creating
passive income. The best way to do this is by
launching online courses and building a community subscription. This is
where our final service, the Community Builder, comes in. Launching
(24:03):
a community element to your brand will allow you to
serve more people in less time, not to mention your members,
become walking billboards for your business, spreading word of your community,
and building your brand awareness. The community builder process starts
by having you complete a community intake form where we
gather the information needed to complete a community planning call.
The planning call includes creating and reviewing your community doc
(24:23):
which will include your community outline, your community pricing structure,
and the copy needed to build out the community. We
then use the information from your community dock and planning
call to build out your community. Once the community is
ready for review, we complete a community launch call where
we review your community launch blueprint, community growth strategy, community
templates to do, launch lists, and next steps, ensuring to
(24:45):
answer any questions that you have, leaving you feeling super
confident to launch your new community. This exact recipe is
what I did to get my business and personal brands
where it is now. My question to you is are
you ready to make today the day that change the
rest of your life? Thanks for tuning in to Soft Life, CEO.
I hope that today's episode gets you a little bit
closer to achieving your definition of a soft life. If
(25:07):
you're ready to start the journey from hustler to soft
Life Ceo. Go to the Soft Life ceo dot com
backslash society for a thirty day.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Free trial in my coaching community.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
If you found this episode helpful, share it with a friend,
leave a review, and don't forget to subscribe.
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