I've got a secret for you. That embarrassing story you're trying to hide? It might just be your ticket to unshakeable authority. I went from being a burnt-out overachiever to transforming the branding game. How? By embracing the very things that made me different.

What used to work no longer does. What was once available only to elite businesses with big budgets has been democratized for all. TV and radio ad budgets have been replaced with free social media apps, creating an explosion of competition that's no longer industry-based, but global. In a world where a new business launches every 1.5 seconds, you're competing for attention, not just against your direct competitors, but against everyone.

It’s not your knowledge! It’s your social proof and what others say. It’s published content, followers, trusted names and case-studies. Your brand is what makes you credible. It’s what others say about you that counts that’s why Google is a good metric. Designing authority is a process of leveraging your story, skills and knowledge to solve a customer pain. This how you create credibility and trust!

We’ve outsourced everything except our minds. This segment is growing by 63% yearly! But businesses are still focused on building their marketing without knowing their pitch or having a product to enrol people into or having a profile to be found in a search.

Being good isn’t enough. It’s now an economy of trust. You need a way to convert your expertise into a way of standing out from the crowd. Those winning are the trusted authorities in their micro niche.

Catapult your influence in a world where brands have been reduced to a commodity. Consumers, armed with easily accessible information, are assassins of fake narratives and false claims. We’ve become masters at researching ‘brands’. If we don’t like the answers we find, we take our money elsewhere.

It all begins with an idea.

Grow your authority through three steps: Conviction. Solution. Presence. But if you really want to standout then you need to ‘bin the industry language’.

How to communicate your genius. I use the NEWSPAPER model. The end result here is that you have de-cluttered your narrative. To tell a compelling story about your business, to communicate the role of your business succinctly, you need to leave out the boring bits.

The importance of play to drive ‘wow’ ideas for creatives cannot be underestimated . It’s a vital ingredient for innovation. Play encourages different thoughts and creativity.  To think about the task in front of you in a predictable, unchanging environment is important to getting a job done but limiting when solving complex problems. 

Is your brand acting like a straitjacket?

I work with a lot of clients who are repositioning their business. Either they’re scaling up, or niching their focus to go deeper with a premium set of clients, or shifting their lifestyle.

Maybe experiments are the key to testing the waters (tiny tweaks to the rudder) in a low-risk way, then build on them over time, rather than launching in a big-bang approach.

How Covid, technology and regional living can be the opportunity change-averse business owners have been waiting for.

You might be exhausted, but not quite burnt-out enough to restructure your life! This is what it took to change my business and my life!

The market is too competitive for you to play every instrument in the orchestra, you need to specialise.

But if you haven’t yet taken the journey you may be wondering how to niche down without stripping yourself of valuable clients, and without losing your best ideas then this will help.

I’ve taken my design process from 8 months to 1 month. No BS!

These questions will help you articulate your ideal clients and differentiate you from the mob.