Personal Branding Strategist and Business Coach Robyn Graham

With no further ado, Robyn Graham has her own podcast called the second phase Podcast. Everything will be in the show notes. So you can contact Robyn after this, hearing the podcast and follow her on social media and connect with her. If you vibe with her. Right? So here we go. Robyn. Graham, how are you?
I am great. Thanks Katie. I am so excited to be here.
I'm really excited to have you here. It's like a long time coming. I have a lot of questions.
Well, I'm all yours ask away.
Cool, cool. So how are you doing? I am
Great. Thank you. It's been a good week. The weather's warming up and ask for more than that, right? Sunshine and warmer weather.
Definitely. Definitely. And anyone who's on the video, just go to YouTube, Katie Chonacas you can see Robin's beautiful. Glowing face on the video and for anyone on the audio, just sit back and enjoy and soak up everything we're going to share with you. So diving in deeply, what in 2021, like what does branding mean? Well,
If we can, I'd like to start before we talk specifically about branding. What I like to do is set the preface because there's a lot of confusion out there that a brand is actually a logo or your topography or your color palette. And in all actuality, your brand is that perception that other people have of you. It's what other people think, say feel about you. It's not who you think you are or what you think you are. It's not necessarily a service you provide. It's what other people, the vibe that you put off that other people perceive, right? Branding is actually communicating your story, communicating the story about your brand so that people can really get to know who you are.
It's going to basically formed that perception of what that they have of you. And then your Brand Identity are those assets, like your logo, your color palette, your mood board, your typography, those things that help you become recognizable. But your brand itself is you and that perception that other people have of you. So hopefully that answered your question. So Branding is basically communicating that. Yeah, it really lays
It out. So for example, when you were saying the, the first bit about what people think about you, me on being in the entertainment industry, for example, it's like, I may be one way, but based on my headshots and what the casting directors and director and producer sees, it doesn't matter. Like what you think about yourself. It's like, what, what they think about you. Like when they see your photo, when you go to do your headshot and your favorite color, your favorite top, or with how your ever your hair is, or your makeup is, they're going to say, oh, like, that's you so, so it's so, but I always looked at it as like, this is how you're going to be marketed on TV and film, but it's How, but is it the same thing?
So, but this is how they're going to look at you for your brand, like who you are based on what they see,
But it goes a little bit deeper than that. So your headshot is almost like a Brand Identity, a brand asset, because it's so critical to be present and front and center. So people can immediately get to know who you are and visit visually, see, you make a connection with your eyes and your smile. That's so very important. And then you add that, you add that image to everything you're putting out into the world. So your content that you're putting out, other pictures that you're putting out, so your headshot is going to help you become recognizable and memorable. And then everything else that you put out around that related to your business, your why, why you do what you do, how you do, what you do, why does, why it matters to them, all that information you put out there is going to help create that perception.
So you ultimately have control over that. What other people think, say, and feel about you and you control that by what images you put out and by what verbal written copy that you put out.
Yeah. And that's really interesting because with social media and was, you know, so many people have in having insecurity issues, it's like, oh my God, then people are so in their head, I know sometimes I can spend like 45 minutes on a post. Like I it's like, and it's like, and at the end of the day, I'll just like, turn it off. I'm like, forget about it. I'm like, so in my head about it. So how do you kind of strategize to know like what we're putting out there as our brand of like what people are quote, unquote, thinking about us or seeing in, in, in thinking about like, oh, like, this is who she is based on, like what she's putting out on social media or her website.
Well, it's got to come from a place of authenticity, right? And I always say, you've got to make sure you're completely everything you do. All the content you put out is aligned with your values. And if we aren't adhering to our own personal values, we're not going to be able to build trust because we're all over the place. No pun intended because that's your podcast. But I mean, it's, you know, if we aren't adhering to our values and presenting ourselves as who we are, we're not going to attract people that are right fit for us. We're not going to attract our ideal avatar. And if we don't attract our ideal avatar, then we're gonna, at the end of the day, not be able to build the know love and trust factor, which people buy or hire us based on trust, trust determines all buying practices.
So everything we put out has to be based on our, our values and then being authentic. And I like to say, create before you consume, meaning, create your content based on your values, your business, your why, why and your, what it is, how you serve your clients, whatever that may be, and then consume later so that you're not getting intimidated. You're not comparing yourself to other people. You're not mimicking other people you're staying true to your values. And what is ultimately going to communicate to your ideal audience who you are and what you do and how you do it. Yeah.
I think if we're like talking maybe about like, you know, a new juice company or like, you know, having a, a certain product, that's a brand, I think it's maybe easier to identify with those things and to be systematic. But I think when it's a human being, because I know, you know, we can talk about like pivoting into and how do you pivot your brand? Because sometimes maybe you're a certain way. If it's, if it's you, as the person is the brand, but you, people change. You know what I mean? Like P our thoughts, our beliefs, people change. And so with the psychology of like, you know, insecurity, and then, and then I guess the first step is to really quote unquote, know your brand, but even when you think you're ready and you know, you have to like, do it anyway, do you have to like start messy and just learn as we go along.
Right. But what are some like tips for some people who are interested in Branding, but maybe they're not like 1000% of, of like, oh, this is the brand. Or that could be one question. Or if it's, it is a product, like if it's the idea, but maybe they don't have the product yet. So when do you start, when do you start branding the product?
So if you're creating a product, you, you still are the person behind the you're the brainpower behind that product. You're the person behind the product. So it's still important to be present because you still, no matter if you're working in corporate, no matter like you and you're in the entertainment industry, or you're like me, a business coach, you, you are your personal brand. You have to represent yourself and communicate to the world what your expertise is, and really show them why they should choose you over someone else. So once you have created a product and before it comes to market, you're still going to create that brand because without a brand, you really don't have anything to market.
So you still have to, you know, make sure that you are creating in a way that people are going to be able to understand exactly what that is and how they're going to be able to use it. You have to think about why does it matter to the consumer, or why does it matter to the person that's potentially going to hire you? And that's how you want to make sure that you're communicating that. So you, you have to start somewhere, right? And I like to say, you have to build a foundation. First. I like to use the analogy of a Potter. You know, they start with a block of clay, but then they have to mold that clay. And there's a process with molding.
It, you know, has to be wet and whatever, and then they spin it and then they have to bake it and then they have to glaze it and then it has to dry. And then they have to fire it. And all these processes right before it becomes a beautiful piece of art. And your brand is the same. Like you have to, or your business is the same. You have to build that foundation so that you can continue to build it out, to be something that's complete and will last longterm. So whether it's a personal brand and a person, or it's a product, you still have people involved. And those people that are involved are going to help make it what it is. So you still have to communicate that.
And then lake I'm still in the psychological aspect of it, because I know a lot of people, you know, from all different kinds of backgrounds and professions, they have the imposter syndrome, you know? So it's, it's, it's really challenging and difficult. So it's like if you're working for a company that, you know, that has like 50,000 people working for that company, they have, you know, a marketing company, a social media company. They have people who do those things, who are experts in those areas. But if you're like an entrepreneur person and you're doing it yourself, like how do you know when to post, how many times to post, like, like with your brand, let's say maybe with your brand, how, what is, what is your brand identity of I'm going to post this many times a week and how do you decipher on when to post?
So let's spin back to imposter syndrome first. And that, that is so real, but that's one of the reasons why I say create before you consume. So create based on your expertise, what is your zone of genius? What is it that you can do that is going to help your ideal audience to make them the hero of their own story, to make them feel and understand that you're there for them. You're going to solve a problem for them. You're going to give them the tools or the wisdom that they need to be able to move forward in their own journey. So when you have an expertise, you really have to believe in yourself.
Confidence is something that, you know, it's related to the tools that, that you have and, and the strengths that you have, right? So you really have to think about yourself as that entity and trust yourself so that you can then communicate so that other people will trust you in return. But when you talk about posting on social media, that's all about building relationships. You know, you can have different platforms, you can have your website, which I love websites, because I think there's so much power. And it kind of gives a central place for people to find you learn more about you really truly understand your business. And then social media is about building relationships, because people aren't going to buy from you unless they trust you.
And how do you get them to trust you? You have to build relationships, you have to have emotional connections with them. And that's what to me, social media is about. So I love that. I love that. Yeah. Good, good, good. And then, so let's use Instagram as an example, and you could apply this to any, any platform. So, you know, they all have algorithms and at any given point in time, those algorithms can change and they could go down. Those, those apps, those social media applications could disappear. But if you always have your website, you always have an email list. You can still communicate to your ideal client base at any given time. So that's why I love websites so much. And I love email marketing so much, but back to Instagram, as an example, I try to post three to four times a week.
The key is to be consistent. There are people that post multiple times a day in their feed and multiple times a day in their stories plus do alive. I love working in my business. And so for me to be able to do that, I am working on my business too. So for me to be able to do that, I can't be on social media everyday, all day. And I don't have hours and hours and hours to create content for multiple posts a day. So I try to be present at least three to four times a week in my feed. And then I try to be in my stories multiple times a day. And that can be as simple as posting and sharing. Like, if I share one of your posts or if I, you know, share someone else's post, or if I share my own post from my feed to my stories, and then my dog, my dog is always in my story.
So, you know, little things like that to show the human side of you. So your feed is more like educate, inspire, entertain, and then your stories are more letting the people, letting your audience, those people that follow. You get to know a little bit more about you, the backend of your business, or the true stories of your life versus just all business. But the key is to be consistent, but you also have to give yourself the grace to step away. Sometimes, you know, this week has been an insane week for me and I am not, I'll be perfectly honest. I am like the worst person at social media because I don't schedule out content because I'm a creative.
So I like to post, I may schedule like the week out on Sunday, but, or Monday morning, but I don't like to go a month in advance because I might not feel like posting that that day. So I tend to be more on the fly, but I, I do that because then I can genuinely connect with my audience more. I can inspire them more if I feel inspired when I'm putting out the content. Right? So, but like this week was so busy. I didn't, I didn't schedule anything out this week. And so there were a couple of days I didn't post and you know what that's okay. Because those people that follow me didn't disappear in that time period. They still want to hear from me and I still will show up.
But sometimes life is busy enough that if you can't show up on social media, don't beat yourself up over it. And don't worry about, you know, the next influencer coming along and passing you by because each one of us have people that are unique talents. Our unique gifts are meant to serve. And those people are just waiting for us to show up in their lives. So the more consistent we can be great. But if we have to, for personal reasons or business reasons, step away for a week.
Okay. Yeah. I love, I love all that. And I vibe with all of what you're saying and this, this influencer, Vanessa like loud, she taught me about the later app. And so I tried using it where you schedule out the content, it wasn't for me. However, I've tried the Facebook creator where you schedule out the content. And for me, like my chonacas personal brand, I like it to be like, you sell like intimate. Like when I feel like posting something, but with she's all over the place Podcast, I like for that, I like them to be scheduled. And then Tim Ferris at GE listen to Tim Ferriss' podcast. He's in. Yeah. So Tim Ferriss was just on meditative story with Arianna Huffington recently.
And it's one like eight or later. I forget what it starts with the, oh, I forget what it is. But he says he doesn't have any social media apps on his phone. It's all through the program. That's like later I forget the name of it, but that's what he uses. And when he wants to engage, he'll do it from the desktop and, and, you know, just for like long-term and mental health and strategy of like, if I'm in the moment, I want to do it. Cool. I can do it. But like for like longterm, I think, you know, it's really awesome to be able to have options, to like schedule it out. So if the listener or the viewer is like, oh, that's not me. I don't want to always be on social media. There's definitely Facebook creator.
There's the later app there's options where you can do scheduling for, you know, so you don't have to be if you're, if you're more of an introvert or the imposter syndrome and you just want to be like up on it all the time, there is, there are opportunities for people to do it for you and then the application. So you don't have to be like tied to your phone all the time. So it's not, and there are options.
There's a lot of options too. You've got buffer. You've got HootSweet, you've got plan only. You have ladder, like you said, for Pinterest, you have an Instagram, you have tailwind. There, there are so many of these apps now. And it's really, there are a couple of others that are on the tip of my tongue, but I can't think of what they are. But so there are so many options. I personally love Facebook creator studio for posting, for Instagram and for Facebook. And I use that a lot.
Yeah. I love it. The only thing is when you're on the Facebook creator, you can't put it in the comment cause you're supposed to leave it in the comment. You have to put it in the right, in the description thing. That's the only thing I don't like about it, but then like it can be done. And then I can just like go into the Instagram and then just like edit, cut it. And then be the first person to leave the comment if I remember, like to do it, but a couple things too, you were talking about the website and I just wanted to say, thank you so much because you taught me so much about my website and the 300 key words that I need to have on each landing page. So I went back and had that done. And like now when I go to Google, like, you know, each landing page comes up with that specific field, voiceover acting and stuff.
So that was really boss of you. And that's so awesome. So anyone should definitely have a one hour consultation with Robyn and call her and, you know, connect with her. Cause she definitely like we had a session and she just like went over everything and like taught me certain things about my website. So that, that was really impactful and very helpful. And then the other thing that I'm just so grateful for is how, you know, I learned from Sean Cannell, you know, when I was, when I pivoted to start doing YouTube business, that Pinterest and YouTube are the only ones that do SEO optimization. Like everything else is just a social feed. And like, so fortunately, you know, when I was talking with you in our session, I was, you like, got me back on the track to like, oh, I need to like activate because I had a Pinterest account, but I wasn't taking action on it.
And so now I have a pin post with 20 hashtags for the next month. And they're all just pre done, like focusing on my poetry book, focusing on, go look at the content I've already created on my YouTube channel, the sophisticated cycles or Katie Chonacas because I'm putting all my podcast stuff now just on my Katie Chonacas YouTube. So that really helped me. And like, I mean, every time I'm doing that and I'm on the track, like I think about you and you energetically put me on that train track when we had our one hour session. So those you really added value to my personal brand, into my business. And I'm so grateful.
Thank you so much.
Oh gosh, Katie, I'm just glad I could help you. I do want to clarify though the 300, it wasn't, I think it wasn't 300 keywords per page, but it's a minimum of 300 words per page and then infusing your keywords. So I didn't want to confuse people and make them think they had to have 300 keywords on each page. Their mind would be blown, but yeah. It's but you want to, anytime you're writing copy for your website, you want to make sure that your keywords key phrases are absolutely clear throughout so that people can find you that's how Google is going to push out your content. And for Pinterest, Pinterest is a search engine. So that is an incredible means to drive traffic to your website.
So you can use those same keywords, key phrases there, and link back to your website to drive that traffic. So it's a, it's a really powerful tool for that.
Yeah. Yeah. And like I got started on it and I was like, oh wow. It's like 400 people. And I was like, oh, well that's 400 more than I didn't have before, you know, and back linking it. Like you said to the website, into the, to the links, right. For the viewership. Yeah. Yeah.
It's a great way to grow your email list too, because you can post, if you have a free lead magnet or a free downloadable free ebook, whatever to help educate your ideal audience for, for free, you can give them something to get their email address. It's a great way to do that through Pinterest as well. Yeah.
I have it when I started my lead magnet book funnel where it's like, you know, put your email in and then, or someone from Amazon is gonna read like say 70,000 people get the book and they get to the end. And I, I bought a lover's Fairytale dot com. So then they can put in their email and now I'm converting these Amazon people over to like raise their hand because they bought my book and they like to hear from more from me. So I'm gifting them a playlist of the spoken word music videos that go along with the, the, with the poetry book. So I'm gifting them that value and putting it on the Pinterest.
But I also created a Facebook ad, so to do the same thing in the Facebook and that's like a, to be testing and that's like, that's it's oh, but do you know how to do those things? If people were to contact you, do you know how to do those as well?
I do not do Facebook ads. I can teach you Pinterest, but I do not do Facebook ads that I have had a couple of people on my podcast to talk about Facebook ads. And in my opinion, Facebook ads are a whole nother beast that you really do have to have an expertise about it. There are people out there who offer training and coaching programs on Facebook ads, but you really have to do it right. Or you're going to waste money. And you, you know, there's so like you said, the AB testing, but you really want to fine tune who your ideal audience is. And the thing about Facebook ads is once you have an established business, it's great, but bringing people into your business with Facebook ads, those are cold leads.
So you want to make sure that you then have a funnel or some way to warm them up because they're not as likely to buy from you. They are coming in as a cold lead to warm them up. So that's something to remember about Facebook ads. I think they're an incredible tool and people are definitely getting an ROI on Facebook ads, but you really have to be strategic about what your intent is, is your intent to grow your email list is your intent to sell. Is your, you know, what is your actual intent with the ads? But they're definitely a great resource, a great tool to have in your back pocket, but I don't do them myself. I hire someone to do those
For the viewer and the listener Monica Louie was on. So you can look her up and she's a Facebook Strategist, a Instagram Strategist. So definitely listened to that amazing episode. I actually had an expert on with us who actually spent over $30,000 in Facebook ads. So it was really cool cause I'm like a newbie, like really naive to it with someone who's actually has a business who spent, who dumped the money in there. And then, so I was asking questions, he was asking questions. So it was really cool for both of us to be, it was like, it was the longest podcast. It was two and a half hours. It was seriously, but it's so insightful. So okay. Circling back around. So let's dive deep if it's okay with you.
And I'm, I know there's like the, the five W's for branding and the five CS for Branding. So do you want to share those with us?
I'd be happy to, so we can start with the five W's since you mentioned them first, but I like to think of them as the who, what, when, where and why. So when you're creating a personal brand, you really need to know who your ideal audiences, you need to know so much about them, that you have a name for them, really know the ins and outs of their life, what their problems are and what that problem is that you're going to be able to solve for them. So the, what is actually the service or product that you provide, that's going to solve a problem for your ideal audience. And then when is, when do you work? Like when, when is it that you're available to work with your customers? And you might think that's kind of trivial, but it's actually very important because when does your ideal audience need you?
And when are they available to work with you? So you do kind of have to pinpoint that. And then where, where do you work and where can you work with your clients? Are you international? Are you domestic? Are you virtual only? Are you in person only? And that's important because your ideal client avatar needs to know where they're going to be able to work with you. If they live in California, can they work with you if you live in work out of Pennsylvania, so, you know, just things to consider and then your why your why is so incredibly important because why do you do what you do? And that really is going to be the turnkey of your business as far as what are your values and why do you do what you do to serve someone else?
Why do you have the expertise you have? Why, why does, why are you passionate about that? And really be able to communicate all of these things. And again, th these things should be communicated consistently across your website, across your social media platforms. So people can really truly understand what it is you're going to do for them, how you're going to do it and why it should matter to them. Yeah. Yeah. And then
We'll, we'll, before you go to the five CS, I would just like to say that I found along my journey thus far, it's like, you know, when we get out of our ego and, and out of ourselves, and we're here for the bigger purpose of why they, like, I like read poems and I read an ear pallet and I, you know, I read different quotes and, you know, I've done a lot of studying and stuff. And I found like, you know, at the end of the day, people are like, you know, when someone's on their, you know, their, the bed at the end of the night or the end of the day, and they've lived their life, it's like someone who was connected or from a bunch of Ted talks to, but someone who was connected to something outside of themselves, like a bigger purpose for like the environment or humanity, or, you know, being connected to an over being a part of something like a global something to like be a part of something outside of ourselves, people found they had a more like purposeful, driven life than being so just like self-involved with something like really small.
So do you have anything to say about those thoughts?
Oh, absolutely. So I always say Katie, so I have, I work with a lot of multi-passionate people and I always say, you, you have to align your values, your visions and your passions. And when you align those three things, you're going to be able to find your zone of genius. You're going to be able to identify who it is that you want to serve and can effectively serve. And who are you, who you're going to truly resonate with. But so yeah, you have to have those things. And I think anytime you have passion about something that is outside of yourself, because at the end of the day, it's really not about us. It's about the people that we are serving.
We it's, you know, any content that we should put out or that we do put out should not be about us. It should be about our client and how it's going to help them, how it's going to serve them. And maybe it is about getting to know us, but it's also letting them know that I'm here for you. So if I'm going to post a post about myself and introduction post, do you know how they do that on Instagram? I'm also going to communicate like, why D why does that matter to my client or my ideal audience? Why, why should they care? Well, what's an example. I can serve them.
What's an example of that. Like, if you're doing an introductory post or your it's like of you, and you're like, oh, blah, blah, blah. And then you were going to share the why, what, what, what are some sentences or language that you would?
So for example, I might say I'm passionate about helping people find clarity so that they can expand their dreams and goals for success in their life. You know, things like that. Or maybe it's something, you know, I'm passionate about serving the underprivileged population, the marginalized community. So I'm telling them that I'm not only working in my business. I'm also on the board of directors for a homeless shelter or a, you know, a community center in an impoverished area, in the city of Philadelphia. So, you know, it's little things like that, that you can communicate that show your passions so that people can get to know more about you
Character, character too, and maybe they'll connect, oh, because maybe they're cultured, or maybe they like to help out other people who are in need as well. So that's how you find your niche. Cause we were before we go to the W's, but let's talk about more of the Niche. Yeah.
I always say like your, your niece, your zone of genius, you know, whatever you want to call it. It's I think if you align your, I think of a Venn diagram. So if you write down all the things that you're passionate about, you write down your values and what are, what is so important to you? Those things that are non-negotiable in terms of the decisions you make throughout the course of your life or business, and then your visions, where do you see yourself? What do you see yourself doing? Who do you see yourself working with? What are, what are those dreams that you have when you write all of those down, they're going to overlap somewhere and where they overlap is where your energy should be spent. That's where you're going to find the most fulfillment for yourself.
And that's where you're going to be able to best serve other people.
And what are some examples of values? And cause you've mentioned values a few times, and it's so important to know your values, but someone who's on a self-discovery of understanding their values, values that were given to them, but maybe, you know, in a transitional period or just learning about their own values. You know, I definitely have some teenagers who listened to my show, how can they search and write down their values and know who they are with value.
So actually there's a really great website. James clear wrote the book atomic habits and he has on his website. He has a list of values. I think he has 50 listed. There are more than 50, depending on, you know, where you look, but there's like integrity, honesty, faith service. There are, of course now I'm going to have a mental block, but I mean, there's, there's a ton of them, but if you think of those, they're almost like characteristics, but they're, we call them values because they're really at the core of who you are. They're those things that are most important to you with how you live your life. Does that make sense?
It makes total sense. And, and I also asked this because I was on a quest for years where I was understanding value and understanding morals. And so I'm definitely gonna check out the book myself. And I think it's a really big question because I, I come from, you know, a big Greek family. And then I went, I had like, you know, my cahoots about me. And then I went out into the world, you know, for two decades. And, and I met all these different kinds of people and being cultured, you know, like culture is a big value for me. And, and I went out and I explore different things and then we get entangled and we hear different things.
So then like, you know, circle back around and just to kind of like, you know, get in touch with self again. It's I feel like I went on a journey of, you know, circling back to say like, oh, this is what I was taught. And then like, this is maybe things got lost along the way. This is what other peoples were. And then getting it, like kind of like your second phase, right? Getting in touch with your second phase again, to like, understand like your new values. Cause you meet a partner or you align in a business opportunity with business partners for a brand new, you have to make sure you have the same values because you're like essentially like going on a journey with this person. So like identifying nine only your values, knowing them, but in partnership, in a personal relationship, but in a, in a personal business relationship for Branding as well.
Well, yeah, 100%. And if you, if you don't align at least have some crossover with people you're working within business or people that you're in a partner life partnership with, then communication is going to fail. You're not going to be able to agree because you're on different spectrums, different things are important to you. And I think most people, if you really sit down and make a list of your core values, and what I like to do is say, you know, make a list of 10 to 15 that are important for you. Keep it start with 30, 30 words that you know, values that are important to you and narrow those down gradually because there's going to be an overlap. Like there's some, some of the words have very similar meanings and so one word may resonate more with you than the other, but write them all down and then narrow those down to 10 to 15.
And from there, go down to five to seven. And then at the end, you want to have three to five that are just really who you are. Those things that are non-negotiable like you said, you can go through life and you're going to have different experiences, but you're going to come back to those values all the time. And those are what are going to keep you grounded in yourself and the decisions you make about every aspect of your life.
Great. This is great. Especially if, you know, just it's a, it's just like a reiteration, but it's also great for the viewer and listener. Like if something isn't, if it's Rocky or if it's not flowing. So to kind of like check in with one self's values and your partner's values too, if, you know, if a business is kind of Rocky or the brand is not, you know, there's a lot of frustration in brands. Lot of people are frustrated, even when you have it all figured out, there's still stuff always going, like the only thing that is constant is change, right?
Yeah, absolutely. And it's, that is important too. When we talk about branding and you are communicating who you are and you're sharing your values because there may be people who, you know, maybe you don't even want to work with them because their values are so far off from your values that you don't even agree with how they're living their life. So why would you sacrifice your own values and your own sanity and sake of self to work with somebody else? So I think especially for young people, it's really important to clue into those just for us a sense of guidance as you make decisions going forward. And don't ever think that it's okay to sacrifice your values just to please someone else.
I love that you just said that my heart just got so warm inside because of what you, what you just said. It's exactly. It's like, we want to people please all the time, like, you know, it's I from, I come from a heart center, so I'm, I grew up like people pleasing. I just want everyone to like me. And it's like, you know, I was always entertaining and laughing. And so everyone would like, like me, I just wanted to people please. And yeah. And it's like, we don't need everyone to like us. Like there's 9 billion people in the world. It's okay. If everyone doesn't like us, like, I mean, we can just be kind to one another. We don't need to like everyone, we don't need to not like anyone, but we can just be like neutral.
It's not going to connect with everyone. So, and that's okay. That's totally okay. And like you said, to like, to take that pressure off of ourselves from feeling, we need to people, please, everyone it's that, and that comes with confidence, like you were saying earlier, you know? Cause it's like a deep rooted thing of insecurity and you know, maybe there's other psychological, psychological things there too of like just wanting to be liked. But yeah, I love that. I love that. And that's important, I guess, to know your, your niche as well. Like you're not going to want to work with everyone. You're not going to want everyone to show up because you're just personally not going to want to wake up, to work with them every day or to serve them every day.
Well, you'll end up frustrated and unhappy and you know, that's not why you're doing what you're doing. You're not doing what you're doing and investing in a business to be unhappy. So you have to really pay attention. And, and I think, you know, we, we use the phrase a lot, follow your gut. Well, your intuition speaks volumes. Follow that because if you send something isn't aligned or something's not right, sit back and, you know, look at your values and look at what you think their values are, what they've said, their values are. And if they're not aligned, then take a step back and it's okay. You have to keep yourself safe because you're the only one that can be a true advocate for yourself. So you really do have to take it all in.
It's the whole picture. It's not just, you know. Yeah,
Yeah. And I told you a while ago, like my next step, something that I want to do is like have a course. So I, you industry coaching. So I have clients I coach, but I found along the way for the last year, because I pivoted during, you know, the pandemic. But I found the last year, like I have a Google doc of like this same things, like the basics that I always say over. And I feel like energetically my time, the exhaustion, like me saying the same thing over and over, I feel like I'm not doing service to my soul, into my purpose by saying the same thing. And I don't want to be saying it to the same people over. So that's why I want to build a course. And I know I need to like, not have the imposter syndrome and contact you so I can do like my modules and it out. So I can just like record it ABC all the way through and make sure I'm hitting all my, you know, a Personal Branding points to be able to do that so I can offload.
So I'm not. So then it's like, okay, do the course. Okay, cool. So you can learn the basics. So I'm not wasting my time or your time do the course that I want to like create and have you coach me on it and then have the course. And then after you do the course, then you'll be at a new level. Then I can be an industry coach for you and, and, and talk about things. Because for me, it's like, I don't want to say it's bottom Peter's stuff, but it's like beginner letters, level stuff, which I love, but after you're doing it for awhile, then I'm like, wait a minute. I could be pivoting and doing this and saving that energy because you know, we want to, like you said earlier, be getting up and working in serving who we want to be serving. Well, I feel like I felt my, I filled my cup in that area and I still want to service that, but I can do it with a course and then kind of ser fill another service and fill another cup in a different enter where there's like an energetic exchange.
And that's okay. As humans, we change, we change. It's not always going to be the same. So to give ourselves that permission for that change as well.
Absolutely like, like I said before, we have to give ourselves that grace to, to transition or to try something new. Once we realize something, then it's okay to step away and say, you know what? This isn't for me anymore. But this is, and I can still work with all the people that I've already attracted. I've built relationships with and they want to work with me. I'm just going to work with them in a new way. That's okay. That doesn't mean you're off brand. You can stay on brand, you know, you just make a transition. Yeah. Cool.
All right. Let's dive into the five CS. Okay.
So it's funny. Cause there are five CS, but then there are actually four CS within the five CS. So it ends up being a total of nine, but that's beside the point. So the first one is clarity. When we have clarity on who we are, what we do, what our, why is what our zone of geniuses or our niches, who our ideal client avatar is, we're going to build connections. And as we build those connections, we're going to be able to build relationships and we'll ultimately become recognizable and memorable and we're going to help do that through being cohesive. So when I talked earlier about your brand identity, your brand identity is really important to have the same color schemes, the same topography, the state, you know, your logo, all of those visual assets of your brand to have those cohesive across all of your platforms so that you are easily recognizable.
And then people will start seeing, seeing that consistently. And then once you've done that consistently, your not only recognizable, you're memorable. And once you become recognizable and memorable, you become shareable. And then, you know, you become somebody that other people are referring people to you. So you have clarity which helps with the connection and you have cohesive consistent. And then from there, we look at content that you're going to create. And every time you put content out in the world, which again, your messaging should be consistent, just like, you know, showing up should be consistent. Having similar content should be consistent from your website to your, to your social media posts. So the more consistent you are, the more you're going to be able to build the know love and trust factor.
And then every time you put content out, you want to make sure you have a call to action. What do you want your people to do? Do you want them to call you? Do you want, do you offer a free discovery call? Do you want them to leave a, an emoji in the comments? Do you want them to sign up for your free ebook, but give them a call to action. People don't know what to do unless you tell them what you want them to do. So if you're trying to build a business, let people know that what it is you want them to do so that they can figure out how you're ultimately going to serve them. Like head over to
Head over to Amazon right now and pick up my poetry book. Yes.
That's exactly that.
But I'm intent or like learn more. I found, like I learned a lot of the ways like learn more, you know? It's like, or do you like do this now? Or like, you know what I mean? Like,
Well, yeah. Different things like that. And you know, I tell my clients sometimes they're like, oh my gosh, I don't want to write content. I don't want to create captions for Instagram. You don't have to ask a question, ask the question, create your graphic, ask a question like, oh, you could ask anything depending on whatever content you're putting out, you know, ask them what their big, biggest struggle is today. Ask them, you know, depending on what you're doing, like, like for you that how many different genres are there of Poetry, you could even ask, you know, what's your favorite genre of Poetry? Who's your favorite poet? You know, you could say, who, what actor are you crushing on this week? You know? Like
Make it fun and engaging. I like that. Yeah. A lot of people have the imposter syndrome or they get scared. Like, oh, what if no one leaves a comment? Like, no, we have only two people respond. What if no one responds? What if it's like a silly question? You know? Like,
And my response to that, and this sounds so flippant, but at the end of the day, who cares follower count likes none of that matters. What matters is that you are putting out positive energy and content that has value. That's it? That's all that matters because not everybody. I mean, how many times have you scrolled through Instagram and you haven't stopped to like something or comment, you know, people are busy, so they may see it and they may come back to it later. They may even share it. They may even save it for later, but don't get hung up on likes and followers because at the end of the day, these influencers that have, you know, a million followers or, you know, get a hundred thousand likes, whatever that's, all they're doing is they're being paid to be on Instagram everyday, all day.
So, you know, and they have been doing what they're doing for years. So, especially if you're new to the social media world, don't beat yourself up over that show up as your true self. And that's all that matters. Don't try to mimic somebody else. Don't try to post like they post don't try, you know, maybe you can get inspiration, but like I said, create your content first and consume after so that you're not intimidated or trying to mimic somebody else whenever you're creating your content
And do not, do not do Fiverr and pay for the bots and the followers and the legs do not pay for it. It's it's really bad. It's like a really horrible do not do it. Although a lot of those people do buy the fake followers and the likes people even buying engagements now. But the number one thing I know is like, it's not about the followers of the lights. It's about the engagement. So asking a question actually is really smart. Nick known this for a long time, but asking you a question and always asking a question because it'll build up and people will start to see the language to start communicating with you. But that's what people look at.
They look up for engagement. They engagement is really, really important. And I personally need, I haven't posted in a while, but like since earth day or something, but I'm going to, you're going to see Robyn. When you go to my feet, I'm going to be, I'm going to be asking questions. So yeah. And you can answer girlfriend
Well, and, and that's the other thing you have to respond and engage with other people's kids too, if you really want to build relationships, but you can do something as simple as give me a thumbs up emoji, if you agree, you don't even have to have ask them to write something big out in response to your question, you can do something so simple so that the last C is community. And when we talk about community, you know, we all start somewhere and we all have family and friends. So we can start by telling them all about our business, all about what we're doing all about, what our passions and our joys and our dreams are. And then what's going to happen. They're going to start telling their friends and they're going to start telling their extended family and so on and so forth. So you grow your community by just being present.
And once you have started to build your community, then think about collaborations. Because if you start collaborating, you're working with like-minded people and you become a referral source for each other. So again, you start tapping into their community, they start tapping into your community and you help each other grow. And then once you do all of these things, you're going to be able to catapult yourself into that next level of success. You're going to move the needle on your business in a positive way.
Yeah. I mean, I'm actually, you referred me to someone you did, and we had a zoom, so that's an energetic call to action. And like, now this person knows about me. I know about them. And then you've planted a seed. You sell your seeds and then I'll think of you I've already. And I was like, I brought you on some club out to a clubhouse before, and I've referred some people to you. And so that's how it works. Energetically. Cause like you're in my psychological seats in my, I want, wanna say psychological, psychological, just like my you're like in my, in my wheelhouse of like people I think of when I think about like Branding, like I'm like, oh Robyn.
And so like, because you become like a trusted source to me because not only did you refer me, but before that you added value to me. And so like, we can do that for one another. Yes. And that's a healthy mindset
And don't look at it as comparison. Don't look at it as competition. Because like I said earlier, we each have a unique gift and we're meant to serve a unique population with that gift. And I really believe that like, just because someone does the same thing I do doesn't mean that their clients are going to resonate with me or I'm going to resonate with their clients. So I have a photographer that rent studio space from me. We both do headshot photography. I'm not in competition with her. She's people are going to look at her website and see what she does and want to work with her. And other people are going to look at my website and they're going to want to work with me. So it's, there's enough to go around. So don't let yourself get sucked into comparing yourself to other people or competing against someone else, because really it's more important to build your community because even if you do the same thing, you can become a referral source for each other.
Yeah. Expectations and comparisons are death threats. Not very good. Not very good at all. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. Very, we had definitely been all over the place. Any thing else you want to share with strategy Branding, your coaching business. So people, you know, anything else that you want people to know before they contact you?
No. I mean, they, they can go to my website. I have a resource page on my website and they can download free resources. There's everything from a smartphone, photography ebook for building a personal brand or even for personal use. There's a quiz on Personal Branding to see what your Personal Branding IQ is, which is kind of fun. And there's a plethora of resources there. And then my podcast is the second phase Podcast and it's available anywhere. You listen to podcasts. So that's really me in a nutshell, everything to contact me or to reach me is the Robyn Graham dot com. It's Robyn with a Y R O B Y N. And you can find me under that handle just about anywhere and that's my website as well.
So the Robyn Graham dot com.
Great. And it'll be in the shownotes and cool. I really appreciate you. Thank you so much for, you know, being you and sharing your wealth of knowledge with everyone. That's really, really cool. And your fellow pallet. So we, you know, we had the, we kicked off the season with, you know, national poetry month and honoring world Poetry day and everything like that. So if you want to read one of your pieces, that'd be super cool to have you read one of your Poetry pieces you want me to okay. Yeah. Be awesome. I'm not, yeah, that'd be so great.
Okay. I'm not a published poets and I'll tell you that most of my poems were related to a photograph that I took. So I would create the image and then right. Or vice versa. But usually the image came first and then the poem. So I'll read two quick ones that I really, really love. So this one is called golden piece and it was written after I took an image on the west coast, in Oregon of sunset. And it was just this really incredible slow exposure image. And so here it goes, a wave of grace washes over the soul as the golden glow of the sun receipts beyond the horizon, a wave of golden warmth moves the heart and stirs the emotions of then and now of loves lost and gained for people.
Who've come and gone with the ebb and flow of the waves of life flowing near and far tempting the soul to grasp the glory of the golden peace that often lies beyond our reach until it lasts. We concede to accept the love and peace offered by the divine. Very, very nice.
Nice, beautiful. Very nice. Oh yeah. I'm excited to see the image now I'll have
To post it, I suppose. Huh?
Oh yeah, no. I'll before you read your next one, I'm also saying would be really exciting to see yourself published book with your photography, with the Palm next to it. And let me know, cause I I'll be the first one to buy.
Oh, that'd be awesome. Yes. So I have all these things on my to-do list. I do have a book that I just finished and submitted to my editor that will, will publish actually January of 2022. It's a book on anxiety for teen girls and there we'll have a, there will be a parent component as well, but so after I get that all finished, then I'll come back to the Poetry and the images. Okay. So
Sounds good. Okay, cool. Very, very cool. Yeah, that sounds like a amazing idea. All right, so let's hear the second one. You wanna hear it?
Another one? Yeah, this is intimidating.
Well, that's why we're here all over the place. That's what it's all
About. Okay. Here's another one and deep
Breath in everyone take a deep breath.
And this image was to Calla lilies that were entwined and it was a black and white image. And actually these image, these images in poems, I think are still on my blog from way, way back when, so you may be able to even still find them on my blog, but this one is called intertwined. Two came together by chance and began to dance. Their hearts began to flutter their limbs in moments puttered, while the music played their body swayed just as the love is blind, their souls intertwined.
Beautiful. You're like me, you write about love. I know. I
Don't know how that happened, but yeah. It's, I guess it's always been such a core part of me. Yeah,
Yeah. Yeah. I didn't know until I was publishing my poetry book, everyone go to Amazon. I love S Fairytale pick up the Poetry. But, but when I was researching about publishing my poetry book, I found there's different genres of pellets. And I was looking up that I found out there's like people who just write about love, people who write about torment and sorrow. Like there's all these people who just write about different things or policy politics or, you know? Yeah. I decided it was really interesting that all of my poems, they're just all about love. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Fallow love poet.
Yeah. Well, it's funny how things inspire you too. Like I went and toured one time, the, the former prison in Philadelphia and it was the first prison in the U S that was solitary confinement. And you know, you tourists, I toured it. And then I took some incredible images of the cells and just different aspects of the, of the facility. And one day I was like, oh, what can I post on my blog today? And then I wrote this poem about, you know, this solid, this person, fictitious person in solitary confinement. And it was based on a story that I heard when I was there of this man who actually stole a horse. So, and he was put in solitary confinement.
So you know, what a torturous way to have to live. And so, yeah, I think, I think it's just incredible to be able to have the gift of creativity and have inspiration strike you when you least expect it.
Oh yeah, definitely. Definitely. And speaking of my friend, Robert sermon, who actually did all the photos from the original Polaroid that's with my book, he did a project in, in all the prisons and he went to many different prisons all over, I don't know America or the world, but he did a project, a yoga project and he all these inmates and he did this whole thing of, they do yoga in prisons and he took photos. So just go to his Yeti to follow them since your fellow photographer, Robert salmon, S T U R M a N. I'll send it to you, but he, he has a bunch of photos he printed of 'em or took photos of, of inmates that I think you'll appreciate since you have a similar story.
Yeah. Cool.
Yeah. I'll look him up. Absolutely
Cool. Very cool. Any last words of wisdom for anyone who's wanting to start their branding game or just up there Branding game with their life, with their life, with their life, with their life, with their lives.
I would just say, stay, you know, start and build a foundation. Don't just do everything you see other people doing. You can start a totally inexpensively pair up with someone who can give you the guidance. Who's done it before so that you aren't spinning your wheels and become frustrated and overwhelmed and spend a lot of money to get zero results. So really just think about building the foundation first. Yeah.
And listened to the second phase Podcast. Obviously, obviously, obviously the Robyn Graham. Thank you so much for joining us on she's all over the place. So happy to have you here. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Katie. It was an honor to be here. I really, really,
Really, truly appreciate it. My pleasure, my pleasure. And you know, in the last two weeks we had 3000 downloads. So it's awesome that you're on now because more of you will hear this episode and thank you so much to the viewer, the F the listener for being here for showing up. I love you so much. Again, we're here to inspire you. Check out the links below and we'll see you next week on she's all over the place. Thank you. Thank you so much for joining us. We'll see you next time. Kyriaki, over and out.