EP18: What’s Inside Fun and Playful Brand Experimentations? – TOP 3 BRAND ADVICE W/ D’ANA JOI (+ EXTENDED BONUS TIP)
From a Content Creator, Educator and Business Owner’s UNIQUE perspective
- Listen in to hear D’Ana Joi TOP 3 pieces of advice on branding and business and hear from her unique perspective. D’Ana Joi, who goes by her middle name “Joi,” is a multi-passionate, educator, community builder, and content creator. She believes having many passions is a gift, not a burden, and she’s on a mission to rewrite the narrative around “choosing one thing” being the only path to success. Through her e-book, courses, and upcoming podcast, Joi teaches creatives how to make friends with focus, overcome overwhelm, and step into their Multi-Passionate Mastery.
- TOPICS WE DISCUSS: Viral Connections, Cultivating Confidence as a Multi-Passionate Creative, The Story behind “Chai” the dog from Thailand, Unapologetic Online business Approach, Break Free From Limits Set by Standards, Going beyond the Risk Levels, Low-Risk Content Benefits, Seasonal Products, Seasonal Branding, Cohesive Branding VS. Seasonal Branding, Playful Brand Connections.
TRANSCRIPTION:
First tip: 0:05:16.4
Second tip: 0:08:19.6
Third tip: 0:22:37.4
Bonus tip: 0:31:24.4
[0:00:00.0] Joi: When it comes to these kinds of one-off things, workshops and workbooks and freebies and things like that, I think we’re allowed to have a little bit more fun than we realize.
[0:00:09.9] Peggy: You’re listening to the Branding Gems podcast, a podcast that’s not just interviews and conversations. It’s to bring you guys the best of the best women in branding and business to answer this question: What are your top three valuable tips and lessons that you learned along the way? And then, we discuss it. To fuel your passion-filled lifestyle business, I promise to bring you the best of the best women in branding and business and together, we can grow and learn from the extracted advice that they provide. I’m Peggy Bree, and let’s get growing!
Hi! I just wanted to quickly mention that we actually reached 500+ downloads and I’m so grateful and I thought about this, and I really want this platform to not just be a podcast that just fuels the growth and just hear tips and all that, and yes, those are good too, but I really want it to be a space of inspirational stories and brands for people who feel stuck or are feeling uninspired. And I feel like when you’re feeling uninspired, it could hit at whatever stage in your business and brand journey. It’s okay to feel uninspired, you’re in the middle, or whatever that timeline looks like for you, but it’s okay, but I really want to have that platform to inspire you back. And what better way than to bring such amazing and unique perspectives and women and to hear from their brands and businesses and to just be inspired again? So, I’m so happy to have this podcast with you, and if you love this podcast, please share it on your Instagram @blankroomdesign or @peggybree. I’ll definitely be there to reshare you. And I want to hear about your brand’s businesses. How’s it going? And what is it? And do you want to share what you learned on this podcast and share your perspective, you’re definitely welcome to do that, so reach out @peggybree or @blankroomdesign and let me know. And of course, thank you to Zencastr! Zencastr is such an awesome platform and they sponsored these episodes. Oh my goodness! They are so good. You can use it for all your audio content or video content needs. And yes, it doesn’t have to be just audio. They have a video platform as well and you’re welcome to use it and for your content. And here’s my code, @PeggyBree, and you can get 40% off for three months and two weeks for free. And yes, it is such a powerful platform. I totally recommend them. I use them. I use them to record different women from around the world, so I trust them, and you can too. And yeah, so I’m excited for this episode! She is such a fun person, and her brand and business is amazing! And it’s just filled with funny stories and just such an interesting insight into her brand and into her world, so stay tuned! Also, it’s going to be a double-dipping week. We’re going to have two episodes this week. There’s going to be one on Friday. Yes, it’s double-dipping because I missed last week’s day but I’ll make it up to you and I’ll have another episode. Yay! And, oh, what a great week! What a great September, and I’ll talk to you soon. Bye!
Hi! Welcome back to another episode of Branding Gems. I have such a lovely guest today to share her top three tips and advice and to share her journey in his vast branding and business world. So we have D’Ana Joi, who goes by her middle name, Joi. She’s a multi-passionate educator, community builder, and content creator. She believes having many passions is a gift, not a burden, and she’s on a mission to rewrite the narrative around “choosing one thing” being the only path to success. Through her content, live workshops, and online community, Joi teaches creatives how to make friends with focus, craft impactful personal brands, and step into their multi-passionate mastery. Welcome!
[0:04:37.9] Joi: Thank you so much for having me! So excited about our conversation today.
[0:04:42.0] Peggy: Yes, it’s exciting! And it’s so great to connect on Instagram throughout these years. I think it’s been a year or so or more, but you’ve always had such an amazing vibe about you, like you’re just so genuine and so awesome, so it’s so nice to finally connect in voice! [Laughter]
[0:05:00.0] Joi: Yes! Likewise. I think it’s been at least a couple of years that we’ve been following each other’s journeys on Instagram, so I feel exactly the same.
[0:05:07.8] Peggy: Oh, this is exciting! So let’s dive right in. What are your top three tips on branding and business? And let’s start with the first one.
[0:05:16.4] Joi: So my top three tips, for number one, I would say be okay with your brand evolving over time. So I’m a multi-passionate creativity educator, right? So part of what I’m constantly teaching my community or my clients is that we really need to give ourselves a lot of grace when it comes to pivoting, changing our minds, going in a new direction, and sometimes that’s going to look like a rebrand. The goal is always to come into an energetically aligned space with whatever work you’re putting out into the world. And your brand might look one way today and look very different two or three years from now, and that’s okay. So I think really being okay with that evolution is super duper important. When I first started my business, it was just a blog, and so I didn’t really have to think too much about how my brand would be applied to other things like courses and workshops and a community. But now that I have my brand being shared across multiple mediums, multiple platforms, I am slowly starting to upgrade certain things, like my fonts and my colors, little things like that, and I think it’s totally fine to do that. It’s totally fine to have your brand evolve over time, and I actually think it’s really cool. I don’t know if you’ve ever had this experience, Peggy, but sometimes, when I find someone whose work I really love, I actually kind of go on a little treasure hunt and try to go back as far as I can to see where they started. And I like seeing the evolution of someone else’s brand. I like seeing where they started and how they evolved over time. Sometimes you might see that their entire brand name has changed, or maybe they were focused on one area and then it led into something else and they arrived in this place where they feel super in vibe with what they’re offering now, but it’s really cool to see that journey. So I think that one thing that, especially for multi-passionate creative entrepreneurs, really consider that the journey is a great thing. It’s beautiful. It could even help someone feel more connected with you in the long term, so be fine with that evolution. That’s definitely my first tip.
[0:07:35.7] Peggy: Oh, that’s so good. And it’s such a great reminder too because it’s like looking back at old posts or looking back at the very beginning of when one started, it’s never perfect, and it’s never going to be this perfection every day, either. And I think that’s the beauty of it too because there are imperfections and because there’s a humanistic quality to it. People can see all that it is in the most realest form, and it’s nice that it’s not set on one day and that tomorrow, it could have a different conversation and something could happen to that and it keeps that exciting energy going too because it’s so ongoing, so I love that.
[0:08:19.6] Joi: Yeah, for sure. Exactly, for sure. And then my second tip would be to consider how you want your audience to feel when they interact with your brand. So I think we can get really caught up in colors and fonts and all of that, but how do you want people to feel when they react with your content? Do you want to have a more formal voice? Do you want to be like this more formal, elevated educator, for example? Or do you want to have a more casual tone and do you want people to feel like they really could just DM you anytime and you’re going to write them back? Do you want to be super approachable, super casual? Do you want to be all the way at the opposite end of the spectrum where you’re like a disruptor [laughter]? And maybe you want to use loud profanity and that’s your thing, right? So I think really considering how you want people to feel when they’re interacting with your content. And it’s a tricky question to ask because, again, a lot of us get hung up on like, “Okay, well here’s what I’m thinking for my colors. Here’s my mood board.” Right? But all of that is giving off a vibe, and that vibe is informing someone of how they’re going to feel. So when someone comes across my content, I want them to feel like they’re taking something away and they’ve just learned something new, but also they’re inspired and they want to maybe just go do something creative and they’re feeling really energized. So I am going to use a certain color palette that can speak to that, but it’s also just about, “How am I going to come across even when I’m speaking to the camera in Stories or when I’m writing my copy, when I’m writing my email copy and things like that?” It’s keeping the tone approachable but inspiring, right? So I think considering how your brand feels is extremely important and another way to do this exercise is to consider brands that you love yourself and think about how they make you feel. Think about how they make you feel. There are certain brands that make us want to put on our finest jewelry and get dressed up [laughter] for no reason and there are other brands that make us want to kick back and relax and take it easy. So I think really considering how your content’s going to come across to other people in terms of the feeling is important.
[0:11:07.2] Peggy: I love that, and I love that really having that core feeling established is so key because when you translate that across different touch points when it comes to video, copy, or just a website, you have to make sure that that feeling is felt across all of it. And that it’s through consistency of photos, colors, and font choices, all of that, it’s key to making sure that that audience would feel the same way that they feel when they’re on your Instagram page and also on your website or watching videos too. So keeping that feeling across is so interesting. So what are your tips in doing that?
[0:11:52.1] Joi: So for me, the vibe that I’m going for with my brand is to be approachable, to keep it a two-way conversation. I always want to hear from my audience. I want to know how my content is landing. Being able to feel my impact is just really important like, “Hmm, okay. Is this working? Is this not working?” And also as a community builder, I think I’m just really naturally wanting to be in tune with the people that I’m working with. I want to have that kind of close-knit relationship where it’s a two-way conversational street. And so, in order for people to feel comfortable being in conversation with me like that, I do things like post pictures of myself in my home, so a lot of my lifestyle photography before [laughter] the pandemic, when I was working with my photographer on a really consistent basis, we would do 90% of my shots in my home – at my desk, in my workspace, with my dog – and we would always make sure that we got some where I’m looking right at the camera.
So just consider that versus someone who maybe runs a studio and gets really dressed up and has these more editorial pictures. That’s going to give an entirely different tone. Someone might not consider that to be like, “Oh yeah, I can just DM her,” or like, “Oh yeah, I can see her brand’s very conversational.” Someone who’s choosing to do more of a stylized studio, they may be positioning themselves as like, “Here’s my content suite. Here are my courses. Here’s this. And that’s how you’re going to communicate with me at this more high level.? And both of them are great, so I’m just giving that comparison for contrast, so that’s one way that I achieve this, is doing a lot of my lifestyle photoshoots in my home, in my environment, where I’m looking comfortable and relaxed. Another way I do this is through my copy. So when I’m writing the copy for my website, the intro on my homepage says, “So here’s the deal,” right? And then it goes into like, “You’re not flaky, you’re not wishy-washy. You’re a multi-passionate creative. You have gifts that need to be uncovered. Let me help you with that. Let’s work through this together.” From the gate, it’s very conversational. At one point, I think I had my copy say, “Pull up a chair. Let’s chat real quick.” Because I had a photo of me in a chair at that point, but I edited it since then. So that’s one way, and even with my emails. When you sign up, whether you grab one of my freebies or you sign up for my newsletter, the very first email that you get, my welcome sequence, the subject line just says, “Oh my God, hi!” It was like a little emoji. And I recently had someone respond to that and say, “This is the best subject line ever. I literally thought you were like one of my friends writing me an email that I hadn’t heard from.” And that’s exactly how I wanted that to land. It’s like, “Oh my God, hi! Look! I’m in your inbox. This is crazy. Of course I’m in your inbox. You invited me here, but this is an exciting day for me. I’m so excited that we’re here together.” And that’s literally what my email sounds like. It’s just very conversational. I also keep this two-way conversation going via email by asking people to reply. “Hey, reply and let me know. Reply and let me know if this landed for you. Reply and let me know your biggest takeaway. Reply and let me know what you’re working through right now.” And then, I’ve been playing around with other mediums like video or podcasting and trying to figure out what’s going to work and once I filmed this video, I ordered lights [laughter] and I set up a whole film studio and I had the backdrop and I had the bites and I had a script and I was sitting up nice and straight and I was kind of going on my script and making sure that I pause so I could edit it out later.
And oh my gosh, Peggy, and I mean, it was fine, it came out great. But when I watched the video, I was like, “That is not me.” I looked just so formal and a little bit stuffy [laughter]. I was just like, “That is not me!” So I would much rather just go on Stories with no makeup and just let people know what’s on my mind. In terms of video content, I’d rather do that, or just film a quick IGTV on my phone, sitting on my couch. So for me, the super produced video, it didn’t feel aligned with my brand just because I think it is a little bit more casual and conversational. And given that, I’m going to go the podcast direction, so that’s the next big project I’m going to work on, is a podcast, because what better way to have a conversation than to host your own podcast, as you obviously know? So those are a few ways that me keeping the casual two-way conversational feel in my brand. And it’s been really, really helpful because when something feels off, like the video was fine and it looked great and the lighting was great and I did a good job, it wasn’t like I messed up my script or I didn’t deliver useful information, but something about it felt off. And so, if you really know how you want your brand to feel and how you want people to interact with your content, when something feels off, it’s going to be a little bit easier for you to know why. You know what I mean?
[0:17:24.7] Peggy: Mm-hmm. What I love the most about what you said is that choosing that right platform that portrays you the best is so key because there are so many platforms out there and I feel like it’s common for people to think, “Oh, I have to be a little bit in all these platforms.” But it’s true, not all platforms are going to be able to showcase you or communicate you and your brand the best. And if video is not your thing, it’s not your thing. You can’t force it. Maybe in the future, you can dabble into it, but if it’s not, then sometimes it’s not. And I love that you’re able to go and try it out in all these different forms and all these different areas, but still kept that core in place, which is that casual and two-way conversational vibe. And it’s so key, it’s so good. And what I also was going to mention was that I know that you talked about the CTA at the end of the email newsletters saying, “Oh, reply and let me know if you got this.” I love that in your CTA and in that copy, you still kept it so personal in that conversation and it’s so good when it comes to building relationships with your audience and it keeps things personal and it keeps that two-way conversation like what you were saying, so I love that.
[0:19:02.2] Joi: Yeah. I highly recommend anyone who’s listening, if you have that welcome email, if there’s a way to organically ask that people reply and let you know, just say, “Hey! I’d love to know what you’re working on right now. Reply.” And let them know, “I read every single response.” I think it’s really important to say that too, not just like, “Hey, reply. That’s great if you reply.” And another thing I always do is I say, “Thanks for opening my email today.” I really don’t take it for granted that people open my emails and email marketing is a big part of my business, so I love to keep the conversation really, really two-way. I don’t know a better way to say it, [laughter] but you know what I mean? I love to keep the conversation going back and forth because it’s a huge part of my business. It’s how I share my offerings and all that, so at the end of my welcome email, I ask two questions. I ask what someone’s biggest struggle is as a multi-passionate creative and what’s the one project they’ve been wanting to start but they haven’t? And I just say, “Reply and let me know,” and then I say, “I read every single reply.” And I do. Sometimes I don’t have the time to write back, but I will jot down in my idea notebook, “Okay, it would be great for me to do an Instagram post or do a training on this because I’m getting these new replies, and I do have an idea for how to repurpose some of that. And when I do have the time, I will write back and I’ll at least say, “Hey, thanks so much for replying,” or like, “Hey, thanks for replying,” and also, “Yeah, I feel you. I’ve been struggling with that as well,” or “Here’s a blog post I wrote that might help.” So it just depends on where I’m at when I get those responses, but I really do read every single one. So I highly recommend that if someone is wanting to. So I think overall, what we’re really getting from this is don’t just think how your brand looks, think about how it feels and think about the conversation that you’re having with your audience and how you want that to feel as well.
[0:21:14.8] Peggy: So good! Because it translates all the time. It’s not just the forefront of how the brand makes you feel, but it’s an ongoing thing and how does it makes you feel in yesterday’s email or tomorrow’s email, so it’s so ongoing and it’s just to constantly keep that up on that same level, which makes so much sense. I love that.
[0:21:40.0] Joi: Yeah, exactly. And even going back to the video example, right, it’s not that video doesn’t totally work for me, but I’m like, “Yeah, I’ll hop on Stories.” You know what I mean? [Laughter] Or like, “I would be more likely to do a vlog kind of style than I would to just be sitting on one space and talking to the camera.” It just felt really awkward. So it’s not even that you have to give up an entire medium, but what style within that medium works for you.
[0:22:10.7] Peggy: So good, so interesting. I love your perspective! It’s so wide and it’s not a narrow way of thinking. It’s just so many options and ideas and paths and ways and it’s so fun to hear. I love it!
[0:22:27.3] Joi: Consider all the options, as a multi-passionate, I think it’s really important. And actually, that’s a good segue to my third tip. [Laughter]
[0:22:35.0] Peggy: Perfect! Go for it!
[0:22:37.4] Joi: My third tip is don’t be afraid to infuse little things that you think no one cares about into your brand. And what I mean by that is almost anything can become a part of your personal brand. So this is really for all my multi-passionates out there who feel like, “Oh, I have all of these passions and I would love to intertwine them into my business, but I don’t really know how that would make sense.” I don’t think that you need to sit and try to construct a business plan that’s going to encapsulate every single one of your passions, but how can you showcase your passion in a really low-risk way and still have that be a part of your brand?
So for example, a great story that I love to tell is me adopting a dog from Thailand became a part of my brand, and here’s why. A few years ago before I got my dog, I wanted a dog. I didn’t have one. I did have one when I was growing up, when I was younger, but as I got older, just things changed and I didn’t have that family dog anymore, and I really wanted a dog. I wanted a pet, a companion. And so, I was turning 30 and I was like, “Okay, I’m turning 30. This is the year I’m going to get a dog.” But I didn’t have a solid plan. I was just like, “I’m going to get a dog.” And so, my first step was I wanted to start training myself on taking walks every day because I knew it would be a huge lifestyle change if I, all of a sudden, got a dog and I wasn’t used to going out on walks. So I used to go and I would go on these walks and I would literally say, “Okay, I’m walking my imaginary dog.” And one day, I decided to bring my phone with me and I filmed an Instagram Story of me walking with my hand out as if I was holding an invisible leash and I wrote on the Story, “Walking my future dog.” And so many people replied to that. They were like, “Oh, that’s so funny!” And I basically did it almost everyday for two months. [Laughter] I was like, “Walking my future dog!” And it got to the point where people were like, “You’re going to get that dog! I can’t wait until the day you find your dog. I love how you do this. It reminds me that I need to have more fun.” It became this big thing, and if anyone listening wants to actually see this, you can go to my Instagram and look for my highlight that’s called Chai, the first one. I have two highlight Reels dedicated to my dog because I refuse to delete any of them. So the first one will show you this entire evolution.
So Peggy, long story short – this crazy snowball of events led me to being put in contact with someone who had a sister who has a dog shelter in Thailand and she’s like, “Check them out on Facebook.” So I went and I checked out their page, and it literally said, “We have one more spot on our flight to Los Angeles, where I live, in two weeks. Here are the dogs that are available.” And I saw a picture of this dog and I was like, “Tell me all about this one.” And they were like, “He is so sweet. He’s the most loved dog at the shelter. We hate to see him go, but [laughter] obviously, if you want to bring him home, we’re happy to work with you on that.” And so, a few weeks later, I was picking up my dog from the airport, and I put it on Stories and it was like, I thought I had broken the internet. Everyone was like, “Oh my gosh! You got your dog!” So how would I ever have known that anyone would care that I was going to go on these walks and pretend and visualize that I had a dog, right? I could have easily just said, “Whatever, no one cares about this.” But I decided to share it anyway, not because it’s going to be a part of my business model, not because I’m launching some kind of product or service around having a dog or rescuing a dog, but just because it was a part of what was on my mind at that time. And so people who have been following me on Instagram for a long time, they have this relationship with Chai, with my dog, and seeing how he literally came to be. That’s just one example, but it really does help people feel invested in your brand, invested in your story, when they can make connections like that. A lot of us have had pets. A lot of us have longed for something and then we want to celebrate each other when it finally comes to pass. So it’s more than just walking this invisible dog and then months later actually having him in my life. It’s, “How can we be more playful?” Because that was kind of the bigger story, and it allowed me to have some really beautiful conversations in the DMs and all of that about that.
So whether it’s that you love to do hand lettering or maybe you have a garden or maybe you love plant care or maybe you really love just picking out your outfit every single day, you don’t have to hide that. Just use something that’s really low risk like Instagram Stories. It’s going to expire. It’s not a big deal. Bring those elements into your brand. Make sure that your brand feels like you, and don’t overthink it. Don’t overthink, “Oh, this is going to confuse my audience if I show my morning coffee routine.” Actually, no. Somebody might actually just turn on your Stories just to see you make your coffee every day. [Laughter] And it does not mean that you have to be selling a product like a coffee mug. It’s just not that serious and I think people tend to overthink a little bit and then they hide parts of themselves. And the more you can bring of yourself, and I should say, I’m speaking more so to the personal brand, I think it’s different if you have a product business, that’s a little bit of a different conversation, but if you do have a personal brand and you are the face of your brand, then the more of yourself you can bring into it, the better. And actually, when I think about my favorite products, they’re the ones that show their team, the behind-the-scenes. They’re the ones that send emails with all the team’s pets and things that are going to help you connect with the person behind the product. So maybe it actually does apply to both. So yeah, tip number three is don’t be afraid to showcase the things that you think no one else is going to care about because you just never know what’s going to help people feel connected to your brand.
[0:29:13.2] Peggy: Oh, I love that! I love that it’s such a reminder because the world is unpredictable and you can follow a structure to a certain extent, but you’re human. You’re going to experience different levels of experiences and when you showcase those little nuances, something could come from it. And you just never know because that’s just the way the world works sometimes. You put something out, yes, it has this data to back up through past results, but at the end of it all, once it’s put out, you don’t know what’s going to happen to it sometimes. And you’re right, not to overthink certain situations that you put out because it’s really not that serious if you wanted a say about something or you have an opinion about something that is happening in the world. And all in all, it’s just to put it out and to go for it. So I love that! It’s so good. Oh, I could hear you talk all day! [Laughter] It’s just so fun listening to you and it’s not just fun, but it’s just so true and it really, like you said, brings that playful aspect of this entrepreneur and business journey. Because sometimes, it could feel like it’s just so serious, but you can make it fun. And there are so many ways to make it fun, like the things that you just highlighted. So, oh my goodness! So good!
[0:30:44.2] Joi: Yeah, absolutely. And if we’re not intentional about having fun, then it’s really easy to get stuck in just streamlining our offers and perfecting our funnel and watching them numbers and tracking our time and training the team. There’s so much that goes into building a business and your brand, in my opinion, my personal brand is one of the most fun parts of my business. It is where I get to play. And can I give a bonus tip, like an extra? Okay. [Laughter]
[0:31:21.1] Peggy: Go for it! Let’s do it!
[0:31:24.4] Joi: I’m such a rebel. [Laughter] My bonus tip is, this is kind of specific, but I teach on many different subjects, as a multi-passionate, all of them are relating back to the multi-passionate experience. But lately, I’ve been creating different slideshows for my presentations when I’m hosting a live workshop or when I’m uploading a course, and one thing that I have been loving is allowing each of my courses to feel totally different. I’m like, “Okay, what do I want the theme of this workshop to be? Okay, we’re going to go with desert vibes.” And I’ll go and I’ll use a color palette that works for that. And then my next workshop, I’ll go, “Okay, what do I want the vibe for this one? You know what? I’m going to do like dark and moody.” Because no one’s going to come to the workshop and be like, “What? Dark colors? This is not her brand.” It does not matter. As long as the content in that workshop is useful and as long as the visuals are pleasing and are going to keep people engaged, no one’s going to be like, “Wow, this is a huge diversion from her website homepage.” People don’t think that way. We think that way. But our audience is not obsessing over little things like that, so another thing, my bonus tip is, especially if you’re multi-passionate, because if you’re multi-passionate, you need that new energy because you’re going to crave it, you’re going to get bored of things that you once loved. And even if you’re not multi-passionate, I think it’s just normal when you work on the same thing or you’re promoting the same content, you can stall out. So don’t be afraid to mix up some of your visuals. If you’re giving a presentation or if you’re doing a new course, pick an entirely different color palette. It’s okay. You can have fun with it and you can have your course be its own brand. Instead of doing a full rebrand of your entire website just because you feel like you need something new, you don’t always have to go to that extreme. You can, instead, say, “Hey, you know what? I am going to be doing this workshop and I’m making a workbook. Maybe I’ll just play around with the branding on that.” And let that feel a little different. Let it do its own thing, and I think people get really afraid to do that because they want everything to be super cohesive, but I don’t think it matters as much as we think it does. That’s just my personal opinion. I think we can allow ourselves to have more freedom and to be more playful with things like that.
[0:33:58.8] Peggy: I love that, and it’s so interesting because that reminds me of beauty products, right? Because they have different lines of beauty products.
[0:34:08.3] Joi: Exactly! That’s a great analogy. And then each one has its own brand and its own vibe, but it will be like one parent company. But we’re not like, “What? How dare they?” [Laughter] We’re not offended.
[0:34:22.2] Peggy: Right. That’s so interesting. I just never thought about that too, but I’d seen it and it’s so true because those beauty products, for example, I can’t think of another example right now, but for beauty products, they’ll have a line of summer tropic and it will just be a line of amazing summer tropic products that are just not of their colors or anything, but it’s so themed per season and it still makes sense, even if it doesn’t make sense if you compare it to, like you said, the structures of how a brand has to be cohesive. But in itself, in having different points in that brand and having it be unique to itself, it works. That’s so cool!
[0:35:07.4] Joi: Exactly. And when you just let that be, for example, to take it a little further, I wouldn’t have my presentation that I have an entirely different vibe in the workbook that goes with the presentation, right? That would be a little much like, “Okay, hold on. Let’s wrap it up.” [Laughter] But I might have my workbook and my presentation are going to be contained within this particular, I call it, like a splinter brand, that I’m just splintering that off and saying, “Okay, here’s the vibe for this content.” And then, when I teach on a separate topic, then I might completely change up the vibe, but everything that comes with that is going to speak to that particular branding. So you don’t want to mix it up too much within those containers, like within the collection, like you said, but I just think that it’s really helpful if we allow ourselves to play a little bit. And yeah, we have our brand kits and we have our colors and we have all that, and if you’re listening to this like, “She doesn’t know what she’s saying. I would never do this.” That’s totally fine. Everyone’s different, but I’ve been having so much fun. For example, I taught a workshop recently, Multi-Passionate Mastery 101, and I used this really cool desert vibe-y kind of branding, and I’m working on my next workshop, which is How to Pivot without Apology, and I’m using a totally different branding. It’s like these geometric shapes that I’m going to use interchangeably that, to me, visually represents a pivot, like a change, going in a different direction. And if I were to just use the same branding for all my presentations, I would be bored out of my mind, and I would be more likely to just say, “I don’t want to do workshops anymore.” But that’s not even true. It’s not that I don’t want to do workshops. It’s that I know I need this to feel new and fresh, and for me, I’m such a visual person that choosing a different visual look for that particular content keeps me engaged. So maybe it’s just a selfish choice that I’m making but I just think that’s what makes it fun for me. So when we started to talk about having fun in your business and having fun with your brand, in case anyone was wanting permission, what I don’t do is I’m not going to have my emails have an entirely different brand than my website or my main social content. I try to keep that, and when I start my podcast, that’ll have a similar vibe. But when it comes to these one-off things, workshops and workbooks and freebies and things like that, I think we’re allowed to have a little bit more fun than we realize. And I think we’re so afraid that people are going to freak out if we make one little change, but that’s not what anyone’s actually thinking about.
[0:38:04.2] Peggy: Yeah. Oh my goodness! This is such a key reminder, and it’s something that one doesn’t really think of casually because it’s like, “Oh, I have to be consistent. I have to da, da, da.” But it’s like, “No, you can have fun.” And I love this reminder because it’s not like you have to 100% change everything all the time or change something drastically and have it be like your website looks completely different to everything, right? But having those one-offs can really extend the emotion that you want to give out in that workshop for it to have, and it sets that vibe too and the tone of that workshop and that particular topic that you want to talk about. That makes so much sense and you can have fun with that.
[0:38:53.3] Joi: Right! Yeah.
[0:38:55.0] Peggy: Yeah, I love that.
[0:38:55.8] Joi: Yeah! And even for someone like, if you imagine, and obviously my goal is to have people show up to one workshop and then start to look forward to the next one, and I want people to get to the point where they’re like, “I can’t wait to see what this is going to look like.” You know what I mean? To me, that’s fun. That’s more fun than like, “Oh, I can’t wait to see the peaches and the neutral browns and her Skip font.” I think it’s more fun for people to be like, “Oh, she used all plants this time because we were talking about how to grow within your multi-passionate mastery,” or, “Oh, okay. I see this time, she’s using rainbows because we’re talking about passion blending, so each ray in the rainbow represents a different passion.” This is how I create because I’m a multi-passionate person, so I’m creating for all of the senses – the visual, the feeling, as well as the educational. Yeah, I mean, I think it’s just so much fun when you consider it that way and it just takes a little bit of pressure off. And alternatively, if someone’s listening to this and is just so overwhelmed like, “I would never do that, sounds like a nightmare, I have my one template and that’s it,” you can also just do little things like change some of the colors. You don’t have to go all out and also vice versa. I have a group program that I’m building out and it’s called the Multi-Passionate’s Great Adventure, and so, the vibe is a map. I created a literal map that it’s an adventure and each module’s going to have hidden treasure, like I’m going all in on that visual and on that concept, but I’m not rebranding my whole website to look like a treasure map. I don’t have the desire to do that, but that whole program and inside of that container, when you open that content, when you step inside that container, you’re going to feel like you are inside of an adventure. That’s the vibe of it. So I think we all create differently, but this is something I’ve realized recently, which I think is why I’m so excited to have an opportunity to talk about it because it’s something I’ve realized really recently about myself, that I’m more excited if I allow myself to play and to do things my way and not just the standard way that everyone says we have to do things.
[0:41:26.9] Peggy: Mm-hmm. Exactly. Yes, I love that. It’s like creating different events for those workshops. And of course it’s not going to be the same event and it’s creating that vibe for that particular event slash whatever you’re offering. So my goodness, Joi, you’re so awesome! Thank you for sharing!
[0:41:48.5] Joi: It’s my pleasure.
[0:41:49.3] Peggy: It’s so good! So what’s next? What’s next in your world? What’s next for your business?
[0:41:56.0] Joi: It’s such an exciting time. Before we started recording, I was telling you that I actually just put in my two weeks’ notice, so I have one week left at my support job, my 9 to 5. And the support job was really great for me to have as I was still figuring out my business model because I didn’t have to have my business totally figured out in order to pay my bills. But now that I have it figured out and I’m gaining some momentum, I’m just ready to go all in. And so, what’s next for me is I’m going to be building out a group program that I’ll be launching in the summer, which is the Multi-Passionate Creative’s Great Adventure. Again, the whole branding is going to be maps and treasures, and I’m so excited about that. It will be my first signature group program, so that’s really exciting. And I’m also going to be doing live workshops, so none of that was fictional, like that’s actual factual facts. And again, I really love a two-way conversation. Of course, I’m also going to sell the replays so people will be able to purchase them as digital products, but what I get the most excited about is those live sessions, so I’ll be selling tickets to the workshops and serving them that way. And I’m going to start a podcast this year. It’s just like a big year. I feel like this is the year where it all starts with a decision, like really, really, really deciding what you’re up for and I feel like this is the year where I’m just like, “Okay, I’m doing this.” Looks like I’m fully deciding, so that’s all really, really, really exciting and just continuing to serve the multi-passionate creative community. We are often thrown a lot of shade because we like to pivot, we change our mind, or the opposite, if you feel like you have to do a million things or we’re not multi-passionate. And I just think that the conversation needs to be continuous because there’s so much to unpack and to discover about the multi-passionate experience that’s really missing from the online business space, so I’m really, really proud to be able to add a voice and to really be a champion for our community and do everything I can to support the multi-passionate community. That’s my life’s work. It’s all I really care about. It’s what I get the most excited about.
[0:44:30.8] Peggy: That’s exciting! Oh my goodness. I can’t wait to see it all after hearing all this, so I’m so excited for you! And where can people find you?
[0:44:43.1] Joi: You can find me over at Instagram @joi.knows.how. I’m going to spell it out because it’s not how you think it’s spelled. J-O-I-dot-knows-dot-how. So you can find me there and then whatever I’m working on is most likely going to be the link in my bio. So whenever you listen to this, if I have any workshops coming up, if I have any really yummy freebies for you or anything like that, that link is going to be in my bio. And I would also say if anyone wants to check out my website and get a feel for my overall brand, then you can go to joi-knows-how.com. It’s spelled the same as Instagram. It just has a dash in between each word. So yeah, those are two great places to hang out.
[0:45:31.8] Peggy: Sweet! Oh my goodness. You dropped some amazing, amazing tips, and thank you so much for coming and for sharing them! You’re absolutely amazing.
[0:45:42.8] Joi: Of course, Peggy. So great to finally meet after all these years. I will be rooting for you and cheering you on continuously. So excited for you as well!
[0:45:54.6] Peggy: Same. I just can’t wait to see how much we’re going to grow from today forward. It’s so exciting! Oh my goodness!
[0:46:04.0] Joi: Yeah.
[0:46:05.0] Peggy: It was fun, and thank you again for jumping on board. We’re going to sign off. Bye!
[0:46:10.1] Joi: Okay. Bye!
[0:46:12.8] Peggy: Hi! Welcome to the end of this episode. Please rate this on Apple. Rate it and let me know what you think about it and follow it on Spotify as well. I appreciate you! Thank you so much for the support! Honestly, every click counts, but also every review counts too, so please rate it. And thank you to Zencastr for sponsoring this episode. Yes, you can use Zencastr for all your social content needs, and that doesn’t have to be audio. You can use it for video as well, and you can use my code @PeggyBree and get 40% off for three months and two weeks for free. Just test it out. You can use it for just your social content needs. And keep me posted! Let me know, and I’ll talk to you soon! Bye!
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- INSTAGRAM/FACEBOOK: @blankroomdesign
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