EP 02: How Often Should a Brand Pivot? – TOP 3 Brand Advice w/ JASMINE WILLIAMS

EP 02: How Often Should a Brand Pivot? – TOP 3 BRAND ADVICE W/ JASMINE WILLIAMS

 

TRANSCRIPTION: 

First tip: 0:01:56.7

Second tip: 0:04:10.7

Third tip: 0:15:40.4

 

[0:00:00.0] Jasmine: Don’t stick too closely to any kind of rule book or any best practices because those best practices are based on an average. They’re not based on your specific business and who you’re reaching.

 

[0:00:13.6] 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!

 

Hey, guys! This episode is longer than usual, but man, the top three tips and advice shared are so good. Make sure you screenshot this, share this on your Instagram or Twitter and tag me @peggybree and @blankroomdesign, and I’ll be sure to reshare you!

 

Hey, guys! Thanks for tuning in for another episode. You guys are in for a sweet treat. Today, we have Jasmine Williams and she’s an award-winning writer, content marketing expert, and the founder of Jasmine Williams Media, a boutique content marketing consultancy serving a global roster of industry-leading companies and visionaries. Jasmine helps creative entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants, and growth-stage start-ups scale their businesses with strategic storytelling. Welcome, Jasmine!

 

[0:01:44.0] Jasmine: Yes. Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to be here.

 

[0:01:47.4] Peggy: Yes! Let’s dive right into the main question. What are your top three tips on branding and business? And let’s start with number one.

 

[0:01:56.7] Jasmine: Cool! So I think my first tip would be to definitely know your value and really try to infuse them into everything you do. This isn’t something I necessarily did from the get-go. I always really considered myself to be very purpose-driven and connecting with usually companies that had some sort of social mandate or just trying to do good in the world, but it wasn’t until this year really. Actually, I started working with a virtual assistant and as part of that onboarding process, she asked me what my values were, and I realized I’d never actually written them down and had them in a concrete document or anything like that that I could refer to. So I took some time to really write them down and think thoughtfully about how I want to run my business than just overall show up in the world. And I feel like that’s really been a game-changer because it’s something that, even if I’m recording an Instagram story, for instance, I might trip over my words, and that’s okay. I’d like to just keep going and just really show people that I’m authentic and that just what you see is what you get, basically. And yeah, I think that, really, once you know your value, it really does affect your brand because I really feel like your brand is really just how people feel about you, right? There’s that saying that your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room, so I feel like your values are really a big part of that.

 

[0:03:26.5] Peggy: Yeah, it’s so important to have these brand values in place because it’s your brand’s essential. It’s your brand’s core, it’s what your brand’s message will communicate across in all touchpoint areas that your brand reaches. And so, you’re right. It’s so important to know so that you’re not just scrambling to tell people what it is because it’s embedded in your brand. But also, if along the way, you find similar words and keywords that can better communicate your brand’s core, there’s really nothing wrong with refining it as well. So I totally agree. It’s so good. So, what is your second tip?

 

[0:04:10.7] Jasmine: It would be that your copy, the words that you use on your website, on your social media channels, and your visuals should go hand in hand. I know definitely, as a copywriter, as a content marketer, I know a lot of people really focus on the visual aspect, which I think is just as important. I love working with companies that have that visual brand in place because I really do feel like it helps me do my job as a copywriter and help pull in those themes, but I think sometimes people will have this beautiful brand and then their copy is kind of an afterthought. And of course, I’m totally biased in this, but I really do think that you have to make sure that they match. For instance, I worked for a client over the summer who created a business that sells contract templates basically for entrepreneurs, and one thing I noticed from the visual right off the bat is just it felt so natural and organic, like she had this whole farmer’s market vibe to her visual branding. And while we’re talking, she’s like, “Yeah, I know legal stuff can be really complicated and really intimidating, and I really wanted to make sure that when people come to this website, they don’t feel that. They feel that they’re investing in something that they understand and that will really help them take their business to the next level, but it just takes all that overwhelm and jargon out of it.” So being able to work off of that vibe and off of those visuals, then that made my job as the copywriter a lot better. And then, seeing how it all teamed together was just a really fun experience. So that would be one thing, is to really just think about how both work together, like if you’re somebody who you feel is like a very straight shooter, you are very direct when you talk to people, then you want to make sure that your visuals make sense with that and also the copy you’re creating makes sense with that too.

 

[0:06:05.6] Peggy: Mm-hmm. That’s so true. It has to go hand in hand with each other and have balance because you can’t just have good copy and all that visual doesn’t match. Same goes with the other way around. So in terms of copy and visuals, what would you say is your best tip for one to combine it well together?

 

[0:06:26.4] Jasmine: Yeah, that’s a really good question. Ultimately, a couple questions that I usually ask my clients in that initial onboarding process is really like, “How do you want your customers to feel after they work with you?” And also think about how they’re feeling before they work with you, so really trying to understand what that ultimate transformation would be. To me, that’s a big part of copy because that’s where I can really speak to the problem that they’re facing and really try to position the company or client that I’m working with as that solution. And I really think that even though most of us, we take in a lot of different information when we’re making a decision – we’ll look at maybe the price of something, we’ll look at reviews, all sorts of things – but a lot of the times, emotions play a much bigger role than people tend to realize. So I always like to think about, “Are these people overwhelmed?” and then you want them to feel really calm and secure afterwards, just really get some high-level emotions that you really want people to feel. That’s, I think, a good thing to nail down before you dive into the branding process.

 

[0:07:35.4] Peggy: Yeah, it’s so important to think about the emotions of your audience when it comes to branding and who you want to attract and the type of feelings that you want them to feel when they encounter your brand, right? And it’s important to think about because ultimately, your brand is talking and selling to people, after all, so it’s important to connect with them on an emotional level so that they can feel connected and understood through your brand, so that’s so true. And I guess another question that I have for you is how can one communicate what they’re looking for to a service provider in the most clear way?

 

[0:08:28.2] Jasmine: Yeah. Usually, what I say to people is to just sort of look around, look at examples, look at other people who might be in similar spaces as you, and just see what they’re doing, see what you like and what you don’t like. One thing I like to ask people in the very first conversation I have with them is what kind of brand voice do they have or what kind of voice do they want to have. And sometimes, that question trips people up because they don’t really think about how they communicate. They just think about what they want to communicate. So I like to really ask that question and sometimes if people don’t know right off the bat what they want to sound like, I’ll ask them, “Are there any brands online that you just love the way that they communicate?” Doesn’t even have to be in your industry, and that’s a good way to start narrowing it down. Let’s say, they’ll give me Gary V. for instance. It’s like, “Okay, well, Gary V. has a very specific way of talking, he’s a very direct person, he’s a straight shooter.” So that right there gives me a lot of information, a lot of feedback to go off of if I’m creating copy. So yeah, if somebody maybe wanted to DIY it, just have more information before they approach a branding professional. I always feel like it’s good to do a bit of research and come prepared with a few examples of maybe websites or social media accounts that you like. And even if you can’t quite understand why you like them, I feel like if you bring them to a professional, then they might be able to tease out those themes and those qualities.

 

[0:10:03.4] Peggy: Yeah, that makes sense, like you’re unsure about the way to approach either marketing or business or branding, consulting with a professional makes so much sense, and that’s what they’re there for. They’re there to pull the information out of you and transcribe it so that they can direct you to the service that you’re looking for, so that is so true. In other words, let’s turn back around. For brand copy, when it’s translated through different channels, like Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn, how different do you think it has to be? Because obviously, per different social channel, it pertains to each channel, so in terms of brand copy, how is that translated through and across these different channels?

 

[0:10:51.9] Jasmine: Yeah. I mean, ultimately, you do want to make sure that you’re speaking somewhat similarly on all your channels, like you don’t want to have one personality on Instagram and another personality on Facebook because then, people start to get confused and wonder who’s the real you, what’s the real brand, what’s going on here. But I think it’s always good to keep in mind who you’re speaking to. So of course, if you take the difference between Instagram and LinkedIn, usually Instagram, you might be speaking to the same people, but it’s more of a casual audience whereas LinkedIn is, of course, more professional. Sometimes, it’s not necessarily how you talk. In this case, it would be more about what you talk about – what would be interesting to your Instagram audience and what would be interesting to your LinkedIn audience. So it’s not necessarily having different voices, it might just be about sharing different content or sharing content in a different way. Instagram, I tend to go more in a storytelling approach and really try to communicate with my audience in that way, whereas if I’m on LinkedIn, I’m a lot more to the point. I might share articles or I might talk about maybe a new offer that I’m launching. Now, of course, I feel like LinkedIn is becoming more of a storytelling platform, so everything changes and the thing I always tell people, “Don’t stick too closely to any kind of rule book or any best practices because those best practices are based on an average. They’re not based on your specific business and who you’re reaching.” So yeah, depending on your business, being really vulnerable on LinkedIn might be something that works for you. So I always just tell people to have an idea of what you think what kind of content you’d want to work with, but also leave some room for spontaneity, leave some room to experiment. I’ve found even this year some of the posts that have done the best or just had the most reach and the most impact, are posts that just came in at the top of my head. I just woke up that morning being like, “You know what? I really want to talk about this. I’m just going to put it out there.” And don’t think about it, and then I’ll come back later and be like, “Whoa! This is really blowing up!” So I just encourage people to have some idea of a plan. I call it an “un-strategy”. In a way, it’s still a strategy. I will have ideas of things I want to share, but then, if something else comes to me, as long as, of course, it’s in line with your brand values and isn’t offensive or anything like that, I usually just say, “Go for it!” Because I can tend to lead you in a direction that you might not have expected to go in, but might actually be better for you.

 

[0:13:39.1] Peggy: Hmm, that’s so true! For content counters, you can only plan and schedule so much, right? Sometimes, evergreen content and the content that really pertains to the now and the times and what you have to say for the day due to the circumstances can make such a big impact, and that’s beyond the scheduled content of that day, so why not just say it and see?

 

[0:14:05.2] Jasmine: Yeah, I do feel it’s always good to have evergreen content just to keep the lights on and to keep being consistent, but yeah, I see sometimes, or at least on social, I find you can start to see everything starts to sound the same because everybody’s talking about the same themes and writing about the same topics, so I think it really is a good idea to also give yourself some time and space to just really talk about or share the things that are meaningful to you and aren’t necessarily by the book. You just need that mixture of evergreen and timely content.

 

[0:14:40.2] Peggy: Mm-hmm. Yeah, for sure, because each platform is kind of like a community after all, and if a brand and business is talking about a specific topic and it’s becoming a buzz in that community, it’s smart to put your two cents in and join into that conversation and community and to bring your voice into that topic. So, it’s definitely something to think about.

 

[0:15:05.5] Jasmine: Totally, yeah.

 

[0:15:06.4] Peggy: Yes, so I love your two tips so far. They were so good, and I think it’s so helpful for someone to think or rethink about their brand and business because brand copy and brand values, they’re such a core and they’re the foundations of a brand, right? So it’s nice to be reminded of that and to also rethink about that for your own brand and business and what that means from now until later. All right. What is your third and final tip that you want to share with everybody?

 

[0:15:40.4] Jasmine: Yeah. I’d say my third and final tip, I feel like maybe people have heard before, but I think it’s always a good reminder, it’s just that your brand and your business will probably evolve and that’s totally okay. I know when I first started my business, I was a lot more focused on social media management and I was just working with anybody who would pay me [laughter], and I think it’s an okay place to start. You just need to get your feet wet and figure out how to even run a business before you could start refining down who you want to work with and target customers and all that. It’s good to have some sort of idea in mind, but also I think in the beginning, be open to what comes. So yeah, I’d say just be open to that evolution. This year, I started working with a lot more coaches than I initially anticipated because in previous years, I was really focused on the text space, the HR space, that I kept getting all these other types of clients coming to me. And for me, I just usually go based on who I feel can have the most impact on, I guess, or how can I impact the business. So if I feel like I can truly help the business, then I’ll go for it. And then I noticed that as I was working with more and more of these different types of clients, I’m like, “Oh, I need to rewrite my own website copy and rewrite my own bio to match the work that I was doing.” And it’s not to say that I was just being pulled willy-nilly, I was being very intentional and thinking very carefully about who I want to work with. It just so happened that this is the next phase of what I do. So yeah, it’s not that I don’t work with those other clients that I did before, but it’s just that now, my scope has widened a little bit. And the same goes, I’d say, with even how I express myself online. Before, I used to be a lot more by the book. I would do all the talk about content marketing, why you need it, what’s valuable. I’d go over all those sorts of things. But then this year, I think probably in part due to the pandemic and just being at home and not knowing what’s coming, what’s next, I found I was being a lot more outspoken, speaking about the political stuff I was seeing, or just being a lot more silly. I was creating freelancing memes because that was just a fun, creative outlet and I like to just make people laugh as well. And I was like, “I do this all the time. I’m always joking with my friends.” But why is my business and social presence so serious? So I just started playing around a lot more, and you know, it resonated with people and that felt really good because I felt like rather than having to keep up this persona of Jasmine Williams Media or have to fulfill these expectations that people put on me, I was writing or rewriting my own story, you could say. So yeah, I think just be careful, don’t put yourself in a box basically. I think sometimes people will be like, “I’m starting a business and I’ll only work with healthcare professionals.” or they’ll have this very specific client avatar in their mind and they don’t really open themselves up to play or to do any work outside of that. Even this year, I got to connect with somebody that I really look up to. She’s a freelance writer who’s been in that freelancing world for six years, I believe, and she said that she just worked with an insurance company. I could be getting this wrong, so I’m not going to say her name [laughter] just in case I’m totally messing this up, but I thought that was really cool because online, she does have this, “Oh, these are the types of clients I work with,” but she also, even six years in, is still just open to whatever comes or whatever projects just light her up. So yeah, I think that’s kind of what my final point would be. It’s okay if you find yourself being pulled in a direction. If anything, just sort of sit with it a little bit and think about maybe why you’re pulled in that direction. Maybe it’s because whatever route or path you set for yourself doesn’t quite match where you are now, and that’s fine. You just need to think about it and assess.

 

[0:19:55.2] Peggy: Yeah, of course. You can’t just be pivoting all the time. There has to be a reason and if it means because you’re looking for a different opportunity or if it’s just not aligned with where you are today or what you want for yourself later. It’s important to think about these questions, right, and to think about why you’re pivoting, why you want to move, so that is so true. Actually, when it comes to pivoting, how often do you think a brand and business or one should pivot?

 

[0:20:31.7] Jasmine: Yeah, that’s a good question. I’d say you don’t want to be pivoting every week or so, but I do believe that it’s so important to get feedback. I think sometimes people stay on a path or focus on an offer that’s not really working, and they could understand why it’s not working a lot faster if they just start getting feedback. So for me, I would say it’s like a split answer. If it’s in terms of a product or a service that you offer, I’d say pivot if you realize that it’s just not hitting the mark. Let’s say you do some market research, you talk to some people, and you’re getting feedback that it’s just not what people are looking for, then I would say definitely pivot quickly. You could pivot a week later or a month later if you figure out right away that it’s just not working, so I would encourage pivoting in that sense. But in an overall brand sense, I would say maybe like once a year. I know definitely, right now, it’s December, it’s the end of the year, so I’m in a very reflective state. I really like to look back on the year and think about the highlights, the lowlights. I do a little exercise where I go through all of my client projects and just ask myself like, “Was that a project I really liked? Did I like the client?” I’ll ask myself if I felt I did a really good job, like did I really knock it out of the park? Was the client super happy? And the third thing I’ll ask myself is, “Was it valuable? Did I feel like the price I was offering match the service or did I feel like I undercharged or overcharged?” Just how did I feel at the end of it. So, I go through all of my clients that way, and usually that will inform my direction for the next year. One thing I found in the year past when I did this exercise was that my copywriting work was the project I checked, not saying that the other types of work I was doing wasn’t fulfilling, it’s just the copywriting work was just a little bit more. So that was something where I was like, “Oh! Maybe next year, I will focus more on getting those types of projects and speaking about those sorts of challenges or pain points online versus the other services.” And of course, also looking at the brands I’m working with. If I’m noticing that I was working with a lot of coaches or a lot of solopreneurs, just keeping that in mind and making sure that I’m always showing up in places where my target audience is. For instance, I was very active on LinkedIn, and this year I’ve been more active on Instagram, and I think that’s definitely changed the types of clientele I work with, not necessarily better or worse. It’s just different, right? Different people are active on different platforms. So, I’d say probably once a year to check in on where you’re headed and see if you need to make any major shifts if you feel like how your online presence isn’t matching how you feel inside. But yeah, I think it’s also a gut thing, like if you feel like, “Oh my God, I just really don’t connect with what I’m doing.” I feel like it’s totally okay to pump the brakes and do a pivot or do a bit of inner work first before you pivot, so I think that can happen at any time. But yeah, it’s hard because at the same time, I do see a lot of people who are always launching new things and I’m like, “Well, maybe you should just focus on that thing that worked for you.” I’ll see people have really successful product launches and they’ll be like, “Okay, now I’m starting this new thing.” “Well, why don’t you just refine that thing that you did before and make it better and expand?” There’s a bit of that shiny object syndrome that happens. A lot of the people that I follow or people I look up to online, they’re always saying it’s good to just have one or even a few core offers that you can really focus on and hone in on because you can get more data that way. If you’re always changing, if you’re always trying new things, then it can actually be hard to get that really high-quality feedback that you need to make those informed decisions. Because it could be like, “Okay, I launched this thing, I made this much money. Okay, on to the next thing,” where you could be diving a little bit deeper into, “Who are you attracting? What pain points were you addressing? Do you feel like you did a really good job in that?” You can just always keep refining. So yeah, it’s a gut check at the end of the day. If you really feel inside that things aren’t working, then I totally give you permission to shut it down and reassess, but I also want to say if you feel like things are working but things maybe aren’t just working as fast as you want them to be, then just maybe stay the course and be a little bit more patient because those are folks, the people we look up to online, a lot of times, they’ve been at it for years, so it’s so important to give yourself the same amount of time to grow and just really step into that role.

 

[0:25:44.6] Peggy: Yeah, that’s so true, right? It’s like that saying that always floats around like, “You can’t compare your timeline to somebody who’s been doing it for countless years” and expect the exact same thing and be upset about it because there’s obviously so much that comes from someone who’s been doing it for 10 years and you can’t compare yourself with that of who you are today, and it doesn’t even make sense to do so because it’s different. And it’s true, it’s true to be patient and also be reminded of your accomplishments and what you’ve done thus far already, right? The small milestones are so important too, and it really makes you reflect on how great you’ve come since then, how much you are growing, which is so key when running this course or when you’re thinking about the next thing.

 

[0:26:42.1] Jasmine: Yeah. Yeah, of course. I think it is a long haul at the end of the day. We see these stories of “overnight successes”, but a lot of times, I feel like people aren’t sharing the full story and that could be really hard for those who are earlier on in their business journey to see that and think, “Oh man, I’m not there yet.” But it really takes time. I feel like I’m into year 3 of my business and only in the second year did I really start to see a lot of the seeds that I planted in the first year start to sprout and bloom. And there are definitely times in the first year when I thought, “I don’t know if I can do this.” I feel like I’m just barely making ends meet. I think it’s kind of working and maybe online it looks like it’s working, but I know the behind the scenes and it’s a lot more touch and go than people realize. But yeah, fortunately, I got the advice from a lot of people and just stayed the course, kept learning, and that’s really paid off. So yeah, that’s what I just always try to tell people. So just be patient. I’ve even seen it online, like this year I launched a course to help teach freelancers, especially creative freelancers, how to build their business because I feel like as a creative freelancer, I’ve learned everything piecemeal. I’ve reached out to random people online and asked them to talk to me, which is fine, but it’s hard to get the help when you need it that way, so I created the course to have a dedicated thing. And one of the people in my course, before she entered the course, she was really worried. She was like, “CERB is ending. I don’t know if I can actually do this.” And then after the course, just recently, she landed one of her biggest clients to date. And those shifts can really happen for you relatively quickly, but you do have to stay the course and do have to do the work, right? Even though she took part in my course, it’s her reaching out to people, booking those calls, doing all of those things you have to do, and I think people sometimes don’t quite realize how much work you need to do to make this thing work, but it is all worth it at the end of the day. You might not just get the results in a month, but you might get it six months from now. There are even people I’ve reached out to online, even recently, I landed a client that I’ve reached out to three times. Three times, I saw them posting about looking for a freelance content writer, and I sent them an email twice, nothing. And then this third time, it worked out. [Laughter] So you just really have to have that persistence and that faith sometimes.

 

[0:29:38.2] Peggy: Oh, 100%! And when you’re in this business world and entrepreneurship world, it’s so important to be around people who can lift you up during that, right? Because it’s not going to be easy all the time, and it’s not going to be amazing all the time. There’s always these in-betweens, so it’s important to have that community to lift each other up.

 

[0:30:04.4] Jasmine: Oh, totally. Community is so, so important to find other people who are doing this thing that you’re doing. I know when I started my business, I had a lot of supportive friends around me, but didn’t really have a lot of entrepreneur friends, and so, they were being supportive but sometimes they’d be like, “Are you sure? You seem really stressed out. Is this really what you want to do?” But then, meeting other people who are also creative business owners and realizing that I wasn’t alone, or there are solutions to my struggles that I just hadn’t thought about. Definitely, it’s been a very, very important factor and I always encourage people to find their communities and to find people too in their particular niches. For instance, I’m in a content marketing group and that has been really valuable to me to just connect to other niche specialists and talk shop in that way. So I always encourage if you’re a podcast producer, find communities for other podcast producers so you can just trade notes and realize that you’re not alone. [Laughter] Sometimes, you can get so down on yourself and be like, “Man, why can’t I figure this out?” Sometimes, you just need to talk to people and you realize that, “Oh, they have solutions for you.” The journey can be challenging for sure, but there are ways to make it easier.

 

[0:31:33.1] Peggy: Mm-hmm. Oh, 100%. Even in this tough time of this pandemic, everything has shifted to this online realm of things, it’s still possible to find community and to still make it easier for yourself, right? Being community with people in your niche or just be in an online community that pertains to any interest of yours. It’s all out there. You just have to find it. Actually, what communities are you in?

 

[0:32:02.1] Jasmine: I’m definitely in a few different online communities. Yeah, the content marketing group I mentioned. I’m in a group, Make Lemonade, which is a Toronto-based coworking space that launched a virtual membership, so I’m a part of that as well. I’ve also created my own communities, like I created a group called Click-worthy Content Club, which is a group for basically anybody who creates content online. You don’t necessarily have to be a content marketer. I know a lot of us business owners are having to wear that hat as well, so it’s just a space for people to connect on and talk shop about content. So yeah, that’s how I’ve been connecting with people, make those connections while we’re all kind of locked down. Yeah, it’s tricky but I think there’s an ease to it, I guess, just being able to quickly hop on a Zoom call with some friends and chat, whereas before you might have been like, “Oh, okay. Well, we have to meet up at a coffee shop or schedule time.” Now, I think it’s a little bit easier to make those connections. Of course, there are downsides to it as well as we all know. We all know the Zoom fatigue and all of that stuff, but yeah, definitely digital. I’ve even made friends digitally. I was part of a kind of a peer group where we would meet up biweekly and just talk about our businesses and that was great. When the restrictions were lifted over the summer, we did a little social-distanced coworking date, so I was able to meet up with them in person. So it is possible to take those online connections offline. Definitely, we all have to be very creative right now probably for the foreseeable future, but there are definitely pros and cons. I think the pro to it is that it’s just I think a little bit easier to shoot your shot, which is what I always say. For instance, that freelance person that I met who was a really big inspiration to me, I just wanted to connect with her because I thought it would be cool to have her be a guest speaker in my program. And we’d been, not really talking, but I’d follow her on social media, I would respond, and then one day, I was just like, “You know what? I’m just going to do it.” So I just sent her a message and being like, “Hey, I follow you all the time and I’d love to have you.” And we were able to make it work and she was able to be a speaker. And not saying that might not have happened outside of these pandemic times, but I think the fact that definitely, we’re all at home, I wasn’t asking her to travel out of her way, all she had to do really is pop on for half an hour, and we just did like a fireside chat, so she didn’t even have to prepare a presentation or anything. We just chatted, and I think definitely, digitally, sometimes it makes it a little bit easier to just talk to people who you might not have been able to connect with otherwise because usually, we all have to do a half-hour of our day to just chat, and if you make it worth their while, then you can really connect with people that, outside of this, you might not have been able to reach before.

 

[0:35:11.9] Peggy: Yeah, I know. It’s so true. There’s actually a global opportunity right now with all these online connections and possibilities. And it’s so great that we do have this time to dabble into that, whereas before we were so used to a different way of connecting, right? And it’s so great too! Online connection is so much fun. It’s a great opportunity for the time that it is now.

 

[0:35:40.4] Jasmine: Yeah, totally agree.

 

[0:35:41.2] Peggy: Yeah, I know. Thank you so much for being a guest on this podcast. You delivered such amazing tips and advice and I’m sure many people will get a lot from it. So what’s next for you?

 

[0:35:53.7] Jasmine: Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. What’s next for me? Well, right now, I’m just in that year-end planning zone, so I’m really actually just taking a bit of time off for myself to regroup before the new year. In the new year, what’s coming up, I’d say I’m definitely relaunching that course I mentioned. That course is called Click-worthy Creative Academy, and it’s a course for freelance consultants, creatives, entrepreneurs who are either in that side-hustling phase and want to go full-time, or maybe you are full-time but just aren’t getting the results you want, or even pre-launch. I had a couple people with my last cohort who hadn’t quite started their business, but in the process of the course, got their online stuff together and were able to launch their business. So it’s really for anybody who’s in that early stage of starting a freelance creative business. It’s a six-week course where I teach you all the fundamentals, so things like sales, marketing, what else is there? Like time management, all sorts of things, and we’re having a whole bunch of guest speakers as well, like I had a guest legal expert, a guest accounting expert, mindset coaches. So just really to give everybody a nice, complete educational experience. I said it a lot, that it was the kind of thing I wish I had. That’s why I created it, because in the pre-pandemic times, I was going to all the conferences, all the meetups, everything, and trying to learn as much as I can, and of course, that’s so much harder to do right now, and I always felt like I was not quite getting enough. You go to a talk and hear somebody talk for 20 minutes, but what if I actually want to talk to them and ask them direct questions? So in this course, you get direct access to me through these weekly workshops, as well as online through Slack, and same thing with the guest experts. You get to communicate with them live and ask questions. So yeah, I’m working on launching that 2.0 version, so hopefully, looking to launch that in March, so in February, I’ll start promoting it again. But I do have a waitlist, so people can sign up from now if they’re interested and be notified when it’s open again. So that’s a big thing that I’m working on. I’m hoping to run it two times next year. And then on the client side, really just keep it moving. I have co-projects signed up for January, so excited to see and work through those and share about them once they launch. But yeah, it’s been a rollercoaster of the last two years, but I definitely feel like I’m starting to find my flow. I’m just excited to keep that, and definitely for next year, one of my big goals is really to work less, so I’ve been trying to incorporate more me-time and just to not overschedule myself as much, so just trying to stick to that [laughter]. But yeah, that’s a big priority for next year.

 

[0:39:14.7] Peggy: Ahh, that sounds amazing! I’m super excited for you, and I can’t wait to hear more about it and to see it all come to life and to see you grow more, so that is exciting. And where can people find you?

 

[0:39:29.8] Jasmine: You can find me at @TheJasWilliams and LinkedIn as well as jasminewilliamsmedia. And I do have a Facebook page, but I’m not as active, so those would be the best places to find me on social media. And then if people want to check out my work or understand a little bit more about what I do, then my website is jasminewilliams.ca. Yeah, I just want to say thank you again for having me. This is such a fun chat. I love talking about branding and business and just getting to share a bit of my experience with people because I know that a lot of people are really wanting to dive into this type of work or just to understand more about this world, I think, so you having this podcast is really great. So yeah, thank you for having me on. I’m excited to be here.

 

[0:40:20.3] Peggy: Last note: If you haven’t subscribed yet, please do. That will help us continue this podcast. And if you want to contribute your top three tips to help out other women in your perspective, or you know somebody who does, you can apply on brandinggems.com. Talk to you soon!

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