Our guest today stresses that now more than ever it is time for you to stop hiding and unleash your badass self. She stresses that just keep learning attitude in her own life. In this episode, we have some great conversations about priorities, authenticity and what really matters in life. She is an entrepreneur that wears her heart on her sleeve. Her priority is lending a hand to those in need. And she is an inspiring example of pursuing your full passions, while making some great money in the process.
Our guest in this episode, Stephanie Powell, truly understands what it means to pivot and reposition herself in life. She started out really not knowing what to do, got into education for thirteen years and still wasn’t sure. After trying a couple things based on her interests and following her omens she took a leap of faith to become a leader in business.
She has an incredible resume when it comes to helping people get clarity over what they want to do in life. And she has a specific skillset for helping people build personal, or company brands that have impact. She is a designer and coach who uses an all encompassing approach to outline and implement brand strategy for her clients. From the logo to the colours and messaging she knows how to help people show up for their audience in a bold, yet authentic way.
She is also a lifelong learner with big goals to become a speaker, continue to build her company and give back to those in need. Like all of our guests, she is an inspiring example of pursuing your passions, doing what you love first, while worrying about money second, and most importantly, being a good person along the way.
In episode 8 of The Just Keep Learning Podcast, we talked about growing up with struggles, resilience and building a badass business. Hope you enjoy it!
How To Figure Out What To Charge In Your Business
When you start a business, the key is to focus on breaking even as you build your brand. Here are some steps to figure out what that looks like:
- With service based businesses in particular you have some flexibility when it comes to deciding on and evolving prices.
- Sit down and write down all of your overall expenses (personal cash flow needs + business expenses)
- Once you have this total you know your break even point and the minimum monthly money you must make in the business.
- Multiply this number by 12 to get your annual revenue minimum
- Working backwards, decide on your minimum amount per service hour to account for break even plus any profit and reinvestment amount you would like (how many hours do you need to work per week to achieve this annual goal?)
- Take that hourly, or service based rate to the market and test it.
- Get feedback and adjust accordingly.
- This method seems simple, it’s just math, but take the time to apply it to the products and services you roll out to make sure it is sustainable.
How To Build A Personal Brand As A Speaker And Thought Leader
Ultimately it takes time, patience, networking and consistent brand development, but these steps will help you book more speaking gigs if that is your goal:
- Recognize what stories you could tell. And realize that everyone has a valuable story. Our stories are not more, or less valuable than each other, they’re just different.
- Appreciate that you likely will need some revenue, or savings to pursue this passion in the early stages as the brand grows.
- Start putting your stories out there. Connect with audiences on social media, enter speaking contests, speak as much as possible for free, and be a guest on podcasts, or lives where you can share the story.
- The key is to practice your storytelling, refine the stories and improve your comfort speaking. Get feedback and continue to adjust the way you tell stories, as it is a lifelong development process.
- Once you feel ready to charge, fix up your website to include a speaker’s reel, some testimonials and a contact me page. Share this information with as many people as possible.
- Continue to gain experience speaking, while taking the content from those speaking engagements and sharing it on social media. Be patient and repeat this process with links back to your website and the brand will scale.
Memorable Quotes
“I do believe everybody needs a website, because even if you don't ever sell anything, just think about how we operate. What's one of the first things we do? If we want to think about doing business with someone, we Google them and websites are the most important piece of Google content”
“To find your passion, you have to try things. If you’re stuck, find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed and can focus. Grab a good old fashioned pen or pencil and a piece of paper, or journal and start literally brain dumping. Don’t quantify any of your thoughts. Write them all down. Anything that makes you happy or brings you joy, write it down. Then ask yourself and your peers what your strengths are. You know have all of your strengths and interests recorded. Now brainstorm different combinations of passions to pursue by combining items from each list until you find one you want to try and simply give it a shot.”
“You Are A Badass At Money is a great place to start uncovering what stories you're telling yourself about money. We need to improve our relationships with building wealth. Instead of thinking about it as an amount, it's an exchange of value. I'm giving you something of value and you're giving me something of value.”
Guest Bio
Stephanie Powell is a speaker, business strategist, brand designer and authenticity expert. She is also a lion chaser, a creative, a designer, a total nerd, an educator, a dancer, an Aggie (whoop), a photographer, an intense logophile, a walking juxtaposition, a fierce animal advocate, and a forever champion of the oxford comma. Oh, and Jesus is her homeboy.
Her goal is to live life as authentically as humanly possible and surround myself with those souls who seek to do the same. And also, to enjoy as many side-splitting, crying, not-making-sound-anymore laughs as I can. Those are the best.
In 2018, she took the biggest leap of faith in her life thus far: resigning from 13 years in public education to start her own business in creative and graphic design and hasn’t looked back!
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