As I shift my business focus from my novels to my content marketing, I’ve really started to think about what my brand values are and what drives me.
I’ve never really articulated them in this much detail before, but I’ve found that doing so has helped me reinforce my direction.
It’s also going to help me communicate better with my clients and attract the kinds of people I want to work with.
And they keep me focused, ensuring I consider why I’m doing something before I commit to it.
Little things can add up and make a big difference to a day, to our mindset, and to our business, and these work as effective reminders.
So, here are my brand values and why I chose them:
Be open and honest about expectations
Honesty is something that’s always been really important to me. I think it’s much better to be open and honest upfront about things than let wires get crossed or people get confused.
Being open can also mean having a willingness to listen to other people’s ideas even if they’re not the kind of thing that you would normally do or say or think. This can be really game-changing in terms of coming up with new approaches and new strategies. It also ties in with my later value about learning.
Being honest with someone is also a sign of respect.
Make others feel valued and respected
We live in a world that can sometimes make us feel small or less than because we’re not doing this or not doing that.
The weight of societal expectations can really get us down regardless of who we are or what we do.
For me, it’s really important to make other people feel valued and respected regardless of what their role is or what their relationship is to me.
A little bit of kindness, and treating someone with respect, never hurt anyone. But you never know how you can brighten someone’s day by paying them a little compliment or just saying thanks.
Rest is important. Overworking and burnout are never worth it
I’ve burned out more times than I can remember. It wasn’t until I burned out so hard I couldn’t function that I realised I’m neurodivergent.
Realising I was neurodivergent was life-changing for me, but at the same time my whole world shifted and I needed to take some time to process seeing my life through a completely different lens.
One of the things that helped me process that realisation was rest. It was slowing my brain down so that I could focus on myself and not be thinking about my business or my books or anything else, just myself and my experiences.
I’ve always been pretty bad at rest and that’s why I really want to be much more conscious about it in 2023.
I used to work on the weekends, work strange hours, and see everything I did—from exercise to meditation to reading—as another form of work. It was exhausting.
Ever since reading The Art of Rest*, I’ve started to shift this perspective. Things that boost me mentally and physically are going to benefit me more if I see them as rest. I’m also going to enjoy them more if I’m not seeing them as yet another thing I have to check off from my to-do list.
Don’t waste time on things that make you die inside
Living with chronic pain and fatigue has really taught me the importance of prioritising things that we enjoy and that fulfil us over things that make us die inside.
Some things are unavoidable, like taxes and financial planning, but that’s the beauty of being able to outsource things.
For instance, I’m not a huge fan of TikTok but I know it’s a really good place to sell books and the posts generally do quite well on there compared to somewhere like Facebook where the reach is much lower.
However, I get bored of creating TikTok-style videos after a day or two. And I hate the TikTok editor, so creating more than one video in it makes me want to throw my phone out of the window.
Outsourcing creating those videos to my VA who enjoys TikTok, and is good at creating videos, takes the burden off me while still promoting my books. I then get all the benefits of being present on TikTok without needing to do something I find really challenging.
Creativity and logic can and do go hand in hand. The most effective strategies use a combination of both
My background is very different to a lot of people in the self-employed world. I come from a traditionally creative background, not a corporate one. This gives me a unique perspective, but it doesn’t mean that there isn’t still room for logic.
A lot of writers and creatives don’t like following trends or tracking their sales or turning what they do into a business.
But if six years of being an indie author has taught me anything, it’s that creativity and logic can go hand in hand. It doesn’t have to be an either/or thing.
Most successful projects are a combination of creativity and logic. The logic informs the strategy, while the creativity finds the USP and brand voice that stand out.
Always be learning. You never know where a new idea will come from
I’ve never been particularly academic, and school was definitely not my forte. So, for a long time, I didn’t embrace my need to be a lifelong learner, nor did I realise just how much I loved learning new things.
But I’ve found that studying new things helps give me new perspectives and ideas.
For instance, studying Ancient Egypt informed some ideas for my book, The Mummy’s Curse. Learning about the Victorians gave me another idea for my upcoming book, The Mean Girl’s Murder.
When it comes to my content marketing, it’s through learning new approaches and perspectives in communities like ATOMIC* and The League that I come up with new ideas and new ways of doing things. And that means I get to experiment with strategies and techniques, which I love to do.
New ideas really are everywhere: it’s all about how you look at the world.
The more open-minded you are about ideas, about creating, and about learning new things, the more you’re going to reap the benefits in both your business and personal life.
*Affiliate link.