Don't Fight What Comes Naturally | Sometimes Going With The Flow Is Exactly What Your Business Brand and Identity Needs
Last weekend my family and I had our annual Fall family photo shoot with Kimberly of Alante Photography. I dressed the kids in clothes that they were told not to eat, play, or run in (what a fun mom I am!!) and my husband wore a suit (which is not his top pick of wardrobe) ... I wore a fitted dress (also not my chosen wardrobe). We went to a park and it was time to TURN IT ON!! "Smile for the camera" I purred to my children - who are 3 and 5 years old - and they basically (in their own way) told me to 'shove it' ...
At this point in the photo shoot I silently gave in ... realized we wouldn't have a family photo this year and decided I'd accept that ... and then something magical happened ... we decided to go with Hadley and Grayson's moods ... not to fight it ... to embrace what was happening ... and my favorite shot of the day was created:
^^ This is my family. Hadley is the one pouting and refusing to show her darling face on the left and Grayson is the one who looks like he is about to die of boredom on the right .. and there in the middle the smiling faces of my husband and I. I love this image. I love everything about it. I love that it's Fall (my favorite season) and I love that everyone in this photo is being exactly who they are in this exact moment. I will look back at this image when I'm old and grey and smile.
This day taught me to remember an important lesson: don't force things that aren't there.
This applies in business too. I find so many of my clients come to me and are naturally 'something' amazing ... but feel that their brand has to be 'something else' to be accepted. I say 'no' to that!! If you are sassy and full of spunk: put that in your brand! If you are soft spoken and dainty: put that in your brand! If you have a vibrant and loud personality that fills a room with noise: put that in your brand! Don't fight who you are.
Take me for example. When I started Style Unveiled in 2008 I truly did love weddings ... loved writing about them, loved posting them, loved dreaming up details for shoots ... but when it was time for that chapter to come to a close I looked back at my posts from the last year and realized something was missing: passion. Somewhere along the way I had lost that passion to write about weddings in a way that made people want to read my posts! I have that passion again now because I'm not fighting WHO I AM on The Editor's Touch. I am just me. The writing flows out of me because I'm allowed to just let myself go on here ... let myself go and write. The Editor's Touch is me. I am The Editor's Touch. The branding is me: soft with a touch of sparkle.
Is your brand you?? Do you see yourself and your passion in your logo and in your company colors? Have you outgrown your brand and now need a new face for the new you?? Just some questions to consider :)
XO~ Heather