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by Phoenix Desertsong, Personal Branding Expert  When most people start a company these days, they know branding is one of the keys of success. But, a brand goes far deeper than your logo, how your website looks, and how you present your product or service. What separates the brand zeroes from the Brand Heroes in the end is passion and the ability to connect on an emotional (and even spiritual level) with their intended audiences.
So, how do you become a Brand Hero? Here’s the number one tip... It’s Not All About the Money! Too often, it seems like money is the end goal when someone creates a brand. No matter what the stated objective in a business plan may be, the end result is what’s my cut in all of this? But, building your brand shouldn’t ever be just about your bottom line. Still, it seems to be the hope of many budding entrepreneurs out there to build a fairly successful business, then sell their growing company to someone with a pile of money, and move onto new ventures. Sure, there’s nothing wrong with building a company and selling it. But, what’s the true motivation behind it? And, should you really sell your brand to someone else just for money? That’s the million - or even billion - dollar question isn’t it? The number one reason 90 percent - or more - of startups fail isn’t what you think. It isn’t lack of business knowledge or a lack of a proper business plan. Yes, that knowledge is helpful. But most successes aren’t as planned as the “experts” would have you believe. The reason that many fail is actually much more basic. A lot of those people that build brands are just trying to become rich and/or famous. Guess what? Everybody tries that. Yeah, some succeed. But the reason those people succeed is because they weren’t in it for the money. Sure, money may have changed their motivations later on. Sure, someone may offer life-changing money in exchange for their product or business. But still, the initial success is because there was a purpose, a passion, behind creating the brand. Well, passion isn’t enough some say. But you’d be surprised at how little of a plan some aspiring entrepreneurs have. They either enter the market at the right time, are doing something completely different from everyone else, or do something that others are failing miserably at. Let’s look at how these Brand Heroes figure out how and when to jump on their opportunities. How Do I Get in the Market at the Right Time? There isn’t a magical answer to this question. It really is partly luck. You can do some research and see if a particular niche is trending. Yes, you can jump on the bandwagon and just try to get int there and do it better than everyone else. Sometimes, this works. But the thing is, when you jump on a bandwagon, you’re competing with a whole bunch of other wannabes. So, the trick is to get into the market before everyone else has figured it out. Being Completely Different Obviously, being completely different at something is a bit difficult to do. But if you are doing something no one else is doing, and it’s something that people actually look for, then you have a chance of creating your own niche. Creating your own market is always better than trying to do what everyone else is trying to do. But inventing something new is hard. Still, it can be rewarding, especially if you get people who buy into your vision and stick with it until you’re successful. Do Something Others Fail Miserably At... Speaking of trying, there are plenty of things out there that are being done, but not necessarily well. If you’re experiencing a certain service or product that’s out there but that people aren’t happy with, then innovate! Turns out that most successful people took something existing and innovated on it, but it’s the innovation that’s remembered and becomes the real big success. So, yeah, you don’t even have to invent something to be successful. You just have to not suck at it. That’s probably the hardest thing to do of all, but it’s also how you can find an existing market that is hungry for something better. And, innovation is sometimes just as good as inventing something. So, if you want ot build a company for the sole purpose of selling it later, well… that’s not how I’d recommend doing it. But you can! If you build something awesome that people want to buy, I suggest giving them a cut, but never, ever give up your baby’s ownership rights. Sure, someone may be able to run it better than you, or so you think. Staying in control of what you create and putting your heart and soul into it is what makes a true Brand Hero. Do you have what it takes to be a Brand Hero? You’ll never know unless you put your best foot forward, chase your dreams, and never give up no matter what anyone else does or says. My best advice is to never lose control of your brand. It should be as much a part of you as your arm and leg. While I know plenty of people will disagree with me, this is what I believe. I’m going to always stick to it. After all, if someone wants to buy my company for millions of dollars, who knows what I could built it into myself? Share your success with others, sure. Let others buy in, sure. But never lose hold of the reins to your chariot. It may be just a rickety cart right now, but you just never know how you’ll build it up to become an impressive vehicle for your hopes and dreams. Be a Brand Hero, stand out, and build something awesome! Want to become a Brand Hero? But, not sure where or how to start? Hire the Brand Shamans and we’ll show you how!
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by Phoenix Desertsong, Tarot Reader and SEO Expert When you create any piece of content, your intents must be aligned with the intents of your audience. That’s really what SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is all about, after all. Searcher intent is the most important thing to understand when deciding how to frame your content and making it easy to find through the use of search engines. That’s all well and good, but how do you actually know searcher intent, especially when it relates to the specific things you do, love, and are passionate about? Sure, there are plenty of free - and paid - SEO tools out there that give you some insights into keyword phrases, search traffic volumes, competition, ranking factors, and blah, blah, blah. That’s not to say these things aren’t important, because they can be helpful. But, they are just tools, after all. When it comes to optimizing anything in your life or business, making your intents clear and focused is of absolute importance. You can write content or tag and describe podcasts, videos, and pictures and whatnot with the perfect keyword phrases. But even if people find it, will they actually get anything out of it or interact with it? Probably not, if your true intent isn’t clear. You may know what that is, but is that clear through what you project through your website, branding, and content? Online tools won’t help you with this. Nope. You have to look within yourself and use your own intuition to figure out how to best align your intents with those of your intended audience. How the Heck Do I Use Intuition in SEO? I’m sure I’m far from the first person to say that using your own intuition in optimizing your content for search and inbound marketing is a good idea. After all, you are creating - or responsible for the creation of - the content that surrounds your brand and business. Even if you’re running a website for a hobby that’s not for profit, because you are putting your energy into it. If you’re pouring your heart and soul into something, it’s business. So, you want to have your brand and business to be consistent with your intents and keep that balance clear, focused, and obvious. If you’re very goal-oriented and are a good planner, you probably already have a good idea of the keywords and target audience to focus on already. But if you don’t have all that planned out, that’s OK, too. You don’t always need a plan to be exact. After all, it’s your thing, so do it how you’re comfortable doing it. While numbers, keyword research, and traffic reports & insights have their place in optimizing the searchability of your content, they don’t tell you the most important thing that you need to know. Where do you focus your energy? That’s where intuitive SEO comes in. What Tools Do I Need for Intuitive SEO? The beautiful thing about intuitive SEO is that you don’t need to pay a whole bunch of money for a tool. In fact, the tools are pretty cheap. I know that I’m not the first one to do this for business, but I may be the first to do this, at least publicly, for the purposes of figuring out your SEO strategy. Let’s do a Tarot card reading. Wait, huh? One of the best ways to know where we should be putting our energy is to relax, take a deep breath, and use some divination tool to help us tap into our own intuition. Contrary to popular belief, tarot cards and the like don’t “tell the future,” but rather give us insight into where we’re at right now in the grand scheme of things and where the Universe suggests that we should go. If you’re not into the spiritual “stuff,” that’s OK. But hear me out. For my example here, let’s take something that I know I like and would write content about if I took the time to. That thing is vegan sausage. While that sounds like a silly example, it probably shouldn’t surprise you that people like to find new ways to cook with sausage. I’m not here to talk about the benefits of vegan sausage. Or am I? Before I do any fancy keyword research, or look at potential competition, or anything, I need to know what my focus should be. How would reading a Tarot card help us do that, though? Let’s see. For this reading, I'm using my personal Mystical Cats Tarot deck. But you can really use any Tarot deck you want. As you shuffle the deck, clear your mind and focus your energy on the deck. Then, ask the question “Where should I focus my energy when writing about (enter your topic here)?” In this case, I’m asking the deck about “vegan sausage.” The card I drew for this? The Three of Earth reversed.  Image © Rayne L.L. Desertsong; All Rights Reserved Let's see what the Mystical Cats Tarot guidebook, “Tales of the Mystical Cats” says about this card. When it's in the Upright position, the card offers this advice: "Problems that seem insurmountable alone become manageable - and enjoyable - when you work together. Think about how your project could benefit from teamwork. Apply creative cooperation toward a common goal." But what if it's reversed, like in our case here? Tarot cards have a significantly, sometimes drastically different meaning for you - when reversed. Reverse: "You are taking on too much on your own, This doesn’t make you independent, it makes you a martyr. Don't try to cope with more than is reasonable or become exhausted by struggling on alone. Ask for help." What do these reasons have to do with SEO? SEO can be extremely overwhelming. But you don't have to reinvent the wheel or even do it all yourself. This reading tells us that in order to succeed with writing SEO-friendly content for the topic of “vegan sausage” we should be seeking out help. Collaborating with others is a key to being successful writing online content on this topic. Of course, guest blogging and blog collaboration is commonplace. But especially with how popular vegan meats have become, working with others is key to getting noticed and included in the community for this niche. In fact, this reading just saved you a lot of time. Rather than spend countless hours digging for long tail keywords, you should instead introduce yourself to like minded bloggers and website owners to collaborate. That way everyone wins and you have people already invested in your work. Then once you have an established following, see what you alone can offer that you haven't seen written about. Then, you can focus on a few key tee directly related to the topics you want to focus your original content around. Since then you'll already have an audience, your content will get seen by more people. Also, since your audience will already be targeted towards people who like recipes and whatnot about vegan sausage, it will perform better! There you go! You can do this exercise with any oracle deck, even inspirational ones. There’s also divination with playing cards, too, called cartomancy. There are plenty of guides on cartomancy and all you need is any old deck of playing cards. It's all about using the cards as a tool to focus your mind on intuition. So, if you're feeling stuck or overwhelmed with your content strategy our keywords research, don't worry! This one card business reading could be exactly what you need you jumpstart your content! If you're just starting out or focusing on something new, you should give it a shot, too! ~ Phoenix <3 ~ >>> Get a FREE Business Tarot or Oracle Reading with any Brand Shamans Custom Brand Healing Package, starting with a Brand Analysis! <<<
>>> HEALING CARD READINGS AT INTENT-SIVE NATURE <<< What Does the Earth Kitten (Page of Pentacles) Tarot Card Mean For Your Business and Brand?9/1/2018 by Phoenix Desertsong, Tarot Reader & Branding Consultant  If you’re familiar with Tarot, you may be wondering what the heck the Earth Kitten is? The Earth Kitten is the analog for the traditional Page of Pentacles in the Mystical Cats Tarot Deck. Drawing this card for a business reading is certainly a good thing. Learn what pulling the Earth Kitten Tarot Card - or the Page of Pentacles in a traditional Tarot deck - means for your business and brand. What is the Earth Kitten Card Telling Me? If you’re just starting out in business, this is a great card to see! In the case of the Earth Kitten, the kitten is touching noses with a hedgehog in a forest. As the “Tales of the Mystical Cats” advises, this card advises you that you are slowly but surely building practical skills and refining your knowledge of the way the world works. The card also advises you to seek beauty in unexplored places and take pleasure in the realm of the senses. The “Tales” guidebook also suggests that study and other quiet pastimes are especially beneficial now to you now. Like a human individual, your business (and your brand) is a spiritual entity. In drawing this card for a business reading, it means that your business and brand are off a good start. But, it’s still a kitten and needs nurturing. It means that you should continue to focus on building the fundamentals of your business and the practical benefits it can have for potential clients or customers. Drawing this card would also suggest that building your business’ brand would benefit from using pictures or videos that would stimulate the senses to attract new leads. Your business can also benefit from studying your niche more closely and finding how your brand can serve your audience even better. It’s also important to take time away from your business, perhaps on the weekend, even if it’s not for the whole day, for you to recharge. It’s OK for your business to take a nap. Am I On the Right Track with My Business and Brand? The Earth Kitten, or Page of Pentacles, means that you’re on the right track with building your new business. If your business isn’t new, then it means that you’re on the verge of giving it new life. It’s always good to see a Kitten (or Page) Tarot card, as it signifies new beginnings. Whether your brand is new or taking on a new direction, you’re doing something right. Take the advice that the card gives you to heart and watch your brand and business grow! Where are you at with building your brand and business? What guidance do you feel you still need? The Brand Shamans can help! Let us know in the comments or contact us! ~ Phoenix <3 >>> Get a FREE Business Tarot or Oracle Reading with any Brand Shamans Custom Brand Healing Package, starting with a Brand Analysis! <<<
>>> HEALING CARD READINGS AT INTENT-SIVE NATURE <<< |
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Lyn Lomasi is founder and owner of the Brand Shamans Content Community. Services include ordained soul therapy and healing ministry, business success coaching, business success services, handcrafted healing jewelry, ethereal and anointing oils, altar and spiritual supplies and services, handcrafted healing beauty products, and more!
Lyn is your brand healing, soul healing, marketing & content superhero to the rescue! While rescuing civilians from boring business practices and energy vampires, this awesomely crazy family conquers evil and creates change. They live among tigers, dragons, mermaids, unicorns, and other fantastic energies, teaching others to claim their own power and do the same. By supporting us, you support a dedicated parent, healer, and minority small business that donates to several causes. Profits from our all-inclusive store, Intent-sive Nature support these causes and our beautiful family! HIRE OR SHOP WITH LYN | CONTACT LYN Archives
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