There’s purple and personal branding and soulmate clients and wiener dogs to behold in this gorgeous jewel of an episode. Oh my! Today we chat with the fabulous Stef Fournier, personal branding coach, strategist and brand photographer and Sarah’s new friend (!) about all things branding and neurospiciness. It’s, as ever, chaotic, fun and full of brain sparkles (do we ever not have those with our amazing guests?!).
It’s also the first time we’ve had three brand photographers on Creative Reboot – woo yay!
Enjoy and definitely grab a notebook for this one. Stef shares so much awesome wisdom!
Meet Stef (and the pup)
Stef is a personal branding coach and photographer from Langley, BC, Canada. Stef’s journey from web and graphic design to wedding photography gives her a unique perspective on the evolving landscape of personal branding and client relationships.
She helps entrepreneurs go from behind the scenes to showing up online and attracting those soulmate clients – and we LOVE the sound of soulmate clients! (and she has a super cute sausage/wiener dog – what’s not to love?!)
What we talk about
Starting website design when Geocities was a thing, ad revenue from a Pokemon website aged 14, finding your place in the world.
The twists & turns of Stef’s journey through web design, branding, graphic design, colour theory, marketing… and her discovery of photography.
Growing your business alongside a job, creating the right environment for that, and then phasing the job(s) out over time.
Squirrel brains and the pandemic and figuring out how to bring everything together when something feels like it’s missing. Coming at this decision / strategy from a place of what you definitely don’t want, as well as what you do want. All the strands of Stef’s work which separately wouldn’t necessarily fit together, but somehow do.
Marketing, and talking about what you do, when you do lots of things which aren’t obviously related. (Spoiler – there is a list! But you’ll have to listen to find out the magic of using it!)
Tailoring what you’re doing in your marketing to what your clients are wanting right now, or where you need the most growth and what can support that growth.
Managing flexibility with the ebb & flow of clients and life, and also actually executing plans around marketing (overload & meltdowns may be involved). Doing the thing, but being realistic & honest about the process before doing it – which may involve some overwhelm and some tears.
Stepping away and coming back rather than pushing through. Being able to see your road map both forwards and backwards. Making room in your lists and also mentally.
The difficulty of ditching stuff when you love everything you’re doing, and equally the difficulty of keeping everything when some of it you don’t love but it pays. Resisting the shiny new thing syndrome that entrepreneurs have a definite tendency towards.
Putting your whole self into your business, not pretending to be someone you or others think you should be. Professionalism and authenticity.
A definition of personal branding, and why it’s so important, especially now when we are bombarded with information every waking moment. Being authentic, and relatable, but also not dumping all your shit everywhere (😂)
Brand colours (it’s not the advice you expect), and creating a sense of connection, and an actual connection, with your clients. Personal branding for everyone, not just solopreneurs and CEOs!
A personal brand will follow you even if your business / company shifts – so even more important if you’re multipassionate, neurospicy or otherwise likely to do multiple and ever-changing things.
Soulmate clients – you really want to listen to this bit because there are layers, like an onion, but better. It’s as much about how you want to feel when working with clients as who they are and how they’re profiled.
Differences in buying decisions for products, and bigger products, and services. Vulnerability and compatibility with whoever is writing your words, or taking your photos, or creating something for you.
The foundation of your personal brand being the differentiator that makes people choose you over others who do similar things – and it is sometimes very intangible, just the energy you have.
Leaning into your own preferences when talking to new people, at networking or events or even at parties – it’s ok to prefer a deep conversation with one person to trying to flit about having a quick chat with everyone, or vice versa… do what’s best for you and the right, soulmate kind of people will follow your lead.
One of the things I’m really learning about being neurospicy is we like to mimic people, but, really, we need to learn how to be ourselves. It’s the biggest journey.
Stef Fournier
And some really excellent advice from Stef – done really is better than perfect, but going beyond that. Share the journey, let yourself experience the journey, and don’t wait for the journey to end to start.
Get more Stef in your life
At her website steffournier.com
On Instagram @thevioletstef
On LinkedIn
And @thevioletstef pretty much everywhere else, but not TikTok 🙂