Episode 129 – Building Your Perfect Brand with Jena Rodriguez

Jena: Yeah, that's a great question. Certainly, I just want to say thank you for having me here and the opportunity.

Brian: Sure.

Jena: My quick version is I've gone through many iterations in my many years of my career, and started out and I was very interested in fashion, in fashion design, computer-aided fashion design and yet I also have a left brain going on so I was very interested and finance and accounting, so I majored in both. I went in from being a computer-aided fashion designer at Express headquarters. Big box brands to freelancing as a makeup artist and then back to corporate America as a controller for about nine years helping the entrepreneurs and working with them and then got the itch again and really wanting to be an entrepreneur and getting back on my own terms.

I jumped out of corporate America almost 10 years ago actually and found my niche. I moved into owning a business. That business didn't quite work out. We've all had our little failures and missteps and had to close that business, and then I stepped into another one with my husband as a web and graphic design company. Brand With Jena was a rebirth and a rebrand and really an expression of who I really am now. So in 2012, my husband and I just stopped partnering in the business – yes, we're still married, but we ended that partnership and he went on to build his own company as a musician, and I went on to shift into what you see now which is Brand With Jena.

Brand strategy has been a journey. It's a process of me learning what I needed to learn through all those different iterations and here we are today.

Brian: Awesome. Let's talk about branding, and let's look at it from one of two perspectives. Either as a solopreneur, or let's just say a small business, is there any difference in the way that they need to brand themselves? What are the themes you start out with when you're trying to help somebody build a brand?

Jena: That's a great question, and I love the fact that I think you're really starting this conversation off on the ground that I start off on. Many people think, “Oh, brand, branding is the same thing. It's the logo. It's the visual. It's what you look like,” and those type of things. For me it really isn't. Brand is all about who you are. So whether you're a solopreneur, which I worked with many of them, or small business, typically that owner is beginning a small business to express something that they're really good at and to solve a problem.

I work with people, whether it's solopreneurs, or businesses to figure out what their brand is first, and what it wants to be. Then branding is simply the process of expressing that, and that's where we get into branding, the color story, the look and feel. The first step to even get to that place, and that's where I think a lot of people take a misstep is they start with the logo, and I'm like, “That's way down the road.”

So I work with small businesses and solopreneurs much the same, which is really uncovering what they are and what they stand for so that that can be rolled out and expressed in the right way whether it's through a verbal branding, in your messaging, or how you deliver your products and services, or ultimately what it looks like, you know, how people see you on your website, what color story, et cetera, and the process starts out the same. It's a lot of inquiry and a lot of discovery at which I do a lot of in my VIP days and working with people. The approach is the same.

Even a corporation, something larger than a small business has to know who they are at the core. What's their why? I think I have a sweet spot in my heart for small business owners and solopreneurs because I can definitely relate and I think we have something to say and that's how I help people say it, is to figure out what their brand is trying to show up as.

Brian: So what are some of the most common mistakes you see people making before they start working with somebody like you about their brand?

Jena: Yeah. Like I said, one is really not taking the time to uncover what the brand is first before they go into making their website, their logo and business card. That's one. Another one in that space is being inconsistent. There's not only this inconsistency in showing up visually the same way in every touch point, but also inconsistency between who you are as a brand and how you're showing up. Because then it's working against you.

Another mistake that I find is people are trying to compete with everyone. It's kind of like everybody that solves the same problem in some way is competing against each other and the truth is they aren't. Walmart and Neiman Marcus are both retailers, but they're absolutely not competing with each other. Yet, they have a very clear distinction around their positioning. I think that's another mistake people make and that plays into earning what they really want to earn, and charging what they want to charge because Walmart doesn't charge like Neiman Marcus. So you go to be very clear on what sandbox – I call it a sandbox – which sandbox you want to play in. And then go after your brand strategy, and how you're going to show up, and how you're going to price and deliver your product. So those are some of the biggest mistakes that I see, and I certainly support people in figuring out for themselves.

Brian: Got it. Let's look at it this way. Somebody says, “Well, I don't need this. It's not going to help me make any more money. It's not going to help my business.” What do you say and how do you help people realize more return on investment or income through the processes that you go through?

Jena: Yeah, I know. It sometimes feels like it's an intangible result. Right?

Brian: Right.

Jena: But I can definitely say not only in my own experience, I've seen 50% growth in my business monetarily by getting clear on what my brand is and elevating that, but also I've had some clients that they just were floundering. They didn't feel the connection to how they were showing up. Visually on their website, their name of their business, all those things didn't feel like they were really being authentic to themselves. I had a client recently that did the rebrand, did the VIP day, really went through the process of discovering what the brand's all about, then moving into a branding process and stood on a stage and closed 5 figures in sales.

I said, “Does that have anything to do with your rebrand?” He said, “Absolutely. I couldn't have stood up there and been so confident and clear on what my message was, what my name is, what I stood for and really making the impact I want to make in that presentation in order to convert so high.” He could really see the connection between the before and after. So I see that everyday. One of the things I do is like a brand audit for people because I know that there are things that are working for you, and there are things that are working against you, and a lot of times they're just in our blind spots. They can't see it.

If they feel like they're struggling to get people to even have a sales conversation with them, or ask for more information, or they just won't connect to the pricing that you're trying to ask for. Those are symptoms of a brand problem, and so I've seen it day in and day out with the clients I serve. They gain that confidence, they gain the message clarity, they show up consistently and position themselves in the marketplace and the sandbox that they're playing in appropriately, then the money goes up. The money increases, and I'm proud to say that I get to watch a lot of my clients experience that.

I also watch clients that don't do it, and they struggle. They just struggle. They struggle to make the money they're wanting, to have the right conversations, to share the message in the right way, that kind of lands with the people. It's just like, “Do you want to do it the hard way or the easy way?” The thing that I consider my brand strategy services and approach basically is an accelerator. It's an accelerator. You can do it the way you're doing it and eventually you'll get there. I'm not saying you can't go make money in your business, because clearly if you're after the money and someone has a problem and they need the solution you offer, they'll buy it. But what else can you create, and what other platform can you create? How big can you make an impact if you really take some time to pay attention to how your brand strategy is in place or not in place? I just feel through experience in my own life, in my own business and in the clients, have really watched the acceleration occur. I think that's very powerful in itself.

Brian: Absolutely.

So, Jena, you have something that can possibly help people better understand how to maximize their own brand. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Jena: So, like you said, it's kinda like where should they start? One of the things that I would love to offer your audience is a place to assess where you are. Because I wholeheartedly believe if we can see where we are in reality, factually, then we can make a plan, we can create a strategy to get to where we want to go and fill in the gap. So many times we don't have a really good grasp on where we are in reality. We assume a lot. I'd love to offer a complimentary brand score assessment that is just really powerful in saying, “Okay, this is where I am on a scale of 1 to 10. And here are some strategies in the nature of the assessment you're going to learn exactly what don't have handled and what you do have handled, right? And celebrate that. This just gives a really clear view of where you are and where you need to go in order to get what you want.

 

Brian: Awesome.

So, Jena, if people wanted to get a hold of you, what's the best way for them to do that?

Jena: Yeah. Absolutely. My website, of course, is the best place to connect. You can email me. You can find me on social media and listen to podcasts, and all those different things there, and that is www.Brandwithjena.com, and my name is spelled with one “n” so it's J-e-n-a, and yeah, I welcome any feedback or connection through there.

Brian: Hey, Jena, this has been fabulous. I really appreciate some of the knowledge bombs that you dropped for my peeps, and it's great connecting with you. I really appreciate you and your time. I know my audience is going to get a lot out of this, so thanks for joining us.

Jena: Thank you. You're so welcome, and I just really appreciate the opportunity.