The magical phrase that could change your content (and your life)

"One. Tweak. A week."

There it is. That's the post. (I kid.)

For many personal and professional brands out there, our brands pivot and change the more things we get into, the more clients we work with, or the longer we're in business.

Lord knows mine sure did.

In 2018, I launched Where Content Connects –?a "boutique content consultancy" for brands.

For several of the years after launching my business, I tried to shove my brand into a neatly designed box under its brand name. Where Content Connects was on everything. The website had to feel like the logo, the logo had to have the same colors as the site, and because the site had to be what I referred people to ... I rarely said my name. Every hand out given at an event –?the business name. It felt very ... corporate. And unrelatable.

Whatever beautiful intention I had started with, it somehow got lost along the way.

Flash forward to late 2021, I had started getting hired 'on contract' for other brands, and found myself moving farther and farther away from my own voice and message.

That's when I realized I needed to revive my brand. I needed to reconnect with it. I needed to re-evaluate where I was, and redefine where I really wanted to go (and who I really wanted to work with).

The first thing to go: mentioning my business name anywhere, other than where it needed to be listed.

It was when I started marketing my brand as ME, the interest in what I did went up. Because people were able to make a clear connection between ME and the PROBLEM I SOLVED.

I realized I could finally stop trying to be what the business brand was, and start being who I actually was and how I approached solution finding.

I didn't sell widgets, or products. I wasn't building this to scale, I was building this to coach, consult, and advise. To help people get better.

As a brand, Where Content Connects was, now that I think about it, boring.

But, Nikki's not! She loves British humor and true crime, always leaves cookie crumbs, lives for iced hazelnut Starbees and anything cozy, and somehow always has a work in progress.

I knew things had to change.

I stripped the website down to a minimal feel, and channeled myself into it.

I removed all the fancy 'package' names and just started calling things what they were –?a session, an audit, a bundle.

I plugged in my favorite photos of me that made sense –?wrinkles, extra pounds, and all.

I took down all the extra unnecessary *ish.

Now, only the necessary remains.

One tweak at a time, I stepped more and more into ME as a brand.

The next tweak?

Getting more clear about the who on my site (and in turn, who I'd talk to in my associated social content).

To me, there's few things worse than attracting the folks that (a) aren't the right fit, (b) can't pay you, and (c) want you to change how you work (and ultimately who you are). And because that was who I was attracting at the time, this meant more tweaks for me.

Going back in and redesigning workbook covers, updating headlines and body copy, changing the text on the website buttons, making things more efficient and less clunky.

With one tweak a week (roughly 30 min to 1 hour any day I did it), I went in and gradually converted the site to not only be in line with me, but be in line with my ideal parters and clients.

Tbh, I love where it is now. And though I know the site will continue to evolve, I don't put so much pressure on myself now to make it something that it really isn't. That I'm really not.

The result? In 2023, it's not uncommon to get 3-5 of the *exact right people* a week reaching out –?because the photography, website, content, and offerings are all in line with who I am, what I do, how I do it, and who I want to work with.

Where we get overwhelmed as multi-passionate leaders is by seeing all the things that need to be done – and so we just put them off. In some cases, we even hire someone to "fix it" without putting the intentional thought behind it.

So, for your benefit (and sanity), let's break it down –?with one tweak a week.

Workshop:

1. Take a look at your website.
2. Make a shorthand list of what could be tweaked to improve it so that it's more in line with who you are as a brand.
3. Now, rank your shorthand items to build a priority list –?what needs to happen first that would make the most impact to your brand, or has to be completed first so that something else makes sense? (Photography, copy, offerings?)
4. Once you have your priority list, try to knock one thing off a week: block off some calendar time and put the task ON IT.