My 5 former REbranding challenges and how I overcame them (learn from my mistakes)

I hope that the following five challenges I navigated through after my second sabbatical and radical career change/inner transformation encourage and edutain you. I can laugh about them now, but when I was stuck in them a few years ago, I didn’t find them funny at all…

You’ll see that there’s a solution to every problem, when we dare to “look the monster in the eyes” and take aligned action.

Evolving into the next best version of ourselves will invite us to do things we’ve never done before. That’s one of the main rules of “the school of life”.

1.????? The “niching down” nightmare

I intellectually knew the benefits of niching down, of choosing an even smaller target audience: What I’ll share will be even more relevant and helpful for the individuals I want to work with. And my little self felt terrified: “This new version of you makes you lose 80% of your potential customers. Everybody who’s not spiritual will be turned off by this language. And the average male entrepreneur won’t be able to relate to the topics you address. ARE YOU NUTS?!”

Eventually, after guiding enough soul-led (female) solopreneurs, I softened into “niching down”. The “right” individuals feel “turned on” by – or attracted to – the words we use. They see themselves in our stories and face similar difficulties as my old self had. Furthermore, a few conscious men who are ready to step into their integrity and creative power regularly reach out to us, too!

2.???? “Epic fails”: Finding the right container

I started with a 60-minute power session, then designed an eight-week program and came to the realization that a one-two month(s) mentoring container is what my clients need. Again, my ego didn’t like the fact that “we had to toss so many great concepts into the trash bin”, and it was the right thing to do.

As awesome as things might look in theory on paper, we’re allowed to test our concepts, ask for feedback, finetune our offers and then design a fair compromise between how we’d love to work and what our customers need. Practice will show you what works and what the market resonates with.

3.??? The frustrating story of using your client’s language

Based on my Human Design, my business purpose lies in guiding people on their journey of self-love, authenticity and naturalness. I empower them to be their true selves by inspiring, reconnecting them to the great mystery of life, and looking beyond the veil of illusions. Great and “too philosophical”, especially in a business context. Now what?

Same here. I started somewhere, had a lot of conversations, listened to how my customers describe what I do and tested, tested, tested. By now, I found “better words” and people get what I offer, why I do so and what the end results are.

Spoiler alert: As we and our work evolve, so do the words we use. It’s not a static thing we’ll have to stick to forever. Start somewhere.

4.??? The issue of the end result

As a LinkedIn personal branding strategist, I could tell people “After working with me, you’ll expand your connections by x percent, get x more leads, get podcast interviews, speaker invites, etc.” The new guidance I offer is so individualized, the outcomes vary and depend on what aspects I address with my clients. Help!

After working with numerous individuals, I looked at my favorite case studies, compared results and asked myself if there’s a common thread. And yes, with enough experience I saw a pattern, which helped me communicate sharper. Once again, dare to “have the courage to leave a gap” as we say in German.

5.??? The intangible trademark

The fake turquoise glasses are gone. How will I visually stand out now? I didn’t like the idea of only wearing certain colors. I experimented with bigger feather earrings (although they often mess up the audio in recordings). What about wild, wavy hair? Yeah, that doesn’t always work…

In the end, I decided to use some of the just described elements and not to obsess with them. I let my energy speak louder than anything external. People often say that I radiate, shine from the inside out. They feel inspired and connected (to themselves, the Universe and/or ground) after talking to me. I decided that’s my new trademark. :-)

Conclusion

As you can see, facing challenges at the beginning of your rebranding resp. repositioning journey is very “normal”. Get clarity on the basis and once you feel it’s 80% done, put your brand out there. Have the courage to (beta) test. Fine-tune your communication along the way, in real life, and get the other 10-20% while ideally already making money.

PS: If you just went through a radical change/transformation and use LinkedIn as your major digital marketing platform (for your business), I have good news for you: Our next master class "Reinvent yourself. Personal REBranding with LinkedIn" will be launched soon. Sign up to our waitlist to get a 20% discount code.