Entrepreneurship is not built from the outside in. It's built from the inside out. What I mean by that is you have to take the time and ask yourself what some would considered dumb elementary questions. What do I like? What do I not like? What do I like to do? What do I not like to do? What do I know how to do and enjoy doing? The answer to that one question can help you to build and live your best entrepreneurial life. As I said on my radio show, one thing that you've got to realize, sweetheart, is that you are a franchise. You are a multi-faceted and multi-talented individual who is meant to be an ant and not a phoenix. What's the difference? A Phoenix is buried by all of the issues and the ash of life and it dies.
And then once it dies, yes, it's reborn, but it's got a whole lot of stuff that its got to fight through to rise above. You're not meant to be a phoenix. You're meant to be an ant. See an ant know that winter is coming. Winter means different things for people. It could be you're getting ready to graduate from high school. You're getting ready to graduate from college. You're getting ready to become an empty nester. Your job is about to change. Your career is about to change. You're about to get ready to retire, so we have to be in ant mode preparing for winter. However, most of us are grasshoppers. We do enough to get by and then we rest on the little bit that we did and we think that we're straight with that. We think we're gonna be okay, but then winter comes and now we're going to the ants to get help. We're going to the people that we know spent fall, spring and summer on their grind, preparing, building their franchise, building their brand, and living their entrepreneurial life. So you may say to yourself, Tammie, well, what does that mean? What are you trying to get me to do? So I was asked to talk about a few areas here and I'm going to be obedient as possible not easy. Branding!
You are your brand regardless as to what the name is. You are your brand. That's why I told you that what you show to the world every day matters. It matters what you read, what you watch, what you listen to, and what you do. When it comes to building a brand. When you hear people tell you that how you represent yourself on social media matters. It does. We get so wrapped up in "this is my personal page and I can do what I want on my personal page" and all this other stuff. However, I want you to look at some of the young athletes who have missed out on college scholarships, professional sports contracts, jobs-- simply because of something that they had posted on their social media. It matters! When people look at your brand, they expect to see three things-- you, your mission, and your message. And if you taint either one of those you will taint your brand. Branding is more than just a name or logo. It's a lifestyle. When you hear Baskin Robbins, what do you think about? Ice cream? Right? So if you're driving and you see Baskin Robbins, you're like, oh, let me stop in here and get me some ice cream. Now, what would you think if you walked into a Baskin Robbins and they had a soul food buffet?
Now while that might be kind of cool, that's not what they are known for. You go to Baskin Robbins for ice cream and ice cream related treats. Their brand says it all. And even when it comes to naming your brand, you have to be careful. And I'm trying to say this with as much tact as possible, but cute names won't always be taken seriously. When I was taking my classes on starting an online consulting firm, that was one of the things that they talked about -- the power of a name. And the instructor was talking about a young graphic designer. His favorite movie was Forrest Gump. So what he did was he named his graphic design company, Bubba Gump Graphics, and even though he was in business for several years, he struggled and he couldn't figure out why he was struggling so badly. So. he hires somebody in marketing. What am I doing wrong? Why am I not attracting people? Why am I not closing the sale? And they said, it's your name. You have to think about being taken seriously, being seen as a brand, being seen as professional. And you like "Tammie, I'm just, you know, a young girl. Um, it is, it's just me." What you show to the world every day matters. When people say your name, what do you want them to think? What is the impression that you want them to have?
That's the first thing.
