Where To Find Inspiration For Your Brand
If you have been enjoying our recent blog posts, join our community of entrepreneurs & aspiring entrepreneurs over on Instagram at @profitfromyouruntappedpassion. There we discuss related topics such as these.
Finding inspiration for your brand can be a struggle. Many first-time business owners naturally become inspired by their own vision but after a while, that flame begins to die down. Today, we are going to share with you a few places you can find inspiration for your brand at all times, let's dive in!
Whether you've been in business for a month, a year or even ten years, you want to be constantly inspired to keep the momentum going and inspire others. So where does inspiration come from? We're glad you asked. Inspiration in general comes from two places; from within yourself and from the world around you. Most people find themselves being inspired by both places whereas others find themselves mostly being inspired from one or the other.
Inspiration within yourself would include your imagination. That would be best explained as things you envision that haven't yet formed in reality. Your imagination is a huge source of inspiration because a lot of times you become inspired by something around you that you don't yet have. This is where you begin to envision that thing using your imagination. In your head you able to put together this object or idea and that is your opportunity to then create what you see.
Another area within yourself where you can access inspiration is in the things that you like and in the things that you don't like. This can go two ways; you can inspiration from the things that you like because now you have seen it and would like to recreate what you like or you can find inspiration in the thing you dislike by identifying why you don't like and envisioning how you can improve it so your dream clients will want it.
Next up, inspiration within yourself can purely come from who you are. Our CEO & Founder was able to build each of her own successful brands inspired by who she is, what she likes, what she doesn't like and who she is as a person. When using this source of inspiration you want people that know you to be able to see you fully in your branding, products, services and in your business as a whole. Who you are should always be the main inspiration for your brand and tied in, in some sort of way. You want to avoid creating and building a business that you as the Founder are disconnected from. Building a business that is in no way inspired by you will create difficulty in being able to be authentic with your audience.
Another source of inspiration to access from within yourself is in what you believe. Everyone has a different belief system however, if you think about it in some sort of way it is intertwined in business whether it be intentional or not. It could be how your business is structured, how it is run, your company motto, the tone of voice in which you interact with customers or even your brand's colors. It all comes down to what the founder or founders believe in.
Pulling from your belief system, you can too be inspired by what you stand for. As simple as it may seem you do stand for a lot of different things. It could be huge movements that you support or just something small. Your action or inaction on these topics shows whether or not you are in support of them. This is a key place where you can use your voice to make a difference in the world for what you believe.
The last place from within yourself to find inspiration is in your perspective, how you see things and how you think about things. This source of inspiration is heavily influenced by the renewing of your mind. As an entrepreneur, it is crucial to get into the habit of renewing your mind daily. if you really want to accomplish your goals and set new ones you can't have a negative mindset that says that what you are trying to do isn't possible. You must learn to embrace optimism in the face of despair or uncertainty. Otherwise, what you have desired to do will simply never happen. Entrepreneurship really takes a huge mindset change to see what's not actually tangible yet and to believe in what has not happened yet in order for it to come to pass. All in all, it truly ties deeply into your passions and your purpose being an entrepreneur. As simple as it may sound finding your purpose and pinpointing your passions in life can be challenging. In our book, Profit From Your Untapped Passion, Jade speaks extensively on how to discover your passion and purpose and to bring the two together in your brand. If you find yourself frustrated or struggling to find out what your purpose is and what you are passionate about in order to build a brand upon that to help others pick up a copy of Profit From Your Untapped Passion available in our book shop. Take a deep breath, we are here to help you figure it out.
Moving on to finding sources of inspiration from the second place, the world around you. As mentioned previously this one is very common. It's almost impossible to not be inspired by something you've seen in your everyday life or the people around you in some sort of way.
The first place to tap into inspiration from within the world around you is the places that you go. It could be out of the country, outside of your town or even out of your state. A place that you have visited that has truly inspired you can be a huge sort of inspiration for other things. Our Founder was greatly inspired by her trip to Paris, France back in 2015. So much so that it led to part of the inspiration for the launching of her sustainable women's accessory brand, Jade Alycia Inc. in 2016.
The next place you can find inspiration from the world around you is within the things that you read. Maybe you have recently read a book or maybe you have a favorite author or you really love flipping through a great magazine, those are all great places to grab inspiration from. It could a word, title, particular sentence or quote that inspires you most. You can easily pick one of these and build a brand around it.
Thirdly, you can find inspiration is from the people you admire. It could be your mother, a celebrity or even a best friend that inspires you. Whoever the person may be, they have certain characteristics that you admire or aspire to one day possess. You could simply admire their sense of style, the way they speak, their personality or even their confidence. This is what is referred to as a muse. Having a person or figure as your main source of inspiration. Some consider themselves to be their own muse. It is perfectly fine to have more than one.
You can also be inspired by the photos you or save. This source is ideal if you're on Instagram. Naturally users like and save photos from their curated feeds all day long. It's pretty much become our unpaid part-time gig. For Facebook users it is a similar experience but much more personalized. Either way find a social platform that you like and begin to collect those photos and videos as a secret stash of inspiration for your brand to keep you motivated.
Lastly, you can find inspiration from the world around is through the colors you frequently gravitate towards. These could be a palette of colors that you always wear, like buying or find yourself constantly using. The easiest way to identify these colors is by taking a look at your wardrobe, your recent purchases or even your hair color history. If you're like Jade, you will buy any item that comes in your favorite color it doesn't matter what it is. Many people but color in a box only to be used when establishing brand colors, but they go far beyond that. Colors can be a great source of inspiration as mentioned in Profit From your Untapped Passion. Where you are taken through a brief teaching of color psychology to understand why certain colors are picked for certain products/services, what certain colors mean, how colors connect with your audience and what exactly colors say to your audience. If you are interested in learning more about color psychology and how it can be a strong source of inspiration for you in your business stop by our online bookshop to pick up your copy.
Now that you are familiar with the two main sources of inspiration and where the multiple places within them can be found, it's time to explore where your brand can actually go with us and how it helps you. Nailed down your source of inspiration is incredibly powerful because it has the potential to do so much for you and your brand.
The first thing that finding your source of inspiration for your brand does is that it keeps you focused. You have to have a center of inspiration for your brand and everything else will begin to sprout out from that. When you don't have a center of focus or a source of inspiration for your brand the lack of cohesiveness will all come out in your posts, branding and designs. Your overall messaging will appear inconsistent, confusing and uncertain. That uncertainty will be conveyed to your audience which will directly affect whether or not your audience trusts you enough to do business with you. Remember, your first impression is always the most important because you may not get a second chance.
Secondly, having a main source of inspiration helps you create targeted content with ease. Being able to identify what your audience would like to see and then building on that from different angles and different perspectives to create inspiring content for your social media, blog, Youtube channel, and website. Knowing your center of inspiration allows you to be able to build out your related content a lot easier and a lot more niche. This type of content enables you to really connect and show your dream client that you know them.
Next, having a main source of inspiration allows you to hone in on your dream clients. It will help you to create targeted content so that you know exactly who you are connecting with and they feel like you're best friends. You desire to have customers question, how do they know me so well? How do their products/services speak so perfectly to my pain points that I've been searching for months for a solution to? You want your dream clients to have a eureka moment when they come across your brand.
Another thing that having a main source of inspiration does is that helps you stay inspired. Once you have that initial spark of inspiration and are able to say without a doubt that your brand will always be inspired by a particular source you have hit the theoretical jackpot. You want to avoid picking a source that doesn't re-inspired you on a consistent basis. Your aim to find a source that has the potential to inspire you now and in the years to come. It's important for it to be a source that you can create endless conversations around as well as a place that your audience can't get enough of. It's truly a delicate balance that when implemented strategically can be extremely successful.
Having a main source of inspiration gives you the opportunity to discover new ways to connect with your audience. Knowing your source allows you to think of different ways to talk about and present your inspiration through your brand to your audience. This is your chance to get really creative about what you want to say and how you say it. Don't be afraid to standout because those are the brand that people love. Your unique perspective is what will connect your brand with your dream clients.
And finally, having a main source of inspiration helps you establish your brand's overall mission. Your brand's mission should be something that's pretty powerful, engaging and ultimately something people want to be a part of. You want others to look forward to it and brag about it to their family and friends. Your brand's mission isn't necessarily centered around you, but more so about the impact that can be made through your brand with the help of others.
We hope this post helped you pinpoint your endless source of inspiration and has inspired you in new ways to implement it within your brand.
If you would like to be mentored by our CEO & Founder, Jade Alycia, you can apply today for the summer session of the Profit From Your Untapped Passion Mentorship Program starting July 5th! We are currently accepting applications now through June 30, 2021. To learn more about the program visit our programs page here.
As always we'd love to hear what you think! Comment below if you found this post helpful and let us know what other topics you would like to dive into together.