What type of business image do you want to portray: professional expert or DIY hobbyist? Look at your current website and all your social media profiles objectively; what image do those portray? Does that image match across all platforms? Does it match what’s in your head?

It’s time to get consistent and invest some money into your business by upgrading your branding elements across the board. If you want to attract dream clients, you need look like a dream team member

Here are just a few suggestions to get you started thinking about your brand image:

1. Purchase a premiumWordPress theme OR use the Divi Theme from Elegant Themes

WordPress is the easiest platform to use for creating your site and making subsequent changes. While the WordPress theme directory is filled with beautiful, free themes, these are prone to hackers and often have weird links hidden within their sloppy coding. Premium themes are created by respected developers and offer support for any problems or questions you may encounter.

The same goes for the Divi Theme from Elegant Themes. In fact, I love this theme so much that I have created a course on the topic, Create Your Clients Getting Website With Divi, to help you take charge of your website creation process so that you might be able to have your dream website easily.

2.Invest in a seasoned website designer

Anybody can install and update a WordPress theme but it takes a talented web designer with experience to instill their artistic talent and make your website look professional as opposed to DIY. Web designers or developers are also experts when it comes to writing and fixing code, so they won’t inadvertently delete an important piece of code that will break the whole theme. They also can complete the redesign in far less time than it would take you, thereby allowing you to focus on other money-making tasks.

3. Schedule a professional headshot photo shoot

People buy from other people, so include a recent photo of yourself somewhere on your site; a professional headshot is even better because, again, you’re trying to avoid the DIY mistake. Photographers also have a gift for bringing out your natural personality in a photo, which goes a long way toward building trust and winning new clients. Remember to use updated headshots on all your social media profiles, too.

4. Use properly licensed stock photos

Images are important to add to your blog posts and social media graphics but be sure those images convey the same image as your website. Also check the licenses before making any purchases. If a license says, “For editorial use only,” then don’t use it as part of your company’s logo. You can use that image as part of a blog post but then be careful about your wording and your call-to-action. You’re running a business so invest in stock photos instead of cutting/pasting images from other sites; you’ll run the risk of copyright infringement.

5. Outsource to the experts

Be realistic and know your weaknesses. Hire a writer to assist with website copy, blog posts, and email autoresponders. Hire a graphic designer to create your social media posts and other design elements. Even if these are the skills you have, sometimes being too close to a project makes it more difficult to complete. Outsourcing to experts again uplevels your branding and makes it more professional instead of relying on a DIY solution.

Invest in your business and build up the brand image that best suits you. Now implement your marketing plan to find new clients.

Are you stuck in the business planning stage? Use my newest planner to find some clarity…

When you decide to start a business, you’ve got a lot of moving wheels going at the same time and it’s tough to keep it all organized. If you’re spinning your wheels and getting nowhere, take a look at my newest planner, Create Your Side Hustle Income Plan In A Weekend. I’ll walk you through the steps necessary to start your business, from choosing what kind of services to offer, to identifying your dream client, to putting packages together, to throwing a launch party (and so much more in between). With these exercises and a little quiet time, you’ll have an action plan in place by the end of the weekend! Check it out… Create Your Side Hustle Income Plan In A Weekend

What's Next?

Step 1: Revise Your Expectations And Expect Resistance

If you’re familiar with the principles for successfully growing an online business, then you know that Step 1 of successfully pulling out a strategy to optimise and grow your business is to shift your mindset. I share through this blog and social media channels some tips and tools to help you with that. Yet, we all know that it takes more than just knowing what to do to actually do it.

That’s why I want to invite you to revise your expectations. Know that there will be resistance along the way. You might say to yourself “I’ll have a look tomorrow again”, “that’s not so urgent”, “I’m not sure that’s for me”, “I don’t think this will work for me”, or many other things. Often when we’re stepping out of our comfort zone (a.k.a. what we’ve been doing until now) we’re finding excuses to keep on doing what we’ve always done. The first step in success is acknowledging that. So… acknowledge where you’re at. Then…

Revise your expectations bearing in mind your goals AND your life. Not everything that I’m sharing will resonate with you. Not everything will be applicable to you either. And that’s alright! But you’ve got to start somewhere.

So, as long as you’re clear on your goals and on your vision, take a conscious decision of what you want to apply starting from today. And if you are not clear on your vision, here are a few resources you might find helpful:

• Customer Journey Review Pack,
• Plan Your Funnels And Tripwires For Profits,
• Optimised Business Academy, or
• Schedule a call with me to discuss where you're at in your business and what you should focus on.

Step 2: Carve Out Time, And Make A Plan

That’s where carving out time, and making a plan comes in. You know yourself at that stage better than I do. Use that knowledge to implement a plan of action that will help you start making positive changes into your life, that will soon bring positive changes in your business and in your life.

If you're stuck wondering what to do next, I invite you to join the FREE Optimised Business Membership.

Step 3: Just start

There’s no tomorrow in success. Any successful path starts today, with a small change that you keep on building onto. Commit to starting today with ONE small thing, and share with me in the comments what it is. This commitment will help you start – and keep – taking action!

Step 4: Get Support!

We tend to want to do things on our own. I’m not stranger to that either. But I’ve learnt over time, and I’ve seen both with my personal coaching clients and professional mentoring clients, as well as with myself, that getting support helps to really create the change we’re after. So, if you’re stuck wondering what’s next, and you know you need help, I invite you to check out the many online resources I have created to help you save time and achieve faster growth in your business: Free articles, online membership, online books and courses. If you’d like private mentoring for your business strategy, you can also book a call with me to discuss the different mentoring options that are available for your special needs.

Step 5: Please Share!

If you like what I'm sharing, please do me a favour and share it with friends or colleagues you know would benefit from it! The more we are on this journey, the greater the collaborations, co-creation and achievements!