Leah Gervais: All right, visionaries. Welcome back to the Your Biggest Vision show. I am your host, Leah Gervais, and I’m really excited to be back here with you guys today. I’m actually currently recording this live on Instagram as well. It was like, uh, you know, Saturday night, but it’s cool because we are in a pandemic. So that is what I am doing on a Saturday night, stay inside, wear a mask. So I wanted to come on here today and give you guys a behind the scenes. It’s actually was a requested episode, uh, for on our rebrand. So I’m here to give you guys a little bit of a behind the scenes of what went into that and what we were thinking. Let’s start a little bit further back. So my name is Leah Gervais, and that is currently the name of my business. However, it didn’t start that way up until this month, July, 2020.

My business was always called Urban 20 Something. I started it that way in 2016 and kept it going until this month when I decided to change it to my first and last name Intervale is actually my maiden name. It’s actually my middle name. I legally did change my name when I got married last year, but have decided to keep the two separate. I have, you know, my married life and my personal… my married name in my personal life. I’m proud to keep my maiden name, um, with my business. So that’s what I decided to change it to. Now here’s a little bit of a backstory. Some of you guys might not know this, but when I started my business four years ago, I started a blog called Urban 20 Something nowadays. Um, first of all, I don’t blog. I haven’t blogged in years. Um, so blogging isn’t really relevant and Urban 20 Something doesn’t really apply to what I do right now, which is business coaching.

So when I started this in 2016, I couldn’t have been more different than I am now. My life couldn’t have been more different than I am than it is now. And I had no idea that this blog was going to turn into my business, my career, my full time job and multiple six figure brand. Um, it would employ people, no, no idea, right? At the time I just was starting a blog so that I could blog about my life as a 20 something in New York city, thus the name Urban 20 Something, uh, trying to find her way. And at the time I was in my mid twenties and I had just declined my law school acceptances, and I had planned on going to law school, my whole, you know, young life. I had planned on it when I was in college and that was what I always thought I was going to do with my life.

So when I decided not to go to law school, I started this blog to write about my journey as a 20 something living in New York city, trying to find the kind of big life version of New York that I had always dreamed of and having no clue where to start. I knew then I wasn’t going to be a lawyer, but I felt, I felt like I was 18 all over again. I know it might sound dramatic now because I was in my mid twenties and like, no one knows what they’re doing with their life in their mid twenties, but I felt very lost. It was very real. I felt like I was starting from scratch. I felt like I didn’t know the direction I should go in. I didn’t know what niche I should work in. And on top of that, I had just taken the LSAT’s and spent the only job I had ever had outside of college as a paralegal.

So I only had legal experience. So I started this blog because honestly I was really lonely. I didn’t really know who to talk to about what I was going through. I had very supportive friends, but I truthfully was a little bit embarrassed to open up to them about how lost I was feeling, because I thought that they had it all together. So my best friends, I have a group of, you know, four of us, four or five best friends. And we’ve all been really close since college. And at the time they all were working in jobs that were connected to their major. They all were working in jobs that seemed like at the time were things that they would want to do long term. And they all were making more money than me. And so I just assumed that that meant that they had it figured out and that I was kind of like the black sheep that didn’t love her job was getting paid the least, um, you know, it was going to start over in careers in my career niche.

Now that wasn’t necessarily true, right? Like none of us haven’t figured out, but I didn’t know that. So I didn’t really feel like I could talk to my friends about it. I was dating the man that is now my husband at the time. And he was really supportive and he just wanted me to be happy, but he was a lawyer at the time. And though he didn’t really pressure me to go to law school at all. In fact, he was really honest and blunt about the realities of it and some of the things that he didn’t love about it. So he was really supportive, but you know, he, he did go down that path. So it just felt like it was kind of me trying to figure it out on my own. And again, though, I had very supportive parents. You know, I also felt like I could have been disappointing them because I know they were really excited about me going to law school.

My mom actually was the number one most supportive person during this time. So a big shout out to her because she really believed in me having a vision for something else in my life, even when I couldn’t put a name to that and I will always be grateful for her trusting that it’s okay to follow something, even if you don’t fully know what it is yet. So anyway, I started this website to blog about this time and hopefully to connect with other 20, 30 somethings that had gone through something similar to me where they had kind of structured, you know, their academic career, maybe their early years of work, maybe their first decade of work, um, around a certain niche, just to realize that they don’t want to go back to graduate school or they don’t want to work in that field or whatever the case may be and not really knowing what to do in between.

So I started this website with that idea and I loved the name Urban 20 Something because I felt and hoped like it would kind of identify with anyone who, you know, had the dream of moving to a big city and wanted to kind of find that big lifestyle there, but was feeling really lost in doing so. And though I liked that idea for it. And there is an element to that that is still part of my business today. I was so insecure and small thinking, like small minded that I wanted it to be an anonymous blog, which to those of you that like follow me on Instagram, you probably are kind of laughing right now because my brand now couldn’t be any further away from being anonymous. 

It is very much about me. I’m very present on it. I don’t hide myself. I’m very raw. I talk a lot about my life. So to think that like I wanted it to just be this kind of ghost writer writing about navigating your twenties in New York, that’s what this name was from you guys. So I’m sure it’s becoming pretty clear that it wasn’t that applicable to what I do now. Um, and another shout out I want to make is to a woman named Abby Lawson, who is a mom blogger and kind of like a home DIY decor blogger behind a website called just to grow on her blog. And I really loved her at the time. I still love her. I think she’s great. We just have nothing common, cause I’m not a mother and don’t have a home and don’t want either of those anytime soon. But I think as a person and as a business owner and as a blogger, she is fantastic.

And I loved her blog because I had found it on Pinterest. And she actually, at the time, I don’t think she does this anymore, but she did have an ebook which was about starting a blog. And it was like $50. It was my very first purchase I ever bought for my business. I saved up for like weeks for that. So anyway, she was great, but I had emailed her when I bought that. And I told her my idea. I told her I wanted to start this blog about my life as a 20 something in New York and that I wanted to name it, this and that I wanted it to be anonymous. And what did she think? And she told me very wisely that anonymous blogs rarely get traction. It’s hard enough as it is to make it as a blogger or with a website and it’s even harder now.

And that people, when they do make it it’s because people get invested in the story, they get invested in the person, they get invested in the relationship they can have with that person or the way they can identify with that person. So she really recommended that I didn’t have it be anonymous. So that was a huge, great piece of advice. That definitely either I wouldn’t be where I am now, or it would have taken me a lot longer because I don’t think things that have taken off if I was anonymous. My point being, I think it can be pretty clear here that because I had tended for this to one, be an anonymous website and to speak to people that wanted to move to cities and have a bigger vision for their life, but didn’t really know how to get there. There was a lot that isn’t applicable about that anymore.

So a little glimpse into what we do today. I am a business coach. I specifically work with entrepreneurs. So while a lot of the people that I work with have somewhat of a relatable thread in terms of, you know, maybe they went to a school that they didn’t love, or they worked in a career field that they didn’t love and they want to do something different, but that’s something different is always entrepreneurship. So I’m not a life coach. I’m not a relationship coach. I’m not kind of like a, you know, a lifestyle blogger, any of those things. Like I feel for that girl or that man that thought they wanted to do something and then it didn’t work out, but I’m really who you can come to when you know that it’s, you want to start your own business, you want to be your own boss, you want to quit your nine to five job, et cetera. 

So there was just so much about it that didn’t really fit, especially kind of like the origin of it. Now, the name itself I actually do like, and, you know, a lot of people would tease me and say like, what are you going to do when you aren’t in your twenties anymore? And I never really worried about that because the name was never really supposed to be for people in their twenties. Although that also is something we considered when we decided to rebrand. Um, and I am still in my twenties, so I didn’t change this to because I turned 30, but we’re almost there. So really what it came down to, I would say, like, I’ve been considering all those things over these years, you know, I’ve thought about all of them, but what really broke the camel’s back, or I guess you could say, or what really made me decide that it was time was over the past few months, we had been doing a lot of work around, um, kind of perfecting, I hate using the word perfect, but like it was a long time coming and we had just put a lot of resources and time and effort into, um, finalizing my unique approach to business and to entrepreneurship and how I help people. 

There are lots of other business coaches out there. What is the reason that my clients get such phenomenal results and quickly? It’s because I teach things in a certain way. So we had been kind of creating that certain way, that system, that thread, that both had helped me quit my nine to five job, um, learn so much about my own business, you know, get my income up, get to six figures, all of that, um, and beyond, and has helped my clients too. And so I was so proud of this in a sense, this was like the baby version of my baby. So it’s, I’m sure it sounds dramatic, but those of you that are business owners understand where I’m coming from, that your business can feel like it’s your baby and this methodology piece, this unique way that it was kind of like my secret style, you know, like this is the difference between working with me versus someone else or working with me and doing it alone.

Because I coach you through it this way. And that’s why people’s lives change, um, was sort of like even more precious to my heart and something that I was just even so much more obsessed with. So when we were bringing that to life, I knew that it needed to be brought in a way that really did it justice and really kind of fit it and really do my brand justice and my clients justice, and really showed everything that’s possible when you work with me and our team. So that was the tipping point. That was the point when we’re like, okay, it’s time, let’s do this, you know, let’s go all in. So I wanted to give you guys that little bit of background, and then I want to, now I want to kind of take you through some of the steps that, uh, we took to think about rebranding, right?

Because it’s daunting. It’s like, where do I even begin? I’ve had this website for years, everything about it is this certain way, um, is this even worth it? Like, is this going to cost us a lot of money? Do we have the time, like all those kinds of questions? And, um, and it was a process and I had some frustrating moments, but I want to break it down a little for you. And I actually am going to ask our graphic designer, Hailee, who I could absolutely not have done this without. She was like my right hand woman. We worked together really closely the whole time and she had such a vision. I’m going to actually ask her to do an additional podcast episode with you guys next month, where we kind of go more in depth over, just thinking about branding, thinking about how you want to appear, um, and how that makes a difference with your business.

So we’ll get more in depth with that with her, if she does this with me, um, hopefully she does. But for now I want to walk you through a few of the steps that we took, um, in case these are helpful. And also just to give you guys a little bit more information about our brand. So the first thing Hailee asked me, so I had, I had Hailee do all of this with me and I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of sort of brand purpose or like brand story and a brand. Why like, I feel, how do I say this clearly? I feel confident and strong in the purpose part of a brand. Um, and I think that, you know, that that’s because I’ve worked with so many, I’ve helped my clients build so many, um, and a huge part of what keeps you going in the early days when it’s really, really hard and no one knows what you’re going through and you don’t know if it’s going to work and you’re totally exhausted.

Is that why, is that story, Is that transformation is that kind of core flashlight piece. It’s funny that that’s the word that came to me. So anyway, that thread, I felt good about where I really am weak and where really, she, she changed the whole game for us was I’m just not a great, like, I don’t have a great natural eye for branding. I think I have a pretty good eye for aesthetics  in terms of like the overall experience of a brand, but in terms of picking colors and fonts and how things should look and what they should go, it’s just, I just don’t have, I don’t have that vision. I wish I did, but I don’t. She does though. So anyway, her and I were talking and the first thing we really nailed down was what she called our lighthouse identity. And from what I understand, again, I’m going to ask her to explain this to you guys a little bit more in depth, but from what I understood and what, the way that I thought about it is what is kind of, it makes sense.

Like you can picture a lighthouse, like what is that beacon of light, that beacon of truth that we are shining throughout the world, through our brand. Like if our brand is the lighthouse, what are we sharing shining, you know, um, infusing with everyone that comes into contact with us and everyone that sees us. And for me, that was actually a really easy answer once I, when she asked the right question, right? That’s like, that was kind of the reframe I needed is I was like, how do I put this all into words? Cause I have all these thoughts, but I don’t really know how to categorize them. And she was like, okay, well this is what we need to do first. For me, our lighthouse identity. And the thing that is a huge core of our beliefs and what we do with our clients is that when our clients come to us and when they start working with us, especially those of them that do higher level work with us, like VIP intensives with me, or one on one coaching with me or my mastermind, we, and I always have seen it this way.

I literally can visualize them coming to me with this vision in their hand, in their heart. It’s almost like a little light is the way I picture it a little light in their hand. That is their precious vision. And it is precious, right? It is something that can get blown out, burnt out, uh, stomped on, um, shot and rejected, um, feared all these things. And we take it as our job to help them protect it and help them grow it and help them fuel their flame and help make sure that no matter what is coming at it to put it out society, they’re, you know, old fears, their parents’ thoughts, the realities of how busy they are, their job at their boss at their nine to five job, the bank account that doesn’t feel like it’s as high as they want.

Like all these things, all this clutter, all this junk, all these threats to that vision, our job is to like, become the voice for that vision. And I take that on pretty quickly. Sometimes I feel like I take that on. Even when I have an initial conversation with a client before they have actually become a client, because they will tell me this vision that they have for their life or their business, for their entrepreneurial vision. And then they will sort of like kill it themselves. There’ll be like, well, but I can’t, but I can’t, but I can’t, I can’t because you know, of money of time of people of I’m not good enough. Like, and, and, and right. And so we take very seriously, well, what would your, what does your vision need to stay alive? And it’s almost like it can become that. There’s the ego, the person we’re talking to has their ego and the vision.

And it’s not like it’s one versus the other, but it’s like, how do we get the two to coexist? And how do we get the vision to grow? Even when the ego, even when the fear is preventing it to, and how do we kind of like be that boost for it? So anyway, that is our lighthouse identity. We see our jobs as becoming the vision, the voice for our clients vision. And I, I think some of my clients are on this Instagram right now, and hopefully they will vouch for that I do not let that go. I that very seriously. And I see that as like, not only my job in my business, but as my life’s purpose. So that was the first thing we did. And from there, you know, everything became a lot easier. It’s like, okay, well, how do we display that? How do we help people find their vision?

How do we bleed with service coming from this place? So then the second thing we did, and this is really where Hailee like had to come and hot because I, and this is not my area of expertise were the colors like the look, the fonts, the aesthetic, all the kind of just, you know, pure brand aesthetics that come with an online business or any brand, frankly, that kind of came from that lighthouse. So for those of you, I don’t know how much any of you guys have checked out my rebrand, but after you hear this, maybe you can go and see some of the differences. When I started my business, I just wanted everything to be like blue and white blue is my favorite color. I also wanted everything to be so New York focused and you know, the New York Skyline’s pretty blue, like there’s a blue sky.

And then the, the blue often reflects off of the buildings. Um, I just love the color blue. It’s optimistic. It’s lighthearted. Yeah. It’s, you know, usually outdoorsy. So that’s what I wanted. And now looking back, it was like, Ooh, kind of looks like waiting for a baby boy’s room. Not really sure what was going on there, but the point is we just had to really think about, okay, not what’s my favorite color, but what’s going to convey kind of that messaging and the story that I have. And story’s a whole other part of it. Again, I’m not going to get too deeply into this because I think Hailee can come along sometime and explain better than I will. But that was the next part was just like the pure brand look. And then the third, like a big part of the rebrand process, we had the lighthouse identity.

Then we went into the pure brand aesthetics and colors and all of that. And so then the third part was just nailing down my methodology and thinking, how can we make this be of highest service and benefit to anyone who comes across it, no matter what, right? And by the way, I want to kind of throw in a little point here because this is not something I would, I don’t think I would have had the courage to do two years ago or maybe even a year ago. And this is something that I think might be helpful for newer entrepreneurs. So a lot of the times you might feel like, well, if I give away too much for free, will anyone buy for me? If I give away too much information for free, will anyone buy for me? And so a year or two ago when I was in that head space, myself, I very easily could have thought, and I probably would have thought that I can’t share my whole methodology for free because will anyone want to buy from me?

And I can tell you now from this place, uh, having kind of, you know, worked through that and really seen the difference and tried a lot of different things, tried being more coy, try, you know, try kind of hiding, um, the work that I do for more behind the scenes versus really being more upfront about it that I think more is more. And here’s why, I mean, it will depend on the industry that you’re in. So I don’t want to say this as a blanket copy, but if you’re in any sort of like coaching or consulting teaching position, then what is amazing about being clear about, you know, your kind of secret sauce, your own methodology, your own way, um, is that people can get excited about how you could do that with them. So mine eight, seven methodology is on my website. There, it’s free.

You don’t even have to sign up for my email list. Like it is right there. However, you can read that until you’re blue in the face and that vision portal, I’m going to get to that in just a second. Cause it’s probably my favorite part of the site, um, you know, is super helpful, but the power is in me coaching you through it. And why is that more powerful than you reading it for free on my website? One, because I’ve coached my, like I have on that with myself through every milestone I’ve gone through so far, all the way from quitting my nine to five job to, you know, an $80,000 a month. I like actually know what it takes to go through that. And it’s very hard to see your own blind spots when you’re doing it, especially the first time too. There’s no way that I would be able to, or that you would be able to go as deep with it as you would be able to with me when this is like, literally my whole life’s work versus something that you read just once.

So little I’m kind of less in there is just if you’re, you know, sometimes dabbling, like, do I really go all out with my methodology versus do I stay kind of shy? I would go really transparent with it and really make clear that the best way to absorb it the best way to learn it, the best way for them to kind of like get the magic with it is for you to do it with them, you to walk them through it, you to help them see what they can’t see in themselves in it. Um, and really kind of be the guide on that transformation with them. So anyway, that was the third step was really clarifying how we wanted that to be of service because once we had that clear and once we’re like, alright, we’re rebranding, you know, here’s what our vision is, which is that we want to give voice to as many, any visions out there as possible.

Then the question is like, okay, well, how do we use our website or platform our business to do that for as many people as possible?. And that’s when the methodology came in. So those are the three steps. And from all of that, what we, uh, really, I think our hugest takeaways from that work and the biggest focuses of this site, especially versus my old site. And also just, I think an average like online business website or entrepreneurs website or coaching website was two things. One we dreamed up and created this vision portal, which I’m obsessed with. I’ve never seen anything like it online and what it is in case you haven’t seen it yet is in, by the way, you can go to it by going to LeahGervais.com/your-entrepreneurial-vision/ and what you’ll do is you’ll be able to, uh, interact with all eight steps of my Leah Gervais way it’s my methodology, it’s title.

Um, and each has its own page and so on each page of the methodology. So the, for example, the first step of our is becoming the second step is clarifying. So for example, if you are looking at this and you’re like, okay, I know the goal I’m working toward, I know where I am on this. I know what I need help on. Like, maybe you feel really like you’re in a really positive mindset around it. So the becoming part isn’t as applicable and you have some clear strategy, but just clarity on like what you should be focusing on when what’s going to help. What’s not like, let’s just say, you know, that clarity is, is the part you need. You can click on that. You’ll be brought to a whole separate page, just dedicated to support around getting you clarity. And we actually categorize this podcast into all the different methodology steps so that the most relevant and helpful podcast episodes to each step, um, are on that page.

I also include some of my favorite freebies that we’ve made in the past and some of them that we’ve made recently that will help you get clarity. And then with every step, I mean, you can just download this once and use it with every step, but we have a free kind of journal that we’ve created where I share from the heart each step, how it affected me. And then I give you specific and unique journaling questions for each step. So you can like literally start to coach yourself through that. So anyway, we just thought this would be so much fun because we really wanted a place where people could see their visions as a whole, you know, there’s so many different resources, fantastic resources out there to learn about entrepreneurship and business and mindset and strategy and all of that. But it’s all, all over the place, right?

There’s podcasts, there’s YouTube, there’s blogs, there’s Pinterest. A lot of them have contradicting advice and that doesn’t necessarily mean anything’s wrong with any of them. It just can mean, you know, that you need different things at different times or that those people had different things that worked for them at different times. It’s really overwhelming and it’s really hard to put into practice. So having it all there with direct questions to get you thinking about what do I need to think about right now to get to the next step was really important to us. We wanted it all in one place. We also wanted it really, um, actionable. So almost like an eCourse except yeah, so almost like an eCourse, um, because there are so many different ways you can take action. You can take action with, uh, the strategies that we give you guys the exercises we give you guys, you can sign up for a course of ours, if it is gonna feel helpful to you, there’s lots of different clear ways you can take action instead of just feeling like you browse the internet for two hours and didn’t, you know, don’t really know what to do next.

And then the third thing we really wanted it was to be free. So it’s kind of like Pinterest, where you can kind of like to dream up your vision, an eCourse where you can take action and it’s all free all there for you. So we were really excited about that and that came from our lighthouse identity, as well as, um, you know, our methodology and thinking, how can we get this to the masses for free? The second thing that was of huge importance to us are my podcast on Spotify. Let ask my podcast producer. I do not think so. I would hope so. I know they’re on Apple or iTunes, um, but I’m not positive as Spotify? So let me let you know. Alright. So the second thing that we really wanted to highlight in our brand was our clients. Um, and this is because, well, there’s a lot of reasons for this, but it was because of similar to how the vision portal was born.

When we looked at how we could represent the voice for our client’s visions and how we could share this methodology, we knew that the best proof was going to be, well, one me sharing my story, but I’m only one person it’s obviously a lot more powerful when I can share that this has worked for several other people. And what I really think is cool about our clients’ stories and how many of them we have is that, you know, there are a lot of people out there, and this is not saying anything bad about them, but they share what worked for them and they charge you money to teach you that. And that’s, that’s fine, right? Like we all, if something works, then there’s no reason to keep it in and if you can help other people, that’s great. However, I think in my business, we have this really incredible opportunity where we have seen this work so many different times, and we have an inside look into so many different visions, so many different side hustles, so many different businesses and what works and what doesn’t that when we kind of like share that data and share our client’s successes, I think it really represents how much we have the ability to see patterns and to see how things work together.

Um, and to really help people feel confident that this is, I never want to say like rinse and repeat, and there’s no like cookie cutter answer, but that’s what’s cool about my methodology’s cause it’s different. It shows up differently for everyone, but the results are that, you know, whatever milestone you’re working for and toward can come true. So we decided to create something called success Saturday, today, Saturday at the time of this recording. So maybe you guys saw this beforehand, but we wanted each week to share the story of our clients and what they’ve gone on to do. So we didn’t just want to share their testimonial. I guess that’s very sweet when they have good things to say about us. And I love sharing that because obviously it makes me so grateful that we got to work with them, but we also wanted to show, you know, where they’ve gone either since working with us or since starting with us, some of them still work with us.

Some people stay with us for a while. Some people start with us and then they go on or some people start elsewhere and then they come to us when they’re ready for the next level, whatever the case may be. I really wanted to showcase how much success is possible out there and really showcase that in a way that honors them each individually. So we decided to send those out on our email list and create pages that have their story for each of them on our website as well. So that everyone who comes to our site can really see themselves in these stories and really know how much is possible for them too. So that is a little behind the scenes of our rebrand. For those of you that are on live, I’m going to ask if you have any questions now would be a great time to ask. I would love to answer any of them, but, uh, as we do this, I’m going to go into the three biggest takeaways from this that I think will be really helpful for you at any point of business that you’re at. So let me know if you have a question,

Okay. So here are my three takeaways. What  I want to highlight here is the three things that I sort of just shared, or that came out of this rebrand that are very intentional with what we teach our clients and what we go with our clients through. So the first thing is that we recommend, and it’s part of my methodology for you to have a methodology. Now, I want to be careful saying this because I think that this can be a little bit confusing to people. Sometimes at first, they can feel like they need a unique methodology. They need to be different. They need to be overly different. They need to invent the next best thing since sliced bread, they can put a lot of pressure on themselves to have this whole unique way of teaching something that no one else has otherwise they can’t even like going into business or whatever.

And that’s not true. You definitely can start and you’ll learn more of this as you go. And as you see the pattern to your clients, this isn’t meant to put a ton of pressure on you to feel like you need to have a whole methodology and a whole website rebrand before you get your first client. However, it is really important to think about how you can be specific about the results you get. So, Hannah, I don’t know if you’re still on this, but Hannah is one of my clients who was just on this and saying, hi, and her and I just had a VIP day together. And this is what we, um, well, one of the main things we talked about is sort of like, what is her unique approach to taking this? And I love this sort of unique approach because that’s what gives you your magic, right?

That’s what makes something that, that that’s what makes you have something that no one else could do. So once you, well, I don’t want to say that there’s a specific time in business when you need to start focusing on this. I will answer your question in just a second, by the way. There’s not a specific like time that you need to focus on this. I think you can kind of do it as you go and as you grow, um, and you will have a much easier and clear and more consistent time working with your clients when you have that sort of unique thing about you and it doesn’t have to be a new invention. It doesn’t need to be, uh, something that’s never been done before. I mean, you do want it to be unique to you, but that’s really all we’re talking about here.

So my methodology is what’s worked for me. It’s what’s worked for my clients. It’s super powerful. I go back to it every time I, you know, and the number one fan of it, but that doesn’t mean that there couldn’t be other ways to achieve goals too, that other people teach it also doesn’t mean that other people might have something similar to what I teach mine works because it’s specific to me it’s specific to the clients. I’ve seen, it’s specific to what I know works for my clients. And that’s what we’re looking for here. Right? So that is kind of a takeaway. Number one is make sure that you have a unique way of, or, or an approach or unique way of teaching or a unique approach that is clear.

Okay. Tip number two, that I also actively very much teach with. Well, actually one more point on this. Number one with this methodology is that in my methodology, step number seven is to over deliver and this is that part of it. So this is where you get to kind of blow people away. That’s I think what our methodology does is it’s when really people see, Oh, you’re not just some girl on the internet talking about how you can work for yourself. Like you have these steps to it. I just went through them. This works like this is so awesome. So this is part of that over-deliver piece. And I do think a lot of entrepreneurs think too much about marketing and not enough about delivery. So this is a really clear way to have that. 

Okay. A takeaway number two is all about combating competition. So I don’t know about you, but when I started my business, I felt like I was too late to the game, to the party.

I felt like everyone had kind of already done what I’ve wanted to do. I felt like what’s different about me. I had a lot of fear around competition and I just couldn’t really find my uniqueness. But as my business grew, and as I saw what was kind of working, I realized that a big part of it was kind of just me and my story and what made me different and how I got to where I was. So a huge way that you can combat fear of competition or fear of not standing out. If any of those are similar to you, if you ever fall into those comparison traps on Instagram is to use your story, but even further use your clients’ stories. So if you don’t have clients yet, that’s okay, this is just something helpful to keep in mind and you can even be really intentional about it.

This is what we do can be really intentional about it. When you ask for testimonials or reviews, ask them to tell it in a way that supports your story, your brand story. So we don’t just email our clients anymore and say like, can you give a testimonial? I did this in the beginning. And you know, they would share nice things and it was great and it was nice and everything, but it wasn’t that clear. And I realized that I could build my brand in a much more powerful way. If I started specifically asking them how kind of my methodology showed up in their life and what that milestone looked for them. So if you are, let’s say you are a, you know, a money coach or like you do finance instead of asking for peer testimonials, you want to get really clear that you’re asking for money testimonials.

That’s what people are looking for. Same thing. If you are a relationship coach, you don’t want to be asking your clients how, if they could share how it was working with you, because they’ll probably say something like so-and-so was so great. It was a lot of fun. I learned a lot about myself, no, like those, those are compliments, but that’s not a true brand builder. A brand builder is I learned that I was sabotaging my relationship life with X because of that. I no longer do X. And now I do Y and because of the work I did with this relationship coach, I, you know, my relationship is now in this state, I’m happier. I found one. I’m not alone. I don’t care if I’m alone. Like I maybe, maybe that’s the outcome, right? It’s like they didn’t, they, they felt lonely. And now they don’t like whatever the case may be, use your stories and your brand stories to build your story. So that was another reason we wanted to really showcase our clients was because it really showcases the power of what we do. 

Okay. And then the third kind of takeaway that I want to share that I teach, but also needed reminded of myself when I did this is to never underestimate the power of desire, the power of miracles, the power of God, and honestly, your feminine power. Just bear with me for a second. So we did this rebrand, the rebrand had several conversations. I’d say it was a few months of conversations and kind of like thinking about, well, should we do it? When should we do it, teasing out the details. But when we decided to do it, the website itself, which was the main piece of work for me anyway, I’m sure Hailee might have her own, her own opinions. But the website was the main thing.

We did that in two weeks, two weeks, and we did it. I didn’t hire anyone. And by the way, when I started my business four years ago, I didn’t even know what WordPress was, let alone know how to work it yet. Here. I was able to, in two weeks, recreate my entire website from scratch by myself while still running my company and moving from a different state. I’m not saying this to brag. I’m saying this because you can always collapse your timeline. I think that most people would think a rebrand would take a few months and that you’d have to hire someone and that it would cost $10,000. And, and, and, and right? Just like we think it’s going to take six months to write a good book or a year to write a good book or three years to get to six to six figures in business or six months to get a client.

And none of those things are true. You know, they can be if you believe them to be, but if you believe otherwise, if you believe that miracles are available to you. And what I had mentioned about leaning into your feminine instinct, you know, the feminine side of spirituality, which is not meant to say not meant to be confused with, um, some of the feminine or feminist, I guess I should say generalizations, we have in society. But if you understand, you know, the masculine versus feminine kind of energies within all of us, a feminine, spiritual principle is leaning into divine timing, different ways things can happen using your intuition. I’m kind of picking up on different clues so that things can happen in different ways. And you don’t have to be a woman to lean into that. I mean, all men and women have a balance of the two.

It’s just, we typically, women typically have more feminine energy and men typically have a little more masculine, but we both need and have the two. They go together. So tune into that part here, and this is just applicable for whatever goal you have right now, if it is your first client, if it is your first five figure month, if it is quitting your nine to five job, if it is writing that bestselling book, whatever it is really, really get aggressive about what you’re assuming needs to happen or what you’re, how long you’re assuming it needs to take. Because a lot of the times we have these assumptions because, and what you’ll say is, well, that’s what sounds realistic or that’s what other people told me. That’s not fact that’s just a number. That’s just an opinion. That’s just a story. You can have your own number. You can have your own opinion. You can have your own story, right? 

And so really tuning into the different questions. How could this happen? How could this go faster? If this were to happen, what would this look like? And that’s really how we did our rebrand. Um, I did it in two weeks because I was really excited about it. I felt really inspired. I enjoyed doing it. I worked very closely with Hailee. We Voxered pretty much every day. It was an intense two weeks. I’m not gonna lie, but I think it’s just worth remembering that one. I didn’t know, WordPress four years ago and I did this by myself or her. She did the design. I want to be very clear about that, but I did the site itself and she was amazing with the design. And I want to give a few other shout outs to some people that I do think help the aesthetic. 

I have my photographers, Wendy Yalom. Who’s amazing. Amanda Joka. Who’s also amazing. And Anna McNaught, who’s amazing. And one of my best friends there, they all have photographed a lot of what is on the site. And, um, we have a video on there which is by, uh, another dear friend, James Banano, who’s married to Anna. So we did have aesthetic help, but I’m not, I’m getting off track here. My point is don’t limit yourself to how long you think something needs to take, ask the bigger questions. How could it happen? What, what would it look like if it happened? What would it feel good to make this happen? How can I get inspired and just see what happens? That’s what we did is we just thought, how can this be fun? I got really excited about doing this website, Hailee, and I thought about how we could make this fun and we launched it and there’s still parts of it that I still want to work on.

And that’s okay, because done is better than perfect and or whatever the phrase is, and things can happen a lot quicker than you think. When you have fun, find your inspiration, find your joy, stay in flow. And remember that you have possibilities around you at all times to do things whenever you desire them to. 

Okay. This was a long one. Let me see if you guys have any more questions. Okay. So question. Okay. How did you increase your followers? Did you use hashtags or use your branding pictures? Do you mean specifically followers on Instagram or followers like on my email list and stuff? Let me know, but I’m happy to answer for Instagram because of the hashtags. So yeah. I, um, really struggled to grow my Instagram at first. Instagram is hard. I think people underestimate how long it can take for it to grow, but I really liked it. It was my favorite, one of the social media.

My favorite one, it took me a while. The things that kind of made a difference where yes, getting, getting good photography. So it’s definitely worth hiring someone. And a little trick. I tell some of my clients that are just starting out is if you don’t want to pay thousands of dollars for a huge professional brand photo shoot, I don’t know how much you can do this right now with COVID. But what you, what we used to do is be able to just go on to Instagram and look for whatever city you’re in with the hashtag photographers. So I was in New York, like New York photographer, try to find some photographers that have like a thousand followers or a few less, or a few thousand, um, and DM them and see if they’ll do a shoot with you. And they probably will for pretty inexpensive because they’re often just looking to build their portfolio.

And if you just need some better photos and you can do on your own, it’s a win, win. You get some good photos for your branding and they build their portfolio. And it’s usually a pretty low investment. So do have good photos. Um, I recommend one of my clients, Danielle, uh, is a big Instagram influencer. I read her ebook, which was really helpful on like photography, just using the rule of thirds and making sure that photos are like actually aesthetically pleasing. You don’t want your face to close. You don’t want, you know, you kind of want your full body for a lot of it. I’ve kind of stopped doing that so much. But having the subject being only a third of the photos, I just learned a little more about photography. And then yes, I use hashtags. And especially when I was trying to get to over 10,000 followers, cause I wanted the swipe up feature really bad.

I spent probably an hour on Instagram, a day, going through relevant hashtags, following people, engaging with people, dealing with them. Um, I still do this all the time. You know, it’s, it’s definitely never done. It’s a lot of work, but yeah, that’s how I started. I followed a lot of people. I damned with a lot of people. Um, I did giveaways, I got my photography better and just was really, really consistent. 

Hannah- Yes, I was so helpful. Made me feel way more aligned with my branding and messaging. Awesome. Yeah, it was incredible to see. 

Okay, Jess- I started with one nation now I’m going in a different path. I don’t have that many followers. If I rebrand wood to fit my new niche, would it look unprofessional to my followers? Definitely not. You know, I wouldn’t worry about that. You might get a few on followers, but to like, to be totally, totally blunt, let’s just be call it for what it is.

Most people aren’t paying as much attention to us as we are paying to ourselves or as we think we are. So if there’s a few people that notice that you rebrand and they don’t want to be part of it, then they can follow. And that’s fine. We’re not going to be one for everyone. It’s actually probably a good sign if they unfollow, because it means you’re being really clear about what you are doing now and the niche that you have. And so they can kind of self-identify, they should be there or not. You don’t want to please everyone because you’ll end up pleasing. No one. Um, you could do an announcement post. I probably would do that and just kind of give everyone the chance to unfollow them. But I would definitely not. Like, I don’t think you need to start a new Instagram.

Um, if you want to tell me a little bit more, you can do it yummy. Cause I think my phone, my die here soon, but um, if you want to tell me a little bit more about what it is that you do, uh, I’d be happy to chat with you. Okay. I’m going to get off of the podcast, but I’m going to stay on Instagram to answer your questions. So stay here, you guys, but to my visionaries, thank you so much for tuning in. If you like this episode, then please DM me and let me know. I am now @LeahGervais_ I am no longer at Urban20Something. I hope you found this helpful with branding and here is to your biggest vision.

“Your Vision is like a precious light. It can get blown out, burnt out, stomped on, rejected and feared. We take it as our job to help you protect it.” -Leah Gervais

“Never underestimate the power of desire, the power of miracles, the power of God, and honestly, your feminine power.” -Leah Gervais

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