Building a Brand: Branding Expert Juliana Rogers
Be Helpful Podcast interviews Juliana Rogers, learning everything and more - about all things branding.
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FULL VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
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all right I'm with Juliana Rogers she's a online business brand strategist based
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out of Germany um also a former ballerina so I definitely want to dive into that because that's really fascinating
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um how are you doing today I'm very good thank you what are you doing
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I'm I'm good it's uh it's Thursday morning here so I'm guessing it's it's
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getting close to to Wine time for you um so yes
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this is gonna be fun um all right so so I like to start every
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um episode I stole this question from from a former guest I want to start with
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what did you want to be when you were growing up everything
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everything that was just my dream my passion
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and I think I I started when I was three and there was no question about doing
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anything else what what about dances did you love the
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most I'm curious you mean what
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what or doing because friends oh both yeah okay so doing definitely
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Classical Ballet um Oriental dance so
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um I love that I loved uh when I studied we had afro dance like African
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um originated dance I loved it my body kind of refused to do the moves because
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I was rather used to doing Classical Ballet moves
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which create a totally different pattern in your body and
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um and uh standard dances so when I have a partner
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and uh really doing the the standard dances that was I don't know I I just
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loved it I had to do it from from my family side they said that's a cultural Baseline and you have to do it and I
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said I don't want to do it and they said we don't care you have to the ones I had started I loved it and um
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yeah so and watching I very much enjoy
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watching um watching hip-hop sometimes
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um and I've seen some some some art performances some dance performances
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where they merged um where they merged various Styles
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um based off classical ballad and I loved seeing that it was just that's
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just fireworks in my eyes to be honest I'm curious kind of from your love from
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for for dancing um into kind of your brand career kind
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of paint that picture of that Journey kind of how did you get there
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and uh no when I was born so I'm an 80s lady
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um it might sound like that can't be um but I had plenty of time so I um
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obviously you can't you can't be a dancer for your for your whole year because there are just limits to
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physical limits uh and and you will have to face to Pivot into another career at
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the beginning of your 20s some people at the end of their 20s it depends and so I
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decided to study dance and movements pedagogics and uh for rehabilitative and
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preventional purpose and I loved it but these studies were really really tough
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like physically and I love the intellectual um stimulus we had because I studied
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um I also studied sports medicine and all that so I love that but physically
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it was Beyond The Challenge and so I um I just heard and I heard badly I hurt my knees
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I had an inflammation I hurt my back I hurt my shoulder and there was that moment when really nothing went on and
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my doctor said Julie I know you don't want to hear it but you have to start like now
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and I don't want to see you going to University tomorrow and um as hard as it was and as much as
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my world crumbled in that moment I was never a person to sit down and go into
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victim mode and cry and and don't find any ideas to to move on
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because I was super young I was I was uh and 20 like 26 27 back back then
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and actually I had never earned my living from dancing because dancing well it's it's
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arts and it's one of those Arts where you rather have something to earn your
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bread and butter with and I earned my bread and butter with being an interpreter because uh I was born and
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raised in Cologne which is in a city in Germany for international trade shows
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and very close to that are three more cities for international trade shows and back then international trade shows
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um were still the thing where business was made right and so I
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uh when I was at the beginning of my 20s I started working as an interpreter on trade shows because I was raised through
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lingual I was raised uh I came from from an interpreter's uh family so
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we were talking like five languages at the dining table and so I was I was
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raised with three languages and it was just the logic thing to do and the same logic then applied I think back then I
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took less than a week to think okay what am I doing now and um
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so I decided okay let's get a degree as um an interpreter and maybe also
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translations and so um I applied for two universities uh in Germany there was
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none in a cologne where where I could do that and I also wanted to I kind of
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wanted to close the chapter completely and move to another place I
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don't know it was important to me and um I got a seat uh in a university
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actually you should have to study three years and I they gave me permission to
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enter at a later Point within the studies within the program so I only had
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to do one year and a half um because during the during the entry
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test they found out and I told them listen I've been working as an interpreter already for years
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and during this these years by the way I also worked um as a so-called liaison
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officer um for the German government for various um political
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um uh um Gatherings and and and
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events and so um and I had all that on paper so I could demonstrate that I was
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that I was there that I had already learned and and had so much so much of
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um of so many so many years back with being an interpreter and
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um after that uh once I once I finished that um I found I couldn't find a job and um
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so I started I thought okay you need to learn something more so I had this
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creative background then I had a non-connected thing which was interpretation and translation and aside
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from that the business of international trade shows was completely being disrupted and going down you still have
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international trade shows but it's no longer the it's no longer the the bread
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and butter to find new clients because we have the online world now and so things totally shifted in business and
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then I started project management because I understood okay you need something that is based on economics
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based on on on a rather logic and strategic standpoint in business
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and it turned out that that was interesting to me because there was this communicational thing and
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and when you study project management 50 of that is leadership and communication
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and that was very interesting to me because that then had a connection to me
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wanting to become a um a dance movements pedagogue because it was working with
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humans yeah that to me was the connection working with humans
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yeah now a couple of years down the road um I then went into
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um business strategy because I had picked that up from working with with
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clients on international trade shows because they understood that there was something in me that
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um they wanted to work with me on a longer basis because I didn't only help
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them translating the words from their prospects and clients on the trade shows
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but I really took in creating contracts and all of that and I really gave them
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and I gave them an insight to or you should think about that you should consider that and so I became a go-to
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person when they wanted to uh wanted to do international business and without
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having a a education and dad that was my
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educational ground actually and so um I started doing um business business
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development and um I was actually good at sales I would say I'm not
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particularly into sales and it's nothing that I enjoy but that was also part of
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the training that I got on working on trade shows in understanding how does
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good sales look like how does good sales work and how do rather not so rather be
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sales people work and I have very clear understanding or again the clear
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understanding of the of the differences and of distinguishing a good salesperson from a bad sales person
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picked up a lot of that and then I think um
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and my first the first business that I started was I had the idea of helping
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companies to um to go on trade shows and and and and be there and represent a company over
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there and it completely failed I must say that was a huge fail due to so many
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reasons but it's fine it's good so when I'm looking back at it I can definitely say okay because of this this this and
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that but it was just part of the Journey of becoming an entrepreneur and it was part of the Journey of
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growing the backbone I would say to understanding okay you fall and that
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also goes back to me being an answer I think because I learned I gained the muscle of falling down and getting back
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up and not caring so I'm looking back and just don't blaming yourself or if
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you blame yourself if there is something to blame yourself about clearly then
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just learn from it to do it better the next time because this is what you do as a dancer
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most time you you spend in being a dancers training and training goes by
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failing and trying again falling down falling on your knees getting back up
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and say oh and just you know just carry on and that's just part of the deal and
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um and then I remember in uh 2000 I think it was in 2018 or 19. I had this
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client where I saw wow there is everything wrong in his business
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strategy in his design there is no what's actually the strategy
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and what's about the brand the name was misaligned the actually everything was
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misaligned yet the business itself the core offer was amazing and was a huge
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demand and uh the thing is that he was my parents best friend
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and so he gave me that's the thing and he gave me this this
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I don't know this this this ground to to develop something that I hadn't actually
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yet learned yet it was clearly in my head and he gave me this space for for
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development for making error making mistakes and and going the wrong directions but the outcome was amazing
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the outcome was an aligned brand the outcome was an aligned business strategy
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with three core offers so that if one of the offer is in Decline which in
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business is normal um which is why you want to have more than one offer
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um and um the design was just amazing uh it was I didn't want to say was just
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amazing but it was aligned with what he had and um
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and that was when I when I when I understood okay that's where I want to go into because turned out that with all
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of the efforts that I made in In classical business so to say one piece
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was missing and it was creativity and um what I what I only found out two
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years ago and I had to build an online business to find this out and I need it took somebody else to tell me that
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because I didn't realize because for me it was the most normal thing was
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hey girl you have two brains and you are strong where everybody wants to be
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strong because you have this logic brain and you're creative so you're both and
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everybody's dreams of being that and I was like wow you know to me it was this yeah well
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that's just me you know I didn't realize that was
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number one something special number two I didn't realize that um that was that
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it had value and number three I didn't realize that it was something that I
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could base an offer of and that would make me um particularly good in certain things
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so I would say universe delivered in very small chunks but it made me go if I
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look at back at all of that Journey now from from this standpoint as I look
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at it now today it makes all sense it just things just align
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and the Final Chapter until I became where who I am today and
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where I am now in business was in 2020 even before the pandemic I
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was sitting at my desk and somehow nothing was working like nothing and I have this picture of my granddad
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um his deceased already but he was this resource this intellectual and yet
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benevolent resource of you can do whatever you want you can do it Whenever there was something whenever I
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fell he said you can do it you know and he was from him I have my
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original name which is in the meaning the veiling here the strong benevolent
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Warrior and the interesting thing is that the meaning there are in in various
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languages is the same name which is Rika
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Rogers and that's it and it has all the same meaning and by the way in my family
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that's the names so somebody married somebody and they
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were Jerry somebody married somebody and they were liquor you see and um
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so I was sitting at my desk and I had this it's it's in the back over there I
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had this Compass of my dad of my granddad and it was broken and I carried
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that with me since he he deceased when I was 17. and I always had it on my desk so by the
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way I moved cities and I think all all in all I made 22 moves but I never lost
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this thing oh wow so when you wow you might lose a whole box of stuff that is important to you
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but I never lost this thing and it was always it moved with me and it always had its place on my desk so I had this
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moment of nothing goes and I'm sitting in front of my in front of my computer at my desk and I'm looking at the
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picture of my granddad it's it's in front of me here and I have one question
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and the question was what should I do and in front of me I had just clicked on
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something and there was a workshop running or the community where you can
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learn how to build an online business and that thing was running with me in front of it being actually at the point
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where I think like okay here I am and I don't know how things shall proceed and so I I put this
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question not verbally just in my head and my in my heart I put it into the universe and
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I grabbed a compass and believe it or not the compass moved for the first time
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ever I had seen the compass and it showed North and by the way North was exactly where my computer was
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so that was that was a yes that was to me that was a cosmic yes and to me that was
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um that was this is what you have to do so with literally my last money
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I grabbed my my Mastercard and I knew this was my last money but I also kind of knew
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you will you will you will earn this five times just don't ask just do this
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and I answered my credit card uh details and I and I purchased the the membership
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and the course that came with it and that was the moment when I started building an online business and that was
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the moment when I understood that what I was doing was brand strategy because
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then I entered a whole new world of people and that was the moment I finally
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which I never had before came in touch with people who belonged
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to what I would say the crowd that I belong to so I found people like you people who I
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resonate with people who have the same fears and frustrations the same Powers the same drive to do things and
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um the same benevolence to really helping people
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um and the same level of creativity and intelligence and applying that for a
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greater purpose so I love it a long speech
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no but I love I love the journey so much because you know it's funny because when I read you know
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some of the notes about you being a ballerina the thought was
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I bet you that's where the resilience comes from like that ability to fall
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down get back up fall down some more and get back up and so I appreciate you kind
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of sharing the whole journey because it does make a lot of sense when you kind of look at
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um kind of The View kind of from this vantage point just like okay you've got the resilience from being a ballerina
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and a dancer you're an interpreter so you you naturally are connecting with more
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people and translating what they're saying to communicate to someone else
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you've kind of got this okay I'm sitting at a computer this feels a little bit right okay I found people
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they can't communicate their kind of Core Business values in a way that
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resonates with someone else boom like it makes perfect sense it makes perfect sense
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and uh the creativity and the the number one thinking I mean tough I mean
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sometimes they have to be a nut tracker to uh I mean The Nutcracker uh I didn't
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mean that an analogy Classical Ballet
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even though I have done I know she will yeah but you have to be that that the
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literal Nutcracker into getting into people's heads like of the owner of a
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brand the entrepreneur and also getting into the heads and souls and minds of
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the of the ideal customer and understanding okay this is the brand
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this is the owner of the Brand This is the brand this is the purpose this is what the customer needs and how do we
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put that now into a flow um that's on display so everybody understands one another
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and that is um that is a job that is both strategic and logic and has to do
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with numbers and paying close attention to to these logic questions yet it needs
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the the creativity to then translate that into words into the right colors
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um into into all of that the the interesting thing is that so many people when they when they think of I want to
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start a brand I think in terms of name brand name and logo which is
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um just this is that's brand design but that's not brand strategy oh actually yes it is bread it is part
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of the brand strategy but that's not building a brand that's that lives within a brand strategy Under the
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Umbrella of um brand design and when they then turn to a designer
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and say this is my business this is the purpose they are expecting the designer
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to then understand which colors would go into that but they would not
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ask what is your your brand archetype because the archetype the brand archetype determines the colors
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and it makes people frustrated I have I've seen it so often that both the the
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entrepreneur and the designers they get so frustrated because
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something is off and the client keeps saying oh I don't feel it it's not it it's not it and the the designer then
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um most understandably gets frustrated because they could deliver something if only
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they had more information if only they knew this is the color colors that we
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need this is the range that we need this is the shapes that we need we're talking about let's say a spiritual business
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which is totally different from let's say an I.T business the pattern that you
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would use the fonts that you would use the colors you would use are completely different
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and um that's just that's what I found so interesting and being around stretch
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that I and being given the the freedom to you creativity and not being a so to
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say starving artist which I was back in the day so I mean these days are gone
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and it makes me proud it makes me also it makes me understand okay if you
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persevere you can do it you can you can you can end being a starving artist
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yeah so I'm I love it that's got me thinking so
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um I know that you kind of focus and and are passionate about serving kind of the
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the creatives the Consultants the coaches um and one of the things that I'm often
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thinking about with my business is you know there's my personal brand and
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then there's my businesses brand and in some ways they're very override because
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I kind of leave this business but I'm curious on your perspective of
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kind of this distinction in an online environment where the personal brand is so important
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how do business owners or entrepreneurs kind of manage that distinction which is
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here's my brand and my company's brand and what it stands for and this is my
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personal brand because at a certain point you probably want your business to grow bigger than you
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and want people to trust that brand and not always have to have you on the project or the assignment so I'm just
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curious on what your thoughts on that are uh it's actually a tough question but I
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would I would generally answer it by saying there shouldn't be it's really a tough
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question I have to think about it sure actually the the
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I would say there is not necessary a distinction between your personal
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brand and your your company brand um because yes you are as the owner there
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is a personal brand and if you have with creative okay let me let me
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approach it from this way if we had an I.T company we take two
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cases okay two totally different cases if you want to start an I.T company
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so you start an IT brand that would be a moment where you focus
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first on the company brand and um and um secondly on the personal
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brand and you want to make the company brand Thrive first and then you take
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time for your personal brand to maybe later down the road being able to retrieve from it or maybe even sell it
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that's the thing in the case of a um creative a
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consultant or a a coach the question actually does not apply
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because that the brand is the person and vice
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versa the person is the brand so it doesn't apply now if you choose a brand
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name or choose your your personal name as the name for the brand that's a
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totally different question and it depends on so on various on various
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questions that need to be answered in terms of the goals the direction what is
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it that you want to create so um and and that's the thing so there are
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cases where you want to focus on the on the brand on
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the company brand and there are cases where the question actually doesn't apply because the the business is just
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based around the person and I would say that's that's rather the case is your business based around a
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service or a thing a a product or is the the brand the company not to confuse
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words the company based around um a service and offer that is that that
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is delivered only by one certain person even though you want to scale your
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business and even though you might want to have um you might want to have employees
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um later down the road and all that but still the your face will continue and
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will persevere to be the face of the of the company and therefore turn into a brand
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see yeah yeah that that makes sense and it's funny because
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when I've thought about that question in my own mind is you know I come from Big Consulting where you got the big brands
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in in many ways the clients aren't buying an individual they're buying this big
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huge brand that we can trust because we know the type of quality people they
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hire and now I'm on the side where it's like I'm a I'm an independent I'm a
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solopreneur um in many ways and and I know people are going to be hiring me
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they want me and at some point I would like to
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pass that off and so it is something that I often think about in terms of
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like how how do I kind of make that balance and and I think
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I think where I typically land with it is focus on you right like you're the one
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that's going to be delivering the service until you're not and then you can re-evaluate the strategy and kind of
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pivot there so it makes sense I mean let's think about John Deere for example that's a brand everybody knows
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and it has a personal name and without knowing I totally don't know the story
30:09
of John Deere and how it came about that they were called that way but I would assume that Mr John Deere started this
30:17
business and Mr John Deere I would assume is no longer even here it's no
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longer around I don't know really no idea about John Deere just happened my head and still the company has this name
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because they created the brand because it has evolved into what it is today
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into that International brand that everybody knows and and nobody thinks
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about the person John Deere who gave the brand the name today they think about
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the services and goods they deliver and about and that's great building a brand about the quality
30:55
that people expect you see the if we take a similar analogy
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with Porsche where quality where the a certain quality is related to the name or she or
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you say Porsche right um Porsche I've heard all kinds of things
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so I'm fascinated on how you're saying it
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that that's just a that's just a brand name but attached to the brand name
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still is not a person but a a quality perception and that's what building a brand is
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about it is um creating an emotional um an emotional picture within the customer
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and influencing that emotional picture um and influencing it in a positive way
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so that the customer um relates to the brand in a in a certain
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way in a and relates a certain quality a certain quality aspects certain feelings
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and emotions to the brand and that is what means building a brand
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you see so actually the the it's it's I think it doesn't it doesn't
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you shouldn't you shouldn't stress out about it just see it from a standpoint of now and I
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would say the coming 10 years find the right strategy and if in 10 years you
32:33
sell the company number one you can always Rebrand that's that's always an
32:38
option renaming yes you can always do that that's number one and number two
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only because you sell the company doesn't mean that somebody would want this to or would want to get rid of the
32:52
the original name which might be your personal name because of the emotions
32:58
that have been attached to the brand the customers operations you see so
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okay no that makes that makes a lot of sense so so let's dive into kind of
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we've talked about how you landed on brand strategy
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um and we've talked a little bit about kind of the nuances and and kind of what
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brand strategy is I'm curious how did it feel for you doing this
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exercise for yourself and for your own business
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the logo was easy because of the the story that I shared with the compass
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and um so I wanted to have this compass and I will I I don't think I mean ask me
33:53
in five years from now maybe I will have a new standpoint on that but I don't think I would ever want to get rid of
33:58
the the compass as my logo maybe the design might change with time
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but there is this story behind this this brand was built this this business was
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built because of a compass that suddenly worked and by the way has stopped
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working again so obviously my friend said it's like I don't need his support anymore
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it seems like looking good for him and um so that was that was one thing and
34:31
finding my customer Avatar excuse me finding my customer Avatar was easy to me finding my
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um my my brand archetype came really easy to me um so there were some things that I was
34:45
so clear about and that that was so easy to me to do but when it came to my
34:51
positioning I needed another brand strategist to do that with me and by the way he needed me to do that for him so
34:58
um and it and it I don't know it's it's um it took a moment for me to understand
35:05
that I cannot do this for myself and it's logic because I was too close
35:10
to it if you were if you're that close to a thing you can't see and that's just that's just the reason so
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I wanted to find somebody to work with and I was so lucky to to getting in
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touch with um Sean who had the same challenge at the same moment and we just decided you
35:30
know what let's just exchange this service you do it for me and I do it for
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you and we just found a um we're meeting on a weekly basis now we have we're
35:42
still working together because now we are pivoting into once you think about
35:47
my packages oh do you think that that offer goes well with that one so I don't
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know it has become this this friendship and also business relationship where we
35:59
just meet on a on a weekly basis and one week is dedicated to
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um an issue or a topic he's facing right now and the next week is is just dedicated to my topics and um sometimes
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we work for weeks on one topic and then we pivot into the next one so
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um I I must say certain things um I was able to do for myself and
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certain things I wasn't and I think the important takeaway here is to
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to to let that happen and to to be fine with that to happen and not to blame
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yourself and to think I'm not capable I'm not good enough I am distant this and that I'm blaming you in all ways
36:43
instead and also secondly acknowledging when the
36:49
point when the moment has come that you would that you should seek some help from somebody else and acknowledging the
36:57
fact that this is the case and then just go for it and embrace that and by the
37:03
way it was and it still is it continues to be to be um
37:09
an opportunity to understand that there are certain areas where I'm really good at and some and other brand
37:16
strategists are not and also to uncover the areas where where there is let's say
37:22
growth potential where I have to to learn something more where I can grow into more so it is actually I would say
37:31
thank you Universe to delivering that to me because otherwise I would have no
37:37
other reflection surface to really understand am I am I good enough
37:43
am I am an an imposter what am I what where's me now you see so because
37:50
if people always kicks in I mean I don't know any creative who doesn't suffer
37:55
from imposter Syndrome from time to time yeah no I I wouldn't I don't necessarily
38:02
consider myself a creative person and I deal with imposter syndrome all the time it is it's one of those things where
38:09
um I think there's I think there's a value in having a healthy amount of it but I
38:15
think you have to know how to get yourself out of kind of the Spiral that it can cause
38:21
um so so I'm so I love I love the fact you know as a kind of solopreneur you
38:27
found this partnership with another brand strategist and you guys are helping each other and you kind of continue to to work together because
38:36
yeah entrepreneurship is lonely and so I like you know there's a community
38:41
building aspect of it and then there's kind of this beneficial relationship that comes with it and so my next
38:47
question kind of as you were talking about understanding your strengths and understanding you know growth
38:54
opportunities how do you determine the things that you think
38:59
this is a growth opportunity I need to learn this new skill or I need to find someone that's going
39:05
to help me with this thing because this may not be a skill that I have the time or interest to pursue and develop how do
39:13
you kind of make that distinction exactly by that exactly why by asking so simple exactly
39:20
by asking myself is it something that so first question is it something that I
39:25
enjoy or that I would enjoy is it next time a super important question is it something
39:31
or would it be something that would be beneficial to my to my service would it
39:37
add value to my to my service and help my clients um and
39:43
um also the question also has to be about the effort that I have to make and an effort can both be an intellectual
39:50
effort time effort and a financial effort so if the effort if number one the
39:57
answers already I don't enjoy doing that for example in my case it would
40:02
definitely be social media marketing it would be beneficial it's a great
40:08
great example it would be very beneficial to my business
40:13
um but I totally don't enjoy it I do not I will never be able to enjoy
40:19
it so I did the following and and the the effort by the way the effort to
40:24
learn it properly would have been well six months if not 12 months and a rather
40:30
and a rather um and a mid-sized investment financially
40:37
so I decided to do this I went into I learned it on a on a little bit more
40:43
than basic level so that I can create a strategy that a brand strategy that
40:50
implies that also thinks about um future social media activities
40:56
but I am not going to be the one to um to create the social media activities
41:04
to create the social media strategy and I'm definitely not going to do social
41:10
media marketing so that was an example where yes there was growth opportunity no I didn't enjoy it no I didn't want to
41:19
make the huge investment both financially and time wise and so I
41:24
decided to find the Midway and also find people who I can I know I
41:29
can trust they are doing a good service who I can turn my customers to and say look this person I know this person is
41:36
going to help you this person does a very well job a very good job and we just create the brand strategy including
41:44
which efforts should be made on which platform which is the right platform for you to use based on your business and
41:51
brand strategy but hand it over to someone to deliver it yeah
41:57
yeah no I I I I I like that I like that a lot and and one of the things kind of
42:04
the first time we talked we we kind of joked about um kind of this distinction of like
42:12
marketing advertising PR and brand and how brand is kind of like this overarching kind of honestly the most
42:19
important piece um because it's the thing that that's long lasting and so I I'm fascinated and
42:26
appreciate the distinction of it's like I love brand strategy I may not necessarily like the social media
42:33
marketing piece there are some people that are super good and super passionate about that and that's where they can kind of fit into the puzzle so I I
42:39
really like the fact that you made that distinction yeah and I mean the the thing is and uh
42:46
most people who uh who are entrepreneurs that want to become entrepreneurs they will most likely come
42:52
across these posts which you just addressed let's say brand strategy versus marketing
42:59
and then to me it's so stupid because it's so it's a misunderstanding of the
43:05
whole concept there is no verses yeah there is and that was the conversation we had right it's the number one step
43:12
one and step two because marketing people will need the
43:18
information that stems from the brand strategy yet in most cases when
43:23
customers don't have it marketing people the I mean I I get it they don't want to
43:28
turn away a customer but I would highly appreciate if they could more often turn the customer to a
43:35
brand strategist and say please create the basics create that Foundation First
43:42
and once this is done please come back and we will create your marketing strategy and then and the outcome is if
43:49
that is not done in a consecutive order people just burn and it hurts my it
43:56
hurts my soul to see that they burn money in their in their marketing
44:01
activities and in ad campaigns and and all that whatever they they they spend
44:07
on their marketing activities to then find out it doesn't work and in 99 when
44:15
people came to me they had made non-working marketing efforts and they
44:21
turned to me and said I don't know what's wrong the answer in these cases
44:26
was I'm sorry to say it but because you haven't invested into creating a
44:32
foundation first a which is the brand strategy first does the customer Avatar that is a
44:39
foundation that is needed for marketing campaigns and for marketing to be
44:45
created in a strategy to be created in the right way the the archetype all of
44:51
that that are just things that go into the department of brand strategy but
44:56
will be then needed and translated in the marketing department
45:01
so that that was that that's the conversation that is just so necessary to make and
45:07
it's so sad that I hear constantly from people who build a business that nobody
45:13
told them that and I so often hear this the phrase the the sentence Oh had I
45:19
only known so I'm sorry can we please spread the word and let people know so
45:26
that they can end this suffering and that they can end the fear of oh my
45:32
goodness I have to build a brand I don't know what this is it's it's actually not such a daunting task as people think it
45:38
was so you've approached the right way you see so so with that and I I'm curious and
45:48
we'll play this little game if if I'm an aspiring entrepreneur
45:54
and you know I hear you say that and I'm like okay I need to build a brand strategy
45:59
um I may not be able to hire a brand strategist
46:06
what would you say are the quick things you could do to get started
46:14
to thinking about what your brand is
46:21
client definitely customer Avatar is so important and
46:28
rather invest into somebody who creates into somebody professional who creates
46:34
that thing professionally based on and that's the thing on your
46:40
ideal offer so think about what is the problem that I solve
46:47
who do I solve the problem for and in which way is the problem going to be
46:52
solved so is it by a Consulting is it by a one-on-one sessions I mean there are
46:59
various ways yeah and and data that are definitely fundamentals and
47:06
um so there is this book by Simon sinek and it says start with why and I 100
47:13
oppose to that standpoint because nobody cares about you know why and that is not
47:21
going to build you a business that is just making you as the entrepreneur Who
47:27
falls on his knees and has to get back up make you get my help and the why is
47:34
Maybe where where later you can say I just
47:40
want to be helpful to people I want to help people um build a freedom-based uh
47:46
business on a freedom light and creative freedom lifestyle that's the thing and I don't
47:54
want to be treated as a kid anymore I want to quit my nine to five because I want to determine what I work with
48:01
um what I am doing who I work with I want to determine all of these things and I want to get my creative
48:06
um Freedom so that's that's the that's the in my case for example that's the why because I want to help people create
48:13
a freedom lifestyle based on their abilities based on their creativity and their knowledge and all that that's a
48:20
why but actually would you choose me as a brand strategist based off of that
48:26
I bet you 100 you wouldn't because the importance for you as the client is is
48:32
she going to be able to create a quality a high quality service and that question is not being answered
48:40
by my why so start with who and stop with what
48:47
what do you want to deliver who do you want to deliver this to and why do you
48:53
want to deliver this to so and and base the the why question based off of the
48:59
problem you solve why is this service needed why do you solve why does this
49:05
this problem need to be solved in the first place now how are you going to solve a problem
49:11
how I'm going to deliver this this problem-solving situation this Pro this
49:16
solution and I would say start with that um also think about try and it can be
49:25
hard I know but try to find a brand name that is easily typable
49:33
so you would not you're an American you would not be you would not be able to type Juliana Vetter you don't know how
49:40
to spell that right not even German people like if you're on the phone they ask me how do you spell that because
49:47
there are various ways to hear that to spell that and things can go wrong so I
49:53
chose Juliana Rogers just by Translating the Name that was carried through my
49:59
family in various languages because Rogers no matter where you come from on
50:05
the globe you will be able to spell that it is easy to hear it so it is easy to
50:11
memorize that's the thing and so try not to trap
50:16
yourself into a name that is hard to memorize hard to spell because people
50:22
ultimately will have to find you on the internet and also find a find a name that um
50:31
that's unique so do your research do your due diligence is there is there another Juliana Rogers
50:39
on the internet and if so is she doing something similar to me in my case the
50:44
answer was no no no so all boxes tick Greg got the trademark that's the next
50:49
thing please people get a trademark first come first serve and who gets the
50:58
trademark for a name first is the one who then owns it now that was also
51:03
something that I had to suffer from I had a great name for the company that I started first
51:09
um it was called cocoon consult and I just love this thing because I I had this idea of I am creating a safe place
51:17
where development business development can happen and I'm creating this cocoon
51:23
you know where you can just be yourself and then you just jump out as that
51:28
butterfly with your flat with your with all of the the colors coming out you
51:34
know the idea was great I still love it but turned out that I didn't get the trademark for the name
51:40
and so somebody else did and so I had to give it up to give it up
51:46
and that was just the thing yes I had the idea first I could have I could have
51:53
gotten into a into a um into a discussion with them I could have even
52:00
went to court and I mean do you want to do that no you don't want to do that right
52:06
so when thinking in terms of your name also the URL the URLs have to be
52:12
available and get ownership of all of the urls and so that's the thing that out what I
52:20
would definitely say first steps but always the center of attention is which
52:26
is the problem that I solve and who needs this who's the person that needs
52:32
this that's the the excuse me it should be the the center of attention
52:38
yeah no I like that it's it's it is is the question that especially kind of I'm
52:45
building a tech startup and you always have to refocus on okay
52:51
this is this is what I want to solve because I've had this problem now let me
52:56
make sure there are enough people that have had this problem to make this actually a meaningful Endeavor
53:03
um but you're right it's it's understanding like what you want to solve for whom you want to solve for and
53:10
then also reevaluating and genuinely understanding why you want to solve that
53:15
problem because I do think that the why is what's going to sustain you
53:20
to get back up in trying to solve the problem in the long term so I I think you're right
53:27
um okay so time checking um two more questions and then we'll get to some of
53:33
the kind of fun quick hitter questions um what
53:38
what does your business look like on Tuesday or what does your day look like on Tuesday five years from now if you
53:45
could imagine what you wanted to be
53:50
um good question so number one what I had
53:56
planned in the beginning and have so far I don't want to use the word failed but
54:01
I don't I haven't realized I haven't put this into into reality right now is I
54:08
really want to have my income 70 from
54:13
um passives and I must say for those listening there is nothing passive in
54:19
passive income because you have to Market it you just create a product once and once it's created the product is
54:25
created then you have to sell it and so you have to make the effort to do that um and definitely 30 from from
54:33
one-on-one Revenue so I enjoy working with people one-on-one but I want to be
54:38
more much more selective of who I work with and um
54:43
and I definitely want to live by the ocean definitely I want to hear the ocean when I
54:50
when I open my my eyes in the morning and open the windows and by the way it's
54:55
all kind of Windows I want to have these French windows and open um going to my to my garden open them
55:03
and then this there's this wind blowing in and blowing the the white long white curtains
55:09
and um I want to feel this this um concrete
55:14
pavement which is warm and soft and feels like Silk underneath my my feet
55:20
once I get up in the morning so and Thursday definitely Thursday Maria
55:26
comes along who's my my housekeeper my my good Soul who takes
55:34
care of my house and also takes care of me not not going in overworked mode
55:39
and who takes care of okay just chill this morning I take care
55:45
of this and this and that and she's just the person that I somewhat rescued from not so benevolent
55:52
um employers into being a part of the family and helping with my household and
55:58
being the good soul in the household and on Thursday evening
56:04
I definitely want to have my my Portuguese wine
56:10
as a um at a beach bar no excuse me a beach restaurant and really good beach
56:17
restaurant and I want to look at the the sunset and just hear the
56:22
the waves hitting the sand that's what it would be amazing in five years
56:29
I I I love it and what I love about the question is
56:36
I love watching where people go with it um where they explore kind of
56:43
okay what does my day look like okay yeah this is what I want my business to do but like my personal experience
56:50
like I love the fact that you could describe what you wanted your feet to touch that you could describe what you
56:56
wanted to eat what you wanted to drink or where you wanted to be the smells I I love that because I personally think
57:03
that those you know people always say try not to be materialistic and and and I think it's
57:11
when you can feel yourself doing something and you're tied to of an emotion it's not about the materialistic
57:18
nature of it it's about like this is what this is what I'm living for
57:24
this is what I'm aiming for right and so I hear a lot of freedom there I hear a
57:29
lot of autonomy there I hear a lot of I want to be able to to connect with folks
57:34
a little bit more on my terms than I am today um I love it no that that's awesome
57:42
yeah that's just I mean Freedom autonomy core values totally core values of mine
57:48
yeah um okay so my last question
57:54
um before we get into the quick headers um what what would you say you wish you
57:59
knew before you started your business and in and feel free to tap into some of those
58:06
lessons that you learned with your first business thank you
58:12
I wish I knew brand strategy um
58:17
I wish I knew more you know what let me I'm sorry but let
58:24
me rephrase the question I wish I I had known how to build an online business
58:30
five years before I know Universe has put me there once I
58:36
was ready once things were aligned for me I know that but I have to confess
58:42
that there is one part in me that says I wouldn't have to go it was unnecessary to go through all of that suffering
58:49
which there was a lot to be very Frank it was unnecessary had I known had I
58:56
known that there was this this this opportunity and I just didn't come across this I had some some endeavors
59:04
and I thought about um starting as a blogger as a fashion blogger by the way and my ex-husband
59:11
prevented me from that had I known how affiliate marketing which back then was
59:16
a thing works and that they earned from affiliate marketing had I known what this also what all of this is about
59:24
um had I known where even to find the information I had I had built something much earlier
59:33
I had I would have a team of five people who are living a freedom lifestyle who
59:39
are not being treated like kids because they are thriving in their jobs and they
59:45
are just part of my business family you see so I would have been happy to know to know
59:52
these things earlier yes totally it's it's funny because I I 100
59:58
understand that I had a um I look back
1:00:04
and thinking man why was I so rigid about not being on YouTube like I remember when YouTube came out I
1:00:11
just remember I was like I'm like I'm not gonna let people find my face on the internet Look At Me Now
1:00:18
and if I had kind of built that muscle earlier on you know
1:00:24
um who knows what you know where my career and where my life would have taken me no I'm again like I'm very
1:00:31
happy happy with the experiences that I've had and where I stood me but I do Wonder
1:00:36
man like in 2006 if I had just said let me just play with this thing called YouTube
1:00:42
um what would have happened um it's it's a very fascinating thought exercise
1:00:48
and you know what um Let me let me put a question back to you and it is who were you in 2006 and
1:00:57
were you ready for the journey where you had you developed the muscles I mean I'm
1:01:03
talking about rather the inner muscles yeah that you now need or if you think
1:01:10
about it did you need the lessons in between to even become that which you have
1:01:16
become today it's a good question I think
1:01:21
so 2006 um I was a 16-17 so I was finishing up
1:01:29
high school um I think that
1:01:37
you know what's interesting I think I have a I have the same problem I probably had back then
1:01:42
which is um a Chase for perfection
1:01:48
and an obsession with Polish um and you know I get that from my my
1:01:55
good and loving Nigerian parents and being the youngest of of four
1:02:01
um where I I try not to kind of I try not to make the mistakes I think in my
1:02:07
older age I've learned that mistakes are good and it's actually how you learn
1:02:13
um so I think that and I still grapple with that honestly I do kind of grapple
1:02:18
with that um personally so I do think that at 16.
1:02:25
I probably would have if I had gotten over the hump of oh put videos out there
1:02:30
on YouTube get out there and try something I would have been very obsessive about it I would have tried to be perfect in
1:02:37
it um I think it would probably be the same experience that I'm going through now I
1:02:45
think the biggest difference is I would have got comfortable more
1:02:51
comfortable with imperfection earlier in life that's probably the difference
1:02:57
yeah maybe I mean I mean the thing is um I don't know this is news to you but
1:03:03
most creative people are helpless perfectionists I mean healthless and think about just watch
1:03:10
any any good or not so good uh movie on
1:03:18
Classical Ballet dances I mean there is a plethora of them and what do they do they aim for Perfection and
1:03:25
um you know there's the question do you do you lift your arm like that or do you lift your arm like that so which is the
1:03:31
muscle you use and as a normal person you wouldn't even think about it
1:03:38
it makes the world of a difference you know and there's this thing and
1:03:43
I mean creative people have this tendency to to be perfectionists and
1:03:48
then I mean I I'm in it so you're kind of the club totally and so I think the
1:03:57
muscle we have to to try and and try to develop is let go
1:04:02
and rather and rather be Perfectly Imperfect
1:04:09
yeah then being um then then having this
1:04:15
perfect imperfection you see that this no there is this saying and I'm not I'm
1:04:21
not getting it rather do something that's not perfect then perfectly not
1:04:26
doing a thing that's the thing right see right perfect paralysis perfect analysis
1:04:31
paralysis because this little thing still is not aligned you know somebody else doesn't even see it you see this
1:04:38
because you created this so when people for example come into your house and your house is nicely
1:04:43
decorated they will say wow and you will think oh no because you know every cable
1:04:49
every little thing in the corners which they don't even see you know that there
1:04:55
are two holes behind the Shelf which you have put in the wall and they weren't
1:05:00
perfect but nobody sees them and you just know they are there and that applies that is
1:05:06
100 applicable to to building a business yeah absolutely
1:05:13
yeah absolutely and you actually made me think of something um it's you know I think a lot of
1:05:21
I think a lot of really good entrepreneurs and working professionals
1:05:26
generally have the trait of being obsessive and I think of like the stories that you
1:05:33
would hear about say like Steve Jobs being obsessed that the iPhone had
1:05:39
curved edges and I think to most people you're just kind of like uh that's kind
1:05:44
of weird like it wouldn't make a difference but even in the context of this conversation as I think about brand
1:05:51
the core values and what it represents there is an importance about being
1:05:57
obsessive in quote unquote trying to be perfect on certain aspects
1:06:04
because they do represent your brand in a quintessential way versus some of the
1:06:10
other things where you know um even before here I got on camera before you hopped on I got my camera I
1:06:18
was like oh I I got a little went I ran and I did a little ultimate it wasn't lit but that's just kind of mine now
1:06:24
would people have noticed the lint probably not but is a big difference
1:06:30
between making sure that I'm asking you good questions then is there a lint on
1:06:35
my shirt and so I I think that you make a very good point it just made me think about
1:06:41
um how we hear stories about very successful or famous entrepreneurs being obsessive about certain things but when
1:06:47
you think about what they're obsessing over it's quite essential to their brand and how they View kind of the the
1:06:54
meaning and the impact of their company it's true I mean um and I think this
1:07:00
this Shen is no no I I didn't think about this before
1:07:06
this way because I didn't have the conversation about it but yes I am obsessed about brand about I'm obsessed
1:07:13
about um building holistic um holistic approaches building building
1:07:20
a business from a holistic standpoint like seeing all of the influences all of
1:07:26
the angles all of the touch points and making sure that everything is aligned
1:07:32
and smooth and yes I am a crazy I have a crazy
1:07:37
Obsession about that but it's fun and the outcome is simply that
1:07:43
people get to create people get to build to build businesses but one thing I want
1:07:48
to add um is about the about Obsession and somebody like like Steve Jobs for
1:07:55
example and about success well we we always see the success but we
1:08:00
don't see the the missed successes we don't see when you know you see the one
1:08:06
time somebody somebody had a success but you don't see the 100 times they tried
1:08:12
before and I'm not the first person to say this but it's I think this is a message that
1:08:18
cannot be repeated often enough to just remind yourself when you feel like I am
1:08:25
a failure like I cannot do this when you have tried one when you have
1:08:31
tried 100 times try it once more because probably once
1:08:36
more will be the one time you succeed and there is a plethora of um of uh of
1:08:44
examples in the entrepreneurial world in the product world
1:08:50
generally in the world you see even even Evolution most probably has tried very
1:08:58
often until this came to life you see probably and that's
1:09:05
something to to remind yourself in in terms of Doubt because times of doubt if
1:09:10
one thing is for sure then it's times of doubt they are coming I mean that's just
1:09:16
ahead of you if you're building a business it's part of the journey absolutely absolutely
1:09:21
they're spot on all right let's get to some of these quick hitter so I if I don't um delay wine time anymore
1:09:30
um what uh um what are some books that you'd recommend for fellow entrepreneurs to
1:09:36
read
1:09:44
and by the way I have this in physical format and as an audio book and I love
1:09:50
hearing this thing when I drive and I can't count how many times I have heard
1:09:56
and read the book because it's an evergreen and um you can just I don't
1:10:01
know you can't hear it read it often enough then there's definitely build a story brand by Donald
1:10:09
Miller definitely donut Villa is a go-to person when it comes to marketing
1:10:15
and how marketing is tied to Brand to Brand building then I read this I read this book this
1:10:23
year and I loved it and it's the psychology of money by Morgan hausel
1:10:28
he wrote this during the pandemic and he did a really good job of self-analysis
1:10:34
and Analysis of patterns and negative patterns cancel money and the nuclear effect by
1:10:42
Scott Alford but that is a book that is not for the beginner it's definitely not
1:10:48
for the beginner it's a book to be read I would say maybe when you're one year
1:10:54
two years three years in business and um maybe a book when you feel like you're
1:11:00
hitting a wall and you can't get over it maybe that's the book for you and also I
1:11:07
have it in physical format and an audio format and I was listening to it while working on the book and using the book
1:11:14
as a workbook so yeah I love it I love it all right I'm
1:11:19
gonna check those out what um what question do you think I should ask the
1:11:25
next guest um
1:11:30
what do you think we have the most lasting long-lasting effect on building
1:11:35
lasting sustainable success that's something that would be interesting to hear from others
1:11:42
okay now what do you think what is your answer to that question
1:11:49
um understanding your core values
1:11:55
understanding what core values are understanding that core values are something you are born with and that are
1:12:02
developed over time with the the things that make you you that they are not
1:12:08
something that is um selected like like clothing
1:12:14
so there are no uh core values from the Wardrobe but there are core values stemming from the very core of your soul
1:12:21
and choosing your business choosing your
1:12:26
business model and choosing the people you surround yourself with based on
1:12:33
these core values and we're rather some on wherever and whenever something violates your core
1:12:41
values move away because you can't get over it it hurts you it's hurting and when you're not
1:12:49
working based off of your core values you will feel misaligned and everybody
1:12:55
will feel it too I love that uh
1:13:01
I I love how much entrepreneurship allows you to pull in
1:13:07
every aspect of your world and your life and allows you to kind of put it into
1:13:13
your business I think it's uh um it's like using every bit of your
1:13:18
experience before in weird ways that you could never expect
1:13:24
um whether it's in your kind of friend circles or or in your
1:13:29
um kind of professional environment so I love it yeah perfect
1:13:35
Juliana this has been incredible thank you so much tell the people where they can find you
1:13:43
I'm young LinkedIn you can find me at Juliana rogers.com and you can find me
1:13:49
on Instagram at Juliana Rogers official
1:13:55
all right thank you thank you so much I appreciate it same here