Trista DeVries, Branding & Web Design

We’ve all done it -- gone to a search engine and typed how to get more clients. Or marketing magic formula. Or how to grow my business fast.... We’ve all wished for a thing that will just *work*. That’s why there are one million products out there that say, Skip the work and get right to a 6-figure business! Create your social media posts in 10 minutes a week. Get the right data to blow past your competitors today. The problem is, there’s no magic formula to business growth. Sure, there are things you can do that have worked in the past (or for other people you know), but you’re unique. Your business is unique. Your customer is unique. How you serve them is unique. So, your strategies need to be unique, too. Even if you’re using, say, a lead magnet with an email nurture sequence, it won’t be the same as the coach you love to follow on Insta. You need the strategy that’s as unique as you are. I’m sad to say that you can’t spend $27 on a done-for-you product and fix your business. But you can get your very own unique strategy that will get you there faster, stronger, and happier.

Has anyone ever asked you, What are your company values? Did you make this face when they asked you? Or maybe just on the inside? You’re not alone.... Business values are a strange and nebulous thing. You’re supposed to have them, but it always seems like there’s some super secret method to creating them. Like a business DaVinci Code you can’t crack. You’re supposed to have a list of words (?) that represent you? And what you stand for? And your whole reason for being?? That seems like a lot of heavy lifting for a list of words. The thing is that a list of words won’t help you when you’re trying to make good decisions for your brand. Those words are ideas. You need actions, not concepts. You wouldn’t say to an employee, Could you have written this email with more sincerity? Nope. You’d say, Could you have been more honest and open with the customer in this email? Now that’s a value you can get behind. Look, if you have a list of values you feel good about, there’s nothing wrong with that. (Not one thing.) But ask how you can take it further. For example, one of Buffer’s values look like this: We hold ourselves and each other accountable. We have high standards, and we help each other achieve them. We set clear and specific commitments, and we meet them. Could they have said, Accountability and written a short sentence about why that’s important to them? Definitely. But instead what they did was create a list of actions they can take -- and their customers can expect -- that demonstrate their core values. Are you ready to turn *your* list of value words into a list of actionable traits for your brand? I know you got this.

It had been a bad couple of years. Stress and personal loss had piled up and resulted in burnout. The clinical kind. I’d never felt so lost in my life. I could work because my brain actually wouldn’t let me. I slept more than I’d ever slept before. I wasn’t doing anything -- at all. I was just existing. Kind of floating there without purpose and without direction.... For the first time ever. After being a star performer in every job I’d ever worked, transitioning to freelance and running a large media organization, starting and leaving two non-profit organizations, and being a full-time caregiver to my mother, being directionless felt like the deepest possible failure. Floating there in the middle of nothingness, I thought. I thought so much, so many, many things. While a lot of things were changing inside me, I knew one thing wasn’t: I didn’t want to give up on my business. At the same time, there were problems there. I loved my clients. I invested in them. I created bold, unique strategies for them. I created websites that could make money while they slept. So, why then, when I checked back in with them, were their businesses not growing?? Did I not set them up for success? Was it too much to ask to see my clients succeed? The hard truth was: no, I didn’t. I wasn’t taking them deep enough. They weren’t thinking big enough -- and neither was I. I knew from my time in women’s business advocacy why women’s businesses don’t grow. I knew why they didn’t push past their boundaries, their natural stopping points. And I knew I could help. I also knew the only way to do that was to push past my own natural stopping point and create the growth I was craving in my own business. I needed to show my clients it could be done. So I did.

In his book, Start with Why, Simon Sinek proposed a deceptively simple idea: People don’t why what you do, they buy why you do it. It’s the kind of idea that has always been there, floating around in the ether, but until it came together in this one simple sentence, I never really thought about it like this.... And when I heard it, it was How could something so simple, so obvious, be so elusive for so long. When someone is looking for something they need, they are rarely looking for a specific *thing*. They’re looking for a feeling. They’re not looking for a computer that works well and will meet their needs. They’re looking for a computer that will unlock the power of human potential. They’re not looking for a blender that can liquefy in 20 seconds of less. They’re looking for a blender that makes energy-building green smoothies. They’re not looking for a business coach. They’re looking for someone who can help them push past their boundaries and get unstuck. They’re not looking for a logical reason to hire you. They’re looking for an emotional connection that says, Hey, I see you. I get you. I can help -- and here’s why. When I started applying this to the way I built strategies for my clients, the results bowled me over. They attracted clients like a magnet The clients they attracted paid more And their business grew. Do you know what your why is? What gets you out of bed in the morning? What lights you up about your work? Tell me all about it in the comments!

MEET MY AWESOME CLIENTS I love my clients. They’re what get me out of bed in the morning, which is why I love talking about them so much.... Meet Corinne Allain, Register Dental Hygienist at The Dental Hygiene Group. Corinne is an amazing business woman. She started her own independent dental hygiene practice where she helps people keep their oral health in tip top shape without a dentist on site. We came together through a networking group and when she was looking for a website refresh, I was honoured to be her pick. Together, we created a clean website that both informs patients and also helps them book their appointments with ease. Corinne offers a spa-like environment for your dental hygiene needs: no terrible dental smells hot towels Netflix to watch soothing playlists whitening services, and lots of eco-friendly products to complement your smile It is always a pleasure to work with you, Corinne. Thanks for letting me be a part of this project (and being your go-to person for maintenance and changes)! If you’re in the Etobicoke area and need an amazing hygienist, visit Corinne’s profile and see what she’s all about!