Refreshing my brand while I drink coffee

by Nan Berrett - Word Solutions 

Branding isn’t all about our logo – it’s everything which we bring to our business table – our business name, design of our assets and logo, any symbols we use and what makes us different from our competitors.

The most important part of our brand is always  the human element – ourselves as the owners of the business, our staff, our brand ambassadors (the people who support us and promote us to others).

I have been pondering branding recently, mainly because of my logo. I began my business with no real idea of a logo, and 11 years ago, I thought that together with my business name my logo was the only other component of my brand. I know better now!

But I’m going to take you on a journey with my brand evolution. 

First of all, it was thinking of a business name. This can be so important because, often, we change our business direction slightly from our original ideas and what we crafted in that first exciting early business plan as our business grows. We find that some of the things we planned to offer are things we never do, so they fall away and then, as our skills grow, we add new talents to our repertoire.

Business names can be tricky, as often the names we think are brilliant have been taken by someone else, so the search starts again. I settled for Word Solutions, even though it was my first choice. In fact, I think it was about my fifth choice – the others were all taken! Over time I have grown used to it. Business names often form part of our “imposter syndrome”, so we can be diffident about using them in a sentence and it takes a while to gather some pride around them.

My business name hasn’t changed – Word Solutions – originally created to represent the idea that I worked with the written word, but now it’s still relevant as I use my spoken words when I mentor clients and give workshops.

My own evolution has included much more business mentoring and I have taken resume writing and book editing off my list, aside from selected clients who I have worked with since starting up. There were other offerings too, which I have dropped completely as they were either things I found I didn’t enjoy doing, or which there didn’t seem to be any demand for.

If you look at the images of the evolution of my cards you’ll see how I have gradually become clearer on what I offer. When I began I was focused on all things written and had no thought in my head that I would come to love workshop presenting and working as a mentor.

At the time I started up, my business cards showed my logo as a monochrome or sepia image of two brass bells hanging from fibre ropes, then it evolved to one bronze bell on a rope with the name of my business top and bottom. I have stubbornly kept the bell for more than 10 years – more about this later.

Over time I have realised that I am my brand, so I in 2019 added an image of me to my business cards. I am a huge advocate of having a memorable card – something which will remind the receiver of who you are, so that when they pick up your card again they will remember when they met you and the conversations you had.

So, back to the bells. Well, they have no purpose in my business. They don’t really represent anything, although I often make up stories about why they are there! There’s a sales practice called ‘ringing the bell’ where a bell or something noisy is used to let everyone in the team know another sale has been made, or a financial selling milestone reached. It’s used to boost morale and get everyone motivated. My bell/s could be used for that - but they are not!

Sometimes, I just say that “I’m all bells and no whistles”, but I have no idea what that means. The phrase “All bells and whistles” refers to something that has a lot of extra features which perhaps aren’t really necessary, but are added to make it more attractive, impressive or sophisticated. It may date back to the time of steam engines – but my saying I’m all bells without the addition of whistles, when I think about it, sounds a lot like my clients are likely to miss out on something!!

The truth is, more than a decade ago, I won a photographic prize for an image with several brass bells hanging on jute ropes – and I liked it … a lot. My brass bell is one of those prizewinning bells. At the time I decided to use it for my logo I had run out of ideas, so the bell became my signature object, by default.

Now, it’s time for a brand refresh, at least when it comes to the logo and it needed to be more ‘me’ than just the bell without a coherent story to go with it. I like the bell, and have kept it, but another element has been taken away (the background) and a new one has been added.

Thanks to my amazing daughter, Megan, I have a newly designed logo. This visualizes my catchphrase “Fuelled by Coffee” which I use on my email signature and other places. I like coffee. I live in very fine wine country in the Clare Valley, and although I do enjoy my wines I also drink a lot of coffee. If I drank the same quantity in wine I would be asleep under my desk, curled up with the dog, and getting no work done.

I wouldn’t say I was obsessed with coffee, but typically there is always a coffee ring stain on my desk and often on random paperwork.

Here’s the new logo – see what you think!

Talk to me about mentoring or supporting your business in a wide range of ways - take a look around my website, then give me a call, send along an email or book a 15 minute Virtual Coffee and a chat HERE.

Nan Berrett creates visibility for small business as well as mentoring small business owners and startups to help them navigate the mountain of knowledge which is part of our everyday life in a digital world. She is based in regional South Australia in the beautiful Clare Valley and is happy to travel to meet clients or chat over Zoom. Find out more or book some time to chat: www.wordsolutions.com.au