3 Ways to Bring Purpose into Your Business

Just the other day I shared my experience with Jess Lively's Business and Life With Intention workshops, however I did not share how my own purpose changed/evolved because of the workshop. While I'm not completely ready to share all of the details, I am excited to share a few insights along with three key learnings that I think you can apply to your business immediately.

 1- Make sure that your brand is truly your brand. Does your company name really fit that special thing that you do, and does it roll off your tongue with pride when you tell others who you are? This was huge for me - and where I spent the majority of my focus during the workshop. It's also why I will be changing my business name in the very near future. I can't share the new name yet, but I guarantee that it feels to me like a warm comfy sweater I never want to part with (thanks to Elizabeth, for suggesting it! And thank you Jess for encouraging the brainstorm session that it resulted from!)

2- Does your branding actually fit you? I'm not just talking about your name here, but I'm talking about the design. The colors, fonts, textures, packaging, logos etc - do they all look like things you'd have around your house? Are they something that you're friends would see in the store and know immediately that it's so you? For a long time I felt like I needed my brand to be different and unique, but after much trial and error, what I found is that I actually needed my brand to be just the same as everything else in my life. Luckily, my colors and branding are very much my style - and in fact, if you were to have attended my wedding or walked into my home, you'd find yourself surrounded by the same whites, creams, aquas and corals that are also part of my brand. Correction, the style is part of my brand, it's part of me and it just so happens that my wedding, home and brand are all also parts of me. Is your branding an extension of who you are?

3- Just because you can do it all, doesn't mean you should. Find other experts that are able to do what you want to do, but can do it better than you could ever do it yourself. Delegating and reaching out to other talented people is a tool to use. For me, I built my entire website myself because I didn't have the budget to hire somebody, but now that I am going to be rebranding, I'm reaching out to people that I know can help me way better than I could help myself. Plus, but letting other people help, I am freeing up my time to focus on other aspects of business. Anybody out there a marketing pro and want to help me get my brand out there more?

Are the above things that you thought about when setting up your business? Are you thinking about them now?

Believe Notes Branding :: Business Cards

Since starting this business a few years ago, I've probably gone through 4 different business card designs. And don't even ask me to count how many times I've changed my blog design! I think I speak for all designers in saying that the most difficult thing is self branding & designing for your self. I've posted about it before - when I made Believe Notes grammatically correct, when I asked for help picking a new logo, when I finally shared my love for orange, and when I just needed to vent about the difficulty of branding.

After finally picking a logo, I moved on to use the design elements of it in my Etsy shop, on my Facebook page, and on the Believe Notes Website - but one thing I never did was create business cards for myself. It's totally embarrassing to be meeting new people and have them ask for a card and not be able to give them one. It wasn't that I didn't want one, trust me, I desperately wanted that little 3.5 x 2" paper that perfectly represented myself and my business - but I just had a difficult time designing that itty bitty piece of perfection.

I would sit down every day after work and try to create a business card. A few months ago I even reached out to my twitter followers to ask for advice on some sample designs. Then, after taking in all the generous feedback, I sat on the designs for a long time before finally picking and editing the one I loved the most.

And now I finally have business cards.

They are classic and simple on the front, with just enough contact information that people will know where to find me, but without so much information that the text is cluttered. It's total business on the front, and party on the back. I updated the colors on a pattern I created a long time ago, and I love the punches of orange and light blue. The cards are printed on 100% Cotton paper, which makes them soft and luxurious.

If I could describe these cards in one word it would be: Me. They are totally, completely representative of who I am and where I am at this very moment in life & business. Let me also add that I am damn proud to hand these suckers out now!

Can't wait to use the design elements from my new business cards to pull together all of the packaging ideas that I have! My goal is to have one cohesive look for all of my branding, and while it won't happen over night, it will indeed happy over time.

Packaging Inspiration

I've been really looking at ways to improve my packaging and branding design. My goal is to streamline all of my products so that I have a cohesive "line" and every item is clearly from Believe Notes. Right now my packaging is kind of blah, and totally all over the place - it is definitely in need of some organization and streamlining.

At the moment, I wrap all of my items in tissue paper and then add a ribbon and a label. That's it. Best part? The ribbon doesn't even go with my brand colors. While it doesn't look bad, it just doesn't fit my overall brand theme, which is clean, simple and modern. If you order something from me today, this is most likely how your item will arrive:

Not bad, but not amazing either.

When I first started my business I was definitely concerned with the costs of everything and so my packaging evolved out of items I already had on hand, which was cost effective. As time has gone on, I have realized that part of operating a business means spending money; you know the phrase "you have to spend money to make money".  So the past few weeks (ok, you got me, it's been months) I've been investing in my company. The next investment I need to make is in the packaging department.

Here are some pictures (thank you pinterest!) that are helping me make my final packaging decisions:

Sally J. Shim

Bakers Twine from Cute Tape

originally spotted on The Dieline

from Oh, Hello Friend

So there you have it, my inspiration for meeting my goals during project "revamp packaging". I plan on sticking to my colors of white, orange, cream and aqua - while using fun little details. All to ensure that, when receiving an order from Believe Notes, it's almost too pretty to open. Almost.