Episode 19
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[00:00:00] Welcome back to the Women in Writing Podcast. This week, I have the amazing Lauren Nicole Peters on my podcast. She's from San Diego, California, and she's an expert in branding. That means today we're going to talk about personal branding and what it has to do with growing your writing career. Have fun and enjoy.
Welcome to the wonderful Lauren. I'm so excited to have you in my podcast. Yeah. I'm doing really wonderful. I'm very excited to be talking with you all. Yes. I'm super excited as well. You're in sunny San Diego, right? Yes, I am. Feels like on the other side. It is on the other side of the world, literally like [00:01:00] me sitting here in London, it's always like cold or like outside of London and like British countryside, but it's yeah.
So a nice life. Always what we make out of it, right? Yeah. Yeah. So how are you doing? Really wonderful. I've been spending a lot of time writing lately for myself, for some of the people that are my clients and yeah, my world is filled with writing right now. You said something really awesome, like when we just started this conversation and that was awesome.
You know how a lot of writers when we go back and look at our old writing, we're like, Oh my God, we are so much further right now. You actually said like when sometimes Facebook posts come up from 10 years ago, you're like, Oh my God, it's so wise. Did I write that? I think it's so genius because it's like your younger self and the wise woman inside of you that shares something that might be relevant for you right now.
Yeah. I love it when those [00:02:00] memories pop up because. As you said, they're often much wiser than I would have, that I actually see myself when I was that age, but they helped me sometimes. And I remember that even to this day, like I'm still a writer. I always was a writer and I was actually really good when I was younger.
And I'm just think that the older I get, the more critical I've gotten on myself for who I am as a writer and my ability to write well. Yes. I think we're, that's definitely true. We're getting more critical and. Some lady in my community actually compares it to skiing. I'm not sure. Can you ski?
Yes. So it's like when you, she always says there's two types of people, like the people that start really young. So like when you're young and you ski, you're not afraid, like you just go downhill and it's like fun. And as older you get, as more you overthink it and you're like, Oh my God, that's too fast.
What if I break something like I could lose my job and [00:03:00] stuff like that. And it just blocks you. Like it's almost like that. Oh yeah. Yeah. I am my greatest, hurdle when it comes to, moving past blocks and getting things done and being productive in my writing. And I just overthink a lot of things as an adult.
You're so right. Like when I was younger and it's clear in my Facebook reminders and things that I did write, like I felt so much freer back then. And it doesn't mean that I don't like writing today. I have my processes to get through blocks, but yeah, very different time. Amazing. So what are you writing right now?
I think that's the key question. Yeah, I have been writing a weekly newsletter for my audience, um, around female leadership, personal branding self awareness. my faith journey. And then specifically, I'm writing a 21 day devotional for women around faith and trusting God to do a [00:04:00] new thing in their life.
So this is for women who just feel like things might be a little stagnant, or they feel like areas of their life are barren right now. And they're sitting around and waiting for God to do something new. That's so amazing. And especially because I feel like a lot of coaches now, like a lot of people outside, like now in like our world of like sharing and helping it's almost like the era of, women helping other women to really shine.
It's not really from that place of Oh, I'm better than you. I want to outperform you. It's really like uplifting to like everyone like, Hey, I help you, you help me. And together we can shine and everyone like, has their own glow in their own light and I love that. And especially tied in with your faith as well.
Yeah. I love that you said that. Cause I tell my friends, my family, my clients, like my biggest love language is believing in you and seeing what your gifts are and [00:05:00] really wanting to invest time in you and helping you grow that. And so anything I've ever written or created, it's been to express that love language.
I see you, you're amazing. You have all of these things you can do for the world and let's build that together. Yes. Amazing. I love that. So you help women with their branding and becoming a nice version of themselves or. Yeah. Becoming the best version of yourself. I'm not a full on coach.
I would say I'm more of a consultant who has the ability to help women get through blocks Should they come up on the process of us building their brand together? Women who are in a phase where they're like, I know that I need to get my gifts out. I don't really know what that needs to look like.
You might have some things completed already for your brand, but it might feel disjointed or scattered or unfinished. I'm that person who can come in and really see the whole vision and all the pieces together. And I show my clients and I work [00:06:00] alongside them actually in my consulting to build that.
And usually what we can do in 10 weeks and only 10 calls is just incredible. Oh, wow. So is it like a 10 week one on one program with you? Is it like a 10 week group program? Or how is that? It's 10 weeks one on one for now, as long as I have the capacity, but that's my favorite way to do it because for every 10 calls and it's different for everyone based off of what they want to build and what we decide to build for them.
Yeah, for some we can get their website completely up and only three, three calls. And then after that we move on to their offers or their course things get automated on the backend. It's pretty much a done with you thing. We do it together and they learn how to do everything in the process.
Amazing. So it's not only visuals, right? It's not only picking pretty colors and like fonts and everything. It's like the whole. Yeah. the whole thing what everyone says, like, how would you define a brand? If you would have just one sentence [00:07:00] or so, like, how would you define a brand?
Oh gosh a brand, I'll do a personal brand, right? Because Of course we have brands like Lululemon and Nike, but we're talking about people now. Yeah. So who we are as people are just so different and unique from one another, but there are facets of us that help others in our journey. When we share that it helps others grow in their uniqueness.
And so when we build a personal brand, The more we know about ourselves, the more we celebrate about ourselves, the more that we can accurately translate that online and on our platforms so that the right people who need to find us right now, they can. So when you say a brand is everything and I help with everything, you're right.
There's business strategy that needs to be understood. And so that you don't build a brand that burns you out, right? Like you might look at somebody else's business model and really admire [00:08:00] it, but once you build it, it just doesn't work for your lifestyle. And I've done that a couple of times.
That's good. Yeah. I help women not make that mistake. So we work on strategy in the business. We work on strategy and your offers, your messaging. Okay. And for me, I'm a strategy person first. I'm a creative director first. So once the strategy is laid out, then we can do all those pretty colors and implementation.
And I'm also a portrait photographer. So I do help my clients with personal branding for the ones that choose to fly out to San Diego to do it here. Sometimes I go out to like other States as well, but yeah, I help from beginning to end. If I could, I would fly out to San Diego tomorrow and would come to you for a personal photoshoot.
Maybe I'll have to come to London then. Yeah. You can do that too. You're always welcome here. No, it's just crazy. It's just [00:09:00] amazing. Like you said, like how it shifted, like to personal brands. And that's what I say to my writers all the time, because, when you're like a freelance writer, you might think Oh, it's just me at home in my pajamas writing for my clients doing a great job, but actually you have to see that you are a brand.
You have to. I have your network. And especially when you're just starting out, when you get those connections with like agencies or like writing jobs, like it's about how you react, how you communicate, like you said, like how you look, what makeup you use. It's like little details that could make or break like the whole business, right?
Yeah, it all adds up together. A personal brand. At the end of the day, we want to change the world with what we build. And it's also what are people saying about you in the room when you're not there? That's also a personal brand. Oh, 100%. That's really cool. So would you say like this for everyone like that one thing that they should be [00:10:00] known for or Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yes and no. So this is a I've busted this myth so many times, like you should choose one thing, right? Like I know all of us have heard that at least once or twice. And I heard that for the first eight years of my freelance journey, my entrepreneurial journey. And it was, it really frustrated me because I'm a multifaceted, talented person.
Yeah. And Don't talk about your faith and your work. Like just talk about personal branding. Just talk about femininity. And I actually tried to do the one thing. I tried to build, a branding agency one time and not focus on all of my other stuff and it just didn't work for me. So what I've done the last eight years in that journey is really work, with my faith with.
With God, that's just me and have a conversation. Okay. There are certain facets of me that when I'm only doing one thing, I actually get quite burnt out and unhappy. Yes. So I said, [00:11:00] how do I craft a life and a business and my creative work where all of these are working in a way where I'm energized and that's what we all have to figure out.
And for me, that's. Some of the most successful personal brands that you'll find out there and do, five minutes of research today on Instagram, like some of your favorite people that you admire, there's at least three things that they have encompassed that they include into their brands. So for me, we can say faith, femininity, and personal branding are my three things.
Yeah. A hundred percent. And for the last two newsletters, I tried to talk about personal branding and I did. And then I tried to write about it again. And I was like, I hate writing. I hate personal branding. I'm done with it. And then I just realized I haven't been talking about the faith aspect and I need to start doing that.
So for all the ladies who think that they need to choose one thing, I say, [00:12:00] absolutely not. Like God made us with so many different gifts and all. If we can figure out. How to combine all of them and harmonize them in our brand. It's actually so powerful. Amazing. Wow. I love that you just shared that because that's so powerful.
There's also like the book, the one thing and I was like, Oh but there's so much more than just one thing. Why should I just be good at one thing? And let me, can I talk about that for two seconds? Yes. Do that. That's one of my favorite books. so much.
Oh, is it? And I actually 100 percent agree with everything he wrote about. And I'll tell you guys how I figured out how to incorporate that in my life and still focus on my multi passions. So the one thing is useful when building a personal brand, because when you put out content or a webpage or a masterclass, the normal human brain can't really handle much more than [00:13:00] processing one thing, like one idea.
And so I've kept that for every post I make on Instagram for every for my devotional, right? It's 21 days, but I'm still only talking about one thing. I'm not talking about 21 different things for my brand. I have those three focuses, but I'm the one thing, right? There's different ways that we can still, and we should still incorporate regarding one thing.
And the biggest walk away, the biggest thing I would walk away with that is Just remember your audience, your community, they're humans and their brain can only process so much. So definitely instill the one thing in your writing. And I'm pretty sure most of your ladies already know that. And just don't give them too much, give them one thing and then end it and have them wanting more and then give them another thing, another day.
That's so amazing. Thank you so much for sharing that because I think like [00:14:00] everyone is so different, and especially when you're busy and you think about a hundred different things you just don't want to be overloaded with 10 more things you just that's the thing like when you read something like that's inspirational if there's 10 tips in it or something like it's almost too overwhelming right completely yeah and i'll tell you guys when i'm writing a newsletter and mine are very long form like i spend time on these i'll start off with having this one thing idea and I start drafting it out, outlining it ideas, and then I get to day three of writing it and it actually turned into 25 things.
And then within that I, I have to take, I have to edit myself and say, all right, that one thing in these 25 things, I can expand upon that one thing. And then I get rid of that draft and I start a completely new thing. And I because I did choose the one thing. So it gives you a lot of clarity, like in the process, right?[00:15:00]
Amazing. I love that you said that. Yeah. That's really cool. Thank you so much. That's a kind of like great inspiration because I was never, I liked his book, but I thought, like I didn't, I just didn't agree like with it, or maybe I didn't want to agree with it because I was like, I have more hobbies, like now.
I'm a mom and I want to coach and I still want to write, that's probably like the three things about me, like the coaching as a personal brand and then like being a mom and being a writer, instead of just, having a hundred thousand things going on, it's just, I feel it in myself that I'm sometimes just overwhelmed, yeah. Yeah. And let's remember like who is one person that you really admire online that you just love what they talk about and you don't mind seeing hundreds of their posts. There's a British lady, you might not know her as well.
Her name is deliciously Ella. See. And she is like in that [00:16:00] movement of, healthy eating and like she built it's really that's an inspiration as well. Like she started with a blog in 2012 and I'm following her like since almost like 2013 or something. And now she has like a multi million pound brand.
She built it with her own products, she built it with her husband, she has a restaurant, she has I don't know, millions of followers on Instagram and like everywhere. So she's really authentic for what she is, and what she built. Yeah, I love that. So what would you say are like her three things she talks about that she shares?
Like maybe it's like family business building, and then like creative expression. I just guess. But what would the three things be? It would be definitely like healthy eating, like creating like that healthy movement, sustainability, and then family as well. I love that. I think it'd be cool. Yeah.
What's yours? What are your three things? My three things are definitely [00:17:00] the writing, motherhood, and the coaching, just because like you said, like God shaped me, Or nudge me in that way, almost like I always say to my clients as well. And that's why, like you said, you've been through a lot of failure in the past and that made you learn.
And now you can. Help other women like avoiding these mistakes. Like it's almost like that's why you hire a consultant or a coach or mentor, just, to get to the next stage. And for me it was definitely like transitioning from like a full-time, Korean hospitality, where also like my family, we are, we have a hospitality business in Germany, so a hotel and restaurant, so full-time, career and hospitality, just riding on the side as a freelance writer into full-time freelancing.
And to being a full time writer, which was a big transition from because I like the hustly and bustly, like doing the bar until 2am talking to people. I like [00:18:00] that, and then from just, to just being at home writing and now from, freelance writing into coaching.
And that's, I think it's great because. A lot of my clients are transitioning as well. They might be in a completely different career and they just love writing and they want to monetize that and they want to start on this side and some people are professionals already and they just want to elevate to the next stage,
Yeah. So for you, if you and I were on a strategy call, I would say for you, your three are motherhood. Yeah. Writing and I wouldn't call it coaching. I would call it making money as a freelance, freelance writer. So like building your freelance business, because you coach within that, but when you're front facing and people aren't always looking for a coach, sometimes they don't realize they need a coach until after they're following you for a while, but what they do know they need now is to build their freelance business.[00:19:00]
And so for you, motherhood, writing for yourself, and then building your writing freelance business and making money doing it. That would be your third thing. Nice. Thank you so much for telling me that. Yeah, business building. You can own that. Yeah, that's amazing. That's so cool. So what is the one key tip?
that you would give someone that wants to start their entrepreneurial career? What would you say to them? Yeah. I would say don't quit your day job yet. And if you already have, that's fine. Cause that's what I did. I just like up and I got a client and then I quit. There are many ways to do it.
My biggest thing around entrepreneurship Is there have been seasons of extreme, like instability, meaning financially, I don't know where my next client's going to come from. And then there have been seasons of [00:20:00] high stability, like really great stability. And I'm in one right now. My advice for people thinking about getting into freelancing and entrepreneurship is that you can actually choose how much stability you want moving into this journey.
So that means getting a part time job, getting a full time job. I think when I was first starting out, I had this pride around being an entrepreneur who didn't need a job and I really suffered because of that. And now I'm like, okay, if I'm having a very slow season in business, I'm willing to get a job.
I'm willing to do this because it makes me feel stable. Outside of that advice, I would say just really. Use this time to get to know yourself and start to develop the habit of celebrating all of those different aspects of yourself. Because a lot of us are very blind to the gifts that we have and the more that we know about [00:21:00] these gifts and we know how powerful they are on other people's lives and we can serve more people.
Wow. That's so powerful that you said that. And I wish you, you would have said that to me like last year, like when I went all in, in my coaching career, I thought, I didn't really have I had the choice, but I did it like right out of like my maternity leave.
So I was like, Hey, I'm going to make that work, and I only have X amount of time, the. little bit, like with a one year old and, no nursery yet. And like, how much time do I have to build the business? So I had the choice. Like looking back, it was good, because I had to go all in, I like hired amazing mentors, like Tara Malarkey that we both know, like accidentally, which is like an amazing kind of way of God saying Hey, you guys should talk, it's, Just, that thing of the stability, what you said that's so true because that's what I'm saying to my writers as well.
There's people that are in my course [00:22:00] that don't have a job since a year or something. They're like, Hey, like desperately, I need to make this work. Yes, you can make it work, but it's just a little bit more pressure, and especially with create creativity and writing.
It's just so creative. So it makes it just a little bit harder. Yeah. to have this creative flow when you're just starting out. Completely. I understand that.
All right. So what an amazing conversation. Thank you so much for all your insights. Of course, this was fun. So I will definitely pop your links below. I'll definitely pop your links below. So if anyone wants to work with you, they should all work with you, actually. And also like in my new course, I will definitely recommend you as well, because I think like this branding aspect, like it's something that I learned about recently as well.
So I really put more emphasis in my new course, but I think they should hire an expert if they really want to have the best kind of outcome, so [00:23:00] I will definitely pop this below. Of course. Yeah. The best way to reach me is on my Instagram at feminine devotion.
Perfect. I will pop that definitely below. That's so meaningful. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. And I hope that was not the last conversation that we had. Oh, there's so much more to talk about, like failure creating space for writing. Yeah. We could talk about all the things. Yeah. And we should definitely do that again.
Definitely. Thanks for having me on. Thank you so much for your time.
That was another great episode and Lauren was so inspiring. So if you are building your personal brand right now and you get inspired, please reach out to Lauren. She's definitely the best partner no matter if you are a writer or if you grow another career for your own. If you enjoyed this podcast episode, please share it.
Please review it. It would mean the world to me. And yeah, I'm excited for the next episode.
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