Reilly Newman | A strong business typically will have strong leadership. A strong business will be an individual or a group of professionals who are confident in their direction and each step they make along the way. They are confident when they say the name of their business when someone asks and bold when describing their collective mission. This confidence naturally draws in the audience to inquire about the service or product offerings from the brand.
Confidence is defined as:
“the state of feeling certain about the truth of something”
Unfortunately, this feeling of certainty doesn’t naturally come when owning and running a business…
So where exactly does this confidence come from?
Confidence is the direct outcome of focus.
To be focused is not only knowing what you’re doing and how you’re going to go about it, but knowing the “why” to your actions.
Just as a professional athlete can be extremely well trained and know their skills extremely well, they can increase their performance when there is a WHY that is pushing them further (doing it for the gold medal, their hometown, to make their Dad proud, etc.). This motivation naturally increases their focus which creates more confidence and – more importantly – a better overall performance.
You can have all the training in the world, take all of the classes and read all of the books, but when it comes to focus (especially in business) the market demands that you be more than just the what and how. Today’s market needs for you to have clarity and to have a WHY.
Just as in the example of the athlete, this motivation will increase your focus which benefits your overall performance as a business.
This increased performance for a business starts with brand. With any business model comes a given business category. This category exists because there is market demand, this market dictates what a business model can charge, how they conduct business, what’s expected, what’s taboo, etc. On the other hand, an effective brand allows the business to go beyond just its business category. Empowering it to charge what it wants, how it wants, when it wants. (Read more about pricing your brand here)
Through brand clarity, focus is discovered and fortified. This focus will create a natural increase in confidence through the empowering attributes that have now been made clear for the business as a whole.
The crucial role of brand clarity is because this is where you’ll not only discover your true brand values, story, personality, and more, but develop a plan to properly position these attributes that are specific to your business.
Yes, it must be strategically applied(positioned) based on the research and insights. However, this clarity is how you’ll have the confidence as your business’ lead chef to say “we are this type of restaurant serving this type of food for these type of people”.
Confidence and clarity organically has purpose woven throughout. Through this brand clarity is how you’ll not only attract the right consumers, but the right talent as well. Those who not only are in the mood for your type of food, but also the proper Sous-chef who loves making that food, and the wait staff who knows exactly how to treat the guests who enter based on the purpose you have set forth through the brand clarity that has been established.
Confidence doesn’t come from being everything to everyone, but emerges from the willingness to have clarity and be that one thing for some. This self-awareness and brand clarity is your most important asset — it’s your confidence.
