What is your Brand Personality?

Business 1 Response »
Aug 242011

What comes to mind when you think of the word ‘brand’? For most it is probably Coca-Cola or Apple or maybe even Stuart Baggs – ‘The Brand’ – if you watched the previous series of the Apprentice. Love him or hate him, he certainly made sure you didn’t forget him. But what does having a strong brand presence mean?

I recently went to see Phil Askew who is a Brand Discovery Coach and he is excellent at unlocking who we are as a brand, either professionally, personally or both.

Transform Life Coaching’s brand personality is all about passion for life, knowing your self worth and believing you are capable of change – no matter how challenging it might seem today – tomorrow can look different if we just face up to our fears and be true to ourselves as to what we really want from our life.

In essence I work with busy women to put them back in the driving seat. Women often feel they are either in the passenger seat with their partner driving, or in some cases even in the back seat with very little control of where their life is going. I am passionate about women knowing their self worth and that they are capable of change in all aspects of their lives.

If any of you are thinking about brand discovery or know of anyone who has their own business and wants to improve their brand strength then I can honestly say a morning with Phil will be worth so much more than the fee you pay him. He has such an open and approachable manner and his creative background and knowledge of current technology will definitely take you further down the line than you are today with your brand strength.

I have included a link to a recent interview Phil had regarding his brand coaching.

Posted by Hilbre at 12:13 pm

The Strangers in our Lives

General, To Make You Think 1 Response »
Aug 172011

I am always fascinated with the psychology of commuting and how routine we all are when it comes to going to work.

I drop my husband at the station every morning just before 6am so he can catch that awfully early 6.04am train. We always know we are perfectly on time if the man in the grey jacket (who we have now called ‘The Marker’) is at the bend in the road and if not then we drive that little bit faster (just assume he is always on time). The same man in his biker jacket (always stands right next to the bins reading The Sun) is puffing away – as if it is his last cigarette – before the train pulls in. The final piece in the morning station gathering is an older very posh looking man in his black 4X4 who comes in on 2 wheels at 6.03am and literally runs to the train every day holding his hat – yes he wears a hat (but not just any old hat – a real old fashioned hat). Some days if we are early I wait to see him arrive as it always intrigues me how he never allows that extra minute just so he can walk to the train. I would have thought starting the day like that can’t be the most relaxing – maybe he likes the adrenalin rush just to add a bit of spice to the mundane monotony of the morning commute.

Then as I do my u-turn and leave the station the same lady stares at me from the driver’s side of her car as she has dropped her husband off. I think I might smile at her tomorrow just to see her reaction – she might well smile back…

As I leave the station and make my way home there is always this other man walking very upright and never in a rush. He carries a very old looking briefcase and his other hand is either in his pocket or carrying a newspaper. He seems to have quite a long walk but is never in a rush and is always walking in the same part of the road when I pass him. He strikes me as being very content with life.

As I wind my way back up the lanes the same farmer in his old green Land Rover passes me at the exact same spot and then last week he actually waved at me. I thought this was lovely as although we don’t know each other we are a part of each other’s morning and in a sense it almost seems rude to not acknowledge each other. If any of these people are not in one of my mornings I do notice it and in a strange way feel like something is just not quite right.

Next time you commute see if you can spot those strangers in your life who form part of your daily routine. Maybe you have never noticed them but I can guarantee you, they are there and they might well have noticed you. This might just offer some light relief to the otherwise rather depressing news that seems to have become the norm of our papers.

Posted by Hilbre at 6:43 am

Are you Really Living?

To Make You Think 1 Response »
Aug 022011

It really is true that in England when the sun shines the whole place seems to come alive.  l was watching this beautiful butterfly today busying itself amongst the purple flowers and it made me want to write about how precious life is.

The other night I watched the movie ‘Veronika Decides to Die’, based on the book by Paulo Coelho (well known author of the Alchemist). Initially it seems like a very sad movie about a girl who can’t see the point of going through the motions of life. As she describes it – you get married, then after you have had kids your husband has an affair because you are too tired and busy being a mother and you wish you could kill him (and his mistress), but then you realise that life on your own would be worse and so you put up with his behaviour (because he will do it again) and just go through the motions of life without feeling much. She overdoses but doesn’t succeed and so after being in a coma for a week finds herself in a psychiatric hospital. She is told she has done permanent damage to her heart and will die at any stage from a heart attack.

I wont tell you what happens but she yearns to see the sea, watch the sun setting and to hug her mother. In her case, these are all things that are freely available to her on regular basis. So – I am curious as to why it is more often than not that we only start to really live and see the magic in the simple things when we are faced with death. Why is that?

Every day is another day closer to our final one and yet how many of us embrace each day from the perspective that we have one day less left to live? No matter who we are or how healthy we might be today, we just never know when our last day will arrive.

I have a very close friend fighting cancer and he said to me ‘ I feel like one of the lucky ones as I now see the magic in each and every moment, no matter how small and insignificant it might seem’.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”- Mark Twain

Don’t wait to be faced with death before you start to see the magic all around you.

Posted by Hilbre at 6:22 pm