Let me start by saying this – Branding is important and I think it’s something you do have to focus on if you are going to succeed in business.

But here is the thing……there is a huge pressure to get it perfect from day 1. Everything you read online about Branding for small business will put the fear of failure into you. If you don’t get it right you may as well not bother being in business, right?

Well, I am going to buck the trend here and say: nope, nada, no way!

I am almost 4 years into my business, I have just had the first photos taken for my business that I feel like finally fit me and my brand, thanks to the talented Nathalie at Vibrance Studio. I have gone through 3 different business names finally coming back to my own name recently. And it took me till mid last year to really grasp what I do and my message. If I had pressured myself 4 years ago to work it all out I wouldn’t have got here any sooner. Ok, let’s be truthful I pretty much did and it definitely made no difference.

I think like everything in life your professional life is a constant evolution and if we think we are going to beperfect straight away, rather than end up with a great, consistent brand you may just end up a frazzled, stressed out mess.

There are a few factors that come into play here:

• Branding takes work, you need to really know what you do, what your message is and who your target market is. These are big questions and I fail to see how most people can spend a day or a week working through these questions and come out the other end with all the right answers.
• Growing a small business is a marathon not a sprint. What your business looks like on day 1 is going to possibly change vastly in the future. I started out as a bookkeeper, then a virtual assistant, now I focus on content creation and business support. The things I was helping clients with in that first year are completely different today. Any branding I did around being a bookkeeper would be obsolete now. Sometimes it’s ok to take some time to find your feet in business first and work out where you want to go.
• Sometimes you just need to build up your income. Yes, I know what the experts will say, but good Branding will help you increase your income. But, here is the thing if you are working from $0 and you need to actually feed your family and pay the bills you may not have the money required to have quality Branding. I believe it is possible to start with simple Branding until you have the income behind you to do it professionally.

We are all running a different race and at the end of the day we need to listen to what feels right for us, today.

Maybe you need to start working with some clients, like I did so you can really work out where your area of expertise is. Maybe you just need some time to get clear in your head what your message is and who it is for.

I want to tell you that it is ok, you can start taking steps forward to creating an amazing business that you love even if you don’t know the answers. You will know when the time is right and when you do you will be able to find the ideal Branding expert that can help you through the process.