Have you ever felt too scared to start pursuing your dreams? If so, you're not alone. In this episode of The Brand Unveiled, Brianna gives you tips on how to get over the fear of failure when going after your goals. It's time to turn your fear into fuel and start chasing your dreams! Tune in as Brianna shares some her tips on taking that leap of faith.
This episode (S2 E1) originally aired on January 25, 2023. Don’t forget to Subscribe to The Brand Unveiled Podcast. Enjoy!
Brianna: Introduction (00:00):
Okay. The idea of starting in general is crazy talk. Starting a business, starting your YouTube channel, starting a passion, the thought of that, whatever it is, can be so daunting, overwhelming, scary, af. And today I'm gonna give you five tips to get over that hurdle.
Hi, my name is Brianna Régine. I am a brand growth strategist. I also am the founder and CEO of Brianna Régine Visionary Consulting. And you are tuned into The Brand Unveiled podcast. Today, we are going to be talking about five ways that you can start your thing. Whatever your thing may be starting is daunting, overwhelming, scary as hell. And sometimes you can't even wrap your mind around what first step do you take? Like literally you're stuck in quicksand, like stuck on stupid. You're just like, what do I do? Well, I'm gonna break it down for you, and hopefully after you watch this video or listen to this episode, you'll have a better sense of how to get unstuck from your situation and do the thing. Okay? All right, let's get into it. The very first step that you wanna take, it may seem silly, but honestly it works.
Brianna: On Writing Down Your Ideas (01:26):
Every single time I give this suggestion to my mentees or even my clients, and that is write down your ideas. You need to get it out of your head, out of your "cabaza". How do you say head in Spanish? Get it out of your medulla oblongata, whatever, whatever. What about, however, it said, okay, I'm not a scientist and biology like I did. Okay, but whatever. You wanna get it out of your head and you wanna put it down on paper. Whenever you write something down, your brain processes it a lot better. You process it a lot better. Think about it when you're in school and they're like, take notes, write this down. Not the po-po. When you're in school and they tell you, write this down, write this down. You may be hesitant to because you're like, Ugh, you cannot be serious. But it really does help.
Brianna: On Identifying Thought Patterns (02:18):
It helps to see all of your thoughts on a sheet of paper. It's easier to then find similarities, find things that tend to stand out, you know identify different patterns and like-minded thoughts or similar thoughts or thoughts that didn't make sense up here. But now that you see it, you're able to put it together like a formula, and then you're able to say, oh, it equals this. Write down your thoughts. It makes things so much easier. And that literally is the first step that you can take to make sense of what it is that you want to do. So that way you can start to do what it is that you want to do. Period. Step two, after you're done writing down your ideas, it's going to become clear to you what really stands out. The reoccurring themes, the reoccurring feelings that you wanna convey, or the ones that you wanna feel.
Brianna: On Passion (03:13):
All of that will make sense once you write it down on paper. And I like to call the feelings that you'll identify or the thoughts that seem to connect so seamlessly together, or just that moment that clicks. That's your passion. Sometimes it can be hard to figure out what is my passion? Or sometimes when you get asked that question, it can be like, oh my God, I have to come up with like a mystical answer where my passion is to save the sea turtles and to, you know, conquer world hunger or, you know, and if that is your passion, totally. Like, I think that's great. I think that's awesome. But sometimes passions like that also enter in, I wanna be as impactful as Beyonce, just to like level the playing field of those examples. Those are some really huge passions, or I should say goals that are big and they're not impossible.
It's just really big and it's really hard to grasp exactly what to do to get to that step. Or more importantly, what is the center of that big goal that's gonna keep you going on your path, right? So it doesn't have to be all mystical, it doesn't have to be all big. Sometimes it can just be, I like helping people, right? Or I like helping animals, or I enjoy singing. I like the way that singing makes me feel. I like the way that performing makes me feel. I like the way that drawing makes me feel. I like when I plan a marketing campaign or a marketing idea and it's implemented and I like seeing the reward of it. Like it can be very baseline. It does not have to be this super "Cat in the Hat" situation. It does not have to be that. Okay? So when you write down your ideas, you're gonna start to see the thoughts and the concepts and the feelings that really almost pop off the page because it's like, oh, I didn't realize that there was so many different connections, and that's what you're passionate about and you wanna make sure you know what you're passionate about. [dog walks by] Have a dog, they said. It's fun they said. You wanna make sure you know what you're passionate about because your passion is where your why comes from and your why is what's going to sustain you on your journey whenever you start your thing. The third tip is you want to create smart goals. So this is a concept. I don't know who came up with it, actually, let me look it up real fast. Let's see where that comes from. Who invented SMART goals?
"You wanna make sure you know what you're passionate about because your passion is where your why comes from and your why is what's going to sustain you on your journey whenever you start your thing."
Brianna: On SMART Goals (06:13):
Okay, so according to the Google [laugh] SMART Goals was developed by George Duran, Arthur Miller, and James Cunningham. George Duran particularly is a consultant and former director of corporate planning for Washington Water Power Company. And they published a paper called There's a Smart Way to Write Management's Goals and Objectives. So it is a method that has existed forever, 1981. That's when the article was published. And essentially it allows you to really hone into what it is you are trying to achieve and get intentional about the steps it'll take to reach that goal. So the S stands for specific, the M stands for measurable. The A stands for attainable or achievable, R stands for realistic or relevant. And the T stands for timely. And depending on where you look, you have different variations of synonymous words that may be used along the acronym, but essentially with the smart goal method, you'll be able to really pin down your goal to the exact date you want to achieve it, to the exact measurement tactics that you're gonna use to see if you're on path to achieving the goal. You're actually going to assess your resources and you know your bandwidth to even achieve the goal. Then you're gonna be able to say, okay, wait with the resources in mind, is this even realistic? How relevant is this goal to what it is that I'm trying to achieve in the first place? Like, why am I doing this in the first place? What's so special about this? It really makes you think. And then the t is the timeliness of that goal, the date that you're gonna set for it specifically. And then also just keeping in mind again, is it realistic with my bandwidth with you know, what it is that I'm trying to do within the next 30, 90 days or 12 months? Let's say, for example, your goal is to take content creation more seriously. Fair, that is a general goal. Let's use a smart goal method to really make that a thing and empower us to implement tactics in order to make that goal a reality. A more specific goal would be, I want to attract a larger audience on my platform by growing it to 10,000 followers. Let's just say, okay, so if you're gonna grow your platform by 10,000 followers, then you wanna say, okay, when are you gonna do that by? Let's say I wanna do it by February 10th. Just throwing that out there, right? How are you gonna measure that goal? You wanna measure or count rather how many posts you're gonna put out. Are you gonna be engaging daily with other like-minded accounts to try and create, you know, authentic interaction and more eyes on your page? Are you going to post stuff on your story and cross promote? Are you gonna do any Instagram lies to get more eyes? And then are you going to track how many new visits come to your page? How many folks engage with your page?
Brianna: On KPIs (09:41):
What are the quality of those engagements? Are they bots? Are they real people? How many people actually followed you? Did you lose any followers? Did they click your, linking your bio to learn more information about you? Like the measurement tactics or the key performance indicators? AKA KPIs are like not exhaustive. It all depends on whatever that specific goal is and what it is that you're truly looking for, but you wanna make sure you have an idea of what your KPIs are so you can track if you're gonna meet your goal by February 10th, or if you're not, then is it achievable, right? I have an Instagram account, I post already pretty consistently. I kind of have an idea of what kind of content works well because I post consistently and I'm able to monitor what kinds of posts do well versus the ones that don't. I also have done my due diligence to see what the market is receptive to. So yes, because of this knowledge and because of the platform that I already have I have my scheduling tools. I design my stuff in Canva, it doesn't cost me a lot of money. I have a video editor, like I have resources to make it happen. And also too, what I should say in this process of deciding if it's achievable or attainable, you can add a layer for this particular example about the spec, the spec, the specific, nope. Mm-Hmm. The, you can properly assess how achievable this goal is by thinking about, okay, do I need to uptick the amount of posts that I put out, right? Like, all of this is information that you're really gonna wanna sit down and think about. So that way your goal is grounded in something that's realistic, hence the R, right? And that's all that means. You wanna make sure that your goal is real, is realistic, and then timely.
We said we wanna do it by February 10th. You know, given the example that I have, I already felt like it was attainable and achievable. So February 10th, it should be good, it should be fine. And if you wanna think about timely as far as like what's going on in society, we know content is king. So yes, it is relevant, it is timely, and I know what I have to do to meet that goal. I always say with smart goals, if you can set the date and the, and make the goal specific, and you've already assessed if it's achievable, and you know how you're gonna measure your results, work backwards. When you work backwards, you're able to break down the steps to reach that goal by week than by day. And it just makes it a lot easier to process. And also it, it makes you more confident about achieving that goal.
Brianna: On Working Backwards (12:31):
Which brings me to step number four. Step number four is once you have your smart goals in place, you wanna work backwards. And as you work backwards or as you implement the steps that you've identified from planning from the date you wanna meet the goal and backwards, you'll be able to fine tune your strategy and your tactics. So for example, going back to the Instagram, I wanna grow it to 10,000 followers by February 10th. If January 31st comes around and I've been posting for seven days, I've been posting twice on Instagram, one is a reel, the other is, you know in my stories and I'm trying all the different trending audio, but I'm realizing that folks are watching my reels, but they're not staying on my page, or rather they're not converting into followers, then it becomes a conversation of, well, is it my bio? Is that clear? Do I need to change the messaging there? So that way folks know why they should actually stay at my page because they're liking my content, they're seeing my content, but they're not convinced enough to stay. So then you can change your bio. Or maybe it was the caption, right? Or maybe going a step further in, why do I go ahead and engage with everyone that engaged with my content to see if I can, you know, convert some of these folks into followers? So you wanna monitor your progression and fine tune things as far as the steps that you're taking to accomplish the goal aka the tactics that you're using along the way. You don't wanna do it too fast, like you wanna try things out, give it a nice sort of period to work or not work, and then go ahead and switch it up when you realize, mm, I've noticed this is a pattern, let me try something different.
Brianna: On the Business Side (14:37):
So work backwards and fine tune your strategy and tactics as you go along. Step five is the business-y stuff. So depending on whatever it is that you're trying to start, if it's a business, you may be thinking, okay, do I need to get a LLC? What does that look like? Do I need a business email? Whether I'm doing a business or I'm taking my content creation up a notch, or I'm starting a side hustle. So like, how do I want people to communicate with me? How do I want that to look? Do I expect to be making money very quickly or do I already have money that I can put into a separate account so when I do start to make money, it goes into my business account and not my personal account, like all of this business-y stuff, you know even down to a landing page or a website that can come last. The reason why for this particular episode, I'm saying it can come last because we're talking about how do you start. What you don't wanna do is buy an LLC or make investments for a business email or a landing page or a website, and you haven't sat down to really think about your thoughts and your ideas and your passion and your why. And if it's realistic, if these goals are even feasible right now if you've done your own market research to see if you are coming into the game, like feeling as confident as you possibly can, right? If you haven't tested the market yet to get a feel if folks like it or not getting the LLC, getting the business email, getting the website, all those can be the very last step when you are just trying to get to a point of starting, starting is the hardest part.
Brianna: On the Starting Phase (16:47):
And starting should be the phase where you are in your creative zone, in your creative element. You shouldn't necessarily be worrying about the business-y stuff yet. It'll come very quickly. But you also wanna give yourself the opportunity to sit in that space of, I'm starting this thing. When I first started my agency, I sat down, I did market research, I really thought about my name, I really thought about my mission, my values. I really took some time to think about what it is that I wanted to start starting my agency before I bought an LLC. Honestly, I started the brain like storming from my agency in 2016, the winter of 2016. I didn't get my LLC until September of 2017. So that should give you an idea of you don't have to rush getting that LLC, that piece of paper does not validate your journey or, you know, creating a YouTube channel and like having it be super perfect out the gate [laugh].
Brianna: On Working with What You've Got (18:01):
You know, you wanna have the top quality and you feel like you have to get the best camera and you have to get the best editing software. No. Work with what you got, work with what you got, and just do it because you can always fine tune your strategy and the steps you take to meet your ultimate goal along the way. The more you sit on the perfection of the thing or trying to do things as quote unquote right as possible, the less you're actually gonna start.
Brianna: Closing Thoughts (18:28):
I hope those five tips were helpful. Share this video with someone who has been in your ear, honey, about, ooh, I have an idea. I think I wanna do this. I think I wanna do that. I've always heard about this. We should just give it a try. And if that person is you, welcome honey. Press the subscribe button [laugh]. It's good to have you here. And also remember y'all, you are on your own timeline. The year has just begun. If your January one is actually gonna be February one, that is okay. Okay? You'll be fine. Don't worry. Go at your own timeline. Starting, like I said, is the hardest part. And the moment that you actually do start, feel good about that and hopefully these five steps will help you do just that. Put one foot in front of the other. Thank you guys so much for watching and listening. Please make sure that you subscribe to the brand unveil podcast where all podcast streaming services play [laugh] yeah, where they play. and if you are watching this on YouTube, please make sure that you subscribe, like, comment, share, please rate us on your favorite podcast streaming platforms as well. There is more where that came from, and I will see you next week. Bye!