Brand Design Masters Podcast

Two years ago, Creative Director and mentor Lauren Gonzalez went outside of her comfort zone to start a YouTube channel to tell the story of how she set up her own agency, struggled to get clients at first, and eventually grew the business to become a consistent client and income machine.

Today, her brand identity agency Principium Studio is primed to scale and support higher income Amazon sellers, while her YouTube channel 4 The Creatives keeps growing in followers as she helps more freelancers and designers boost their confidence in their design business.

We discuss:

● The origins of her agency Principium Studio and the work they do for Amazon sellers

● Why she decided to set up 4 The Creatives, the kind of content she shares, and why she likes to target beginner graphic design freelancers

● The story of niching down to the kind of work they were getting most and how this became the turning point for her business

● What she believes is the biggest hurdle that designers early in their career are facing now

● Her Consistent Clients Blueprint course and how she mentors freelancers to get them to a place of confidence in their skills

● How the 4 The Creatives channel came to be, her experience of setting up her YouTube channel, and pushing herself to go out of her comfort zone to help more people

● Why she strongly believes in aligning her content and platform to what her viewers need

● How she built the branding assets and color schemes of both Principium Studio and 4 The Creatives

● How she stays inspired and feeds her inner creativity

● Her business development strategy of leveraging communities, building relationships, and giving free listing audits

● An email marketing strategy she calls the nurture sequence that keeps her top-of-mind for potential clients

● How she stays motivated and what's on the horizon for her

● Her personal manifesto revolving around the importance of persistence

Mentioned in this episode:

Seth Godin's published works: https://www.sethgodin.com/#books-courses-and-more

The 1-Page Marketing Plan by Allan Dib: https://successwise.com/book/

The Futur Content: https://thefutur.com/

To connect with Lauren, head on over to her channels:

Email: [email protected]; [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/4thecreatives/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/4TheCreatives

Principium Studio Website: principiumstudio.com

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode of the podcast, head on over to the following links for more of my work and some valuable resources to get you started on your own branding initiatives. Until the next episode!

VISIT MY WEBSITE:

http://www.philipvandusen.com

JOIN THE BRAND•MUSE NEWSLETTER:

http://www.philipvandusen.com/muse

JOIN THE BRAND DESIGN MASTERS FACEBOOK GROUP:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/branddesignmasters/

SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL:

http://www.youtube.com/c/PhilipVanDusen

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER:

https://twitter.com/philipvandusen

FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST:

https://www.pinterest.com/philipvandusen

LIKE MY AGENCY ON FACEBOOK:

https://www.facebook.com/verhaalbranddesign

Bring Your Own Laptop - Adobe Training with Daniel Scott

https://www.byol.me/philip

InVideo

https://bdmpodcast.com/invideo

Discount Code: “PHILIP50”

Tubebuddy

https://wwwtubebuddy.com/philipvandusen

____________________________

The Brand Design Masters Podcast is targeted to entrepreneurs, designers, creative professionals, and anyone interested in brand strategy, business planning, graphic design, personal branding, trends, and marketing.

Philip VanDusen is the owner of Verhaal Brand Design, ...

Writing is the #1 unicorn skill that will advance your career faster and make it stronger as a creative professional.

I talk about:
● How so much creative work relies on writing and good communication
● My experience of finishing my first course — Brand Strategy 101 and how that helped me realize that copywriting and the ability to capture nuances in copy is important in strategy
● Achieving massive success as a creative pro by developing a unification of both design and writing skills
● The Top 3 skills designers need outside of creative abilities and how being a good copywriter leverages those skills further
● The biggest red flag when it comes to communicating that may be causing projects to be turned down
● Why you should learn to articulate what you do, verbally present your work, and get your point across
● “Content is king” philosophy and the need to leverage being a content creator in today’s competitive world
● Building credibility as someone who knows what they’re talking about and can articulate it well
● Writing as a career advancement insurance as you rise up the ranks in your career
● How to be a better writer, why deadlines are motivating, and the 10,000-hour rule that applies to writing
● Resources that will help your writing skills improve

While it’s imperative as a creative professional that you get better at writing, you don’t have to do it alone. Take a course, read a blog, and start putting it to practice. What’s important is you just start.

Mentioned in this episode:
My Brand Strategy 101 course: https://www.branddesignmasters.com/brandstrategy101-sales
Grammarly Writing Assistant: https://www.grammarly.com/
LinkedIn Learning: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/
SkillPath Professional Development: https://skillpath.com/
Skillshare Online Learning: https://www.skillshare.com/
The Write Life blog: https://thewritelife.com/
Write to Done blog: https://writetodone.com/

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode of the podcast, head on over to the following links for more of my work and some valuable resources to get you started on your own branding initiatives. Until the next episode!

VISIT MY WEBSITE:
http://www.philipvandusen.com

JOIN THE BRAND•MUSE NEWSLETTER:
http://www.philipvandusen.com/muse

JOIN THE BRAND DESIGN MASTERS FACEBOOK GROUP:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/branddesignmasters/

SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL:
http://www.youtube.com/c/PhilipVanDusen

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER:
https://twitter.com/philipvandusen

FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST:
https://www.pinterest.com/philipvandusen

LIKE MY AGENCY ON FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/verhaalbranddesign

Bring Your Own Laptop - Adobe Training with Daniel Scott
https://www.byol.me/philip

InVideo
https://bdmpodcast.com/invideo
Discount Code: “PHILIP50”

Tubebuddy
https://wwwtubebuddy.com/philipvandusen

____________________________

The Brand Design Masters Podcast is targeted to entrepreneurs, designers, creative professionals and anyone interested in brand strategy, business planning, graphic design, personal branding, trends and marketing.

Philip VanDusen is the owner of Verhaal Brand Design, a brand strategy and design agency based in New Jersey. Philip is a highly accomplished creative executive and expert in brand strategy, graphic design, marketing and creative management. Philip provides design, branding, marketing, career and business advice to creative professionals, entrepreneurs and companies on how to build successful brands for themselves and for the clients and customers they serve.

Being a jack-of-all-trades has a negative connotation, but not in content creation. Do you want to be visible all over the digital world?

Amy Woods, founder of Content 10x, will make your brands stand out on different social media platforms from Facebook posts, to YouTube videos, to Spotify podcasts, and more. An expert in content repurposing, she shares her tips on how to maximize the returns of the content you create and increase your sales ten-fold.

We discuss:
• Finding the balance between business and content work
• Prioritizing your clients while still serving your own brand
• Steps on how she gradually increased her online presence
• Getting big-time clients through user-based content like word-of-mouth, testimonials, and referrals
• Publishing a book and the commitment it takes to write it
• Repurposing a book into videos and podcasts
• Deciding which task to do first: creating the product or building the audience?
• Empathizing with your clients as the best way of helping them
• Rewriting copies to suit the format of each marketing medium
• Her personal mantra of changing what you can't accept and accepting what you can't change

Mentioned in this episode:
Her "Content 10x" podcast: https://www.content10x.com/podcast/
Her best-selling book "Content 10x: More Content, Less Time, Maximum Results": https://www.content10x.com/book/

To connect with Amy, head on over to her channels:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/content10x
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/content10x/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amywoods2/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/content10x
Website: https://www.content10x.com/

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode of the podcast, head on over to the following links for more of my work and some valuable resources to get you started on your own branding initiatives. Until the next episode!

VISIT MY WEBSITE:
http://www.philipvandusen.com

JOIN THE BRAND•MUSE NEWSLETTER:
http://www.philipvandusen.com/muse

JOIN THE BRAND DESIGN MASTERS FACEBOOK GROUP:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/branddesignmasters/

SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL:
http://www.youtube.com/c/PhilipVanDusen

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER:
https://twitter.com/philipvandusen

FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST:
https://www.pinterest.com/philipvandusen

LIKE MY AGENCY ON FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/verhaalbranddesign

Bring Your Own Laptop - Adobe Training with Daniel Scott
https://www.byol.me/philip

InVideo
https://bdmpodcast.com/invideo
Discount Code: “PHILIP50”

Tubebuddy
https://wwwtubebuddy.com/philipvandusen

____________________________

The Brand Design Masters Podcast is targeted to entrepreneurs, designers, creative professionals, and anyone interested in brand strategy, business planning, graphic design, personal branding, trends, and marketing.

Philip VanDusen is the owner of Verhaal Brand Design, a brand strategy, and design agency based in New Jersey. Philip is a highly accomplished creative executive and expert in brand strategy, graphic design, marketing, and creative management. Philip provides design, branding, marketing, career, and business advice to creative professionals, entrepreneurs, and companies on how to build successful brands for themselves and for the clients and customers they serve.

By being separated from each other, losing access to our places of work, and watching our networks shrink, we do not have the kind of feedback and input to our decision-making that we used to. This lack of confidence then becomes the biggest barrier for people to move their businesses, personal lives, and careers forward.

In today’s special episode, I talk about 10 ways to build confidence. Towards the end, I talk about what I think is the best and fastest way to build confidence to expand your meaningful network, develop partners, and be secure about the direction your personal and professional lives are going.

Sharing confidence-boosting tips, methods to use, actions to take, and mindset shifts to nurture,
I cover:
● Why the loss of feedback is detrimental to people’s confidence
● Confidence as the #1 requirement in order to make it in business
● 10 simple yet highly effective ways you can build your confidence and as a result, positively impact your business
● What a mastermind community is and why I think it’s the absolute best way to build confidence
● My Brand Design Masters Guild, the incredible value packed in it, and accounts of its track record of boosting not just the confidence of its participants but also their businesses and revenue tenfold
Mentioned in this episode:
My Brand Design Masters Podcast interview with Anne Lafollette:
https://podcast.branddesignmasters.com/27
Apply to the Brand Design Masters Guild
www.philipvandusen.com/mastermind

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode of the podcast, head on over to the following links for more of my work and some valuable resources to get you started on your own branding initiatives. Until the next episode!

VISIT MY WEBSITE:

http://www.philipvandusen.com

JOIN THE BRAND•MUSE NEWSLETTER:

http://www.philipvandusen.com/muse

JOIN THE BRAND DESIGN MASTERS FACEBOOK GROUP:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/branddesignmasters/

SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL:

http://www.youtube.com/c/PhilipVanDusen

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER:

https://twitter.com/philipvandusen

FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST:

https://www.pinterest.com/philipvandusen

LIKE MY AGENCY ON FACEBOOK:

https://www.facebook.com/verhaalbranddesign

Bring Your Own Laptop - Adobe Training with Daniel Scott

https://www.byol.me/philip

InVideo

https://bdmpodcast.com/invideo

Discount Code: “PHILIP50”

Tubebuddy

https://wwwtubebuddy.com/philipvandusen

____________________________

The Brand Design Masters Podcast is targeted to entrepreneurs, designers, creative professionals, and anyone interested in brand strategy, business planning, graphic design, personal branding, trends, and marketing.

Philip VanDusen is the owner of Verhaal Brand Design, a brand strategy, and design agency based in New Jersey. Philip is a highly accomplished creative executive and expert in brand strategy, graphic design, marketing, and creative management. Philip provides design, branding, marketing, career, and business advice to creative professionals, entrepreneurs, and companies on how to build successful brands for themselves and for the clients and customers they serve.

Do you think your design degree prepared you enough to survive in this creative economy? Can you confidently say that you have all the tools and knowledge you need to thrive as a creative professional?

In this episode, I talk about 7 things they don’t (but really should!) teach you in design school.

1. Time Management
● They don’t teach how to manage your time working, being accountable to a schedule, and how to have good work/life balance.
● My advice: Use time management apps to organize your day and work on your schedule because if it doesn’t get scheduled, it doesn’t get done.

2. Financial Stuff
● There are no lessons on how to do pricing so you’re profitable, how to manage your finances, or even maintain a budget for your operational expenses.
● My advice: Do budget projections so you know what targets need to be hit and maximize available tools to get your finances organized.

3. How to Get a Job
● It’s frustrating how they don’t cover interview skills, types of design jobs out there, and the nuances between different creative professions.
● My advice: Work on your communication and presentation skills because your work will not speak for itself.

4. How to Market and Position Yourself
● Students aren’t taught how to sell themselves internally for a job promotion or externally in order to be equipped to build their own agency.
● My advice: Zero in on your strengths and come up with solid positioning that makes you marketable on social media for future roles and projects.

5. Navigating Corporate and Agency Life
● There are important soft skills like negotiating and navigating office politics that aren’t covered at all which leave students unable to figure out the best moves to advance their career.
● My advice: Position yourself in a way that you’re always ripe for growth and learn how to manage up so you communicate with superiors as effectively as you communicate with junior colleagues.

6. How to Find Clients
● This is the #1 question I get asked and also the area where I think design schools have failed their students the most.
● My advice: Follow the examples of more seasoned creative professionals who share their process online, look up business development practices, and learn how to leverage your networks for referrals.

7. How to Build Partnerships or Networks
● There are no lessons on the importance of building strong partnerships and networks when these are a goldmine for clients and projects.
● My advice: Build partnerships and networks everywhere, even outside the design department because networks turn into referrals and that’s exactly how you’ll land your next client.

It doesn’t matter if you just graduated or you’ve been out of school for a while. These are stuff they don’t teach and stuff you’re not prepared for but really need to know to survive in this creative economy. So it’s incumbent upon you to achieve a level of knowledge on these non-negotiable skills.

Mentioned in this episode:
My Brand Design Masters Facebook group: https://web.facebook.com/groups/branddesignmasters
My Brand Design Masters Guild: www.philipvandusen.com/mastermind
Basecamp Project Management: https://basecamp.com/
Calendly Scheduling Software: https://calendly.com/
Freshbooks Accounting Software: https://www.freshbooks.com/
Google Calendar: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/r
Hubspot CRM Platform: https://www.hubspot.com/
LegalZoom: https://www.legalzoom.com/
Linkedin learning: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/
Quickbooks Accounting Software: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/
Skillshare Online Learning Platform: https://www.skillshare.com/
Toggl Time Tracker: https://toggl.com/track/
Trello Project Management: https://trello.com/
Zero Financial Management App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zero/id1147308193

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode of the podcast, head on over to the following links for more of my work and some valuable resources to get you started on your own branding initiatives. Until the next episode!

VISIT MY WEBSITE:http://www.philipvandusen.com

JOIN THE BRAND•MUSE NEWSLETTER: