When I first embarked on my personal branding journey back in 2016 after going through what I call “my Netflix binge and bon-bon days” trying to figure out me and my purpose, I knew deep down I wasn’t quite ready.
I was easing into something so completely new and foreign, but I decided what the heck and started to move and take the smallest baby steps imaginable.
My business coach had told me just a few months prior that if I didn’t know what I wanted to do anymore as a career, the BEST course of action was to build a personal brand under my name. I thought she was crazy. Me? The entity? After pondering her idea for a few months, it made total sense. The bonus was it bought me time to figure things out and pivot under the Tisha Marie Pelletier brand.
I WAS SO RESISTANT to her idea partly because I had built up three businesses already in marketing, events and leading masterminds, all of which I wasn’t sure I wanted to do anymore, and I kind of liked “hiding” behind the company.
Making myself the business name and brand was, let’s just say, crazy scary. It meant I’d be front and center always. Not that I wasn’t already being a business owner, but this was a new level of “out there.”
I still had it in my head that I needed to put up the facade that I was this flawless, perfect human being for everyone to respect and like me. Why I struggled so much in finding my authentic voice and sharing it with the world on social media because I knew deep down my life was anything but perfect. Boy, was that ever the wrong mentality!
I already had purchased the domain name tishamariepelletier.com years ago when I launched my first book When the Universe Throws a Curveball into the world in 2010. Then purchased tishamarieenterprises.com and named my new company as such when my coach suggested I look into purchasing tishamarie.com. She said it had a nice ring to it. Agreed.
Until I looked it up. The price tag to buy THIS domain?
$11,000!!!!!
Are you f*!@#^! me?
Here’s the funny part. It was a parked domain without a website. Of course!
I quickly squashed that idea and used what I already had attempting to build up this brand slowly, find me in the process and what my soul purpose was on this earth.
I had a logo designed, built the website, tinkered with some new programs still working with women in business as I had done for years, then explored startups, and kept going little by little.
Fast-forward to late 2018.
I received a random call from Daniel Woods, a personal brand photographer, who had seen a newspaper article online about the startup business grant I gave to women in business. Gotta love PR and the web! People can find just about anything on you.
Daniel explained that he was looking to build up his personal brand photography portfolio and I fit the part of the “successful female entrepreneur.” His offer? Strut around downtown Gilbert, Arizona like a top model taking powerhouse shots he could use for his business at no charge, and if I liked any of them, I could purchase what I wanted to use for my marketing.
It sounded good to me. I needed new photos anyway.
We took the photos one Tuesday afternoon and by the following week, he had edited them and was ready to show me. I brought my trusty sidekick and daughter Ellie with to be my final say on the photos and went to Daniel’s office – a Mercedez-Benz decked out trailer complete with a big screen TV and comfy sofas in his driveway.
And then…the lights dimmed. And my favorite song Demi Lovato’s “CONFIDENT” shook the whole trailer and one by one the photos slid onto the screen. With each one, I squealed a little more with excitement as I COULD NOT BELIEVE THIS WAS ME!
Well played, Daniel! He was very good at this marketing bit. Can the right photos instantly boost your self-confidence? You bet your butt they can!
By the end of the slideshow, Ellie and I were jumping up and down in the aisle screaming, “We’ll take them all!”
Several weeks later, curiosity got the best of me and I decided to look up tishamarie.com again.
Ready for this?
The domain that a couple of years ago would cost me $11,000, was now $11! STEAL!
No hesitation whatsoever, I bought it and my mind got even more excited. I started to move into a complete re-brand with Tisha Marie at the forefront. I was no longer freaked out! I had all the pieces I needed to DO THIS.
I WAS READY because I trusted the timing the Universe had already planned out for me.
I found an amazing web designer I still use and refer to this very day. I had done my research, gave him the style I was looking for in building now a personal branded website, my dear friend Erin of Lucky You Creative designed my TM logo and everything started to work itself out beautifully!
That’s what happens when you let the Universe do its thing and stop trying to force it. It all comes together naturally exactly when it’s supposed to which brings me to yet another key rule of life lesson.
Rule of Life Lesson #102:
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