Brandmerry Blog Archives
How to Refresh Your Website in 4 Simple Steps
Every year, around November or December, I give my website a little refresh.
Not a complete brand overhaul, or a new website, but just a little update. I find performing this website audit and making these updates before the beginning of the year gives me nice momentum heading into the new year.
Knowing that my website is a reflection of my current brand status, offers, messaging, and more always makes for an aligned feeling.
If you've got a website that is gathering a little bit of dust (i.e. hasn't been updated in a minute), I'm sharing some of my top tips for performing a simple website refresh in this episode of The Brandmerry Podcast.
Tune in now to hear:
The 4 main areas to focus on while doing your website refresh
How to audit your existing website so you're not completely redoing everything
Tips for doing the refresh quickly and not taking precious time away from your marketing efforts
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Emotional Branding Mega Episode
How to Write Your About Me Page
Get the New Brandmerry Quarterly Planner
Learn More About Roadmap to Freedom
Tune in now on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to hear the full episode and all the tips.
P.S. Ready to build a revenue-generating brand? One that not only stands out online but also makes it easier than ever to create high-value content? Tune in to my free brand class and learn my Build a Better Brand Method. Watch now at brandmerry.com/class.
- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -
DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES
LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS
MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR
- READ THE LATEST POSTS -
MEET MICHELLE
Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.
I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.
I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.
This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.
How to Create Sustainable Habits as an Entrepreneur and Business Owner: Part One
The idea of daily habits is not a new concept. Yet, for me, it wasn't until I read James Clear, Atomic Habits, that it finally clicked on just how important it was.
When I stumbled across this book, I was already three years into running my online business. I immediately started to look at the habits I had as an entrepreneur that was impacting how I ran my business. I made a lot of changes out of the gate with my systems, workflows, and day-to-day activities.
However, during this process, I also started to see a need for habit building outside my business efforts. As I began to implement daily habits in my morning routine, my mindset routine, my relationships and more something amazing happened...my business felt better!
I had always known what happens outside of my business impacts how I show up, but I never realized just how much I could control it. As my habits became more consistent with my morning routine, I noticed more focus and creativity throughout the day. As I began to create better habits in logging off and stepping away from work (boundaries, anyone?) I noticed how my relationship with my clients and how I showed up when I was working improved.
Needless to say, habits changed my life and business. So when we were continuing to expand Brandmerry Academy in 2021, after first launching in 2020, I knew I wanted to support our clients with a critical element of building a sustainable business.
That's when I brought in Ash Wylder, a certified High-Performance Habits Specialist, to support our members and in Episode 46 I'm lucky to have Ash join me for an amazing conversation on habits.
Ash is the founder of storybreath.org where she helps trailblazers communicate clearly, get paid their worth, and claim their seat at the table.
Ash is not only a former client but also a phenomenal asset to Brandmerry Academy, where she supports members in transforming how they show up in their personal lives and their business. Ash leads monthly High-Performance Habt calls for our members and supports them inside of our community.
Tune in to Part One of this conversation to hear:
How having hobbies will actually make you a better business owner and not take away from it.
The importance of feeling in to alignment with the type of person you want to be in order to shift your identity into who you want to be and design a business to match.
Why taking small, actionable steps will transform the way you show up in your business and the success you achieve (without burnout)!
Tune in now on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to hear the full episode and all the tips.
P.S. Ready to get your brand seen and paid without the pressure of social media? I'm teaching my top strategies inside of my new free class, "How to Build a Brand That Gets Seen and Paid!" You're invited to tune in and learn my signature 3-part framework for a sustainable 6-figure brand. Sign up to watch for free at Brandmerry.com/class
- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -
DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES
LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS
MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR
- READ THE LATEST POSTS -
MEET MICHELLE
Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.
I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.
I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.
This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.
How to Create Daily Habits
BY MICHELLE KNIGHT
In December of 2019, I read a book that ultimately changed my life. The book was Atomic Habits by James Clear.
While I was very familiar with the importance of daily habits, I’d always struggled. I was goal-oriented and had been setting goals for myself since I was seven years old, but I often would miss my intended goal or even forget about it.
I hadn’t yet mastered how to take daily action, or improve by 1% as mentioned in the book, to get to my end goal without feeling rushed or out of alignment.
This book, and life lesson, came to me at just the right time, as I had been struggling to find my footing after selling our home and choosing to travel full-time. Over the past three years, I've applied the lessons and information in the book to not only improve my day-to-day life but also my mindset, health, relationships, and business.
Through this work, I've developed a deeper understanding of the person I want to be – yes it’s that good! But, it hasn't been easy and it has been a journey.
Today, on the podcast I’m sharing a repurposed recording from 2020, shortly after reading the book, to shed some light on what the beginning was like. It can be really easy to see someone's chapter 10 and compare it to your chapter 3, but we all start somewhere.
I hope today's episode gives you a starting place to implement your personal aligned habits and the inspiration to start exactly where you are with what you have.
In episode 41 of the podcast you'll learn:
Just how important small daily actions are for greater change in your relationships, mindset, health, and career, not just this year but forever.
The specific habits I needed to create in order to see shifts and changes in my life, as well as sustainable growth (especially in business).
Why daily habits are necessary not just to achieve our goals and make revenue in our business, but to shift our identity and honor our commitments to ourselves.
Don’t forget to grab your copy of Atomic Habits by James Clear!
Tune in now on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to hear the full episode and all the tips.
P.S. Ready to get your brand seen and paid without the pressure of social media? I'm teaching my top strategies inside of my new free class, "How to Build a Brand That Gets Seen and Paid!" You're invited to tune in and learn my signature 3-part framework for a sustainable 6-figure brand. Sign up to watch for free at Brandmerry.com/class
- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -
DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES
LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS
MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR
- READ THE LATEST POSTS -
MEET MICHELLE
Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.
I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.
I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.
This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.
My #1 Tip in Building a Sustainable Business as an Entrepreneur
BY MICHELLE KNIGHT
I'm on a mission to help more entrepreneurs think about not only building a revenue-generating business, but also a sustainable one.
A business that gives them the freedom to enjoy the money they are making.
A business that creates consistent income without taking all of their time.
A business that you can take a break from!
Yes, taking a vacation or break is difficult when your business requires you to be present, especially before you have a team, BUT it's important.
The more you prioritize your personal self-care and breaks the better your business will be. Yes, in today's episode I'm sharing my #1 tip when building a sustainable business...
...my quarterly week of rest!
Tune in now on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to hear the full episode and all the tips.
P.S. Building a sustainable business requires sustainable marketing strategies to save you time as a business owner! This is why Brandmerry Academy exists - to help you get your brand seen and paid without the pressure of social media. Trust me, it makes a BIG difference. Learn more about how Brandmerry Academy can help you build a sustainable business at brandmerry.com/academy.
- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -
DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES
LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS
MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR
- READ THE LATEST POSTS -
MEET MICHELLE
Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.
I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.
I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.
This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.
Success Habits For A 6-Figure Business
BY MICHELLE KNIGHT
I want to have a candid conversation around habits, specifically the success habits that I believe contributed to my six figure business and ultimately six figure salary.
This might be a bit of a detour from what we normally talk about on content creation, branding, and marketing, but here's the thing; what happens outside of the strategies in your business, all those tips and tricks and tools and things that you're implementing, actually plays a major role in your success. Now I know at the beginning of this post, I talked about a six figure business. So I want to take a short bit of time and talk about money and business, about salary, about all of those different things.
Your goals might be different than mine. When I set out to create a business in 2016, I really wanted to create a six figure business. That felt like a milestone for me. So all of my energy and my attention and my goals were really dedicated to achieving that number.
Over the years, my goal has been to maintain that number and continue to scale it, ultimately building a million dollar business. Now I'm sharing these specific numbers with you because I think it's really important to have a monetary revenue goal for your business.
I really believe that what I'm sharing with you today will help you get to six figures. I also think implementing these tips that I'm going to share with you will help you get to whatever revenue goal you desire. I think we can all agree that entrepreneurship, running a business, starting and launching a business, and putting that out into the world is not an easy task.
Often we hear a lot about the step by step process to putting your business out in the world, being able to market your business and ultimately accept cash for your products and services. But very, very rarely are we putting the energy and attention on what has to happen behind the scenes. What has to happen in your life in order to support those revenue goals.
At Brandmerry and specifically inside of my membership, Brandmerry Academy, we take a holistic approach to running an online business. We're really focused on sustainability because we know as the support team for our members, that if things in our life are incredibly shaky, it's going to play a role in our business and vice versa.
SUCCESS HABIT #1: KNOW WHAT YOU’RE WORKING TOWARDS
So let's talk about the very first tip I have for you, which actually piggybacks off of the revenue goal idea. It's really important that you know what you're working towards. All of those strategies that you might want to implement for your business are only going to make sense if you know how they all fit together leading to the big picture.
I know I talk a lot about goal setting. I know you hear it all the time. You might even be sick and tired of it, but there's a reason why we talk about it. It plays a major part in your overall success.
So I really encourage you to take moments, even a few freaking seconds to just say, "What do you want?" What is that revenue goal that you're working towards? Because what that's going to allow you to do is reverse engineer the step by step process you need to take in order to get there.
This is one of the processes I talk about inside of my six month planning video, which you can definitely check out on my channel. And it's something that I'm practicing in different aspects of my business. So not only am I crystal clear on the revenue goal that I have, but I'm also really clear on what I want to do with that revenue goal.
Right behind my camera I have a vision board that I look at that really maps out exactly what I'm working towards. What this allows you to do is prioritize your time and your energy and your money towards the things that you ultimately desire.
SUCCESS HABIT #2: CREATE CONSISTENT HABITS
The second tip I have is consistency in habits. If you’ve been part of the Brandmerry community for any period of time, you've heard me say these two words on repeat. Consistency and habits. There is so much power in repeating the same routine day in and day out. What it ultimately allows you to do is progress. So this concept comes from James Clear in Atomic Habits where he talks about improving by just 1% every single day.
So if we think about your number one tip, which is get clear on your goals, get clear on what you're working towards, your habits are ultimately how you're going to get there.
Now you might have really clear strategies. I'm going to create YouTube videos. I'm going to blog. I'm going to email my list. I'm going to promote this offer. All completely business related. But what I really encourage you to do is also think about the things outside of your business that are going to play a role in your overall success.
For me, this is my morning routine. I know there's a whole love/hate relationship with morning routines. I'm actually going to share my full morning routine with you next week in a brand new vlog. But I have learned to appreciate the morning routine over the years. As soon as I removed all the rules of, I had to wake up at 5:00 AM and I had to meditate for an hour and I had to do all these different things and really created a structure that worked for me, it became such a powerful grounding practice in my life.
And I have tested it on the days when I do not honor this habit and go through the motions of my morning routine. I'm less productive. I'm more distracted. I'm more tired and honestly, kind of irritable. And that doesn't play well when you're trying to run a business full-time.
So whatever these habits look like for you, I highly recommend that you focus on some sort of morning routine with whatever chunk of time that you have. I’ll have more on setting that up next week on the vlog.
These daily repetitions that you're doing to really honor yourself and honor your commitments to yourself and ultimately your goals are going to play a major role in your success.
Another habit that I have is task management. So we use a software called ClickUp, which I've talked about multiple times on this channel, to organize tasks.
This is incredibly helpful because I can prioritize the things that need my attention and I check that every single day. It allows me to check in on recurring projects, make sure I'm not missing any deadlines and rearrange things based on how I'm feeling, which helps me enjoy my job and become the CEO that I want to become.
I also have a habit of scheduling everything in my calendar. Every single thing that I am doing goes in that calendar, whether it's business related or personal. I honor that, and that really helps me prioritize the things in my life that I know are going to lead me to my ultimate goal.
SUCCESS HABIT #3: TAKE TIME TO REFLECT
The third tip for you I have is to take time to reflect. This was a really hard one for me in the beginning. I have a very go, go, go mentality. Some might call it a push mentality where I'm always fixated on what is to come, AKA tip number one.
I don't take the time to actually pause and feel gratitude. In the beginning I noticed that that definitely kept coming up over and over and over again. I actually credit this tip to reaching my first six figures in business because it allowed me to celebrate every single thing that I did achieve.
I started to implement a daily self-reflection practice where I would sit down and write down the things that I was proud of, the things that I had been working towards that I wanted to celebrate. I got in the habit of celebrating every little thing that happened in my business until I hit that six figure mark. Every little sale that came, even if it was a $47 sale, I would do a dance around my house. Anytime a sale would come in with a big launch, we would go out to dinner.
It became a joke almost that if we didn't celebrate, did it really happen? Now as my business has grown, I've backed off a little bit on the little micro celebrations, but I still take time to self-reflect and sit and really think about what I've done. I think this gives us momentum. It keeps us going. It gives us the power to continue building our business even when times might get a little rocky. I also find that having this self-reflection practice is great for checking in on all areas of my life.
So as I mentioned before, I'm not just a business owner and you're not just a business owner. There's a lot of other things that you're doing. And I want to make sure that all of those different areas feel good and feel in alignment and I'm dedicating the appropriate time and energy to them.
So having this self-reflection practice is incredibly helpful in reflecting on how am I feeling with my relationship with my husband? How do I feel about my son and I in our day to day routine? How am I feeling about my self-care and so on and so forth?
So whatever this self-reflection practice looks like for you, I am not one to tell you exactly how to do it. You want to make sure that you carve out time to honor that.
Today in my life, it looks like a weekly check in with journaling. I also do my very best to pause and celebrate every single sale or every single milestone that we achieve in the business. And I'm doing regular yoga practice, which for me is just such a way to honor, not only my body, but also reflect. I also do a 90 day self-reflection where every single quarter I'm asking myself:
How did this feel?
What did I love?
What didn't I love?
What do I want to change?
And so on and so forth. We actually have an entire podcast coming out on the Brandmerry Podcast walking you through all the questions that I use in my quarterly reflection.
SUCCESS HABIT #4: MAKE TIME TO PLAY
Number four is all about play. We have to take time to have fun in our lives. When was the last time that you actually played freely? Like, you had no obligations, you had no expectations. You just allowed yourself to have freaking fun. We know that rest and play are essential habits in your overall success. So it might sound a little crazy what I'm about to say to you, but I want you to actually schedule play.
Now before you're like, "Ugh, that doesn't sound like fun." If you're like me, you're probably not naturally doing it. You probably aren't seeking out natural opportunities for play. I know that's how I was when I was first starting my business.
I was in a work, work, work mentality, which of course was needed as I was launching my business. But I would forget to stop. I would forget to play. Luckily I have a husband and a son who are very, very good at it and so they would remind me.
Now it is a top priority. And to get to this place, to get to where I am today, where I will close my computer and peace out for the day or we'll book an impromptu trip, I had to start scheduling moments of play and I encourage you to do the same. Eventually it will become a habit. It will become consistent. You won't have to schedule it, but to get started it's okay.
So I encourage you to schedule friend time, to schedule happy hours, to schedule days to go to the zoo, to schedule vacations. All of those different things are so important.
One of the things I started doing in my business, which I guess is scheduled technically, is taking an entire week off every quarter. Now I call this my quarterly week of rest, but let's be honest, I'm playing most of the teo time. And we typically try to coincide it with a vacation. So this allows me to schedule a period of time where I'm not working at all in my business. I'm not answering client communication. I'm not in my Facebook groups. I'm not doing any of that. I get to have fun and rest and play with my family and ultimately fill my cup back up. This is an incredible habit that will lead to not just your first six figure success, but continuing to scale and grow your business.
SUCCESS HABIT #5: RESEARCH
This fifth tip I have for you is all about learning and advancement. One of the things that I identified in my own routine really early on, a priority if you will, was research. I really love research. I'm really good at it. It's part of the reason that people pay me for my services because I've got a lot of knowledge in my brain because I love to learn. I love to research.
I know that it is this combination of learning and advancement and implementation that has led me to building a successful online business. I really have seen time and time again, where entrepreneurs, people in general, but entrepreneurs specifically can get stuck in what they're doing. That they're like, "Ooh, this is working and so we're just going to keep doing this over and over and over and over again."
While I'm all about repurposing what works and I'm all about repetition, I think we always have to behind the scenes be thinking ahead. This is how we get ahead of trends. This is how we talk about things and we present things before anyone else in our industry. It's how we're jumping on maybe a new way of marketing before everybody else has.
It's because we're paying attention and we're open to learning and advancement. So what I typically recommend my clients do is dedicate 20% of their schedule to learning. I don't want to tell you to just learn because I know a lot of you will then say, "Okay," and you'll just start learning, learning, learning behind the scenes, researching, researching, and not actually implementing anything you're learning. There has to be that balance. So if you can, dedicate at least 20% to researching your industry or learning something new.
Maybe you're looking to expand your marketing. So you join Brandmerry Academy and have access to all of our courses and you're going through those courses to continue to advance your business. We always have to be looking for opportunities for growth. That's what ultimately leads to success in any area of life, the opportunities and taking advantage of those opportunities to grow, even if it's just by 1%.
SUCCESS HABIT #6: FOCUS
My last tip for you today is to focus. At the very beginning, I asked you to get really clear on exactly what you want and why you want it. This is going to help you take the daily action in order to get there. Now we have to make sure that you're actually honoring and focusing on those daily actions. I think distractions are one of the ways that entrepreneurs deplete their time and their energy.
When we can really shift how we focus on our priorities and have those things like task management software, using our calendar, setting boundaries, having communications, all of those different things that ultimately help us focus, we're going to find that we're actually more productive with less time.
I think this is the key to building a sustainable business. Oftentimes we think to get to the next level we have to do more, we have to put in more time, we have to put in more energy, we have to put in more money. When in reality it's about doing more with less. It's not about doing more things. It's about being more strategic with our time, with our energy, working smarter, not harder as everyone likes to say.
So this last tip I have for you is to really focus on those goals, focus on those priorities, honor them.
I think the key to focusing is being able to say no to things that aren't serving you at this moment. I know that can be really hard, but I want you to really think about it as a choice. You're not sacrificing this thing. You're making a choice to honor this one instead.
I also know that minimizing distractions will serve you at the highest level. So things like turning off notifications on your phone, removing Facebook. I do not have Facebook on my phone anymore. Turning off notifications if you use Slack. Shutting the door to your office, even for a small period of time so you can focus. Using something like a Remarkable to take notes because there's no other apps or anything else. Use a pen and paper, whatever it is, really work on ways of minimizing your distractions because that's going to ultimately allow you to focus on those things that you've already deemed a priority.
I know focus is going to look different for everyone. And so much of it does depend on your schedule, but I really encourage you to take a look at where your energy and your time is going and ask yourself, are these going to my top priorities? If they are fantastic, now laser in and let's focus on them.
If they're not, then how can you shift the energy or shift the amount of time that you're spending on certain things to remove distractions from what you ultimately want? I think at the end of the day, the success habits or achieving success, whatever that looks like for you is saying, "This is what I want. I'm willing, I'm open and I'm going to take the daily steps to get there. And I'm going to focus on this priority," while also of course making time to care for yourself.
The idea of success is a well rounded idea. It's not just, you make a lot of money, right? It’s “I can make a lot of money and I'm also loving the crap out of my life. Spending time with my family, doing the things that I love, traveling, honoring my values.”
That to me is the ultimate definition of success.
I hope that this video is really helpful for you in identifying the six things that I really credit to having a successful and sustainable business and life. As always, if you are looking for support when it comes to building a sustainable business, which includes sustainable marketing habits, mindset, daily life habits, we always have a spot for you inside of Brandmerry Academy. You can go to brandmerryacademy.com to learn more. Join the waitlist to find out when doors open again.
P.S. Have you tuned in to The Brandmerry podcast? I release new episodes every Thursday on topics around branding and marketing! Check out past episodes and be sure to subscribe at brandmerry.com/podcast
- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -
DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES
LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS
MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR
- READ THE LATEST POSTS -
MEET MICHELLE
Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.
I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.
I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.
This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.