I think it’s pretty well known that when you start a business, you should have a brand identity and target customer in mind.  You should know who you’re talking to, how to find them and how to solve their problems with whatever it is you’re pushing.

Well, I’ve got none of that.  Officially, anyways.

I’ve found figuring out my brand identity and a target customer to be intimidating. 
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With my designing, blogging and businesses, I’ve skirted around developing an actual customer in mind – I have enough of an idea to do something but not enough to know if I’m doing it for the right person.

I’ve even made excuses as to why settling my brand would be an awful idea – at least three excuses not to hone in on my branding.

1. It takes too much time     

I’m running a business here.  Do you really think that I have time to sit here and think about an imaginary person and if they’d prefer banana nut pancakes and sausage to waffles with strawberry and blueberry toppings, topped in whip cream?

How is this information going to help me color in this illustration and sew this jacket together?

2. Alienate possible clients and opportunities

When you niche down, it’s like a sifter.  Ya know, that sandbox toy plate with the holes in it. You put sand in it and the smaller pieces would fall through the holes and the bigger rocks were left behind.

Well when you start sifting and saying your target market likes this and this but doesn’t like this or that, you’re leaving the larger rocks behind.  That’s less people to try and get to purchase your services or products.

3. Making it concrete stifles creativity

Once you have everything black and white, you have an idea of what you should do and what you shouldn’t do to grow your business and clientele.  With that guidance, you know what you should and shouldn’t waste your time on.

My issue is, what if I have the dopest idea of life, but it doesn’t align with my target customer?  I’m just supposed to let this dope idea go? The idea will never get to see the light of day and that’s just so sad to me.

Through my sarcasm, it’s evident to see where having a brand identity can be helpful.  It’ll filter out the nonsense, you can save time and energy and work efficiently towards growing your business and helping your market.

Being serious about what I want to do through this site and with my career, it’s time to put the big girl panties on.  It’s time to buckle down and really get a profile of who I’m writing and designing for.

In the meantime, let's enjoy the initial mood board profile of my target market for my brand identity.

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MOOD

At a glance, I want my brand to display this warm darkness.  It's sleek and edgy, determined, rough around the edges and real but it's also welcoming, accepting and comfortable.

Life isn't easy but we're making our way through and striving despite it.
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Do you want to see how my brand identity looks when complete?  Do you want to see first hand what starting and running a creative business looks like? 

If you said, "Yes," then click the button right below and sign up for access to the studio.  You'll receive an email from me every other week that will talk about this start up business journey and any lessons I've learned that might save you a bit of time and trouble on your start up journey.  You'll also get free printables and worksheets that I've developed for myself to help with this thing called organization.  You interested?