Andrea
Shillington kind of insane actually. And you know, naively I had some really basic SEO – I had a free offer, I had my website, which looks beautiful and I had a really good brand. I started off the process by creating a clear brand strategy. So when I launched my business I knew what my purpose was besides making money. I knew what my vision was. I knew exactly what I wanted to achieve in the next 10 years. I knew what my values were. I knew exactly what audience I wanted to attract, and I had a great name, promise and proposition. I reflected that in the way my brand looked. I didn’ t spend a single cent on advertising or PR, and I was literally written up by Entrepreneur. com, SpringWise. com and a bunch of other publications that I never thought I would get into. It really just started off with me being clear about those 5 things I mention on my website.
The one thing I would recommend people do is to have a solid brand strategy because that then feeds into how you look; it feeds into the stuff you say when you go to market from the blog posts you write to the tweets you send out – it feeds into absolutely everything. When I was at the very beginning of creating this company I wrote a 30 page business plan and I spent many 1am. nights writing out that plan and the second I pressed save on that document-it was obsolete. Things had already changed. Yet, my brand strategy has never changed to this date.
Kristi: What do you feel you have sacrificed to get to where you are now?
Andrea: Well, I’ ve sacrificed my body! I used to workout like 2 times a day and now I struggle; I don’ t know, this may really sound bizarre because I know in my head it’ s completely ridiculous but I definitely struggle with taking good care of myself. It was something I definite
37 POWERCULTURE APR2013