Style and Substance

Hello lovely listeners, we are back and I cannot believe it's season 5 already. This week Fiona and I are catching up about where we are at at the start of a new term and the last quarter of the year. Sharing some of our habits and ways we are staying motivated, some of our goals and aspirations and some of what we are really excited about this year. We hope you enjoy this rather more personal episode and will be back to more 'business' next week. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We have long wanted to bring this episode to you as burnout is something that many people are encountering these days. We've chosen to round off season 4 with this one as an invitation to make the most of the coming summer months for rest, rejuvenation and balance.In this conversation we explore the nature of burnout, how it shows up and why. We explore some of the practical ways to avoid it and why some of us are more susceptible to others. We look at the importance of taking into account a holistic picture as entrepreneurs and how to create that balance between wider work and life.We talk about the benefits of a regenerative culture in business and touch on the cycles to pay attention to in order to work in a more sustainable and regenerative way. It's important to note that neither of us are medical professionals, so please if you are encountering worrying symptoms please seek professional advice and support. We mention the Resilience Masterclass in this episode. If you're interested in finding out more about how to set your business and yourself up in the most sustainable resilient way possible, you can visit https://thebrandstylist.thinkific.com/courses/The-Resilience-Masterclasses Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oh are we excited lovely listeners?! Just dropping by with a short bonus episode and an invitation for you to our very special September event PURPOSE & POSSIBILITIES, we can't wait to share it with you.For more information and to book your spot before the early bird discount ends, just hop over to Fiona's website here https://www.thebrand-stylist.com/purpose-and-possibilitiesCan't wait to see you there! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We have a slightly different format for you for this penultimate episode of the season. Today I'm talking to Fiona and Cecelina Tornberg about their latest collaboration, a wonderful online course, Art Directing Impactful Website Photography. We talk about the power of photography for your brand and how to create a truly emotive experience that creates impact on your website and drives that all important impulse to buy in your audience. We recorded this for a live seminar and Cecelina dialled in from Sweden, so apologies for the slightly glitchy audio quality at points, but we hope the wonderful insights shared make up for the occasion loss of sound quality. We talk about the importance of creating depth and resonance with your photography and how to do that, we cover some of what's in their new course and what makes their collaboration such a joyful and empowering one for them both. At the end we take a couple of questions from some of the participants who dialled in to the live seminar. I hope you find it insightful, and if you'd like to know more about their incredible new course you can find details on fiona's website here: https://thebrandstylist.thinkific.com/courses/Art-Directing-Impactful-Website-Photography. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is a wide ranging conversation where we talk through some of the tricky situations we've encountered recently when expectations change, boundaries need redefining and we encounter red flags in client interactions. We talk about the impact of ghosting, how the commercial landscape is changing for many of us and how to hopefully stay sane, maintain some perspective and communicate with grace when needed. We hope you enjoy this rather personal perspective and look forward to hearing your thoughts. Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we tackle one of the most common questions Fiona get's asked in conversations about branding. "How much of my own personality should I bring into my brand?" This is a common blocker for many entrepreneurs, particularly when as founders we feel so close to our businesses. Our own preferences when it comes to style and aesthetic can often cloud our judgement when it comes to what is commercially right for a business. There are so many considerations when it comes to navigating this territory to get the balance right, and we tackle many of them in this episode. We dig into a few case studies from our own clients and explore how to make the right level of impact when it comes to your brands seasonal personality. We hope you enjoy listening and as ever welcome comments, feedback and questions on the blog. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 18 and today were digging into how to make the most of your time. Fi is a particularly good case study for how to squeeze the most out of a day and I really enjoy digging into what makes that work for her. We talk around the curses that can befall many a creative entrepreneur, everything from overwhelm, overwork, headless chicken syndrome to what happens when we go into ostrich mode. We explore the impact of perfectionism, what to do about procrastination and sow the seeds for a future episode on flow. For further thoughts on procrastination there's a free short audio on elizabethcairns.com just head to the podcast page and scroll down and you'll find it, I do hope you find it helpful. Enjoy lovely listeners and as ever, do let us know your thoughts or questions on the blogs at thebrand-stylist.com/ and elizabethcairns.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to season 4. We are delighted to be back and in this episode I get to mine Fiona's incredible brain and her wealth of knowledge in the field of colour psychology and branding. We talk about the origins of colour psychology and how Fiona's work with it over the last 15 years has evolved the original theory to apply it to the field of branding and design. We explore the benefits of this incredible tool for entrepreneurs and designers alike and uncover the myriad ways in which it impacts business and branding. There is so much more to explore in this wide ranging and complex subject but we hope we've whetted your appetite for more and welcome your comments and questions so do get in touch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Well here we are at the end of Season 3 and were rounding it off with Purpose. What is it, why we need it and how to find it?A slightly daunting episode to bring out there as it's such a huge topic and so crucial to the empowered and inspired entrepreneur but hopefully there's some good food for thought.It was such an enjoyable conversation and it was so uplifting for both of us to connect with our own purpose and reflect on the commercial benefits of working on purpose. We explore how we manage the intersection between purpose in life and purpose in work as an empowered and inspired entrepreneur.We talk about the interplay between goals and purpose and what they do for us in business and how goals with purpose feel different from regular KPI's. We explore what constitutes a purpose and tackle the question of whether you should have your purpose front and centre of your messaging. We dip briefly into some of the things that get in the way or pursuing purposeful work and will no doubt have more to say in future episodes, but for now we really hope you enjoy listening and, as ever, do let us know what you think. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brand clarity is a complex subject and in this conversation we are talking around some of the things that we consider when getting really clear on the essence and the space in the market for a brand. You'll hear it's not a one size fits all process but hopefully this conversation will give you an idea of some of the varying elements that come into play and how we begin to decide what might get priority. As ever we'd love to hear your thoughts and if you are struggling with gaining clarity for your own brand, then The Brand Stylist Academy has an excellent online course to help get you the clarity you need. https://thebrandstylist.thinkific.com/courses/brand-clarity Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.