We were lucky to catch up with Lisa Haggis recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lisa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

My favourite way to feel is brave. And that was certainly the dominating emotion when I quit my stable, unionized full-time job to build my own personal brand as a consultant.

But the real risk was in HOW I decided to build that brand.

In fact, my entire approach to branding stemmed from the desire to prove that we can all succeed as our authentic selves in this world. (Unsurprisingly, my experience in corporate up to that point had suggested otherwise.)

So the biggest risk was taking a chance on who I really am, what I really believe, and the kind of services I truly wanted to offer in the design and expression of my business. Going all in on the work I felt called to do and saying ‘no’ to the rest. I’ve turned away lucrative opportunities outside of my desired lane. And I’ve removed more and more of the buffer between my truest, biggest self and the outside world with every iteration of my business. And it has paid off consistently.

I believe that others follow our lead. That we have to take a chance on ourselves, and believe in our own worth — just as we are — or nobody else will. Building a bravely authentic brand is the greatest personal growth journey you’ll ever embark upon. It’s scary. Rejection will happen. But, in the end, isn’t that actually the only way you would ever want to succeed?

Lisa, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a brand strategist and the owner of a boutique agency called Realize Your Brand. We help service-based business owners grow their impact, visibility, and earning potential by building a share-worthy brand that makes marketing easier. We’re here to help when you’ve outgrown your current brand or feel that you’ve never fully nailed how to talk about what you do!

To me, branding is how you carve out a place in the world to do the work that YOU are meant to do. The starting point for every interesting brand – personal or not – is the visionary behind it. There is NO such thing as a boring person and I’ve spent the past 12+ years developing the Substantial Branding method to help business owners differentiate themselves with no fabrication, exaggeration, or gimmicks. Just finally seeing the biggest, boldest version of themselves and then building the brand that reflects that. (The brand that scares you!)

We deliver high touch rebranding experiences from strategy, to offerings, to visuals, copy, and websites. It’s all custom, high-touch, and done-for-you. It’s about building an authentic brand that emboldens clients and that they’re proud of – that makes them the one worth mentioning.

One of the main differences about how we brand is that we don’t center it around your personality. A lot of our clients are undersharers, introverts, and visionaries who don’t love the spotlight. The good news: the best way to set yourself apart isn’t your personality, anyways. It’s your point of view. So we help our clients see how they view things differently so they can break through the noise with thought-leading ideas that they’ll become known for.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The going (unspoken) message throughout post-secondary and my early career was essentially: do what it takes to impress people so you can get the opportunities you want.

This often meant suppressing what I really thought, who I really was, and putting on a hard (often more masculine) shell to make myself ‘professional’ and impressive enough.

This had me valuing certain skills or sides of myself when I started off in my business: sounding smart, hustle, working hard. Mostly though, intelligence. I would sing and dance to prove myself and my value. And, often, it was enough to get clients.

It was on a life-changing retreat that I was able to see how limiting, stressful, and lonely(!) that perspective was.

I learned that success comes easier when we stop impressing and start listening. When we connect with people as humanly and authentically as possible. When we admit the “I don’t knows” and imperfections. We still get the clients, and the experience of working with them is so much more… free.

People want to be seen and heard WAY more than they want to be impressed.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Relationship-building! This goes hand-in-hand with my answer above. When you focus on genuinely building relationships with potential clients or potential referrers, and you truly care about serving them and connecting with them, it brings in new business.

(And I’ll point out that referrers who are complementary service providers have been exceptionally powerful.)

Most of us (me included) want to focus on the colder ways of getting in front of people when we’re first starting out — things like posting to social media or designing a website. That’s a mistake.

Seth Godin says we’ve got to do the ‘dirty work’ first. And that’s the stuff that makes you sweat. It’s reaching out to the network you already have, the clients you’ve already worked with and ASKING for support. It’s going to events and not hiding in the corner (guilty!).

For me, it was also offering services for free in the beginning so that I could get some advocates out there referring me to their networks. I got my first handful of paying clients because of one person I helped for free.

I call all of this Energy Out. If we don’t have enough business coming in, we need to look at whether we’ve been doing enough of this sweaty stuff and actually putting our energy (and ourselves) out there to connect with people. And, as above, prioritizing the kind of outreach that actually builds lasting relationships with people.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.realizeyourbrand.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realizeyourbrand/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/realizeyourbrand
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisahaggis/

Image Credits
Ashley Notley, The Notley Creative