Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Timeesha Duncan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Timeesha, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, let’s imagine that you were advising someone who wanted to start something similar to you and they asked you what you would do differently in the startup-process knowing what you know now. How would you respond?
The first thing I would do differently if I were starting over is to hire help. For some odd reason, I felt that I was supposed to do everything myself and was afraid to ask for help. I convinced myself that I couldn’t afford to hire someone to assist me. I became the everything in my business: the accountant, the graphic designer, the sales person, the marketer, the talent, the tech person, customer service, etc… And while this taught me a lot about running a business, it also cost me a ton of time and money. I was stretched so thin that I couldn’t perform each task successfully and became overwhelmed and burned out. I started to resent my business.
The reality is, hiring help, even if it’s a part-time virtual assistant can increase your income. It allows you to spend more time focusing on money-making activities while you delegate other tasks to someone else who loves doing that type of work. I was spending so much time creating in my business, that I wasn’t spending enough time marketing my business, or nurturing the audience I had. You can hire part-time help that will work within your budget.
The second thing I would do differently is to trust my gut. I followed what the “gurus” and “experts” told me to do, watched what other successful people were doing, and tried to copy their same model, but most times it didn’t work for me. I realized that I was running a second-rate version of someone else’s business. It wasn’t until I started to look inward and decided what I wanted my business to look like, and wanted to be known for that I started to make an impact in my business. Your audience is looking for YOUR secret sauce. This is exactly what I help my clients uncover within themselves. I how them how to use their own unique talents to create a brand that is authentic to them.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?
My name is Timeesha Duncan, some of my titles include Personal Brand Strategist, Creative Director, Award-Winning Speaker, and International Best-Selling Author, but I am just mom to my boys, Jaden and Jordan.
I am best known for helping entrepreneurs uncover their secret sauce to and become known online. Growing up in the Bronx, NY, I always had a passion for branding and marketing ever since I was a little girl. I remember getting in trouble for cutting makeup and fashion ads out of my parents’ Ebony and Jet magazines and taping them to my bedroom wall. Eventually, my parents made a deal with me that I could have the old magazines when the newest issue came out. I also had a passion for entertaining and performing and would create dinner parties and events for my dolls almost every weekend.
Once I moved to Atlanta, GA in 2006, I decided to start my first business, Tim Duncan Events, an event planning company, while working for the EVP of The Coca-Cola Company. I used my passion for branding and marketing to help grow my event planning company. Other planners would always compliment me on my brand and overall social media presence. While I loved my job with The Coca-Cola Company, I knew I was called to do something different where I could use my creative talents. It became too obvious to avoid, and after discussing it with my family, I decided to follow this passion and pivot from event planner to brand coach for wedding professionals and left The Coca-Cola Company in the fall of 2015 to pursue my business full-time.
Eventually, other industry professionals outside the wedding industry would ask me if I could help them with their business, and the rest was history. Since then, I have been able to work with thousands of entrepreneurs across the globe, speak as a keynote speaker and educator in several countries, and author over 5 books.
I am most proud of my ability to help entrepreneurs see their gifts and show them how to use their talents to create a life they love. My superpower is allowing people to find their zone of genius and embrace who they are, without all the fluff. I am excited to wake up every day and help people live their dreams out loud.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
I believe having a consistent brand and delivering excellent service to my clients helped me to build my reputation in my market. From the start of my business, I have always been consistent with the look and feel of my brand. It was very unique to my personal style and resonated with who I was as a person. When I started my business, people were not designing their brands the way they are now. So my brand stood out. In fact, I had to send a few cease and desist letters out to stop others from copying my brand identity, lol. So definitely being unique to who you are makes it easy to establish your reputation because you are literally just being yourself.
The second thing that helped to build my reputation within my market was delivering on what I promised. I am truly dedicated to making sure my clients get the results they need and I have the testimonials to support this. Once I figured out my zone of genius, I stayed in my lane, focused on my strengths, and marketed myself to people who needed my help.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
As a teenager, my goal was to get into the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, majoring in Marketing. But at that time, I needed a portfolio and I didn’t have that, so I dismissed the idea of pursuing a career in marketing and went with the next best thing – event planning. However, I used my passion for branding and marketing to help grow my event planning company. Other planners would always compliment me on my brand, and my website, and would ask me how I got myself featured in magazines. It became too obvious to avoid, and after discussing it with my family, I decided to follow this passion and pivoted from event planner to brand coach for wedding professionals. Eventually, other industry professionals outside the wedding industry would ask me if I could help them with their business, and the rest was history. I now work with all types of industries to help them build their brand identity and develop what they want to be known for. I’m actually working on my next major pivot coming in 2023 which I am truly excited about!
Contact Info:
- Website: TimeeshaDuncan.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/timeeshaduncan
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/timeeshaduncan
- Twitter: twitter.com/timeeshaduncan
Image Credits
All photos were shot by Photographer: Whitney Debrule