We’ve got 43 days left in this calendar year. I just counted.

As I write this blog post, I’m sipping on chocolate marshmallow-flavored coffee (it’s roasted into the bean) and reflecting on where this year, 2012, has taken me and my clients. I’m also thinking about the 43 days left in this calendar year (as of the day I’m writing this post) and what advice I’d like to give you as you go forth.

Many of the business owners I know have experienced unprecedented growth this year, despite what headlines from the world’s economy would suggest is our fate. We’re taking off the training wheels and getting ready to ride with the big boys now. Others of us have seen long-loved businesses stall out or curl themselves into a necessary end. Nearly all of us are looking ahead to what’s next for us and our work in the world, saying to ourselves, Okay. This is a new year, a new quarter, a new market, a new world. How do I do it better this time?

One thing I know for sure: our best is yet to come.

But first, the prelude to what comes next: giving ourselves permission to do what we need to do and be what we need to be to allow our most excellent work to show up.

Here are 10 permissions — with a few nuanced interpretations — for you and your brand as you make the leap from this year into all that is to come.

As you know, often the best wisdom is two-sided. So some of these permissions are binary: you can interpret them in whatever way serves you best. Take what you need, and ignore the rest.

YES. You officially and certainly have permission to . . .

1. Embrace your current brand identity crisis. And be willing to depart from a brand identity that no longer serves you and your Right People.

• Completely change your brand’s visual identity that no longer does the job, even though you get lots of compliments on your typography, color palette, and graphics. (Compliments do not equal money.) Ditch the business name or tagline that feels clunky, two-steps-off-kilter, or passé.

• Keep the best elements of what still works and update the rest, or redesign your brand with a nod to your last great iteration, while bringing the rest up to current code.

2. Have the website you want.

• Work with a new web designer. Yes, even after all this time.  Or . . .

• Stick with your tried and true web designer, but tell him you desperately need to flip your brand’s visual script this time around.

3. Get the copy written the way you want it this time.

• Hire a professional copywriter to take care of the main pages of your site. Or even ghostwrite your blog posts from a list of notes you provide. So you can get on with doing your best work. Or . . .

• Write your own damn copy. (We’re making guides for that, you know.)

4. Be you in your brand by building your conversation around your hardwired-in Voice Values.

• Drop all your misconceptions about what it means to have — and use — a ‘brand voice.’

• Drop the pretense, the swagger, the bravado, and the ego. Strip it down, wipe it clean, undress it. Or get lusher. Enrich it, embolden it, pop it out, primp it up. It’s your voice. Use it the way you most powerfully do. (Want to discover your Voice Values? Subscribe below for access to our complementary Discover Your Voice Values self-assessment.)

5. Make sure the brand whose name you envision in lights is linked to a business model that can propel it and sustain it.

• Admit, if you need to, that the business you have, however beautiful it may be, is not the best container for the work you feel called to do.

• Let your ‘sweet spot’ evolve.

6. Work with your Right People, all of the time.

• Refer your Not Quite Right People on to other businesses who can serve them better than you can (or want to). Why? Because when you work with your Not Quite Right People, they pass your name along to other Not Quite Right People, and pretty soon you’ve got a brand built around . . . your Not Quite Right People.

• Write the story of your Right People, just the way they occur to you when you meet them, ready and revved up and resourceful. If you don’t know them up-close-and-personal, how will they know you’re talking to them? We’ve got a great experience in the works for you that takes you through this process.

7. Take off your rose colored glasses — or your ugly goggles.

• Stop idealizing your Right Person and thinking she can solve all of her problems without you. Yes, she may be smart, capable, and self-aware — but she hasn’t seen down the road you live on and she hasn’t come into contact with your solution yet, the way you and your brand deliver it. If you’re intimidated by your Right Person, you won’t be able to serve her from a place of clarity, calm, and strength.

• On the flipside, stop assuming your Right Person has to be a dripping mess of a puddle on the kitchen floor in her life or business before she’s ready to work with you. Do you really want to work with a client who’s feeling that unresourceful? People don’t have to be — and shouldn’t be — on their knees crying mercy before they’ll buy from you.

8. Filter your incoming. Hone in on the voices that work for you today.

• Unsubscribe from and unfollow brand voices that don’t serve you in this season of your business, or who leave you feeling perpetually frustrated, blocked, or irritated. It’s okay to separate the person and their brand voice. You can like one but not be able to take any more of the other.

• Stop retweeting and sharing content from anyone or any site with which you don’t truly feel aligned. If you aren’t convinced that someone’s content serves your audience, their needs, and their desires — just. stop. sharing. Attention is precious. Be someone trustworthy and share only that which you trust.

9. Put your competition and your industry peers in their rightful place — which is not front and center in your mind on a daily or weekly basis.

• Look away from your competition. There’s only one you anyway, and yours is the only brand with which you need to be concerned.

• Be collegial with talented colleagues who are serving the same market as you. Adroitly do your own thing, but plan thrice-yearly check-ins with your similar-niche peers to share wildly adaptable ideas, discuss what’s not working industry-wide, and point out what you see the others doing well. It’s good for everybody, including your clients.

And finally — the best piece of advice I could possibly offer you . . .

10. When in doubt, ignore everybody else’s advice — including mine — and go with your gut. It always knows best.

In the comments, we’d love to hear:

Which piece of permission from this list most resonates with you and why? And what piece of permission would you like to add to this list? We’ll see you in the Comments.

 

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Voice Notes is an every-Friday feature. We take you inside the online brand presence of a business owner we think you should know — through a dozen evocative sentence-starters.

Abby (Chief Voice Bureau Officer) says:

This is the season of thankfulness, and one person I am surely thankful to have met this past year is The Voice Bureau‘s very own Project Curator, Katie Mehas. As so many great online business relationships start, we met via a mutual connection and got to know each other in a private Facebook group for copywriters I co-facilitate with a colleague. When I began my search for someone to manage our production calendar and help facilitate our clients’ experience, I knew I didn’t need to look further than the fabulous Ms. Mehas. With a passion for details, a penchant for pattern-tracking, and a proclivity for planning, she was our perfect fit. (Plus, as a laser-sharp editor, she’d probably flick me on the shoulder for that last sentence. Gratuitous alliteration.) With that, meet Katie.

Katie Mehas, Project Curator

Katie Mehas is Project Curator at The Voice Bureau.
You can also find her at KatieMehas.com.
Twitter: @KTMehas

My top 3-5 Voice Values are:

Clarity, Enthusiasm, Excellence, Helpfulness. (Note: Discover your own Voice Values when you subscribe to The Voice Bureau’s Insider Stuff e-letter. Look for the sign-up box in the upper righthand corner of the site.)

The Android app I wouldn’t want to live without is:

Astrid! I could never keep track of everything without it.

The best moment in my workweek so far has been:

Picking out the laptop that’s going to be my new official base of operations and knowing that it’s the success I’ve had in my business that’s made this not only possible but necessary.

Personality typing? Why, yes. I’m:

Enneagram Type 1 (The Reformer) with a 2-Wing (this combo is called The Advocate). My Myers-Briggs type is INTJ (“The Scientist” or “The Conceptualizer Director”). I have a Cancer sun, Leo moon, and Aquarius rising.

I do the work I do because:

I love exercising both sides of my brain — being creative and organized — and I love knowing that I’m helping people focus on the parts of their business that make them really come alive.

If I couldn’t do the work I’m doing now, I’d be a:

Travel writer! I would love travel to be a requirement in my life, not something I have to struggle to fit in.

The truest branding advice I ever heard is:

The more of yourself you allow to come through in your business, the more engaged you’ll be by what you’re doing and the more you’ll be willing to keep it up.

One color I wish was in my visual brand but isn’t (yet) is:

Somewhere between a rich teal and a deep cerulean blue. I can not get enough of this color.

I knew I’d arrived in the middle of my entrepreneurial ‘sweet spot’ when I:

Stopped trying to pigeonhole myself into an existing job description. My editorial background makes me equally comfortable with words and with planning. Why try to explain that away? It doesn’t make me indecisive; it makes me valuable.

I can never get enough:

Olives. Good music. Bad TV. Naps. Big, thick novels with rough-textured paper and embossed covers.

My brand is all about:

Cutting through the clutter (overbooking, poor planning, cutesy language, gimmicks, etc.) to allow your personality to shine through your business and give you breathing room to do what you love.

What I really wish you could see about yourself is:

You’re so much more interesting when you own your true personality. Everyone thinks they’re weird, but you seem the strangest when you’re trying to be someone you’re not.

In the comments, we’d love for you to:

Pop in and say hello to Katie! What questions do you have for her about cutting out the clutter in your workflow? She’s ready to say hello.

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We ask 5 smart voices for their 100-word take on 1 provocative brand challenge. Today’s question is . . .

What do you tell yourself right before sending that scary email?

Laura Simms

“The scary emails I send usually fall under one of three categories: 1. Saying no,  2. Holding a boundary, and 3. Asking for something that feels really big to ask for. Once I’ve written the email, I scan it with two things in mind: ‘How would I feel if I was on the receiving end of this email?’ and ‘Would I stand by this if it was reprinted somewhere public and my heroes read it?’ Makes for a great integrity check before I press send.”

 Laura Simms is a career coach who helps people find work that feeds their purse and their pulse. Find her at Create As Folk.

Srinivas Rao

“One of my favorite phrases is ‘World War III is not going to erupt in your inbox.’ I send emails to influential people on a daily basis because I run a show where I interview them. I always make it a point to remind myself that if they say no or turn me down,  it’s not a reflection on me or my work. The other kind of email is one in which you try to resolve a conflict. I generally will try to avoid doing that via email. But when I have to, I remind myself that at least the weight of all that uncertainty will be off my shoulders and I’ve let the other person know how I feel.”

Srinivas Rao is the host-cofounder of BlogcastFM where he has interviewed over 300 bloggers, authors, and entrepreneurs.

Jamie Wallace

“Step #1: Avoid sticky-wicket situations by making sure communications are consistent, clear, and complete. By keeping everyone in-the-loop every step of the way, you can usually eliminate the need for scary emails.

“Step #2: When life gets messy, and you find yourself – with fingers poised over the keyboard – unsure of how to say what needs to be said, aim to write something that is direct, honest, brief, and offers solutions. If possible, start with a phone call instead of an email.

“Step #3: Remember that even the scariest email is not the end of the world. Life will go on.”

At Suddenly Marketing, Jamie Wallace helps clients create resonant brands, standout content, and loyalty-inspiring customer experiences. And she makes sure they have fun doing it.

Kylie Bellard

“My tactic is to reread, reread, and then reread again, each time making sure my missive says what I want to say, how I want to say it. If I’m really nervous about an email, I sleep on it before sending it. Often after a night of sleep, I see typos that I would have missed otherwise. Then I press send, step away, and take a nice, deep breath.”

Kylie Bellard is an uber-compassionate coach and photographer who teaches people how to like themselves so they can bring all their wonderfulness to the world.

Emma Alvarez Gibson

“Risky emails are really frightening for me, I’ll admit. There’s always a stomachache, and often a shortness of breath. So I start by slowing my breath down. Then I think about how whatever issue is contained in the email exists outside of the email — meaning that communicating a problem is different from creating a problem. Then I imagine the worst possible outcome, and get good and comfortable with it. I know odds are good that that won’t be what happens, but am relatively prepared if it does.

“And then, finally, I hit send. And breathe some more.”

Emma Alvarez Gibson is made of words and branding. She’s working on her first novel.

 

In the comments, we’d love to hear:

What do you tell yourself to make sending those scary emails a little easier?  Add your perspective, then share this piece with your audience so they can see what you have to say, and weigh in, too.

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Abby (Chief Voice Bureau Officer) says:

[UPDATED 6.16.15] Wow, guys, this is an old post. While it’s been a good while since Tami and I have collaborated under The Voice Bureau, we remain good friends and are happy to support each other’s work.

Here’s the old intro: I am so pleased to introduce those of you who don’t already know her to my friend and collaborative partner, Tami Smith. And for those of you who do know her, I hope this profile gives you a new angle on the person behind the incredibly deep and holistic work she does for her business owner clients. Tami emailed me a couple years ago after purchasing an audio course I was selling at the time called Freeing the Voice of Your Business (look for this product to re-enter our Classroom in 2013, revamped and retooled). It wasn’t just that the course content was useful to her in her own brand, it was that my perspective on shaping a naturally powerful brand voice resonated with her all the way through — in ways she’d been hoping to find in a collaborative partner for an amazing new search persona methodology she was looking to bring to market. A few more email exchanges and a Skype conversation, and we knew we were destined to work together. And so for now — I’ll leave it at that. Meet Tami.

Tami Smith, Advisor, Coach, & Trainer to Visionary Solopreneurs

Tami is a past Collaborative Partner at The Voice Bureau. You can find her at The Dawning Point.

Twitter: @TamiDSmith, Facebook: Tami Smith, Google+: Tami Smith

My top 3-5 Voice Values are:

Intimacy, Enthusiasm, Innovation, Depth, Excellence. (Note: Discover your own Voice Values when you subscribe to The Voice Bureau’s Insider Stuff e-letter. Look for the sign-up box in the upper righthand corner of the site.)

I do the work I do because:

I believe there is an opportunity to improve the process of being found in search. I saw too much emphasis on tactics and misunderstanding of what optimizing for search was really about.  Mostly I do the work I do because I felt the call to live and work in a more autonomous way. I guess you could say I followed the thread and it has led me to this point.

I find the richest social media conversations take place on:

G+, because conversations are topically related and anyone can enter. It tends to draw enthusiasts and experts. Truthfully it is more about the relationship than the channel, though. I follow and engage with many of the same people across all platforms and I have such a big respect people who use all the channels appropriately.

The song/track/album that feels the most like my brand is:

“Lucky” by Jason Mraz with Colbie Caillat.

Personality typing? Why, yes. I’m:

Enneagram Type 7 (The Enthuasiast) with an 8-Wing (this combo is called “The Realist”). My Myers-Briggs type is ENFP (“The Champion Idealist” or the “Discoverer Advocate”). I have a Cancer sun, Scorpio rising and Aquarius moon.

One thing I know for sure about my Right People is:

They are “integrated.” They are psychologically mature, tolerant, understanding, flexible, and able to see “the big picture”.

The best compliment I ever received from a client is:

“This is absolutely AMAZING!  Thank you SO much!  I can’t even begin to describe how valuable this is to us.” Or maybe it is this one:  “I totally get your direction and I love it. I pinch myself every time we exchange emails and this project gets another brick added to its foundation, as it is exactly how I want to work. I trust your intuitive direction and I love the link-building concept through connections with my content.”

The truest branding advice I’ve ever heard is:

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing about.” — Benjamin Franklin

If my clients only hold on to one piece of advice from me, I hope it’s:

Encouragement to go into aloneness. Aloneness doesn’t mean isolated or lonely. It is the ability to stop looking for approval outside yourself. Paradoxically, by going into your aloneness, you discover your true connectedness to others and conviction to “do the work” only you can do.

I can never get enough:

Marinated mozzarella, romance, or random acts of kindness.

The one ‘essential’ I could totally live without is:

A car.

My lifestyle, in 3 words:

Simplicity, Spontaneity, Sweetness

My brand is all about:

Core strength. There is a lot of business-building that goes into a search strategy. My background in sales and marketing structure the questions I ask in discovery to formulate value proposition, unique selling position, and how a qualified prospect searches for solutions. My clients don’t have to know anything about these formal terms and processes because they have the answers from their experience. I simply turn their core strength into a smart search strategy.

In the comments, we’d love to hear:

What questions do you have for Tami about her work? She’s ready to say hello.

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