Rebranding, a New Adventure!

Just as I believe that everyone has gifts to share with the world, things that they excel at doing, and can do better than most people, I know that there are things that I’m not good at doing. I’ve learned that the best way to compensate for that, is to partner with people who have the skill sets I lack.

What do I mean by that? Let me share an example. I do not think in pictures, while I can appreciate a beautiful scene, like the shining green leaves on the trees outside my office window, I have a great deal of difficulty visualizing the same scene.

What does that have to do with rebranding? I’ve known for years that images are really important to many other people. The old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” exists for a reason.
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One of my first afternoon’s as an entrepreneur was a photo shoot with a semi-professional photographer friend. She did the photo shoot as a favour, so that I could have a decent professional looking headshot and a few other images for my website and business cards. Up until this month, the fabulous image she took of a path in the woods near my home served as the banner image on my website, LinkedIn and Twitter profiles.
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I’ve updated my head shot a couple of times since then. Even though I attended many branding workshops I hadn’t really spent much time thinking about it.

​In 2018, I invested in getting a logo created for Empowered Path Inc., I love my tree themed logo!

In my company logo, the tree represents a good life. The trunk is a blank space which turns into two branches within the leaves. The blank spaces represent that there is more than one path to creating a good life.

Circles can mean a lot of things to different people. To me, a circle represents collaboration, respect and influence. When we treat each other with respect and collaborate, we can help each other learn how to thrive. Each person has a circle of Influence. When we collaborate, we increase our circle of Influence, affecting more people.

This year, as I prepared to launch online courses, I decided to invest in getting help from professionals whose strengths complement mine. I reached out to my network to reconnect with Jen Detlor Kerr, from DetDesigns, and asked her to create a logo to represent the paid course that I’ll be offering soon.​

I think in words and connections. I provided Jen with a very long description of what the course would involve along with a few pictures of a Bear puzzle as inspiration for what kinds of image I was looking for. I really liked that the outside edges were a blurred version of elements from inside of the bear and that the elements in the bear could represent different ideas and concepts.

I asked Jen to come up with an image that incorporated the main themes of my course, with stand alone elements over a sort of treasure map, showing that there were many different paths to success, which are often unknown and can be discovered and explored. I asked her to find a way to represent treasures (opportunities), obstacles, and inclusiveness all in one image.

Remember, I can appreciate images, without being able to visualize them. Jen created a glorious image, that exceeded my expectations, and looked nothing like anything I could have possibly visualized on my own. She shared drafts with me, which I shared with a close group of Thought Partners for feedback.

At the end of the process, the course logo image is infinitely more effective and powerful than anything I could have come up with on my own.

What does this image mean to me?

It represents a treasure map for living a good life. Many things are uncertain, there are no charted paths, opportunities are all around us, and there is more than one definition of success.

The jewels represent opportunities, which are sometimes hidden. The blocks represent obstacles. The network image represents an inclusive network of Friendly Forces, people who want to help us achieve our goals, our Thought Partners. The 3 concentric circles represent the circle of influence. The silver trophy and the silver medal with a purple ribbon represent different definitions of success. The compass represents each individual’s capacity to seize control of discovering, exploring and navigating a path to their unique definition of success.

I love this look and feel so much, that I’ve rebranded my entire website to match it. And over the last couple of weeks, as Jen provided slightly simpler less busy versions the images, I quietly and without fanfare updated all of my social media banners.

Rebranding has been an adventure!

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