2011 had some magical moments. Moments when I became bigger than what I was, moments of beginning, of celebration, of visibility, and of sacred purpose revealed. I compiled a list of my own. But I invite you to a sacred celebration on my fanpage where you can name your own magical moment and best of 2011 here.

As 2012 promises to be the year you step into bold visibility, I invite you to begin now, with a sacred naming of what was the best of 2011 for you. See your best moments celebrated by others’ likes, and reflect another’s best moment with a “Like” of your own.

My favorite moments of 2011:

• The afternoon Ignite came to me as my business name
• Starting the year with Michael Ellsberg (author of The Education of Millionaires) as my coach and getting clear about my story.
• Finishing the year  with Monica Shah as my coach and getting clear about my business
• The evening I ran the numbers and realized I doubled my revenue this year, and booked $24k in 45 days.
• The day I took Kate Northrup on her branded shopping trip and we made a video about it.
• The day I realized: my website is good enough for now and chose to keep putting myself out there.
• The weeks leading up to my Magnetic Branding tele-class, and the weeks following
• The day I helped someone see their purpose in 40 minutes flat – a divinely inspired experience!
• Being a guest expert on Tonya Leigh’s Slim Chic And Savvy classes.
• The day I bought THE little black dress
• The day I did my branded photoshoot with Chris Vongsawat (god is he good!)
• The moment I got the LAST ticket to Selling Your Soul!
• When I came home and saw my mom walking up and down the stairs by herself after having double hip surgery last year.
• The afternoon I had a rite of passage ritual designed by girl Emily Tepper, and got truthfully naked with my besties about some things I was ashamed of – and claimed my place in our circle of leadership anyway. 
• The day I introduced Jena, Tonya, and Megnha to their body on Diane Von Furstenberg. And they saw their beauty the way everyone else does. 
• The day I got my branded haircut for Ignite.
  
• The day I realized I had been gluten free for 30 days and saw it made a MAJOR difference in my mood, focus, digestion and energy
• The day I hired my team.  (I know you wanna know who they are so click here)
• The day I realized that when life gets good, I can handle it.
• The day I started seeing my naturopath and knew it to be an act of self-love to spend that kind of money on myself.

This is my “aho” to 2011. And my “BRING IT ON” to 2012. What’s yours? Name it here: (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ignite-by-Kristen-Domingue/189650151085075)

Not every girl can say that she has a fashionable father. I’m one of the lucky ones. Though I grew up in uniforms (red plaid jumpers and crisp white blouses for elementary; khakis and white polos for high school) I could always appreciate a good shopping trip with my dad. At the time, I didn’t know my dad was fashionable, he was just my dad. But when I grew older (and especially now) I can see my dad had style, still does. He made being well-groomed and well-coordinated look both effortless and gentleman-ly. And along the way, I learned that there are some things that transcend gender and are the basis for any well-curated wardrobe. Here they are…

Cut is everything. Well-cut beats trendy, every time.

One of my favorite memories I have of shopping with my dad is shopping for my mom with my dad. Whether it was her birthday, mother’s day or a holiday, he’d pull me aside, and ask, “Kris, what do you think of this for mom?” Pulling out a catalogue picture or browsing Ann Taylor, he’d hold up a dress or jacket that was classy. On the hanger, it would always look nice, but when my mom put it on, I would see what he saw: my mom’s elegance, unfettered.

My dad understood that the right cut can diminish or celebrate the genius of your body. And if the clothing is trendy, but not cut well, it can look like you are “trying” to fit into the current style of the day, without caring if you look good in it or not. If you’ve ever seen the wrong cut of low-rise jeans on woman with lots of junk in the trunk, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Quality over quantity

My dad’s closet has always been lean. Still is. And though his closet is small, he always looks well-dressed, without looking boring or like he’s wearing the same things over and over. After watching, I learned his secret, and I’ll share that with you.

He’s a fan of having

• a few great statement pieces (pieces that draw attention whenever you put it on, these can change by the season, and don’t need to cost too much),
• classics that will never go out of style (I still own the 2 suit jackets he bought for me when I got my first corporate consulting job – 8 years ago. I can’t emphasize enough that it is important to think of these as investments, and spend accordingly,)
• high-quality staples (Ladies: black dress shoes, handbags in neutral colors, etc. Gents: sweaters that won’t pill, denim that won’t rip at the heel, etc.)

The bottom line is to keep it high quality, and reserve quantity for things like jewelry. Or if you are my dad…watches.

It’s imperative that you take care of your clothes

As a kid, I used to get allowance for ironing my dad’s dress shirts. Knowing how to make a crisp crease without too much starch (it will flake if you add too much) is a tradition in the Domingue family (my grandmother’s family took in laundry when she was a girl.) Other things I saw my dad do (and both he and my mom made sure I handled):

• Shine the shoes
• Put the clothes away (never, ever, put clothes on the floor or in a pile, too much risk for snagging, foot prints, etc. I’ve lost a couple good sweaters in haste this way.)
• Dry clean the ones that ask for it

You can always tell if a person is taking care of their clothes or not. And it lets you know how well they are taking care of themselves.

The wrong fabric can communicate the wrong message

Cheap fabrics were a no-no for my dad. They would snag, pill, or loose shape after 1-4 washings. If you want to know the difference between cheap fabric and good fabric, take the time to go into a high end store, and compare its black sweaters with the black sweaters in a place like Forever 21 or Wet Seal (love a quick piece of party jewelry from there, but their clothing is suspect in my book.) When I’ve seen women wearing high-quality fabrics, even when they aren’t particularly fashionable in how they wear them, I know that I’m looking at a woman who cares about the quality of things in her life, and the quality of her life.

Other guidelines for the well-dressed:

• Always, smooth your trench (or your dress) before you sit down on it.
• There is a place for classic, and there is a time for trendy. It is important to know the difference.
• Never pile on statement pieces. One at a time, please (even Lady Gaga knows this.)
• Always be prepared to invest when it comes to shoes: you wear them too much of the time to be cheap with yourself.
• When you look good to you, your confidence goes up, and it makes a difference to everyone around you. Make it a point to look good to you.
• Mono-chromatic dressing is a bad idea. Unless of course, you are wearing all-black. (Even if it is supposedly fashionable right now. You still look like a muppet.)

What fashion tips are using as guidelines for your well-curated wardrobe? Leave a comment below – someone else may find it useful!

This summer and fall, I spoke to over 50 femme-preneurs about their business and their brand strategy. At the heart of these conversations were 2 simple questions:

1. Are you doing what you love?
2. Are you getting paid to do what you love?

I am so inspired by all of the women I spoke to. And I know it is a sacred admission to share your purpose with someone. I am still in awe, reverence and gratitude as I remember hearing your dreams. Dreams that would make Gandhi cry.

From these conversations and my own journey I learned there are definitive times to rebrand your business so the person you are trying to help can find you and know you can help them. Without doing this, it’s like there is an invisibility cloak on your business.

The trickiest part about rebranding is knowing that you need to do it. In  many cases, we don’t know it’s our branding that turns the right clients away, blocks us from better speaking gigs, or keeps us burned out. Instead, we try to learn more about marketing or eliminate self-limiting beliefs about money, our value, or fill-in-the-blank. But quite often, we know enough already. This is especially true if there was a time when things were “working” in your business before.

So to clear up the confusion, here are 9 signs that it is time to rebrand:

1)     Burnout.

From what I’ve seen, burnout that is solved by rebranding is caused by 2 things:

1. One too many client-vampires (the wrong person has gotten the message you are right for them, and because you aren’t clear, you didn’t know the difference until it was too late.)
2. Being sought after for ‘great’ opportunities that require you to do A LOT of extra work to prepare for a talk or event that you will only ever do once. Twice if you are lucky.

2)     You have a revenue plateau.

Revenue plateaus solved by rebranding are some of the most mysterious ones. It’s not like you don’t know how to go out and give a free talk or ask for the sale. You know the difference between revenue generating activities and time-wasters. But in this case, you book enough work to be “busy” in your biz but  for some reason you can’t identify, things just seem to stop working. You start hearing “no” more often, and referrals stop coming in. The worst part about this kind of plateau is when you try to solve it by putting in more hours of the activities that used to work, even though your results don’t seem to expand. Which then gives you a case of rebrand burnout.

3)     You tell people what you do and they just don’t get it.

This is more of a problem for someone who never really had a clearly defined brand to begin with. The job of your brand is to make you magnetic, sticky, and attractive to the right people. Your cocktail line is one of the first experiences they have of your brand when they meet you in person. So when you tell people what you do, if your brand is on track, they will either say, “Wow, that’s cool,” (because you are clear and they get it, even if it isn’t for them) or “Whoa, do you have a card, I think I need you.” But if most of your conversations move into awkwardness with you explaining the details of what you do, and the other person nodding and saying things like, “interesting…” then it’s definitely time to rebrand and up your magnetism.

4)     You crave MORE…

The craving for MORE that is solved by rebranding is very unique. This MORE is defined by feeling “into” what you do, but not loving what you do. It’s good, but it isn’t fulfilling. In its absence, this MORE leaves you quietly wondering, “is this all there is?” about your life when you hit a major birthday. You’ve figured out how to make ‘ok’ money in your business, but basically, your heart isn’t in it anymore, and the triumphant pride of being an entrepreneur has worn off. Is this really solved by a rebrand? Yup, I guarantee it. At the heart of this problem is a fuller expression of your purpose: why you do what you do in the fist place. A rebrand can help you identify what that is, connect it to customer needs, and badda-bing-badda-boom…MORE starts rolling in faster than you know how to receive it.

5)     You have a (not-so) secret life in a different profession or business.

(and not the type that is just a paycheck there to support your business.)

This type of (not-so) secret life is one you are also interested in pursuing, and has traction in the world too. In this situation, your attention and resources are split, and you’ve grown to the point where you have to choose one in order to grow any further. Rebranding can make it possible for you to find the perfect synthesis of what you love: for you, and your ideal client. This kind of synthesis makes you a highly unique offering in the marketplace, and gives you more of the right kind of clients, eliminating burnout and revenue plateaus.

6)     Your brand promises to give people [fill-in-the-blank] and your life feels like anything but that.

This kind of problem is typically caused by brand misalignment: either you are actually a stand for something else in the world (and you just can’t see it because it’s hard to see yourself) or it is time for you to get some help taking your own medicine. The challenge with this kind of brand problem, is that your ideal customers smell it: you get close to getting the new client, but it always turns into a no. Everything you do, say, wear, and write, are all brand experiences your customer uses to decide if they like and trust you enough to work with you. A really good re-brander can help you “be your brand” and clean up places of mis-alignment either in your service delivery, program or product design, and in some cases, your life.

7)     You and your business partner just split.

This is probably the most obvious time to rebrand, to differentiate yourself in the marketplace. This will give you the creative edge you need to avoid any disputes with your ex-biz partner over proprietary information belonging to your prior biz.

8)     Your web or graphic designer just doesn’t seem to get you.

You are on draft 11, and $5000 in the hole. Your creative is frustrated and so are you. This is a sign that the brand you thought was clear is not. They can’t be clear about what visuals best represent you if you are not clear about what you represent. Have you told them what you stand for in the world? Do they know what results you are known for producing? Does your business and brand have a core concept? Do they know what makes you unique in your industry and field? If you haven’t had a very clear and specific conversation about these things, it can lead to getting multiple drafts from your creative that never quite hit the mark.

The challenge here is that you both think you are being clear. But in actuality, you’ve given them the meat, but not the bone. They aren’t clear about the central axis your business wraps around: your brand. And it is likely that you aren’t clear about it either. In this case, the best thing you can do is back up, and take the time to get your biz branded. Branding isn’t what happens when you get graphic design done. It’s what happens when you make a choice about what you and your business stand for in the world. Branding happens before you get visual. Visuals are the expression of the brand, not the other way around.

9)     Your results with your customers and clients are all over the map.

When the root of this problem is your brand (as opposed to your focus, etc.), it’s a sign you are attracting clients that aren’t the best fit for you. Can you help them? Sure, but are they doing the most good in your business and are you doing the most good in their life? Not really. Your business can grow faster, and your clients can become raving fans when you are standing in the sweet spot of your brand: the special place where your purpose, what you do with excellence, and what people really need intersect. This problem at its worst will give you clients who love you and clients who don’t complete work with you and refuse to pay you. At its best, clients walk away “feeling good” but not able to concretely say how you helped them, and therefore can’t give you an effective referral. You will also see a mix of clients all over this spectrum.

So is it time to rebrand?

If you said yes to 2 or 3 of these, likely.

What are some branding hurdles you’ve come across? Do you think it’s possible to SEE when someone needs to rebrand? Have you ever felt YOUR brand isn’t quite right?

Tell me what you think below!

Most people base their brand on what their prospect wants. And for a long time, this was great marketing advice. But I propose that if you are here, reading this,

You are different.
You started your business because of the freedom it promised you…
…no more ridiculous hours doing grunt work for someone else’s dream.
…finally a chance to do what you love.
You started your business because you wanted to do what you love, and get paid.

The challenge presents itself when you share your big dream with someone, and hear the tried and true saying, “there’s no market for that.”

You’ve heard it enough times and been burned out or broke long enough that you are starting to think they are right. So you start to consider completely changing your business; selling something “safer.” And if this has gone on long enough, you are thinking about going back to a 9-5. The painful thing is…

What you are selling is a central piece of what you love.
It makes you feel alive. It is your purpose.
If you give this up…then what was the point of having your own business in the first place?

I have good news and bad news for you.

Branding 1.0 isn’t dead.

You still need to sell your service or product based on what your prospect wants.

But Branding 2.0 has arrived: you can do this in a way that is wrapped around the central axis of your purpose.

Branding 1.0 teaches us that you sell them what they want. And you can tell what they want by examining what there is already hunger for in the market.

Branding 2.0 teaches us that there is a sweet spot – where what is in your heart to sell and make your business (your purpose) can be combined with Branding 1.0 rules to create a highly lucrative brand.

When you base your brand on your purpose, the thing that makes you feel alive, you not only make money doing something you love, you also create an unlimited supply of energy to keep you going in your business. It is the antidote to burnout in your business. This is where what you do for work is transformed into what you do for play; into how you live your life. This is the alchemy known as “being your brand.”

When your branding is based on your purpose, you don’t have to hunt for your tribe. They come to you. Your business becomes magnetic because it’s always attractive to be with someone who is alive. They feel you in everything you offer them. And that’s important, especially for coaches and speakers.

The good news: You can be YOU and get paid!

The challenge: You need to know who YOU are, what you LOVE, and what makes you come alive.

Do you know what makes you come alive?
I’d love to hear about it. Leave it in the comments below!