Branding Like a Black Belt

Today we were thrilled to visit with Jim Bouchard on The Bigg Success Show. Jim is a professional speaker, coach and the author of the great book, Dynamic Components of Personal Power. He has also been inducted into the Martial Arts Hall of Fame and has become one of our personal friends. He’s with us today to talk about how to Think Like a Black Belt! Let’s get to the conversation …

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Welcome back to The Bigg Success Show, Jim! We’re bigg fans of yours!

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I love you guys!

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It’s been awhile since we’ve talked. We want to chat with you today about some of the things you’ve been doing with your brand and get some tips on how to think like a black belt.

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One of the things about thinking like a black belt is that sometimes you have to be ready to change in the ring. You have to change according to what your opponents are throwing at you. We started to realize that, while Dynamic Components of Personal Power is certainly an important statement, it was difficult to explain to people or it required an explanation. People would say, “What is that?” Actually I have to tell you that this was a high level marketing and branding meeting. There were three of us sitting around. My wife, Alex, said, “You know what you really do. You just teach people how to think like a black belt. Why don’t you just start saying that?”

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She’s a smart cookie!

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Yes, she is! That is what I do – teach people to think like a black belt. Dynamic Components is certainly a part of that, but there are some other characteristics of the black belt mindset as well. So the rebranding worked. It took off. When you have a brand that’s in synergy with your message and it has a strong sense of symbolism, people get it. A powerful brand is simple enough so people get it without having to think too much. Think Like a Black Belt is really taking off. People understand it – from CEOs to general audiences. Most people say that they want to think like a black belt.

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It’s very sexy. Maybe I can’t physically be a black belt, but you can teach me how to think like a black belt. Now that’s something I can do.

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I thought you were going somewhere else there. Because it is sexy. I’m sexy!

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Are you too sexy for that shirt, Jim?

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He’s too sexy for his black belt!

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You’re right, though. That’s a good word for it. Your brand has to appeal to people. We can overcomplicate it sometimes, can’t we?

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Yes we can. That’s why I think this is a good thing to talk about with you. So many people are building their own brands now. I think it’s important that we don’t over-complicate our branding and get in the way of the message.

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Exactly. And well-intended, but trying to brand yourself, or brand a business or title a book, it’s like naming a band. It’s hard. Part of the process is to just get out there and test it. Don’t be afraid to try something. And don’t be afraid to change. You have to have some flexibility.

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We changed our tag line for Bigg Success several months ago. We were at a conference and Lorelle VanFossen, the wonderful woman behind the Lorelle on WordPress blog, was asking people what their tag lines were. Then she called people out if it didn’t make sense or if it didn’t tell you anything. We worked around the table and our tablemates said that “the how-to, can-do place” didn’t tell them anything. So it made us realize that we needed to figure out how we let people know what we’re trying to accomplish so they can get it just by coming to the site and seeing it.

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There it is.

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Too add to that, Jim … “Think Like a Black Belt” has five words in it. Bigg Success is “life on your own terms”. That’s five words as well. But the thing is … they both convey a benefit. “Think Like a Black Belt” – I instantly see a benefit of listening to what you have to say. That’s also important as we’re thinking about our brands and how we describe them. Make sure it’s benefit-oriented. Make sure you’re telling someone what they’re going to get out of it.

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Oh, exactly. See, I always loved your brand “Bigg Success”. I was drawn to that right away. What do I want? I want bigg success!

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Well, by definition, Bigg Success has to be a bigg success. It’s just a self-fulfilling prophecy! It keeps the pressure on us!

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No retreat, no surrender!

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Any other words of wisdom for people building their brands?

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I was talking with somebody yesterday. His name is Dr. B. He had some great insight. We were talking about how the “Think Like a Black Belt” brand had morphed and the Black Belt Mindset theme. He said, “You know, that works because it’s in perfect alignment with who you are and what your message is.” That’s really important. Whatever you’re bringing out there, that public face has to be in line with your heart.

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It’s work that’s much too hard – building a business, building a brand – to not be something that you just love.

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Right, and you have no right to expect anyone else to respond to it. There’s a big problem with branding, with advertising and with business in general. People say, “Build it and they will come.” No way! You have to build it. You have to maintain it. You have to cut the lawn, water the plants, and wash the windows. You’ve got to do all that stuff. And you have to make sure that people know about it. You can’t just expect people to come to you because you have something of quality. I don’t have expectations for anybody; that’s not my privilege. It’s my responsibility to go out there and tell people what I’m doing and make sure that the message gets out there.

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That’s a great way of looking at it!

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There’s that dirty word again, though. Responsibility.

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That’s part of being a black belt, right?

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You’ve got to take responsibility for your own success, that’s it!

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Next time, we’ll continue our conversation with Jim. He’ll tell us how to set goals like a black belt. Please join us! Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00458-081209.mp3