This past week I had two coaching sessions (crazy!) and one was with All Grand Events, a floral & event designer in Michigan. The business is owned and operated by Emily Dawson and Jamie Sloan. They have been SUCH fans of mine and social media supporters and I was so happy to “meet” them face to face over Skype. We all had a laugh because we literally were dressed the same, in a white shirt and high hair bun. We knew we were off to a good start.

As with every full branding client I have we have a coaching session whether in my home studio or over Skype. The purpose of the session is mainly to establish two things: their ideal client and industry niche. In addition to doing that we discuss pricing, packaging, gifts, web design, and competition. I do this because it really helps me see the big picture of someone’s vision, brand, and market. Often I work with clients not directly in the DC Metro area and my clients know their market better than me so it’s always a good idea to get a run down of it.

I followed up with Emily and Jamie to see what they thought of the session and here is what they said.

WHAT DID YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT YOUR BRAND COACHING SESSION?
The most exciting part was having Katie hit the nail on the head with who our ideal client was. She honestly described, with an astounding amount of accuracy, some of our past favorite clients who we’ve always seen as our ideal client. We also saw a lot of ourselves in our ideal client, which told us she already knew us from just a few emails without ever having talked to us directly!

DID YOU FEEL LIKE WE ESTABLISHED YOUR IDEAL CLIENT AND NICHE? WHY IS THAT IMPORTANT TO YOU?
We absolutely established this. It was something we had an idea about but never could articulate until Katie did it for us. This is so incredibly important for any and all business decisions. From something as small as the paint color in our office, to the look and feel of our website, we should always be making decisions based on our ideal client. What he or she would want, love, and appreciate from us.

IMAGE: MIRANDA & TRISH

WHAT WERE THINGS YOU LEARNED ABOUT YOURSELF/BUSINESS DURING THE SESSION?
We consider ourselves very self aware. We already knew what we were good at, what we lacked, and what direction we needed to go in. Katie affirmed from an outside perspective that we were on the right track with budget minimums (she even suggested raising them-to which we gladly obliged!) She made us feel like our work was up to par, valuable, and in line with what we charge.

IMAGE: MIRANDA & TRISH

HOW DID YOU FEEL AFTER THE BRAND COACHING SESSION?
We felt like you feel after you have a really great shopping day. Where everything fits perfectly, everything you want is on sale, and you come home with more bags than you can carry in one trip from your car. You feel so accomplished for your day, but you know the best is yet to come once you get to wear each piece in a new outfit over time. So while the branding session was so much fun, it was also like trying on the perfect outfit in the fitting room. You get a taste, but the real fun is when you get to wear it out!