Streamlined Solopreneur: Tips to Help Solopreneurs Automate Their Business

Joe Casabona: Alright. Welcome back for Part 2 of my interview with Holly Arnett. If you wanna catch Part 1 where we talked about why solopreneurs need a personal brand, what branding is, and what a personal brand is, you can find a link to that episode in the description below.

But, now we're actually going to get into how we came up with my personal brand and really how we completely shifted gears because what I wanted on the day I hired Holly was completely different from what she ended up delivering, and I couldn't be happier with it.

So, let's get into Part 2 of this episode with Holly. If you have any feedback or you wanna write into the show, you can write in at [streamlinedfeedback.com]. Let's get into it.

Welcome to the Streamlined Solopreneur. A show for busy solopreneurs to help you improve your systems and processes so you can build a business while spending your time the way you want. I know you're busy, so let's get started.

So, let's actually get into my big personal rebrand. So, we'll set the stage. I had never hired anybody to do branding for me before, and I'm sure it was incredibly obvious because I didn't have clear messaging. I just kinda impulsively talked about what I wanted to talk about and used the fonts I wanted to use.

And, like, one thing I'll say right at the top here is that my website, casabona.org, has never looked better. Like, has and, all I did was, you know because I'm not, I'm a Developer or I was a Developer. I'm not a designer even a little bit. So, I took, like, a premade template, moved some things around, but you gave me the colors and the fonts, like, Roca. Is it Roca or Roca?

Holly Arnett: Yeah. Roca, I think. Yeah. Yeah.

Joe Casabona: Such an incredible, this is also, like, the first font I've, like, outright paid for to use on my website instead of just using, like, Adobe fonts, or Google fonts. You gave that to me, and the color that you've assigned to the word spacious or space is so perfect. I would have used white here, and I feel like white would have been very jarring in a way that the color we've assigned to the word space is not. So, like, it's just my website's never looked better.

So, okay. So setting the stage here. Right? Never hired a personal brand. I hired you to rebrand Podcast Workflows, which is now called Streamlined Podcaster because Of the, you know, the through line with my entire brand. So that's where we were at. Why don't we start at the beginning here? Because we had the kickoff call. The general timeline of things is, like, I hired Holly. We had the kickoff call where we spent like, an hour and a half going through this massive Miro board.

Holly Arnett: Mhmm.

Joe Casabona: You went away on holiday. I went on a trip. And when we both got back, I was like, I don't know if I've told you all the right things. So we have, the call is what I wrote down in my notes, which is where you really, really guided me towards a personal brand. So…

Holly Arnett: Yeah.

Joe Casabona: Let's start at the, let's, like, let's start at the beginning. This is your process, but, like, I hire you. Let's talk about this Miro board. Like, how did we… How do you, how did you set that up? And then, like, I don't have it in front of me.

Holly Arnett: Yeah. I'm looking at it so I can go through it.

Joe Casabona: Cool. And I can tell you my feelings as we go through it.

Holly Arnett: Yeah. Yeah. So, this is, I use the same Miro board for every client, but I will, like, customize some of the questions and stuff based on what I know or what I need to know, right? If I know a lot about your business already or, there's certain things that aren't super relevant, I'll change it.

But the structure in essence is that we go through your people, that's your audience, your purpose, that's the impact you wanna have in your brand values and all that, your brand personality, your positioning, and then presentation where we talk a little bit about the visual side of things. So that's it in essence. Where do you want me to go from there?

Joe Casabona: Let's do people because this was the first time I think I heard the term Champagne Client. And also, this was probably, like, the first signal that I was very conflicted in what I actually wanted to do with my brand.

Holly Arnett: Yeah. Yeah. So for those of you listening who haven't heard of the term Champagne Client, it's from somebody called Mariah Coz. She, that's where I learned it from. But the idea is that often we think that we have multiple target audiences, but actually, we probably don't. We have similar people with the same, like, goals and values and dreams, but at different stages in the process.

And what you want to do is focus on that Champagne Client who's like furthest along in the process and like really your goal dream person. Because if you do the opposite and you focus on like the beginner or the person at the start of the journey, you're going to exclude those people further along.

Whereas if you focus on the Champagne Client, you're gonna target them, but it's also gonna be really aspirational for the people earlier in the process. So then you get to kind of talk to all of them. But, yeah, I think it's just that reframing of, like, oh, I have, like, three different people and I have to talk to them all differently and all that sort of thing.

But actually, when you kinda look at them and figure out what they need and what they're struggling with and all that sort of thing, often there are commonalities and they're just at different stages in the process.

So when we had this conversation, you had two different people, we called them, Chris and Annie. I think those are real people for you, right? But we just called them Chris and Annie. Yeah, and yeah, we talked about the different kinds of things that they're struggling with and who they are and what they need, and then figured out, okay well actually they all need that kind of space, and reducing that friction and the guidance to help them achieve what they need to achieve, and that's kind of the through line between them.

Joe Casabona: Yeah. This is really good because this helped me, like, after we went through all of this. But, like, this exercise lies that, you know, like, for the Champagne Client, right, I'm selling the highest level consulting where it's like, yeah. Just hire me to do stuff for you or, like, create stuff for your team. And then I have, like, a lower level. I call it a power hour even though it's ninety minutes, but, like, power ninety minutes is not fifty, ninety minutes. Right? Whatever it is. For, you know, the folks like Annie, who's, like, a solo a solopreneur and, like, they're they don't have the budget to hire me for multiple thousand dollars a month. And, but I can still help and make an impact, and then they can reinvest that time and maybe come back when they get to, like, that champagne status. Right? So, like, this exercise practically, not even from a branding standpoint, helped me realize the same or similar outcome, different products at different price points.

Holly Arnett: Yeah. Yeah. Definitely.

Joe Casabona: So, again, like, clearest I've ever been on my business. If anybody's wondering, like, you might think, like, this is, like, woo woo, but, like, this is, it's not. It's like if for nothing else, like, you asked me really important questions that I had never considered answering before. And like just that part is…

Holly Arnett: Yeah. And the thing is they….Yeah. They're not complicated questions. It's just that, yeah, you've never thought to answer them before or you haven't been able to set aside the time or sometimes it's like, you just need to vocalize it out loud to somebody else and get their response and get them to ask you some more questions that really helps you to figure it out, and you know like when we had the call in quotation marks, you know you were telling me like this is what I'm thinking and this is where I'm a little bit stuck and then I can ask you questions back and say okay well, why does this feel this way? Or how would this feel? Or what if we did this? Then you can figure it out. But if you're just trying to do that on your own or you're not even doing it because you're not aware that these are questions you should be asking, then you might not get that clarity. So, it's definitely a great process.

Joe Casabona: Yeah. In the programming space, we would call this rubber ducking because, like, you would essentially walk into, like, a colleague's office and, like, just talk through a programming problem you're having and just talking through it helped you see the solution. And so then, like, programmers would keep rubber ducks on their desks to talk to the rubber duck instead. That's where the term came from.

Holly Arnett: Nice.

Joe Casabona: I really thought this was a common term until, like, people outside the programming space were like, what are you talking about?

Holly Arnett: Yeah. I've never heard of that, but I like…

Joe Casabona: Yeah. I didn't realize it was, like, strictly a programming thing, so maybe that's, like, one of my purposes, bring that term to the real world.

Holly Arnett: Yeah. But, yeah, so, like, some of the questions I asked you are just, like, the first one think of an ideal client or customer and describe them to me and then what makes them an ideal client or customer, it's like those are not difficult complex questions you've never heard before but to be prompted and say, like, tell me, what makes an ideal customer? Why would you pick someone or one person over someone else? Like, that helps you to start thinking about those things you might not have thought of before.
Joe Casabona: Yeah. And having someone like you on the other side, making sure I don't say something like, well, my services can help everyone. Right? Because that's the danger. Like, sure, I can help. I don't know. CEOs, I guess, maybe. But, like, am I gonna really have the biggest impact with them? Do I wanna help them? Am I qualified to help them? Who do I really like, who do I want to help?

Holly Arnett: Yeah.

Joe Casabona: And why? Again, it's like a simple question. It might not be an easy answer, but, like, it's something that you should really think about.

Holly Arnett: Yeah. The questions themselves are simple, but, yeah, the process of answering them and figuring it out, that's what takes some work, but really is what helps with the results.

Joe Casabona: So I know we have a limited time, and I do wanna get through the entire story, but I am noticing, under describe there, there are two boxes, demographics and psychographics, and that is surreptitiously one-sided.

Holly Arnett: Yeah.

Joe Casabona: I could not answer the demographics question at all, basically.

Holly Arnett: Yeah. And it's much less important anyway. So…

Joe Casabona: Yeah. Yeah. That's a good, right. That's a really good point, right? Like, I'm not a soda brand or someone, right? I'm not Mountain Dew, right, who's, like, trying to appeal to, like, 15 to 30-year-olds. The out of 30, you're probably too old to drink Mountain Dew, if I'm being honest with you, as someone who drank Mountain Dew until he was 30. But yeah. So, like, I mean, if we look at my YouTube channel, right, like, my, The demographics. Right? Like, I just looked at this because a brand asked me for them. 92% male. If we look at my client list, it's probably, like, 70% female.

Holly Arnett: Yeah.

Joe Casabona: So, like If I was, like, trying to adhere to demographics like my YouTube channel, I might be selling myself short. Right? Or there's some reason that, you know, I've thought about this a lot. Like, I don't think I have, like, a particularly female forward brand or, like, you know, I'm not intentionally trying to capture the woman market at all. But there's just something about I'm told I'm approachable. I don't make people feel stupid when they ask questions.

Holly Arnett: Yeah.

Joe Casabona: But going to the psychographics, like, why do people hire me or why would they want to hire me?

Holly Arnett: Yeah, exactly. And, you know, there are some situations, like, if you're a corporation, you need to know the demographics or you actually your brand is for like women, or you know, you're targeting moms, they're probably between a certain age group, like yeah, it can be helpful information to know and helpful in some situations more than others, but the psychographic side of things is so much more helpful because that's like, what are they struggling with? What's on their mind? What kind of things are they saying? It's all like who are they on the inside rather than, you know, the external kind of practical factors. And so that is what helps you speak to them and create a brand that resonates with them. That's the powerful stuff.

Joe Casabona: Yeah. That helps them feel seen. Right?

Holly Arnett: Yeah. Yeah.

Joe Casabona: Yeah. Okay. So we did touch on the purpose a little bit. Is there anything you wanted to mention here with respect to purpose? I don't know, like, how good my answers were here.

Holly Arnett: I think like the, I talked about the impact that's a big part of this purpose side of things, and this often is what will impact kind of the visual theming, will often come from the impact.

So, actually don't know in here if there was something about space or if it was somewhere else, but or it might have been in the other call that we had. But, generally, that's where this will come, that will come from is the, from the impact. But we also in here include, like, the vision, the mission, which we didn't go through together, but I wrote them, for you. And then your brand values is a really important part of that as well. Yeah.

Joe Casabona: Yeah. Which that's, that was pretty easy, I think, for me. That was, I have strong opinions here. But, like, if you listened to Part 1 of this, right, the impact I wanna have on the world was really strong, I think.

Holly Arnett: Mhmm.

Joe Casabona: And the ones I'm reading here are not. So, like, yeah. So, like…

Holly Arnett: But we got there. Like, obviously, you know it now.

Joe Casabona: Yeah. Right.

Holly Arnett: We got there. We figured it out. Yeah.

Joe Casabona: Yeah. Absolutely. Okay. So let's run let's run through maybe, like, any, like, high-level stuff here before we get to the call. Because this Miro board was done when I had a very different idea in mind, before, like, a lot of it changed. So, you know, I like the presentation stuff, old soul. I'm really into fountain pens. I don't wanna be known as macho. Like, I don't wanna be like a, like a Joe Rogan guy or whatever. Yeah.

Holly Arnett: Yeah. Or you also said like I don't want it to be like a stereotypically like microphone, headphones, podcasts, Visually related, you know. So that's good to know.

And then, we also went through what brands inspire you and the important part of that is why, so not just like oh I like that you have I like the Yankees, okay, but why? What do you like about the Yankees? It's not just like it looks cool. It's like, no. Some things you see it are like, it's a classic brand, they're dedicated to excellence, they have like the iconic pinstripes, and we like the colors. So that's helpful information, not just like oh the Yankees are cool.

Joe Casabona: Yeah.

Holly Arnett: Yeah. So I think if you're looking at inspiration, be critical about the inspiration you're looking for and why you like it and what elements you like of it, that you want to kind of inspire what you're doing.

Joe Casabona: Yeah. Yes. And I want to mention one more because we have Apple here, which, like, I'm like a long time, I was an Apple hater for a long time. I'm like an Apple skeptic still.

But the reason I listed them is because they are really good at making sure they have a story around their product. Like, even if it's like even if it feels like a flimsy story, there's still a story. Right? And I think that's really important. They're not just like, the new Apple Watch is out by it. They're like, hey, here's like a video montage of people whose lives were saved because of the Apple Watch.

That's a really powerful story and something I wanna keep in mind.

Holly Arnett: Yeah. And I think one other thing that we have on this board that I think is interesting is that we did, like, map out your brand and your kind of sub-brands or products or services. I think that can be really helpful too if you're someone who has a personal brand or a business brand, you're trying to figure that out, or you're trying to figure out, like, where do all of my offerings, like, sit and work together. It can be really helpful to just, like, map it out because we did that too. Yeah.

Joe Casabona: Yes. And so we had all of this. Again, I approached this as I want you to rebrand Podcast Workflows because it was like clip art. And all of this was under the guise of I talk to podcasters. I help podcasters. And then two things happened while you were on, like well, thankfully, you were on vacation. Right? Like like, this was like a known delay, like, before Yeah. You know, before the first payment was on, you told me what would happen. And I was like, yes. Whatever.

And so, thankfully, this happened because I had two conversations kinda back to back while you're on vacation. One was in a mastermind with other people from Jay's Lab where, shout out to Becky, BPD. She said, that even if I had a podcast, I wouldn't consider myself a podcaster. And I'm like, wow. This is great. I've been talking to the wrong people.

And, like, that carried through the Podcast Movement. And I sent you, like, I was it a video or a voice memo? But it was something like, hi. Don't pay attention to this until you're back, but I was basically having a crisis of conscience. And I'm like, is this what I wanna do? Am I talking to the right people? What am I doing? I feel like this is important for you to know. And you're like, let's hop on a call.

Holly Arnett: Yeah. Let's talk it out.

Joe Casabona: Yeah. Let's just talk it out. And I don't have the Slack open. I think that's where I initially sent that message, but it was very much like a, am I changing the scope of this project too much already? So, like, what was your, if you remember? Right? Because this was back in August or something like that. What was, I'd love to know, like, what your initial reaction to that message was and then, like, kind of what your takeaways were from it.
Holly Arnett: I think my initial reaction is that, like, it doesn't surprise me because this process that we go through, it starts you thinking about your business a lot more and about your brand and who you're targeting and all that sort of stuff. Like we've said, these might be questions you've never thought of before.

So we're going through it together, but then afterward, you're still thinking about it often and you're still maybe yet processing it with other people or getting feedback or asking them questions. So I was just like, okay, yeah, that's fine. And also, I'd rather do it at that point than we've designed everything and, like, gotten to that point and then you're like, oh, actually, I kinda think this is wrong. So I was, like, thankful that you were like, hey, actually, I thought about this and this is where I'm at, and then we can figure it out and then we can both get clarity and then move forward together. So I was like, this is great actually because then we can like really make sure that you're happy and that it's gonna reflect what you want and your goals going forward. So, yeah.

Joe Casabona: Yeah. And I think something that you did in this initial call was kind of plant the seed of personal brand.

Holly Arnett: Mhmm. Yes. I had mentioned it.

Joe Casabona: Because, yeah. And, like, that ruminated with me a lot because, like, I have so many websites. I have too many domains… I have a bunch of projects. And every I swear, it was every year, I was like, where am I gonna publish primarily this year?

Holly Arnett: Yeah.

Joe Casabona: I should put all my effort into Podcast Workflows if I'm talking to podcasters. And then, like, I was like, I'm not talking to podcasters. I'm talking to people who have a podcast who may or may not call themselves podcasters because people who call themselves podcasters are usually hobbyists. And, like, they're not gonna hire me at all. You know, Annie and Chris wouldn't call themselves podcasters. Annie is a nurse.

Holly Arnett: Yeah. Exactly.

Joe Casabona: Chris is the Director of Marketing.

Holly Arnett: Yeah.

Joe Casabona: Shout out to Annie and Chris if you're listening. You guys are the best.

Holly Arnett: Yeah. You have this a lot.

Joe Casabona: Yeah. And so, yeah, in that call, you asked me a bunch of pointed questions, which really helped me get clear on I wanna help busy solopreneurs who are parents. Right? Like, that was also, like, something I was afraid to say. I'm like, am I niching down too much by saying parents? But, like, no. And looking at this board of, like, laying out my products, Podcast Navigator is still around. Right? Because it's just like a video library. It's like a product people can buy.

Podcast Workflows has become Streamlined podcaster. The podcast Liftoff is gone. And this show no longer has a membership. Joe's audio notes is also gonna become part of the show, I've decided.

And then the YouTube channel is me, and the newsletter is me. So, like, hold it all really clear. I know what I'm talking about all the time.

Streamline Podcaster is a place where if I blog about podcasting on casabone.org, it just kinda gets republished over there. So it's like a resource for podcasters, but, it's, you know, the people who are finding me probably do have a podcast.

So, but, like, yeah, that call, I feel like if we didn't have that, we would I'd have a very different brand right now, and I don't think, I'd be, I mean and, I wanna state this explicitly. If I changed my mind too much, I've done contract work too. It would have affected my wallet more than just, like, your time. Like, we wouldn't burn your time because of my indecision.

So, I definitely would have had something that I wasn't as happy with because I was unclear. But, like, you started this conversation. We luckily had a little bit of a buffer. And I couldn't be happier with the brand you came up with. So let's move let's move into that.

Holly Arnett: Yeah. Yeah.

Joe Casabona: Yeah. So, like, when you deliver, hopefully, at this point, everybody knows, like, you're not just giving me fonts and a logo. Right? When you deliver a brand, can you talk through that?

Holly Arnett: Yeah. So I'm usually generally creating like a concept, a theme, like a full world for a brand. And for you, that was all about like this idea of streamlined space that was like the tagline, streamlined equals spacious, but also that's what the visuals were based around.

And so the, like, the first thing I presented to you, I'm just looking at it now, had, like, the logos, the fonts, the colors, patterns, kind of photography, mock-ups of what it would look like, social media stuff, what a website could look like, and then also showed like, what your logo was and then what this proposal would be. And so you can see kind of the change and the evolution.

So, yeah, it's all about kind of creating this brand world, and this theme, and building all the officials around that.

Joe Casabona: Yes. And something that I loved is I've never had a brand guideline. So, like

Holly Arnett: Yeah.

Joe Casabona: The, I love that you used a capital c as, like, the unit of measurement. I mean, this is, like, a common thing. I don't know. Like, you pick, like, part of the brand to be the unit, but, like, I just thought that was really clever. So I'm just gonna…

Holly Arnett: Yeah.

Joe Casabona: Say that out loud. But I, like, I truly love what you came up with. Like, I know one of the things that I asked for in, like, perhaps the only revision, we also talked about, like, another font. Right?

Holly Arnett: Yeah. Yeah. So the couple of things we changed was, like, using, I think, a Google font for the body copy so that you weren't paying for and buying all these custom fonts. You have, like, one custom font, it's great, you paid for that, but then we have an alternative for the body copy that's like, accessible and easy to use and all that.

Joe Casabona: Which for the record, Adobe, if you still only offered a, what was it oh, what was it called before Adobe bought it? But, like, the Adobe fonts, if I could just buy that without the rest of Creative Cloud, we wouldn't have this conversation. Right?

Holly Arnett: Yeah. Exactly.

Joe Casabona: I don't want Creative Cloud. I don't need Creative Cloud.

Holly Arnett: Yeah. I've had problems with so many, all the brands I work with. And it's annoying because Adobe has they do have great fonts. But…

Joe Casabona: Right. Yeah.

Holly Arnett: Anyway, it's a good, like, resource to be able to find the fonts, and then you can go and buy them if you want to.

HoYeah. But, yeah. So that was one change. And then I think you had asked for, like, a monogram. Was that right? Was the…

Joe Casabona: see It was the, like, the icon. Right?

Holly Arnett: Oh, the icon. Yeah, yeah.

Joe Casabona: So, like, if people are watching the video, they're seeing the original concept that actually, my guy, Buddy, from Design Pickle, he became a free agent, came up with like, I wanted this visualization of, like, sand going up through an hourglass. And so, like, what he came up with was, like, a very literal interpretation of that, and I really liked it. But, like, what you came up with here is much more, like, emblematic of, like, what like, the core idea is still there, but, like, the spate like, the spaciousness is also kind of part of it. Right? Like…

Holly Arnett: Yeah. And the stream, you know, like, it's lines streamlined. Yeah.

Joe Casabona: Yes. Yeah. It made me think of, I think I told you this when you showed me it, but, it made me think of Loki, the TV show.

Holly Arnett: Yeah.

Joe Casabona: How he, like, merged all the timelines together into a tree in words, and I love that.

So, you presented me with this. It's fantastic. I love the colors. I want to, I forget where you wrote this, but I love you might have sent it in a video. Did you send me a video? I forgot.

Holly Arnett: Yeah. Because when I present stuff to you, I send it via Loom. Excuse me. So I would do, like, a Loom video presenting the concept or the revision, and talking through, like, the decisions that I'd made and why I'd made them and kind of how it was all coming together.

Joe Casabona: Yes. And so at that point, you mentioned that one of the reasons you put the brand together the way it is is, like, it gave a, like, classic, like, baseball feel.

Holly Arnett: Mhmm.

Joe Casabona: Or, like like, you looked at, like, baseball, typography, and iconography, like branding to help inspire you, which I totally got. I love that. And it, like, really this is, like, another kind of, like, intentional thing. Right? Like people who listen to this show know I talk possibly incessantly about the New York Yankees and baseball in general. Right?

Holly Arnett: Yeah.

Joe Casabona: It's just, like, such a core part of me as a person, and it's so important to me. And if you, yeah, if you, like, if you could see behind me, there's Mariano Rivera throwing I think it's this one. Throwing the last pitch at old Yankee Stadium. Like, it's, like, up in the background. It's so important to me. So I just like that you consider that in the branding.

Holly Arnett: Yeah. Well, I think there's like two things there.

One, like, your brand is a representation of you and it's something that you need to love and feel passionate about. You know, I want you to be like, I'm so proud of this and this feels like me and I love it. So, even if it's not baseball or whatever, if it's not something that is personal but outside ofbusiness to you, like just having stuff that you love helps so much in you wanting to show up as your brand. And also, it's a great reminder that like inspiration for branding doesn't necessarily have to just be branding, like looking at baseball uniforms or baseball cards or like, whatever can inspire you for your branding or going and looking at like sculpture in an art museum or like nature outside, those things are really powerful for inspiration just as much as looking at other people's branding, and looking outside your industry as well, you know, if you were like, I'm gonna look at all the other people doing like automation and streamlining and that sort of stuff. That's how you kinda end up maybe copying or getting really close to them or that kind of thing.

Joe Casabona: Right. It will be like Orange and white with a gear or whatever, like, you know, which is what podcast workflows was.

Holly Arnett: Yeah. Whereas if you're like, I'm gonna go look at baseball as an inspiration, and with this concept of, like, streamlining and all that sort of stuff, that's where you come up with something really unique. So…

Joe Casabona: Yeah. Which I think spacious, baseball diamond, like, you're outside, everyone's a different size, and you've got 400 or so feet of baseball. Right? Like Field of play. I love that.

So, yeah. Super cool. I know we're coming up on time. I wanna mention two more things here, and then give and then seed closing remarks to you because you are the mastermind behind all of this.

I wrote down a couple of notes from my first from Part 1. It feels scary kind of niching down and switching your messaging, but this was super important for me to do because I know that I'm talking to more of the right people now. It's no longer just like, do you have a podcast? I'll help you grow your podcast or whatever. It's like, you know, you are a solopreneur. You're making money. You are a parent. Maybe you have a podcast. You're definitely feeling overwhelmed. I was there. Like, let's talk about that. Let's talk about how we can create space in your business and your life the way I've created space in my life.

And so every time I write a newsletter specifically, right, every time I write to my newsletter, I think about that. I think about how, like, January was insane because it started with like a Christmas vacation ending, snow days, me traveling, sick days, and then more snow days. And I still, at the end of the month, wasn't like I'm insanely behind.

I have enough space in my business to keep doing the things I need to do while being there for my family. And it's just like, that's really powerful. And the word space kept coming up a lot as I thought about that content and writing about it.

Holly Arnett: Yeah. I love that. This is yeah. Great to hear. And I think, yeah, hopefully, helpful for other people listening to that, yeah, this doing this process isn't just about looking better. Like, yes, that's a great thing, but it's it really can be helpful and transformative and powerful for you as the solopreneur, as the business owner to figure out this stuff and to feel really confident and clear in what you're doing so that you can show up and talk really confidently and create content and all that stuff knowing this is what I wanna say, and this is how I wanna say it, and this is who I wanna say it to. So, yeah.

Joe Casabona: Yeah. And and last thing I'll add here is, like, it makes the decision process easier. Right? I have, I had so many opt-ins. Right? Like, one was my automation database. One was my how-to work with a VA template. One was my podcast planner. One was my podcast launch blueprint. One was something else podcast-related.

And, like, at the end of the year, when I finally took stock and I thought, what does my brand dictate I do for 2025? Well, now I have only my automation database. And if you watch one YouTube video, you'll get access to my VA Notion template, which is automation and delegation, like, the two ways that I help you create space.

So, it's really nice now because now I'm not like, oh, well, if people are coming in from this opt-in, I need to have a welcome sequence. Like, just hammer home the same message. Like, reduce friction, create space. Build a better business in life.

Holly Arnett: Yeah. And even like you said, you know, when we talked about the different offers you had, like, you've cut out and streamlined so many of them. And correct me if I'm wrong, but that's because it's so much easier to do that when you have the clarity. You know, before it might be like, oh, well, I need to keep that and I've been doing that for ages or like people are in there or whatever, but when you're like, no, this is my vision, This is the mission. These are the people I need to help. Do all of these things work towards that? If not, then it's not right. And it just makes it easier to make those decisions, I think.

Joe Casabona: Yes. Pepsi made a soda called Pepsi Blue in the early 2000’s. And it was basically like if you, liquefied and carbonated the Jolly Rancher, like a blue Jolly Rancher. And I loved it, but Pepsi quickly discontinued it, and they stopped selling it at the Deli I worked at because no one else bought it. Right? So, like just because, you heard from one person who really likes it or just because, like, you made it and so, like, you feel like you should keep making it, that's not enough justification to probably for you to keep doing it. And so when you have these clear guidelines about your brand and your branding, it's a little bit easier to be like, well, the like, is this, does this follow my brand? No. It's gotta go.

Holly Arnett: Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.

Joe Casabona: Awesome. Well, Holly, this was great. Thank you so much for spending some time with us today. Are there any closing thoughts on the personal brand of Joe Casabona, established 1985? Really, I'm really glad that you went with that, by the way.

Holly Arnett: Yeah. I just think like it, I had such a great time working on it and I think it's such a great example of like, all these things we've been talking about, like finding clarity, going with what like things that interest you and you makes you happy, you know, finding inspiration in all those fun places and creating something that you really love. And that's the goal of branding. Like I have my first ever logo tattooed on me and I always say that my goal with any branding project or with helping people like DIY their branding is that you would love your brand enough that you would even consider getting it tattooed on your body. Not that you would necessarily, but that you'd love it so much that you'd like consider it, right?

And so I think for anyone listening, that should be the goal, is that you love your brand and you feel really passionate about it, so then you want to show up and you want to share and you want to like send it to people and all that sort of stuff.

And I think the, yeah. Your brand is hopefully a good example of, like, trusting the process, really going through the, like, the strategy, the design, all of it, and coming out on the other side with something that we are both proud of.

Joe Casabona: Yeah. I love it and as a testament, I shared it with a couple of masterminds, and no one, nobody was like, you should change this. They were all just like, it looks amazing. So like, yeah. Not that I was gonna design by committee, because again, as a Web Developer, I've been there. Yeah.

Holly Arnett: But, it's good to get feedback, though.

Joe Casabona: Yeah. And it's, and it was all very positive. Like, I loved it and I'm like, do I just love it? Because I don't know. I'm glad I got other opinions, but I'm also really glad that they liked it because I was I would have been very reluctant to be like, we should change this.

Holly, if people want to work with you, where can they find you?

Holly Arnett: You can go to [buyhollyarnett.com]. That's how you can work with me to do your branding for you. If you want to learn how to DIY your branding, you can find me at [makerandmoxie.com] or everywhere on the internet @makerandmoxie, basically.

Joe Casabona: This is probably a good example of, personal brand versus brand brand.

I will link to all of that in the show notes description for this episode wherever you're listening and over at [streamlined.fm]. But Holly, thank you so much for joining us today. I really appreciate it.

Holly Arnett: Thank you so much for having me. It's been really fun.

Joe Casabona: And thank you for listening. And until next time, I'll see you out there.

Alright. So that does it. That is the end of Part 2 of my episode with Holly Arnett, my interview with Holly Arnett. I hope you enjoyed it. Again, I am so happy with the work she did. Definitely check her out if you want to, explore a rebrand or maybe just your very first personal brand like I did.

If you enjoyed this episode, definitely let me know. You can write in at [streamlinedfeedback.com]. All of the links will be in the description below.

And until next time, I hope you find some space this week. Thanks.