0 (2s):
Who's ready to rock today. Fire Nation, JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs On Fire brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network with great shows like the MarTech podcast. Today, we'll be focusing on how a unicorn builds a brand, not just a book of business and to drop these value bombs. I brought Joanne Tan and EOFire studios. Joanne is a global brand builder brand strategist and visual branding expert. She leads a multimedia digital brand marketing agency, 10 Plus Brand Inc. She mentors, startups, CEOs, and executive coaches. And today financial we'll talk about how the founders DNA sets the brand vision, how to get your team to buy in.

0 (42s):
We'll talk about the difference between a stargazer and a firefighter, and how do you build a power brand? And of course, so much more. When we get back from thinking our sponsors Fire Nation, have you ever considered starting your own business? Helium10 can help with Helium10, you can become a seller on Amazon. The world's largest online retail sites with minimal startup costs. Learn more about Helium10. Plus get 50% off your first month of a Helium10 platinum accounts. When you visit helium ten.com/fire, ready to finally have repeatable, predictable and scalable operations for your business train, you all can help visit train ul.com/fire to take a guided 10 part business assessment to help you audit and plan your company documentation today, that's train you all.com/fire.

0 (1m 32s):
Joanne say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with.

1 (1m 43s):
Wonderful. I love the word becoming in your question because success is a process of growth, not an event. It is a journey, not a destination. So most people would say possession of money. Fame power is quote unquote success. Yes, it's part of the success metrics, but there has to be more to stay successful and to keep becoming more successful. Growth is first in growing the founders and CEOs themselves. And that process is never ending then.

1 (2m 25s):
And only then when the founders and CEOs can grow their own vision mindset, skill sets, EEQ IQ can their startups and their companies grow in a healthy way in terms of culture, products, and services. Long-term loyal customers and revenue. So for most entrepreneurs, they want to scale fast, make millions or billions as fast as possible even to be a monopoly like Google. And there's nothing wrong with dreaming big. The desire for getting rich quickly alone cannot get you very far, even though it might motivate you to end up with money, maybe tons of money.

1 (3m 11s):
How long will that growth last? Are you happy with yourself? Can you sleep at night? Are you content about what you are offering to the world and with how you spend your own lifetime doing that? So you need vision not associated with money to inspire first yourself, the founders and CEOs. And second, you had dual die team members and third, your loyal customers. So here, examples of apple versus Microsoft. Apple is a brand well, I'm a branding expert.

1 (3m 52s):
So I would like to compare them at that level. And Microsoft is forever. A computer machine is a functioning machine. So apple commands the leadership as well as a high premium in terms of how they make money. But Microsoft is always a mess, a cheap version of a computing. Okay. Now, how does apple lead with vision? Thanks to Steve jobs at 30, more than 30 years ago, he had a vision and that his vision of the apple that we celebrate the greatness in humanity, we think different.

1 (4m 44s):
And because of all that, apple is where it is today. Of course you have to iterate that vision. You have to be loyal and you have to execute. So that, that vision, and also think about Uber. They got where they were some years ago, very fast, okay. They work quote unquote successful, but their brand is stained because of their bad culture. And that stain will stay with them and with the consumers for a long time, I

0 (5m 21s):
Don't want to move to next. Joanne, I want to talk about getting your team to buy in because if you do that, a culture is born. And just like you mentioned with Uber, like whenever I do hear the word Uber, I just think kind of what a scummy guy, Travis was in a lot of ways. Like, that's my first thing that I think about, you know, as a potential user of Uber and that's bad for their brands for obvious reasons. So explain what you mean by if you can get your team to buy in a culture is born and maybe give us another example or two.

1 (5m 52s):
Well, it all starts from the very top, the founders CEOs, they set the, so when Uber was celebrating openly, all this just completely not acceptable behaviors, celebrating the wrongs, there's the, all the wrong side of social justice, equality, equity, okay. And monkey see monkey do. And they attract people sometimes inadvertently, but sometimes perhaps purposely the like-minded thinkers and doers. And that is like a cancer growing on the company.

1 (6m 35s):
You can make tons of money, but sooner or later is going to haunt you. The teams by Ian is I'm not trying to moralize is what the product can do to change the world in a positive way. And not just with your own products and services. Yes. Wilbur's products and services have made the world a easier place and more convenient place to live, but that's not all that matters. Now example is Nike. Nike relentlessly is making the consumers, making the world think about the brand, Nike more than just a pair of shoes or sneakers, they celebrate human greatness.

1 (7m 28s):
They celebrate human aspiration for justice for, for social equality. And remember that controversy will have siting with color coconut, Colin Kaepernick, right? He was kneeling during the national Anthem before game. And even then president Donald Trump was taking advantage of that. You know, saying that you cannot treat our flag like this, but even though there are other ways of viewing, it is not just about a flag, but about social justice. So Nike make the choice to take a stand. And there are people, plenty of people who stopped by Nike, but at the end of the day, Nike's profits, whether intended or not increase a whole lot for the next two years.

1 (8m 19s):
Yes. So that is about you team. Buy-in you, you celebrate something, you stand for something. When you brand stands for something, you have the vision to become greater than yourself. And that's the, that's why apple started on the right foot and apple becomes the bread of excellence. Okay. And that's why Nike will forever do what they're doing. And I hope that they're, that's, they're going to keep doing that. It depends on their management. If their management there is even the CEO, if the leadership changes their mind, then they're no longer Nike.

1 (9m 1s):
Okay. I hope not. So the leadership set the tone, and then you inspire their teams to buy in, to buy not only about the money, which is yeah. You need to buy in about the process of making profit. Okay. But also what the product stands for that inspires people to make a better the world, a better place for everybody. So, Joanne,

0 (9m 30s):
One thing that you talk a lot about is either being a stargazer or a firefighter, which are two very interesting words. So can you explain what this means and what the differences between the two,

1 (9m 41s):
No salvage grindstone? That's that's a grinder. Stargazer is you don't lose track where you're going. You don't lose track about your vision. I talked about vision that if your brand stands for a out of this world, idealistic vision, it inspires people. It is spires people more than just mere shoes of mere computer machine. Okay. So stargazer is to always look up to your north star and align your company's actions, performance culture, how you motivate your employees, how you inspire your customers and followers with that vision.

1 (10m 31s):
And that will propel you on the right track. Remember growth is a journey, okay? It's a never ending journey, but you always need to follow the north star to stay on track. And if you are putting, you know, putting out fires every day, a nose on the grindstone and never looking up, you're not going anywhere. You're just chasing after the next quarterly result. And you are just in a hamsters wheel. Okay. And you can't grow. You cannot scale if you are not a vision driven leader.

1 (11m 12s):
And I it's, it's hard because most of the startups, they don't have enough hours in the day. The, the founder and CEO, they have fires all over. Okay. Today's once Mars, maybe two. And so was there so absorbed with the daily grinding, the operation, they lose track of their vision. What is it that I really want to deliver to the world? What does my product or service stand for? The, sorry, you cannot be going very far and become a great brand

0 (11m 46s):
In Fire Nation. The reason why you're listening to this episode is because you want to become a great brands, are going to be talking about a great brands. We're going to talk about becoming a rock star, building a power brands, and then, you know, hiring and building the right best team you possibly can. When we get back, when they get our sponsors, every entrepreneur knows what it feels like to be wearing too many hats. You're a creator, a visionary and administrator, a finance person, and that can feel overwhelming and get old really fast. That's why I'm excited to tell you about train. You will a software that makes it easy to document and delegate the things you do to someone else and be completely sure that the handoff is successful and can scale consistently without you.

0 (12m 27s):
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0 (13m 10s):
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0 (13m 52s):
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0 (14m 33s):
So Joanne we're back. And I want to talk about becoming a rock star. How do we do that? What is the process

1 (14m 41s):
Deer to dream big there to think of your bread as a great bread. And there are great brands out there for, to copycat. Okay. Think big dream big and start with a grand vision and stay on course with that vision. When you do that, you ha you have set the foundation for yourself to become a rockstar. So for those who, whose visions are very limited, oh, I just want to sell my company for years.

1 (15m 20s):
Yeah. If that's what you want, that's what you get. But I'm talking to those who want to build something that lasts a long time beyond your accident, this planet earth, okay. We have Walt Disney, we have great brands like Tesla. We have great brands like, you know, Nike and so on. So forth. So you, this is, this is what I mean. When you become a rockstar, you have to dream first and first and foremost and prepare yourself to be a, to be a rockstar. And again, even if you fail, what a grand way of failing you, you do not waste your time.

1 (16m 6s):
You're pursuing your dream. You are pursuing the greatest of yourself. You dare to push a limit to get yourself out of a comfort zone. You're thinking your vision is more than just quarterly results. So that is the difference between a rockstar and anybody else. When you dare to think like that and push us off like that, I can assure you one thing. At least your journey is fun, exciting, and rewarded Fire Nation.

0 (16m 39s):
Don't you want to dream big. Aren't you listening to this? So you can dream big dream big so you can have fun and exciting moments all along your journey. Of course, this is why we're doing what we can do. Otherwise we would just be dying a slow death in a cubicle, like so many people are. So let's talk about building a power brand. Let's talk about vision. Let's talk about discipline. Let's talk about execution. Break this down for us. Joanne,

1 (17m 7s):
Let me give you an example of the American revolutionary war at a time, it was a colony. And for those revolutionaries to dare to proclaim that we are going to become our own country. They risk losing their head, their family, their reputation, everything, the property. Okay. So for them to do that is more than just, I'm not going to pay the tax. You are imposing on me without representation. They need vision. They need a grandiose out of this world costs. And that is the declaration of independence that all men are created equal.

1 (17m 51s):
That all men are created equal is the words that soldiers will willingly give up their life to die for. And even after the war is one, all men are created equal, continue to inspire humanity indefinitely because after the war is won, we're teeny tiny little step towards that grandiose goal. But humanity as a whole is far from achieving that goal. That that's the power of having a vision. Okay? Then you have to make sure you have mission.

1 (18m 32s):
Mission is to help. How many years am I going to, we're going to fight this war. It has to end. We got to win this war as soon as humanly possible. So either it's a, it's a time sensitive is a defined by time. We're going to win this war in five years or 10 years, and then we can declare mission accomplished. And then you need to fight each battle and win each battle in order to win the war. So for a company you need to execute and you don't plan like my next 18 months, what's my business plan.

1 (19m 13s):
And then two years, three years, five years, no, you do it reversely. What is my mission? After you develop your vision, your vision needs to be out of this world. Grandiose. Like I have a dream, like, you know, Martin Luther King's I have a dream. And if you don't have a dream, well, Obama would not become the first black president of the United States. But back then, you know, you gotta declare something that is associated with your company's vision. And then under that you have a mission within 10 years or within five years, what do I want my company to become?

1 (19m 57s):
And then in order to realize that mission and declare it complete, what do I need to do in the three years? And then in 18 months. So that's execution and then stay on course. And you tweak here and there and see, what did I do? Right? What did I do wrong? Did wrong to stay on track, to achieve the vision, okay. To achieve the mission, to achieve the goals, very specific goals and 18 months I'm doing evaluate, have I reached the goal or not? How much closer or how far am I from my three-year ago? So, and you stay on course. So you both work hard, stay on track, but keep your eyes and be on the north star and be a star stargazer at the same time.

1 (20m 47s):
And for us, we help brands to first establish their vision, establishing the brand essence, established the brand persona and the strategies and the structure. And then we help them stay on course. And we amplify their brand messaging internally and externally. So they will stay on track to become a great star

0 (21m 11s):
Fire Nation. There's so much there. I really hope you took all of that in because it is the vision. It is the discipline. It is the execution that's going to result in the success or failure of the brand that you're building. So you Joanne recommend hiring people that are smarter than you, which I totally get. I love being in rooms with people that are smarter than me, because of course I'm learning something from these people. And I also believe that you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. So I want to spend time with smart people, but how do we actually hire people that are smarter than us and get into details as to why

1 (21m 47s):
Building a company is like a building, a bonfire, every log needs to burn to its fullest, to contribute to the grandest most spectacular bonfire. And to keep that ball fired Bernie, you need to keep fueling the fire with the best quality locks. Okay. The firewood now the firewood, each piece is a talent who really specialize in their respective field. And so the CEO's job is the, the, I would say the magic for a successful or not successful CEO is how you can inspire and get on board top talents and then grow with them.

1 (22m 42s):
You grow together. So again, it's circle backs to your vision, to your dream because people jump on board, not just because of what your problem is as tons of money. Yes, that's important, but also the vision of where your company is going for the future, because people are spending their precious lifetime with you trusting not only you as a person, but also your dream. They need to be buy into your dream. So to, to retain top quality talent, the, the CEOs, the, to be humble, but also inspiring, humble in, in the terms of you, respect people who have expertise that you don't have.

1 (23m 42s):
You, you know, you acknowledge, you cannot do it all. Okay? You cannot be a micromanager. You have to be a source of inspiration. That's that makes the great CEOs or failure CEOs. You, you know, whether you can, you have that ability to inspire and let them shy and not be a micromanager.

0 (24m 7s):
You want to give smart people, a long leash. You want to let them around, let them allow their genius to shine, give them the freedom that they know wants and need to create the greatness. I mean, I love that example of how Google gives their employees. Sometimes that's a 20% of their total work time on free projects. Like that's how Gmail was created. That's what other great projects were created because you give great, smart, brilliant people, flexibility to pursue their genius and to pursue their passions. And then you see what happens as a result. So Joanne, give us the one key takeaway that you really want to make sure a Fire Nation gets from our entire chat today. Then share how we can connect with you. Any call to action that you have for our listeners.

0 (24m 49s):
And then we'll say goodbye.

1 (24m 50s):
Number one is to make sure the company is growing on a solid foundation. And to build that foundation, take your time, make sure you have the DNA. I call it the DNA decoding. You have the DNA sequence mapped out for your company and then build the structure, the strategies, the stories, the three assets. I call it. Once you have the DNA sequence, then you put the meat on the bone, okay. And then you can continuously inspire yourself and your company and your customers with your brand vision.

1 (25m 32s):
So this is number one. Number two is execution takes a discipline. And sometimes I would say most of the time, a CEO's time is very stretched. Okay. So make sure your Mo motivate and mobilize experts in different areas to, to be coordinated, really executing the vision of the company. And then the specific tasks that will lead to mission accomplished. You always have to stay on track and we can help as a, a trusted partner for your journey, both in terms of establishing your brand DNA and then help you hold you accountable with specific metrics to execute that brand vision for internally, as well as externally, the growth, both the internal morale and culture, as well as externally attracting loyal fans and, and loyal.

1 (26m 44s):
Long-term committed customers who believe in your brand, not just buying a product or service. So these two things we can do, and we Excel at creating the content that will be based on the brand DNA and then amplify with AI human hybrid, digital marketing. So my, if you have questions, you can email me or go to my website. My company's website, www.10plusbrand.com.

1 (27m 29s):
And, and see if you are interested in any specific areas of our service, because we have a full service menu from DNA decoding to creating content, to creating website and videos and to amplify the brands with marketing technology, fire

0 (27m 53s):
Nation. So much value was given here today. And you are the average of those five people you spend the most time with. So hire smart people and spend time with smart people. And you've been hanging out with JT and JLD today. So make sure to keep that heat going and head over to you. A fire.com type Joanne in the search bar. Her show on his page will pop up with everything we talked about here today. Make sure to visit 10 plus brand.com. That's one zero plus brand.com. Joanne, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today, for that we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Oh, I

1 (28m 28s):
Forgot to say that. I host a podcast series called interviews of notables and influencers, and because I'm very close to Silicon valley, I last interviewed Tim Draper, a so-called the first family of Silicon valley about crypto, about Bitcoin, Elon Musk and inflation everything else. And before that, another sitting on Bali celebrity called Steve Hoffman, who just published a book called surviving a startup. I w I was interviewed, I interviewed him about that book and a lot of questions because I mentor startups as well and, and early stage startups.

0 (29m 10s):
Thank you so much, Joanne. We will catch you on the flip side. Thank you so much. Thank you for the honor. Hey, Fire Nation today's value bomb. Content was brought to you by Joanne and Fire Nation. Are you ready to rock your very own podcast? If so, check out our free podcasting course, where I will teach you how to create and launch your podcast for free free podcast course.com. I will catch you there.

2 (29m 35s):
Or on the flip side,

0 (29m 38s):
Fire Nation, have you ever considered starting your own business? Helium10 can help with Helium10. You can become a seller on Amazon. The world's largest online retail sites with minimal startup costs. Learn more about Helium10 plus get 50% off your first month of a Helium10 platinum account. When you visit Helium10.com/fire, ready to finally have repeatable, predictable and scalable operations for your business train, you all can help visit Trainuall.com/fire to take a guided 10 part business assessment to help you audit and plan your company documentation today, that's Trainuall.com/fire.