Start Charging What You're Worth with Sheila Anderson

00:00:55 - Courtney Elmer
Do you know what kind of first impression your brand makes when someone meets you in person? Or especially when someone meets you online? Are you commanding their attention? Or are you unknowingly repelling people? In today's episode, you're going to find out how your visual identity impacts not just your ability to attract clients, but your ability to charge higher rates and be seen as a respected, thought leader in your niche. All that and more is coming up next right here. So stay tuned.

00:01:29 -  Courtney Elmer
Globally ranked among the top shows in business and education. We're known for helping overworked online business owners navigate the ups and downs on the way to seven figures each week. You're going to learn how to get the right systems, structure, and support in place so you can build a self-sustaining business that thrives in a rapidly changing digital environment and grow through what you go through to create the greater income, influence, and impact you deserve. This is antifragile entrepreneurship.

00:02:01 - Courtney Elmer
Welcome back. You're listening to AntiFragile Entrepreneurship™. This is episode 181. And most entrepreneurs don't realize this, but when someone finds your profile on Instagram or LinkedIn or experiences you in a video on your Instagram stories, they're not consciously or logically deciding whether or not you're worth following. But in a split second, literally half a second, to be exact, people make thousands of unconscious computations to decide whether you're someone they can trust, whether you're someone they want to spend their most valuable resource, their time getting to know. So the question isn't how can I build a brand that attracts my ideal client?

00:02:50 - Courtney Elmer

Or how can I make my website more visually pleasing? Or what brand color should I use? But the question is, how can I ensure that my brand presence sends the right message and attracts the right people? And this is why today I want you to meet Sheila Anderson. Sheila's on a mission to make people visible, and not just visible, but memorable by raising their personal image to meet the value of their brand. And as the founder of Image Powerplay, she works with some of today's top leaders and influencers to help them elevate their brand presence and create intentional, consistent, and authentic interactions with others so that they can experience the power of real ROI return on the image. Because whether or not you realize it, from the words you say to the colors you wear to the values that you hold, all of it is either attracting or repelling your perfect client. And the good news is, once you know what these invisible elements are, you can craft your brand presence to send the right message, attract the right people, and ultimately start charging what you're really worth and be seen as a respected, thought leader in your niche. So what does your brand convey? What do you want it to convey? Let's find out.

00:04:23- Courtney Elmer
Sheila, welcome to the show. I am thrilled to have you here today. I keep thinking back to the first time that we met. I was speaking at an event, and I was on my way into the coffee shop for an afternoon little caffeine boost, and you stopped me, and you just were radiant, and you were stopping me to compliment me on my outfit and my sparkly shoes. And, of course, that compliment just made me feel it made my day. But I looked at you, and you were so well put together, you were so poised, you were so approachable, and you were so genuine. I didn't know you from Adam, but the first impression that you made on me was so positive and warm, and welcoming. And this is why I'm delighted to have you here today after learning about you and what you do because you are a personal image consultant; you help people make better first impressions and help them elevate their brand. And for so many of our listeners who are growing a personal brand, growing a company where they are the face of that brand, this is so important, and it's something that often gets overlooked. So thank you for making the time to be here today and just to share your wisdom with us.

00:05:53 - Sheila Anderson
Courtney, I am just delighted to be with you on your podcast. It's such an honor. And I remember seeing you at that event, and I had seen you several times before. I approached you, and you just stood out. There was something there was this beautiful aura about you, genuineness. And just that first impression we're going to talk about was so important. And I stepped out, and you are standing out. You are visible. And so that's kind of what I do with personal branding, is how do I make people visible in that space that they want to own? I remember seeing you and just being just, oh, my gracious, I have to go over to her and just compliment you. Because sometimes we don't see what others see. And it's nice when people acknowledge something that maybe we become stagnant about or we just take it for granted. When people notice that, I try to encourage people to tell somebody, let them know that, hey, that's a great blouse, or I really admire how you're speaking from stage and your thought leadership, love your podcast, what you're doing, all that stuff. Tell people. Tell people.

00:07:17 - Courtney Elmer
I love that. And I agree with you. It's so important because we've all heard about the power of a first impression, and often we don't know how our own first impression lands. It's not something I think about, right? I want to make a good impression, but I'm not necessarily there actively, consciously trying to do that or not do that. And I was prepping for a talk the other day, and I was actually looking up statistics on first impressions, and I was reading about how when you meet someone in person, you make thousands of unconscious little computations in. Your mind within a matter of seconds. 7 seconds to be specific about whether or not you like that person, whether or not you trust them, and whether or not you feel like they are capable. And then I went on to read that in the digital space. Like when you're meeting someone online, when you hear their voice on the podcast for the first time, or when you scroll past their profile on Instagram, you make those computations in less than a second, half a second. And when you think about that and the impact that carries, everyone's looking to get more visible, everyone's looking to grow their business, everyone's looking to stand out, and it's getting more and more competitive. Things are getting noisier and noisier. So when it comes to personal visual identity and personal branding, can you tell us, first of all, what makes a personal visual identity and why is so important when it comes to building whatever the brand is that you're building?

00:08:47 - Sheila Anderson
Yeah, that's a great question. And we've all heard that it takes 7 seconds, and it's not even 7 seconds anymore. It is milliseconds, and especially with the digital space, it's instantaneous. We're swiping. We're so used to scrolling through social media or somebody's website or whatever that is, and you have to think about that stop factor, what makes them stop and stay on your social media profile or your website or if they're Googling you, whatever that is. So there's all different elements and all different facets of our personal brands. What I love is the visual aspects of your brand. I call it your visual identity. What that does is, as humans, we are wired to interpret things visually. First and half of our brain, I'm not a scientist on that, but about half of our brain is dedicated to visual identity. So it's really important to how we're showing up visually in those aspects. Those different elements of your visual identity are your personal style, your grooming, your website, your social media posts, the memes that you're doing, all of that visual identity, the logo maybe you have for your company, all of that says something about your values and what you stand for. It also helps us determine trust. That's the number one thing that we're looking for when we meet somebody I want to know if I can trust you. 

00:10:25 - Sheila Anderson

And you think about way back in time when people maybe couldn't even really speak a language; they would look at each other and decide you up really quickly to see if I could trust you if I was in this tribe or that tribe or whatever it is. So it comes back to knowing if I can trust you. And how we determine trust is we look at the visual identity of your brand. But I do want to go back to the very first, like, where's the starting point of your personal brand? I think that's like the number one question where do I start? How do I even know what my personal brand is? I'm a solopreneur, and I'm either trying to build my business, or I've been in business for a while, and I'm trying to scale. Personal branding is something that can really help you in all those different spaces. And where I start is coming up with your brand personality. And so, if I were to ask five of your closest friends, what one word comes to mind when they think of you? What would they say? And if I were to ask some other people that maybe you've just met, what words come to mind when they look at you or when they've scrolled through your profile or Googled you? What do you think those words are that they would tell me? And maybe, what are those words that you never want used to describe you? And if you're like most people, you probably haven't given it that much thought. So my main question to people is, how do you want people to experience you? How do you want them to think about you?

00:12:26 - Sheila Anderson

And personal branding I kind of describe as owning that experience that other people have with you. And that experience could be face-to-face; it could be online. All those little interactions that they've had with you all build that experience. If you think about branding in the essence of, like, Starbucks, the Starbucks brand isn't coffee, right? It's a meeting place. They've built this amazing meeting space, that experience, and that becomes your brand. So if you can come up with that word or a couple of words to really describe who you are at your core, and sometimes the best place to start with that is coming up with your personal core values. Companies have core values, but you personally can have some core values and write down those words and then ask other people, right? Ask other mentors and leaders and friends what are some words that you would use to describe me and have your own word and see if those align with the words that they're coming up with. It's really hard for us to see that outside label when we're inside the jar. So it's really good for us to ask other people, get feedback. And I do this for myself, probably on a yearly basis, making sure that I am coming across the way I want to in all those interactions with me. Approachable is one of my words. So it's really interesting, Courtney, that you said at the beginning that I want to make sure I am approachable. And so once you come up with those words, that's how you build your brand. That's your brand personality and visual identity. And then that's how there are words that can visually tie to that word. There's color psychology that can be tied to that word. There's your personal style that can be tied to that word, your communication style, how you're writing articles and all that. So I'm going to pause and let you ask me a question.

00:14:02 - Courtney Elmer
There's so much I want to unpack here because what really fascinates me about this is the psychology behind it. It's the unconscious, invisible, unspoken communication that we are always communicating 100% of the time, whether we realize it or not. And we're doing that through our image. We're doing that through our voice. We're doing that through how we carry ourselves. And I'm glad you bring up the values because I think, especially for us as personal brands, we get so focused on where's our next client coming from. What am I doing to generate leads? Am I posting enough online to stay relevant to my community? Should I have a podcast? Is my email list big enough? Right? And the day-to-day stuff of our businesses floods our minds that we don't often take a step back to look at our business, our brand and to think about how is that someone else sees me. And I used to struggle with this because, for years, perfectionism was my strategy for staying safe. 

00:15:02 - Courtney Elmer

It was my coping mechanism for not getting hurt, for not getting rejected. Right? So I remember back in the early days of my career, I was working nine to five. I had a side hustle on the side, and there was not a day that I would go by without makeup or wearing high heels. Those are the only pair of shoes that I owned. And it was all a very stiff brand, I would say, but it didn't feel authentic to me. It was something that I did, but it didn't really feel authentic. And then, as I grew as a person and also started overcoming some of these tendencies of being perfect or always having to look a certain way, I really started focusing more on connection. Because if I were to pick a word, that's definitely one of mine, and that's definitely a value of mine is I want people to meet me and feel connected to me, even if they don't know me, even if they felt if they saw me speak from stage and they met me in the coffee shop afterward, and they're like, oh, I feel connected to her. And so I personally use that to guide my interactions with people. You bringing this up just now is making me think about this, and it makes me want to sit down and journal a bit about this.

00:16:12 - Courtney Elmer

 What other values? What am I really communicating? Because that is so inherent in everything that we do. But to your point, we don't often take the time to look at it that way or think about it that way. So I'm curious to know, you've mentioned some of these invisible elements, right? The values that we hold people don't see that. People don't know that, but they feel it. What are some other invisible elements that we should be taking into consideration when it comes to building this visual identity? In this personal, really that's a.

00:16:42 - Sheila Anderson
Great question, and it's hard for us to sometimes come up with those values. And honestly, Courtney, I believe it really comes down to your core values. Just come up with three core values. What are things that you are never going to go away from? Right? If there's ever a strong or a tough decision you have to make, you're going to go back to that core value, and you're going to stay true. There is no room for wiggle room to go off of those core values again; you talked about that. That really does come through somebody's brand. When you're dealing maybe with a customer that's frustrated or those first interactions with potential customers or clients that you're going to have, those values are invisible, but they come through your actions, and they also come through with your tone of voice that you use in your website, copy your articles, your blogging, all that. 

00:17:50 - Sheila Anderson

So try to think of other invisible elements, and the heart of it is your core values and your strengths. There's a book called Strength Finders, which I absolutely love, and that's such a great place for people to start thinking about what I am really good at and what are those things that maybe I'm not so good at. But that's okay, right? It's okay that I'm not good at that. And I'm a Christian, and I believe that God has given you certain gifts that other people don't have. Nobody else is you. Nobody else has your set of values, your gifts that you've been bestowed upon, and it's up to you to bring those to the world the best that you can. One of the things that I'm going to go maybe a little off track here a little bit, but it kind of comes down to self-image as well as self-acceptance. And that silent voice inside of us can really take control and really take over. All of us have that, and we just have to knock it off our shoulders sometimes. But if you think about it, again, I come from a Christian background that God made me a certain way, and he thought the world needed one of me. And so who was I to say, gosh, I wish I had a smaller waist? I wish I was this size. Why don't I have blonde hair? I wish my eyes were bigger. All that, when we start hurting ourselves with that talk comparison, is the thief. We compare ourselves to other people in many ways. Sometimes it can be okay to motivate us a little bit, but don't compare yourself to tear yourself down because you were put on this earth for an assignment, and nobody else has your skill set, nobody else has your values, all of that. And it's only you that can bring that to the world.

00:20:01 - Courtney Elmer
You are speaking to my heart right now. So much so, as you said a moment ago, this is the heart of what it is. I think so often we want to project a successful image so we show up as someone that we're not in order to win the affection and the attention of others, when really what we need to do is first get clear on who you are and share that with the world because that is what makes you unique. That's what I'm hearing you say.

00:20:34 - Sheila Anderson
Yeah, it's an inside job first.

00:20:36 - Courtney Elmer
Yes.

00:20:37 - Sheila Anderson
Such an inside job. You really have to know who you are and really be content with that. Find a coach, find somebody that can help you see that, and get some guidance. And again, ask other people, what are some gifts that you see in me that maybe I'm not utilizing because we maybe take it for granted. And another thing is that pay attention to what people ask you to know. Maybe they're always asking. Maybe you're a super organized person, and you really don't think that that's such a gift. But people constantly know, hey Jennifer, can you come over or can you help me organize this? Can you help me think through this process? Maybe you're really good at strategy, so ask others to know what they're asking you to do or pay attention to what they're asking you to do because that's a clue to maybe what some of your gifts are that you don't even realize.

00:21:32 - Courtney Elmer
So true. I have had so many coaches through the years, but a couple that jumps out at me the most are one of them who I worked with on my vocal tone and what I was conveying through my voice and how that impacted how I was showing up. And for those listeners that are just joining us, if you go back to the very early episodes of this podcast, you'll probably laugh right along with me because I had those episodes again, my perfection strategy, right? I had everything scripted out. I would read it, but it didn't sound like it was being read. Like you wouldn't know, I was reading it. But because I was doing that and I wasn't letting people in, it kept people out, kept people from connecting with me, which had the opposite effect of what I was trying to do. So that was really impactful. 

00:22:18 - Courtney Elmer

And there was another time when I actually had someone do a color consult on me so that I could see what colors actually flatter me and then use those colors to build my brand and visual identity. Because then those were the colors that I was going to show up on stage wearing, and those are the colors that I was going to show up and take photo shoots, and then those would all kind of come together to create this brand aesthetic. I don't know if I was going about it the right or wrong way or a series of steps that you might follow with your clients, but those things were very impactful for me personally because they were someone else looking from the outside in at what I couldn't see. So I'm curious, has there been a time with maybe a client that you've worked with where they were really struggling to scale their business because they didn't have a strong brand, they didn't have a brand visual identity, they didn't know how to build that and how, by helping them improve that, they were ultimately able to grow their business?

00:23:17 - Sheila Anderson
Yeah, and that's probably every client. Every client struggles with that. And that's why they hire you raised. That's why they call, is that they're struggling with that. You said something interesting about having a color draping or figuring out what colors are part of your brands, which is really important. But I think what's even more important about that, I mean, we all know there are certain colors that look good on us, but I'm going to break the rules sometimes for people on that to make sure that the color that they're wearing or the color that they're choosing for their brand colors sends that message that we want it. Right. Sometimes people will say, maybe black is too strong of color against your skin, but maybe you're really a really bold, confident person, and we need to have that black. We need to have that color part of your brand, even though it may not look the best on you.

00:24:18 Sheila Anderson

 I never like to stifle people. I never want to put them in a box. I want to make sure that because there's never a one size fits all. But colors are really important, and so they do send a message. So if you are talking from the stage, there are certain colors that are going to portray different things, right? Blue is always trustworthy. Pink has this genuine softness about it, and it's very compassionate. It's very caring. It's full of love. Red is really, again, a powerful color. Black is the boldest, most dramatic color. But if the message that you want to send is more compassionate, we're going probably not going to have you in black. So that home of color psychology. You could do a whole thing on that. It's really important. But I think that the lesson from that is to know that colors send a certain message, and there's a filter that we all use when we see people, and so clothing really can become that filter as well. So what you're wearing, you said something previously that you were in high heels and maybe a very corporate look, and it didn't feel at home. And I think that's where it becomes such a disconnect for people is they are dressing for what they feel like that industry needs them to be, instead of dressing authentically to who they are. Again, you have to figure out who you are internally first, and then we can dress in a way that sends that message.

00:25:55 - Courtney Elmer
This is all so fascinating to me because as you share this, my mind is going, oh, yeah, I notice this about people when you say it, but when I'm just encountering that person or interacting with that person, it is sending a message. But I'm processing that message completely unconsciously. And I think this is why it's so important. But probably also why it's difficult for people to maybe wrap their minds around. And this is what I'd love to ask you next, Sheila, is when it comes to the brand that you've built and the next book that you're writing, Return on Image, that can feel like an intangible thing. How do you measure that, right? What does that look like in terms of ROI? Can you break that down for us and maybe help to make that a bit more tangible? Why should people start paying more attention to this?

00:26:42 - Sheila Anderson
Well, everything communicates, everything you do, everything you say, and everything you wear has consequences, and it's either strengthening that brand of you, or it's taken away from that brand, and it's all okay. You just have to understand that, and then you just have to own it. If you're making a decision that maybe is a little controversial or maybe a little bit against what you feel like your brand can be, but you want to take that risk, that's okay. But just know there are consequences to that, and you just have to own that. I'm trying to think of when we're building our visual identity again. We're working with the words that come to mind or what we want to own. I was thinking about, again, I'm a personal stylist. I call myself an image designer. And so the image is really kind of at the heart of what I do. I'm really a creative chick by heart. That's really who I am. But I'm married to a certified public accountant who's always talking to me about my ROI. What's your ROI. ROI? And I kind of came back to him one time and said, well, it's my Return on Image.

00:27:53 - Sheila Anderson

 What's my return on the image? And we were like, that's really kind of brilliant. So I trademarked it. I owned that trademark of Return on Image. So if you think about what your ROI is in terms of how you're showing up, what can that do for you? Well, first of all, it can attract clients. And not only clients but the right clients, specific clients that you're trying to attract. It also, I tell people you could be leaving money on the table with how you're showing up. And so you can command higher fees if you have a strong personal brand if you've built that brand, if you look like somebody I can trust or a high profile consultant or a coach or whatever your business is, if you have that thought leadership out there in terms of maybe a podcast, articles have a point of view. All those things can help you command higher fees. So that can be a return on your visual identity of how you're showing up. So those are just a couple of examples in my book. We're going to unpack that a little bit further. But again, if you think about the image and all the different aspects of the image and how that really it's really marketing yourself, in a sense, and using marketing techniques to really highlight and showcase who you are.

00:29:22 - Courtney Elmer
I love this. And for those listening who are like a book, where could I get that? Where could I read that, right? I know you have one out right now, and you have one that's coming right. Where can people connect with you? Where can they go to buy your book? Where should they go, Sheila, to learn more from you? Because if they are anything like me sitting here today, this has really got my own wheels earning. Like, I want to take a closer look at my brand and my visual identity, even though I feel like I've done a decent job working to build it through the years. As you mentioned at the start of this episode, it's something you revisit every year, something you're always taking into consideration. So for those listening today who are like, yeah, I need some help, where can they go to connect with you?

00:29:59 - Sheila Anderson
So the best place is my website Imagepowerplay.com, and it has a link to all my social media profiles. I am on LinkedIn, and I do have a Facebook page and Instagram. My book is on Amazon, but there's a link to my book on my website. And that first book is like an 80 or 90-page book. It's a quick 1-hour read that just helps you get to thinking about what is my personal brand, why it is important. There are some exercises that you can do in there to be thinking about what are your core values and your strengths and all that. Such is a great place to start.

00:30:36 - Courtney Elmer
Awesome. Sheila, thank you for being here today, for sharing all of this with us, and for helping us to open our minds to consider the image that we're putting out there. And is it the image we want to portray? Is it the visual identity that's true to who we truly are and for helping us just evaluate and take those next steps to really figure that out? So thank you for that.

00:30:57 - Sheila Anderson
Well, thank you. It's been such a pleasure and such an honor, and I wish you the absolute best.

00:31:04 - Courtney Elmer
And thank you so much for joining us here today on another episode of AntiFragile Entrepreneurship™. Now to connect with Sheila, head to the Show Notes, where we have linked her book and her website so that you can follow her online @imagepowerplay and learn how to make sure that your brand is making the first impression that you want, so you can command higher fees, elevate your brand reputation and be seen as a respected expert in your niche. And if you loved this episode, I would love it if you share it with a. Friend. And if you love this show, I would love it even more if you would scroll down in your Apple app, tap the five stars, and leave a short review. Most people who listen to podcasts don't realize how their review helps. It helps the host of the show know that the content that I'm here providing you every week is actually valuable for you. And it helps other people who are browsing podcasts to listen to know that this show is worth their time. And as always, if you want to connect with me personally, come hang out with me on Instagram. I am there every day in my story, sharing behind the scenes, running my business, and you can find me there at @thecourtneyelmer. Now, next week, I'm excited for this one. We're talking about the reason that most people fail when it comes to online business and what you need to ensure your success. So join me back here next week. And until then, let's go out and grow through what we go through together. Close.