because I became a mother.
So when I became a mom, that sort of lifestyle
just didn't fit into the vision I had for my family.
And as soon as I became a mother,
then I looked into being an entrepreneur
because I felt like that allowed me more flexibility
and freedom and creativity.
But it's funny because I do use a lot of the skills
and the strategies from advertising in the work
that I do now in brand strategy for female entrepreneurs.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Good, I like that.
What years was that, if you don't mind,
when you were doing the advertising?
So I'm like a dinosaur, I feel like.
So I graduated college in 94
and I went right into advertising.
So I worked in advertising up until 2000 or 2001
and my oldest son was born in 2002.
So he is 21 right now, which is hard to believe.
So I've been an entrepreneur for over two decades.
Yeah, well, that's not fair.
You look younger than me.
Not fair at all.
Okay, so I asked that context
because the world of advertising has shifted so much
in terms of the mediums and platforms.
100%, I was just talking about this with someone
who is my age.
So it was like fair that we could talk about
how media was billboards, radio, print and TV.
And that was it.
And that's what we worked on.
And now you have this whole digital world
with all these social media platforms.
It's a totally different beast.
It's interesting how things change.
It is, it's interesting how the tactics
or certain platforms can change.
And it's so cool to me, the principles that stay the same,
like the moments of truth.
That book, for instance, being a classic
for advertising marketing influence.
So there are certain things that translate over
and it is still interesting to me
that the most dominant brands
and the world ones who are succeeding,
most of them are still on TV.
Yeah. And still have radio ads
and still understand the value of print
and digital marketers hate to acknowledge that.
But there's so much value to be had in lots of ways.
I've got to ask three resources.
If you were to give three resources
to visionaries, entrepreneurs,
it could be a book, it could be a movie, et cetera.
What would they be?
So I think one of the best books you should read
as an entrepreneur is The Big Leap.
I don't know if you've heard of it,
but it talks about your four zones.
You have zone of incompetence, zone of competence,
zone of excellence and zone of genius.
And as a branding person,
I think you wanna tap into your zone of genius
and bake that into your brand
so that that brand can stand out,
can have sustainability and can be really sharp and sticky.
And so it's such a great book that teaches you
sort of what you need to delegate
or what you need to let go or what you need to shift.
Because many of us are probably playing
in that zone of excellence because it feels safe
and it feels comfortable.
But as we like pull the layers apart
and really ask ourselves, like, what are we meant to do?
And what is that zone of genius, that area of expertise?
Hopefully you get to take the leap
and get into that zone of genius.
So that's a book that I have probably read
three or four times just because I feel like
it can keep revisiting it.
Yeah.
Another book that I love is Essentialism.
I don't know if you've read that one.
Don't ask me the authors because I can never remember,
but it's such a great book because it talks about
really getting focused as a brand, as a business,
as a person and kind of stripping away all the things
that don't really matter and only focusing
on what does matter.
And so again, as a branding person,
especially someone who is a big proponent of,
who believes in niching, the idea of being an essentialist
and cutting through all the noise
and going all in on a certain lane
is sort of, is in alignment with a lot of the ways
that I run my business and how I help my clients.
And then I think if I had to pick a third one,
again, as a branding person, Donald Miller,
Story Brand was an amazing book where he talks about,
storytelling and how to use that to build your brand
and really kind of dumps it down for all of us
to be better brand builders.
And that is a book I've read multiple times as well.
That's awesome.
That Donald Miller doubled down yesterday's guest
also brought him up as their resource.
And I'm a fan too.
I like what he's up to and it's fun to see twice in a row
that happened even though I don't know.
Are you connected to Scott Aaron?
I gotta ask now.
No, I don't even know who that is.
Well, you'd probably be a fantastic guest as well
on his podcast, Networking and Marketing Made Simple.
So happy to put a shout out and a connection there.
We're gonna go to the break.
We'll be right back and dive into Malika's vision.
All right, welcome in to Vision Pros Live.
With Jackson Calame, I'm your show host.
We'll be doing interviews for visionary entrepreneurs
and guest leaders who are building
fantastic visions out there.
Hey, what's up and welcome in to another episode
of Vision Pros Live.
I'm your show host, Jackson Calame,
founder and CEO of First Class Business.
I'm excited to have Malika Malhotra on today.
Malika has a brand about, well,
really helping you build your brands.
She's a brand strategist.
She has a mentorship program as well.
Specifically, she's helping ambitious women entrepreneurs
who are ready to take their brand to the next level.
And one of the big things that she really promotes
and advocates for is niche and niching down.
We're gonna talk about that at length as we talk.
We're also gonna talk about growing the business faster
with what she calls the bullseye brand method
after we dive in about her vision.
Now, before I bring on stage,
we've also got some sponsors to talk about,
people that we work with that we're excited to release to
as more resources that you could turn to for help.
So one is Melissa Gray with The Loss Spot.
She also has an excellent episode.
She came on our show, just like Malika's on.
And we decided to work together at some very high levels.
I can't talk about how deep those conversations
are going right now, but they're about as deep
as conversations get for businesses.
She really shows that law doesn't have to be complicated.
And I've spent many years working
with so many different clients that didn't have
proper legal counsel on board,
that I was intrigued to put her on the show,
even though I was a little nervous about,
I don't know if I want an attorney personality
talking about vision, but she's got a great personality.
She's got great characteristics professionally as well
in terms of what she can do for brands.
And if I can help any of you avoid the $20,000
trademark lawsuit that we had at Restaurant Connect,
or any of you know what to do when you have a demand letter
from a client or know what to do,
when Apple patents your software,
like they did our software at Restaurant Connect as well,
then by all means, I'd love to see you guys connect.
Just consider her.
In terms of the legal counsel options
that you have out there.
In addition, there's Franklin Parker of Directional Advisors.
Franklin Parker has worked in family home office environments
and a family home office is basically the team
that runs the finances and decisions for a billionaire.
He's learned about finance at a really high level levels.
I've never been a billionaire.
I don't know a billionaire yet.
Haven't had one interviewed on a show either.
So it's really fun to be able to pick his brain
and also see his book and get to know him.
You can see his picture right now if you're watching.
He also plays the guitar.
He used to be in a band
and he's got such a deep and rich personality.
And I find that most financial advisors
lack the type of depth of personality,
really get what it is that you're up to.
They'll ask the questions, the tactics,
just to find out who you are
because that's what they're trained to do.
It's different when you meet Franklin.
Like he is a legitimately amazing guy.
In fact, we're going to lunch tomorrow.
He's driving down and going to be in the area.
So that'll be fun.
Anyway, those are two amazing resources you can turn to.
And I don't have my water bottle on me
that I normally use for the segment,
but the water project is near and dear to my heart.
I will not go a day without promoting something like this
to the world, helping people realize
there's millions of people who have needs
that we take for granted.
I can go down to my kitchen and get water and a heartbeat.
These kids, these families,
these parents who are supposed to provide,
they have to sometimes walk three to five miles
in order to find a source of water
that might not even be safe for their families.
And we have the opportunity to do something about it.
If you're not in a financial position
to contribute to the water project,
then all I ask is that you potentially share this
with somebody, maybe you tag somebody who you thought of.
Maybe you were inspired to think of a different cause
that also needs attention.
And if that's the case, do me a favor,
drop that link in the comments
so that we can take a look at it.
And maybe we end up supporting the cause.
Maybe I end up pulling it on Division Pros Live as well.
And I appreciate you for jumping in and helping with me.
Taylor Welch calls this clean energy.
And if that's what you need for motivation,
just know that when you give,
when you do something good for others,
it gives you that marathon energy
that helps you feel that much better about your day.
Same way as if you were to go on a walk
or make sure you get your water intake, et cetera.
So I'm gonna get off my holistic wellness topics
and pedestal, I'm gonna bring Malika on
and we're gonna dive right into her vision.
Malika, thank you so much for being here today
on Vision Pros Live.
Yeah, thank you for having me, Jackson.
I'm excited to be here.
Absolutely.
So the first question I have for you is,
tell me, is to tell me about your vision.
We wanna know what's your vision for those that you serve.
Yeah, so that's a powerful question.
So I think, you know, the vision that I have
for the people that I serve,
when I think about my clients,
I think about my community,
when I think about my family,
I think it's, you know, make an impact
to create a sense of belonging,
to have deep connection, right?
When I think about my legacy,
that's what I want at the end of the day,
to have like meaningful connection,
to feel like I made a difference.
Did I help someone think differently
or did I inspire them to take action?
Did I help support them in getting to their next best goal
or to dream a little bit bigger?
Those are kind of the big things that I think about
when I think about the vision
or the legacy I wanna leave behind.
It's amazing.
Like it came out formulaic too,
not in an authentic way, in a very authentic way.
It's like, okay, impact, belonging and connection.
And I was like, wow, it's like,
there you go for somebody who wants to niche down.
It's a good concept in and of itself.
So moving to your vision,
what is your vision for yourself on the horizon?
Yeah, I think for myself is like continuous growth, right?
I feel like I'm in midlife.
I have been an entrepreneur for over two decades,
but I wanna continue to be curious
and I wanna continue to push beyond my boundaries
and kind of live a really exciting and full life.
I don't wanna, boredom to me is like,
the worst thing that can happen, right?
And so I just wanna keep pushing myself to just grow.
And it doesn't have to be leaps and bounds, right?
In even just small ways,
but to always have that curiosity,
I think that's part of my own vision.
And that's what I try to teach my sons.
And that's what I try to teach my clients
is to lean into that,
because I think that really helps you grow
beyond the financial goals that you want
or all those other things.
Like those are important too,
but like, can we kind of just lean into that self growth
and just pushing beyond some boundaries
and that's really important.
I like that.
I also, I really liked that you key in
on the simple matters of growth too.
It doesn't have to be a grandiose fireworks show
at all times, but it could be simple.
What are some of the simple growth areas
that come to mind for you?
Yeah, so small wins like today,
being here with you, right?
Meeting someone new.
Pushing myself out of my comfort zone,
showing up and sharing a little bit about my journey.
Small win could be, getting outside and taking a walk
instead of being glued to the screen.
As entrepreneurs, it's easy just to just continue
to work and work, but setting my some boundaries
for myself so that I have a healthier lifestyle.
Taking the dog for a walk, being outside with nature.
Small win could be connecting with my parents or family
that don't live close by so that I feel that again,
sense of belonging and that network of people
that I wanna support as well as be supported by.
I love that.
Thank you, that was a great list.
You're fast.
Those are a lot of little victories fast.
The honeydew list grows fast in your house, huh?
Yeah.
It doesn't mind.
I'm great at doing that too.
You mentioned, being on the show as an example like that.
I'm curious, how many live shows have you been on?
Cause you seem like a natural.
So I actually was on a podcast earlier today.
I have two today.
I have one this week.
I don't do as many live shows like this format,
but I have been on a handful of them.
But it's funny, public speaking,
if you asked me 15 years ago,
I'd be scared to death to do it.
15 years ago, I spent a lot of my time being a photographer.
So being safe behind a camera
and interacting with people one-on-one was easy,
but to think about speaking on a platform
or in front of a lot of people,
I would be like, no way I can't do it.
But you can do anything that you put your mind to
and it's a muscle, right?
That you have to keep flexing
and you have to keep trying and keep pushing through.
And sometimes you're gonna have really bad experiences
and you'll learn from them
and then the next one will be easier.
And so being here with you today
and talking about my journey and my vision,
all these things that are not easy questions
to answer on the fly, I think, but it's good.
Again, it goes back to that self-growth
and pushing through the boundaries
and being curious of what this is gonna look like.
How is this gonna unfold and being okay?
It doesn't have to be perfect.
It's gonna be okay.
I love it, I hope other visionaries take courage from that.
It's not easy to be on camera.
It's not easy to go live.
And there's so many people out there
who I think want to share their story.
And there's some internal aspects of like,
man, I don't know,
how do I get myself to jump into this cold pool?
It's kind of a similar experience.
Any practical words of encouragement
to help any audience members listening in
for doing just that, jumping into the pool.
So know that it's gonna be tough
the first time you jump in the pool,
but try to prepare as much as you can, right?
Practice, preparation, but not to the point
where you feel robotic
and you don't feel authentic to yourself.
And then trust that you have the knowledge,
you have the experience, you have the expertise
that is valuable and worthy to be shared.
It's really a mindset game and a confidence issue, right?
So like know that you have it.
And so it is a gift to be here with you
and just having a conversation
and taking detaching from some of that seriousness
or the failure, the looming failure, like it's okay.
Like just kind of go with the punches
and learn from the experience.
And every time you do it, you'll just get better and better.
I love it, so those of you who are listening
and we're gonna be diving into some advanced aspects
of branding and growth as well.
We're not just gonna keep it at the basic level.
We are gonna dive pretty deep
after we talked about some leadership dynamics.
Before we do, some of the brands
that Malika has worked with are L'Oreal,
Oil Valet and Clorox.
She's also been featured in the CEO Mom,
New Jersey Family, Wall Street Journal
and a lot of other places.
So there's a depth here that we're gonna be diving into.
One of the most important depths
that I believe visionaries can learn from
are the worst and best experiences in business.
So what is your worst leadership experience ever?
Yeah, so I mean, we all have areas, challenges,
bad experiences and I think early on
in my entrepreneurial journey as a mentor, as a coach,
whatever you wanna call it, as a leader,
trying to help my clients build a brand,
I think in the beginning I took on anyone.
I took anyone who came to me,
even if they weren't the right fit,
even if I felt like in my gut,
they weren't going to be a great relationship
in terms of a client mentor relationship.
And I had someone in my group who questioned,
even in the beginning, she had all these questions
of the pricing and what do I get and all this.
And I had that, I'm not sure she's a good fit,
but it still enrolled her into the program.
She never showed up, she didn't do the work,
but yet she wanted the results.
And she questioned my leadership and my expertise
and really kind of rocked my confidence a little bit
so that I felt like I wasn't a good leader.
But then, after talking to my own coaches
and kind of detaching the emotion out of that,
I learned that we as coaches and mentors,
we are not responsible really
for the results of our clients.
We have to empower them to get those results on their own.
It is their business at the end of the day.
I can give you the strategies, I can give you the tools,
I can give you all the shortcuts,
I can share with you what I have done,
but at the end of the day,
the only person that can do the work is you.
And so learning from that,
what I felt was like the worst leadership experience
is I felt so badly that she was disappointed
and she was having a hard time
and she was saying all these things.
I learned later that I had to be better
at figuring out who the clients were that were a good fit.
Did they meet the criteria to be able
to go through the program and get the best results?
And now I ask harder questions.
Now I have certain criteria that they have to fulfill
before they can even be considered or apply to my programs.
And so I think sometimes you have to go through
those bad leadership experiences
before you can get to the better leadership experiences.
I love that, way to own it first off,
way to just look internally
at what you could be doing better.
I think a lot of us grow up
without understanding healthy boundaries on relationships.
And I went through a massive shift in my life
for learning how to establish healthy boundaries
and it changed the dynamics of who I was working with.
So one quote I heard early on
and before I really started making the shift
was this small business development coach at UTSA
was teaching a form and she said,
when you sell a hammer, everything like a nail.
And that hit me real deep.
And I was like, man, okay, I do see this a lot in the market.
I don't wanna be,
oh, did we go out?
Am I still here?
I'm here, are you here?
I had a technical difficulty.
All right, we're back.
So I guess the hammer came after my internet.
And then of course, like you said, asking tougher questions.
If you want to find great experts,
find experts that ask you questions
that make you feel uncomfortable,
not questions that just validate the reality of what you want.
And so we're not gonna reveal those questions today
but if you work with Malika or you choose to talk to her
and she starts asking you things
that do make you uncomfortable,
I'm not talking about manipulating your pressure
and you're feeling dumb, that's different.
That's a bro marketing tactic.
I'm talking about asking questions that matter.
And if you feel like you might be offended by the question,
my advice to you visionary is to then ask,
what is the purpose of this question?
Or how does this question relate to helping me grow
and be willing to explore the answer?
Moving into best leadership experience.
What is your best leadership experience ever?
Yeah, so I think the best leadership experience
that I've had recently is I led an in-person retreat,
which was again, outside of my comfort zone
to try to do all the logistics of like organizing
a little mini conference here in my hometown of Maine
and bringing in my clients.
But having them all in person,
feeling that energy of bringing people together
and seeing their faces
and being able to not only do trainings and teaching them,
but making again, those connections
and building that community.
That kind of brought everything, all of my values,
all of the things that I, my vision together
in this one weekend and it was so powerful.
And not only did women learn how to build their brands,
it was beyond that.
It was about feeling this sense of confidence
and this sense of community.
And making relationships and finding clients
and collaborating on new ideas
and just that creativity of all of it
just was through the roof.
And even though it was hard,
it was so hard to be the leading person,
the logistics and organizing
and making sure everyone felt seen and heard.
At the end of it, it was just,
it was so amazing to say that I actually did it.
I actually was able to not create the concept,
but actually deliver and exceed people's expectations
and have those moments go beyond the conference.
So now I see them collaborating
and becoming partners and referral partners
and all this other beautiful stuff
that is building their businesses and their brands.
That is super cool.
That is a great way to belong,
to connect with individuals.
And conferences, when you run them,
there is not much of a better feeling
than pulling off a great conference in terms of business.
That is one of those experiences
where if you haven't had that opportunity
as a visionary to do that,
then I would add that to your bucket list
of things that you might consider doing
and finding a way to facilitate a conference
or an event or a mixer
that allows those people to come together.
And also make sure your camera studio equipment
is set up too, right?
You're capturing the nature of the event,
the videos of how do people feel
about working with the brand,
as well as general pictures of camaraderie,
people coming together.
It's important to remember those memories
and the photos and videos do a great way of doing that,
but also promote your brand in the future.
Any thoughts on that before we move on to the conference?
Yes, 100%.
I mean, first off, I would say post-pandemic,
people are hungry for connection.
So having that in-person opportunity
kind of blew everyone's mind.
They were just so open and ready to see people
and touch people and hug people
and sit at the same table together and share ideas.
And then as a photographer, yes, 100%,
you wanna capture those moments,
either through photography or video,
so that not only can you remember it as the organizer
and share it with the people that were there,
but it will just help you boost awareness
and energy around your brand for future retreats
or future programs or future launches.
It is just great content to have
that will help differentiate,
I mean, going back to branding,
help differentiate your brand
when you have those marketing assets.
It's huge.
It's all about vision painting in that regard.
That's one way I heard it,
talked about Steven, I can't remember his last name,
Broadway performer, also a business owner,
but he talked about vision painting.
And when he talked about it,
it made me realize the company I was representing
at the time was like, man,
we really aren't paving the path forward mentally
for people beyond the transaction, the immediate outcomes.
We need to become better at talking about the future.
One of the ways to do that is to showcase the past
as clearly as possible,
especially when you have great past experiences.
So thank you for sharing that.
Do you have footage of that event by chance?
I do, I hired a photographer.
I didn't wanna be responsible for taking those pictures
because I was leading the event and speaking at the event.
So I did hire a local photographer to take pictures
for the two days.
And so it's great to have those visuals and images
and I use them often.
I'd love to incorporate some into the landing page.
That would be helpful for people who find the show later.
So very good.
The powerful lesson.
So Malik, if this was the last chance you had
to share a lesson with visionaries,
what would the powerful lesson be
that they can learn from your experience?
So I think a powerful lesson
that they can learn from my experience
is going back to niching, right?
So in my own business,
there was a moment where I called it a junk drawer business
because I was trying to do all the things
and I was trying to serve all of the people.
And it was probably more of a confidence issue
because I wasn't ready to commit and go all in,
but you hit a wall when you do that,
when you're spread so thin, it's not sustainable.
You get burned out.
You also get really down on yourself as a brand
because people aren't seeing you as an expert
because you're doing so many things.
And when my business started to sort of plateau
and people would get confused
because I was doing brand photography, family photography,
I was doing headshots, a vision board event,
like all of the things,
really the junk drawer business,
I kind of hit a low
because I wanted to charge higher prices.
I wanted to be revered as an expert and an authority,
but what I was doing wasn't showing that.
I was spread too thin.
I was a Jane of all trades.
And so a powerful lesson that I learned was
you kind of have to go all in
in what your zone of genius is,
going back to the big leap, that book, right?
You have to do an assessment of your skills
and your strengths.
You really have to understand what you're really good at,
what you love, what you're passionate about.
You have to look at your clients
and see what were the results that I got,
the clients that I already have, right?
And you need to then make some decisions for your business
to commit to something
that might feel a little bit more focused.
It might feel a little bit more sticky and specific.
And when I made that change
from going from this Jane of all trades to saying,
you know what, I am actually going to go all in.
And at the time it was brand photography.
I'm gonna go all in
because I see the competition isn't doing it as much.
I see a gap in the market.
Even though I'm scared to death,
even though I'm going to disappoint so many people
because I'm gonna tell them
I'm not their family photographer anymore,
I'm still going to do this.
And once I made that change,
I was able to focus my marketing.
I was able to focus my expertise.
I was able to focus my audience who I was able to serve.
And that was such a game changer for me.
So the idea of niching your business,
becoming a specialist,
and going from being so broad and mainstream
to now being something specific and powerful and potent,
that changed my business
so that I was starting to get tagged
as the go-to brand photographer.
Anytime that came up,
brand photography for women in business,
my name would come up.
And it's not to say that that's what you're gonna do
for the rest of your life
because I'm a good example of that.
I have pivoted from that and now I do brand strategy
for female entrepreneurs.
But it is scary to go smaller and more focused.
But that to me has been a powerful lesson,
has been a game changer for my business,
has given me my life back in many ways
because it's just much simpler.
Yeah.
There's a lot of virtue
in what you were just talking about and sharing.
There is an incredible amount of realities
that matter for people in relation to that.
And one, your story, for you, obviously that matters.
Obviously that was the massive difference maker.
I do wanna challenge on the opposite end of this too though
because there's some vice mixed in with the virtue.
And so again, from your perspective, your story, yes,
but the projecting aspect,
this may not be right for you visionaries.
This may not be, and so I'll point out
some of those elements
because LeBron James was told to shut up and dribble.
And that was told, go do your one thing,
get out of politics, get out of philanthropy,
stop doing everything that you're meant to do in the world.
You're just a basketball player, shut up and dribble.
That wasn't anybody's right to do, granted.
It's okay, it happened.
And then there's Richard Branson
who's got 200 something plus businesses
and you got Elon Musk.
And so is it sustainable?
I think it's very sustainable,
but it depends on who it is, right?
There was a time in my life where I was a full-time father
of my three children,
and it wasn't the time for me to launch podcasts, right?
I needed to stay focused on certain niches.
Plus I was still exploring who I was.
So I'd also challenge too that there's, I love this quote,
the Jack of all trades or Jane of all trades.
The Jack of all trades is master of none,
but the rest of the quote is,
but oftentimes better than he who is great at one.
And that's a little bit of a paraphrase,
but that is the full extension of the quote.
And again, I'm not saying like,
hey, Malika is wrong on this.
No, not at all.
It was what was right for her, right?
But if I have a medicine that cures me
or I have a back surgery that might have helped me,
that doesn't mean that when somebody else has a flu,
that I say, hey, you gotta go get this back surgery, right?
So there's opportunities to explore both sides.
And when, you know, so if you're still exploring
and you're still looking for those avenues
or you feel called to do multiple things,
just know that that's for you, right?
You gotta focus on what you know is for your vision
and on the flip side, if you're like,
go Malika, you got this, you know, like that's exact.
It's because you align with that concept
and that's beautiful.
Gary Keller, the one thing, right?
That's his book, he's all about it.
That's so cool.
And so it's 100% virtuous.
Give me further thoughts on that, Malika.
Yeah, I mean, it's a strategy, right?
It's a strategy.
It's also, if it feels aligned with your values
and who you are, then it's something to explore,
just like you said.
There are, you know, different seasons in your business,
different lifestyles that it might not be applicable.
For me, in my story, it was, I had done all the things
and then I saw a big change in personal and professional
when I did Niche Down.
And because it worked for me, it's something that I use
as a strategy for clients in my communities
if they're ready for that.
Correct.
I love it.
There's, again, there's elements too of like the virtue.
Can we leverage the virtue in the process
of realizing like, okay, you know,
am I overextending myself in certain aspects?
You know, can I look at what things I can eliminate,
Pareto's law principle-wise 80-20 rule, right?
There's a lot of elements that are super important
for all of us to consider,
regardless of how big our vineyard is,
or, you know, if we're looking at farming,
like how many different types of livestock we have,
perhaps there's all sorts of realities,
or does it make sense to just have a chicken coop, right?
Because I got other things going on in my life.
Lots of realities there.
The next thing that we wanna talk about
is growing businesses faster and this bullseye branding.
So I'll let you talk about that.
We're gonna share some elements from your brand.
They may not be exactly that, but let's dive right in.
Where do you wanna start, Malika?
Yeah, so this is kind of an extension
of the conversation we're having, right?
Having a niche brand, having a bullseye brand,
that's sort of my terminology for that.
Bullseye brand is one that is very sharp and focused.
So you know exactly what that brand is good at,
you know exactly who they serve,
you know exactly what their superpower is,
and what kind of solution or methodology they provide.
Those are sort of the four steps
that I have coined for a bullseye brand.
You wanna be specialized, you wanna be specific,
you wanna stand out, and you wanna have a certain solution.
And so when you have this bullseye brand,
it just allows you not to worry so much
about the competition because you have differentiated
yourself and pulled yourself out of that bloody red ocean
and have swam into more of a blue ocean
where you are being known for something specific
for your specialization.
And it means, in my opinion,
that the marketing becomes very clear
and very simple and very easy because you're speaking,
like it's like a love letter to that person
that you're meant to serve versus different markets,
different audiences with different offers
and different expertise.
From my experience in my story, doing all of those things,
having children's photography, headshot photography,
brand photography, brand strategy, I got burned out.
It was hard to sustain all those different messages
and it just caused a lot of confusion
and a confused mind never buys.
Right, love that quote.
And the reality is I'm not a target.
I'm a solopreneur with limited resources, with limited time.
And so if I wanna optimize and maximize
and still have time for my family, then for me,
the strategy of niching down and becoming
such a powerful and potent single-minded brand works.
And it works for a lot of my clients too.
Because that way that all of your marketing
is much more targeted.
It allows for pricing power because now you're a specialist
and you can raise your prices.
So you're making more revenue.
So there are just a lot of benefits
for building that bullseye brand.
Does it mean that you can't serve anyone
outside of the bullseye?
No, just like a bullseye that has the rings,
your bullseye is who you wanna serve.
Your message is for that person,
but you might still attract other people
and all the other rings.
Maybe they like your vibe.
Maybe they are a strong referral.
And then it becomes your choice
if you wanna work with them or not.
Very good.
Are you a single income household
or a dual income household?
I am a dual income household.
Okay, fair.
And I love this because there are lots of people
who come through First Class Business
and through our show and programs
that have that solerepreneur,
I don't wanna call it mentality,
like that reality, that's what they want.
That's what they're going to grow.
I have nothing wrong with that.
I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
I don't know how to do it.
That's not my expertise.
But therein lies also the opportunity
for a strategic partnership.
Therein lies an opportunity for me to say,
you know what, I don't do that.
That's not how I do things.
But I know Malika does.
And so she's somebody that I would recommend
to check it out.
Why?
Because I do see the veracity of your branding.
It's very easy for me to see your brand
and see your depth and say, wow,
she's carved something out here.
This is cool.
This is deep.
And easy, I don't like the word easy personally,
but from a marketing standpoint,
there's so many different things
that have to go into brand development and growth.
It's like taking a recipe book of 300 recipes.
But the key for delivery is you have to be able
to cook those recipes all together at the right time
and asking about the right temperature to the right people.
There's a lot of complexities and nuances that go with that.
However, again, I can't deny the power of your formula
and what you've built.
It'd be like an algebra teacher telling a geometry teacher,
like their stuff's wrong.
Just because they have their own niche style.
So I share all of that visionaries
because if you're hearing this episode,
and you feel aligned with the solopreneur route
and what's there, like what I see from what Malik is doing
is a lot of virtue compared to 99% of the vision
of the solopreneur as I see.
I don't see a lot of unicorns that can pull it off.
That said, I don't look either, right?
I have my lane, my focus on what I do
so you don't always see what's outside of that.
Two, in addition to that, we always have to take what I say
and what Malika says, what all of us claim
with a grain of salt because we're all private companies.
So you can't actually see what the deals are,
what goes on behind the scenes, how it all works.
And that's part of your due diligence
is check your references.
I mean, I'll make sure that you do your due diligence
and ask the uncomfortable questions in return
for all the uncomfortable questions that we might ask you
with what it is that we do.
And so I don't know enough about Malika's brand
to support it, but at the same time,
all of your lighthouse, Malika, to the world
that is shining brightly.
And I love the way that you're going about it
and doing it from what I've seen.
Thank you.
Yeah, absolutely.
So for the rest of the time here,
we've got about five minutes left.
Is there any other aspects of branding?
And you know what?
The one thing I wanna hit on that too,
is I see a lot of blog posts come out
about this whole niche concept.
And when they focus on it, they focus more
on who is that target audience that you're niching
and that ideal client.
I love that you made it more holistic
and that you're talking about, yes, the niche audience,
but also you're referring to niching down
in terms of focusing on what you're best at.
Your spendization, yes.
I think it's a combination.
That's a reflection of the book, Strengths Finder 2.0.
Yes, I love that.
I love that.
That's like, yeah, that makes perfect sense.
Become great at something and maybe you can add to it
as you go, but if people are getting lost
with what you're great at, because you're too scatterbrained
to focus on what matters to the person right in front
of you, then yeah, you're definitely gonna struggle.
Yeah, I agree.
I think it's the whole idea of just trying
to simplify your brand so that you can stand
out from the noise.
And if you're able to look at your skills
and your strengths and really assess them
and bake that into your brand and making sure
that that is your area of specialization,
instead of trying to be a brand that's really broad
doing all the things that makes it harder
for people to remember you or refer you.
So many times I've had people in my network say,
I'm a life coach for women.
I have no idea who to send your way.
But if they said, I'm a life coach for women
and I specialize in strengthening their mindset
in their emptiness years, when their children are off
to college and they're trying to figure out
what their next chapter is, then there's a picture
in my mind that's being painted.
And that niche is clearer to me so that I can then figure
out who in my network I can refer to that person.
So, you know, niching can be as broad
or as small as you want, but really it is meant
to define clearly who you are serving,
what your specialization is, how are you different
and how do you solve the problem, in my opinion,
in my definition.
Love it.
And that will help you grow your business faster.
We completely share the definition, by the way.
Absolutely.
We also share the value of the way that's articulated too.
It's more so for me, it's actually my fight
against the market and what the market tends to,
you know, overgeneralize about.
And it's the other opposite side too of like,
well, you know, the very, I don't know
if it's a spectrum thing for me or not,
but like the whole, it's not sustainable.
Like, well, wait, it is sustainable, you know,
but there's different values, right?
Instead of standing against, right,
the alternative approach, I'm more like,
well, no, it's actually both work.
JK Rowling wrote a book on a napkin
and she became a multi-billionaire, you know,
but Elon Musk started with PayPal and lots of people
and Google started with a lot of people too
and they became some of the best companies in the world.
So it's more just a harmonization of realizing
that all of these concepts are very important
for you as visionaries who are listening in to consider
and say, you know what, I'm gonna read a book today
that is written from an angle I don't like
and see what I can learn from that book.
And that's kind of what I'm putting out there
for the audience.
So thank you for making space for that.
It shows a great deal of your leadership.
And it surprises me that you're a solopreneur
because you also have amazing leadership skills.
And so it's like, wow, like, and I know your background,
you know, is how you gained a lot of that too,
but are you forever gonna be a solopreneur or curious?
Yes, I think that's a choice that I've made.
I mean, I have a team of, you know, virtual assistants
and things like that, but no one that is full time,
I am the face of my brand.
I deliver all of my services.
I don't have anyone else really on my team.
So when I say solopreneur, that's what I mean.
I mean, I have people in the back end
with operations and systems, but I don't,
I honestly don't have any desire to, you know,
hire junior coaches to be underneath me
to implement the bullseye branding formula.
Not interested.
Right.
I mean, it's a lifestyle that I have, I guess,
I have chosen for myself, personally and professionally.
How do you, I'm asking this innocently.
How do you feel that,
that comes across to a team?
You know, you have a team, you have virtual assistants,
you just said that, but to be, to claim solopreneurship
and to kind of claim you do, but don't have a team,
what are the alternative thoughts and perspectives
about that outside of what's like, I could say like,
oh, well, that means you don't care about your team.
That's not what you're saying.
No, 100%.
What's the other side of people seeing,
cause I know team members who would say like,
oh, screw that, I'm not working here anymore.
But that's a different,
that's a whole different level of toxicity.
Yeah.
And that's not what I mean.
I mean, the culture is what you're trying to talk about.
Like the culture I'm trying to create in my brand.
And so-
I'm curious how they feel.
I mean, I think they would kind of be in agreement with me
because they have other clients too.
They're all freelance, right?
And so I've worked with them for many, many years, like,
and I just see it as a solopreneur.
I have a team, but they are not forward facing in the brand.
So it's not like I have a,
I don't see it as like this company that I have.
So I guess it's how you define your business model, right?
So I see it as more, I'm a solopreneur.
I'm the face of the brand.
I'm the leader of the brand.
I have a team on the back end.
I try to promote a very open and welcoming
and collaborative culture, of course,
because I wouldn't be able to do what I do
without them by any means.
Oh no, sorry.
But I still do define my business as I am a solopreneur.
Okay. Well, that's fair.
I mean, it's so hard to define things.
Republican, Democrat, liberal,
that's the evolution of language on display.
Right?
And that's the nuance of like, okay,
we actually do really see eye to eye.
Do we take the time to figure each other out
and make the space for all concepts
that are virtuous to matter?
And so those of you who listened in today,
we very much love and appreciate the fact
that you're here supporting us.
We look forward to hearing from you
if you have comments or questions,
feel free to leave those in the platform of your choice.
On the landing page,
we'll also be putting action steps from Malika's brand,
materials that she gives us to help guide you
to that next step if you feel so inclined, of course.
Dive in, you know, the best thing that you can do
when you've heard an expert that you align with
is to reach out and connect with them.
That's especially with somebody who stands for
that principle of belonging.
You know, the people who are going to resonate
like all of you who are gonna resonate with Malika,
like she's gonna want you to belong
with her and the journey of growth.
So Malika, thank you so much for bringing your expertise
to the show and your support.
If anybody wants more information too on
building the brand faster and other elements, again,
I'm gonna invite Malika to give us as much information
as she can to help steer you towards the formulas
that she has, because you've been doing
some amazing things in life, Malika.
Thank you. Thank you for the hard questions
and for the conversation. I really appreciate it.
Absolutely. I've never been accused of easy questions.
So I appreciate you.
Vision Pros, have an excellent rest of your day
and we'll see you on the next episode.
Thank you for being here today.
I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.
I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions
as these episodes continue to move forward.
This is gonna get more and more fun.
We'll have more and more engagement as well.
We'll invite people to participate in the show
and thank you for giving us your time.
And thank you for giving us your time and attention.
Have an excellent time building out your.