"Hey Stella!" | Hampton Roads Business Consultation

Hi!

Last night I had one of those experiences where it has all the potential in the world to be totally AWKWARD, painful, embarrassing- the works! It even had the potential where you could slip up and admit you know way more about the person than you should- that's right, I met someone I've only ever spoken to ONLINE.

You know those people on facebook you follow and comment on their things like you're best friends? No? Well that's totally what I do. I have a thousand best friends- they just don't know it! The problem was I then won a FREE sounding board mentor session with this person- now I was stuck. I had to meet them! The meeting was only through Skype since Stella, the business mentor, consultant, and marketing guru of the awesome Ask Stella, lives elsewhere- but still! All I kept thinking the whole week leading up to it was: "Ok, Sarah, don't make a fool of yourself. You're not best friends."

But it was SO awesome! Off the bat Stella was welcoming, friendly, humorous, and completely approachable. Awkward silences? Nope! No joke, one of the first things I said to her was "Hi! I don't really know how to do this..." How embarrassing, right?! I was totally UN-COOL! But she seamlessly took us in to the good parts of conversation (you know the kind that flows and feels natural?) and I forgot completely that I didn't "know how to do this."

  

But what is a sounding board session you might ask? I didn't know either at first. I like to think of it more as a mentor session-that helped me to wrap my head around the concept a bit more. In this case the mentoring focused on branding and how to tie the Sarah Elle Photography brand in to everything- specifically packaging. As you probably know by now my brand focuses on mustard yellow (inspired by my obsession with my mustard yellow camera bag), a deep blue, and gray/silver. But how do I bring that in to everything? We're talking website, blog, thank you cards, business cards, rep cards, facebook, appointment reminders, session guide, session prep guide and on and on and on!

 Stella helped me to see how to accentuate my brand and bring out a sense of who I was AND who Sarah Elle Photography is. We discussed "feelings" and goals for the business and how I felt I wanted to be represented and how to tie that in to attracting my goal market. She SIMULTANEOUSLY skyped with me AND linked me to tons of websites, companies, and other resources to show me the different options out there that SPECIFICALLY FIT Sarah Elle Photography! How awesome is that?! It wasn't simply, "Oh, here's a company I like to use" it was "Here is a great company with high quality products that have boxes that match your brand and here I've linked you directly to that box!"

Stella not only knows her stuff she knows exactly where to find it, too! I'm the type of person who, if given a blank slate of options, will get totally overwhelmed and lost in the pretty colors. Stella linking me directly to examples that fit Sarah Elle Photography made it easy to envision those products in my life- and I didn't get distracted or overwhelmed by the rest of the BILLION OPTIONS on the sites.

After my session with Stella I am now BEYOND excited to pump up my packaging and highlight who Sarah Elle Photography is.

(For example I LOVE this digital paper pack from Sassy Designs she introduced me to- doesn't it scream Sarah Elle Photography?!)

 It's time to dig deep and bring everything together to help truly enhance each person's experience- from the first glimpse of the facebook page or website to the ribbon that ties together your box of images from your session- I want you to feel Sarah Elle Photography. I want you to enjoy each part of your time with me- not just your session day. I want each moment to be a new and exciting experience. And I want people to see a mustard yellow sweater in a Target commercial and immediately think of ME. Thanks to Stella and our first (yes, first, because I KNOW I'll be chatting with her again in the future) sounding board session I know just where to start to make it all happen!

And for those who were curious about my "best friends" comment from earlier you'll be happy to know Stella and I truly are best friends now! And she'll know as soon as she reads this blog post ;)

Best,
Sarah

*for more information on your own sounding board session or all of the awesome products/services Stella offers be sure to check out her website: www.stellareynoso.com