I followed the instructions. That's it.
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Hey Reader I've just finished another Brand & Bloom beta trial. I'm writing this with a cup of tea going cold beside me and the particular kind of tired you only get from doing something properly and taking longer than you thought, but you had to get it right. That's four projects done now. A fifth client is starting soon. And honestly, it's been so much fun. Building an operating system for someone's business is a strange kind of joy. Not a logo and a colour palette, although we do those too. The whole five week journey. Building the brand voice. Designing the templates. Doing the market research. Building the skills that turn a Monday morning idea into a week of content without the blank page. It's been a lot of work. I'm not gonna lie. And it is so worth the final outcome. There's one moment in every build I love most. We work through the skill together, I transfer it over to her account, we run it, and I watch her eyes light up when she sees it working. On her stuff. In her voice. It's the best feeling. Beecher said it better than I can: "Setting up the Claude skill. So amazing that I'll get insights every week!" Beecher, EFT Social Club I'm learning so much with each client, and the process gets tighter every time. Three things in particular. Here they are π
3 things the beta clients taught meNone of these are about AI, really. They're about how anything gets built. 1. Build it with her, not for herThe magic happens when it lands in her hands. Every time I've tried to hand over a finished thing, it sat there. Every time we've built it together, step by step, it got used the same day. She has to watch it work on her own words before she'll trust it. One client said this after our test run: "Seeing the carousel come to life is amazing." β Try this: pick one thing you do every week for your business that only lives in your head. Write down the steps exactly as you do them. That's a system. You just hadn't written it down yet. 2. Every client makes the process tighterThe first build took me weeks and a lot of muddling through. The fourth took days. The onboarding questions got sharper, the messy bits got smoothed out, the order of things finally made sense. Nothing was wrong with version one. It was just version one. You learn and grow. Always. β Try this: after your next client, project or launch, write down three things you'd do differently before you forget. Then actually do them next time. That's the whole refinement process. 3. Follow the framework exactlyThis is the one that surprised me. I'm in the middle of a 21-day storytelling challenge on Instagram right now, and I can tell you what's making the difference. Following the framework exactly. Same beats, same order, every day, no waiting for inspiration. My skills work the same way. The power of following a framework exactly is what makes you visible and consistent. β Try this: pick one framework you already own. A content template, a posting rhythm, this newsletter's 3-2-1 shape if you like. Follow it to the letter for 30 days. No tweaks. No changes. Then look at what happened. Build it together. Refine it every time. Then follow it exactly. That's the whole system, really. There's space for one more beta client in this round of Brand & Bloom. Be my sixth beta client, or get on the waitlist for the cohort of 12 I'm launching in October. β Hit reply if you want to be the sixth beta client
2 things i'm lovingTwo numbers from this week's Canva research that made me sit up. β¦ Lo-fi nostalgia, searches up 527%The biggest jump in Canva's whole trend report. Grainy, muted, slightly-off visuals that look like somebody's actual life rather than a stock library. If you've been hiding your phone photos because they aren't "professional enough", this is your week. Film grain, a muted palette, a bit of scrapbook type, and suddenly the imperfect photo is the one that stops the scroll. Search for 'film grain', 'muted background', or 'scrapbook' in Canva. β¦ Liminal and uncanny, searches up 220%Dream-like, surreal, a little bit unreal. Not an everyday brand look, and I wouldn't build a feed on it. But for one launch image, a hero graphic, the thing you want people to stop on, it does the job beautifully. Use it once, sparingly, when you actually have something to announce. Search for 'dreamscape', 'surrealism', or 'liminal space'.
1 post to steal this weekDay 1 of my 21-day storytelling challenge, and it's travelled further than anything I've posted in a long while. It's honest and a bit vulnerable. Holding on to grief for too long. Becoming a mum at 43. Deciding to do something that scared me. Signing up for yoga teacher training when I was scared stiff of teaching in front of people. Nothing clever about it. Just the true story, told in a specific order: problem, pursuit, payoff. The framework did the work. I just followed it. β Watch it here, then steal the shape. Your story, those beats, in that order. Which story have you been sitting on? Hit reply and tell me. I read every one. With love & creativity xo, Louise π«Ά P.S. If youβre interested in my last 1:1 bespoke marketing system build, hit reply and say YES, or get on the waitlist for Brand & Bloomβs first small cohort in October. P.P.S. How I make this: every opinion in here is mine. I use AI to gather the market insights, kick ideas around, and help me edit. The time it saves goes back into my family, my mat and my garden. |