Today I am diving into how my mild obsession with the Jonas Brothers and embracing my naturally gray hair led to a business rebrand.
You may be thinking, what in the world does your hair color and affinity for bands of brothers have to do with running your business?
Well, listen in to find out.
Big Takeaways:
- Listen to it to see if your business is reflective of the true you and how you show up to serve your clients.
- Discover if your brand accurately represents you.
- Understand how you can show up more as yourself in your business.
Links in this episode:
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Anytime I meet a group of other women entrepreneurs, they learn two things about me very quickly:
1) my hair is silvery grey all over, and
2) I am a major Jonas Brothers fan.
So much so that others remember me for it and send me references to my #silversister status & anything remotely related to the Jonas Brothers.
But you may be thinking, what in the world does your hair color and affinity for bands of brothers have to do with running your business? So, that is exactly what I am diving into in today’s episode.
Just this week, I hit go on a brand new website to go along with the rebrand of my business. I had been Work With Process for 3 years, at the beginning telling myself that choosing a company name would allow for ease of selling later and would give people something to grasp other than my name, which is often misspelled or mispronounced. These are both good reasons for choosing a name other than my own but there was something deeper there as well… the fear to be seen.
Yes, even those of us who have been on a journey of self-awareness and growth for years still have stuff pop up.
But choosing to rebrand didn’t happen overnight, nor was it an easy, slam dunk strategic business decision that I just made.
Where it all started
It really started in 2019, when the Jonas Brothers got back together. For those of you not as well versed in Jo Bro history, the band of brothers were a band from 2005ish through 2013 before they broke up, going their separate ways to pursue solo endeavors, and proceeding to break the hearts of millions. Then in 2019, they announced they were back on as a band and my obsession with them took off.
I unapologetically threw myself into my love of the music, my suppressed adoration for the band (I was in college when they were big the first time around) had a resurgence that could only be described as obsessive, and I talked about them quite often (to be fair, they were also on the news and every late night talk show for months because their getting back together was BIG).
But when you start acting differently it triggers others around you and this was no exception. My family didn’t get it and they made fun of it, teased, or downright got offended by my love of this band. Now previous versions of me would have stopped talking about them altogether and retreated into my shell to deal in silence, making myself smaller to make others feel comfortable. But luckily, I wasn’t that person anymore. I had grown, found the confidence to stand behind my convictions and the things that I love, and 100% do it unapologetically.
Around this time, I started really leaning into my Enneagram 8 – Challenger tendencies as positive things rather than try to be like anyone else, people pleasing or being quiet, or suppressing my opinion. I began embracing that I was loud, and bold, and passionate, and asked hard questions and I started to leverage those things in life and in business.
Then in summer of 2020, I made the decision to stop dying my hair. I had begun to notice grey hairs when I was 14 or 15 years old, and I’d quickly search out the silvery, white offending grands amongst my dark brown hair and pluck them out. When it soon became too much to rip out, I started dying my hair… first every couple of months, then every 6 weeks, and near the end of my hair-dying days, it was needed basically every 2-3 weeks. But that summer was when I’d finally had enough.
I was spending so much time and money at the salon and it felt like something i just wasn’t willing to do anymore. So in July 2020, I colored my hair for the last time. And as the grey roots began growing out far longer than I had ever aloud them to grow before, I noticed something kinda cool. My natural silvery strands were actually pretty. They had a unique pattern to them, with a couple of super white stripes near the front and a salt-and-pepper deal in the back. By ditching the dye, I was able to truly embrace my natural look and others paid attention too. I have gotten more compliments on my hair in the year since I let go of dying it and cut off all the dyed hair (I did that in late 2020) than I ever did when it was brown. It’s a connection point, a conversation starter, and most importantly, it feels like me.
The Business Tie-In
So, how did embracing my challenger tendencies, my love of the Jonas Brothers, and my grey hair lead to this rebrand? Well, you see each of those things allowed me to step more into who I actually am. No pretense, no hiding, no bullshit. When I stopped trying to fit myself into the box that I thought I was supposed to fit in, I realized that my business wasn’t reflective of the true me or how I show up to serve.
In my coaching, in this podcast, in the trainings that I do, I don’t sugarcoat things. I ask hard questions, I am bold, I hold space for others to process and talk hard stuff out. I often push some buttons (I have one client who has expressed her annoyance at my questions and then appreciation for those questions, because well, they work.) and I am not afraid of being disliked if it means I am helping others get to their goals.
Work With Process as a business name was chosen because I wasn’t confident enough to be the name and face of the brand back in 2018. My colors were muted and soft and whimsical because that is what I was supposed to be. My fonts were light and subtle and if you’ve spent any time with me, you know subtle and I aren’t very good friends.
So, from here on out, my business is Erin Haworth Goals Coaching and Productivity Strategy. Both I and my business are bold, unapologetic, curious, motivated, and assertive.
And here are a couple reasons why this move was not only personally what I needed to do to feel in alignment but also a strategic professional move as well:
It helps others remember me. With my grey hair and Jonas Brothers affinity, I stand out. People remember me as the Jonas Brothers fan with the grey hair who is the productivity person. We create webs of information and associations, especially when we meet new people, so giving others a look at the whole person and things for them to draw associations with, means they are much more likely to remember me later, when looking for a coach to chat about goals or an expert on Kevin, Nick, and Joe.
It is me being an authentic, and exactly who I am, which customers and clients appreciate and yearn for. Despite authenticity being a bit of a buzz word for the past several years, the desire for it in those that we invest in hasn’t changed. If anything, it has only gotten stronger. I can’t be anyone who I am not, so by doubling down on who I am, I show up more, I show up better, and I just quite plainly show up when it truly matters.
Action Step:
I always like to end each episode with an action step that you can take right now to help you move forward and begin to implement immediately. Here is your action step for this episode: First of all, go check out the new ErinHaworth.com. Then when you are ready, sit down and answer these questions for yourself: What is something unique and authentically you that you can lean into and be “known” for, that may not have a whole lot to do with your industry?
