If you want a sustainable branded business where you're not having to yell all the time and hustle and grind figure out a message that acts as that powerful presence in the room. This is the show for creative entrepreneurs who have a message to share and want to live a life of freedom. Learn how to grow your network and net worth. Hear from exciting guests and more. My name is Dylan Schmidt and Welcome to Digital Podcaster. My guest today is Miles Hanson. He is a brand designer and podcast host his podcast he hosts with Bill who I'll be having on a future episode, their podcast is called the subtle art of not yelling. In this episode, we dive into creativity, how miles gets into creative flow, and also some actionable ways that we can elevate our own brand online. Enjoy my conversation with Miles Hanson. Miles, I am so glad you are here we are missing 50% of your podcast, your own podcasts and a lot of yelling. But happy you are here miles I'm happy to be here. Two things that I specifically wanted to speak with you about on the podcast is like creativity, which is a big idea. And branding, which is also a big idea. So three questions, I kind of wanted to ask you around those two ideas. Number one, what is your favorite way to get in the creative flow, I have to zoom out a little bit to like how I personally run my day because I've been extremely creative in my life and really stuck creatively in my life. And I know why. And one of them is how I start out my day. So I gotta have some me time. So meditation I moved my spine that's like something I have on my checklist every day is just to like move my spine, so a little bit of yoga, or some foam rolling stuff like that, something for me to like, set me up so that I can drop in. And then after that, it's a little bit of ritual. So I like to make drip coffee by hand. So that's like my, kind of like the start to my creative process. Sometimes I have a little bit of Kava, it seems to get me really in the zone. So I have that, of course, a lot of water. And then I think the biggest thing here is creating a box. So this is something Bill and I talk about a lot like a creative structure and container. For what I'm about to do creatively, creativity is like it's a very feminine, chaotic, random energy. So you have to put some masculine structure around it is what I've found. So I like to put a box around whatever it is I'm doing. And the box can look certain ways, right? So it can have, obviously no distractions, it's very focused on maybe it's me sitting at my desk, I'm going to work on a specific thing. And I think the most important part to this question that you're asking me is, knowing what finished looks like if I know that the finish line is Bill likes to use the example of like, if you tell me to write a song, go write a song, that's going to take him like a year. But if you say, Go write a two minute song, in the next 30 minutes about birds go, that's his box, he's going to be able to work and play within that and not have his creative energy just go all over the place forever. And then lastly, having my environment set up to support me. So music in my ears, no inbox, no cell phone to look at so that I can just drop in, and like a few minutes in, I'm totally in the zone time kind of cease to exist, right. And that's what we all Chase. And I think personally, I'm able to kind of turn that on pretty quickly. Because of the reps. I think if we've done it long enough, then we have the reps to drop into that state kind of whenever we need to. And then I think the last thing I'll share is unplugging. You have to unplug. You have to separate yourself, you have to take breaks, you have to go outside. Otherwise, you're just gonna burn out. So you got to take breaks. Yes, sounds powerful. And no, this is like a general question. And it's meant to be, but what's one thing you would recommend someone to do to help their brand stand out? Man branding is a big topic, which can be intimidating. But to answer this question, I have to say figure out a simple message. So part of branding is the message. And you know, a lot of people think of logo and brand identity, the visual kind of external side of branding, but really the external should accurately portray the internal. So you have to start with internal just like anything. So figuring out a message that is simple. So if you're trying to stand out, well, a lot of brands don't have a coherent message. And then the brands that do a lot of times it's a little vague or it's a little like it blends in it sounds like everyone else. It's it's templated Most people skip this part sit with your business, the guts of your business, like, why you're doing it, why you started your story of how you got here, who you're helping the problem you solve, how you solve it, the framework, the specific framework and steps that you use all the little components of your brand and your business and figure out a unique message. And typically, it's a messy process of here's this super long, detailed answer, let's just start chipping away at it and find unique angles that are going to click and stick with your people. We're scrolling through social media all the time, we're getting a bunch of emails, we're surfing the web, we see millions of words and ads, and people are just trying to get our attention. It's a noisy, noisy world out there. So the approach is not to join in with the yelling, right? The Subtle Art of not yelling, it's not to be louder than or be in more places, especially at the beginning. It's to kind of kill them with silence, or wait, kill them with kindness. I like the silence that kind of works. You got me to please keep going. Yeah, I guess pierce through the noise with silence. My grandpa was a beautiful storyteller and speaker. And he had a very powerful presence. So if you're in the room with him, he wouldn't have to say much. And he wouldn't speak very loudly. But you would everyone shut up and listen. And what he said was, like, profound, you know, it was very poetic. And so I think it's the same approach, if you want a sustainable brand and business where you're not having to yell all the time, and hustle and grind, figure out a message that acts as that powerful presence in the room. It's unique, it's a pattern interrupt. And it speaks very clearly, it's not trying to be too cute and clever and creative. You know, if that happens, great. But instead, it's just like, very straight into the point, because a business solves a problem. And a good business solves the problem. And then just has the clients or customers share their results. And they speak for themselves, right, you don't have to go out and convince people and that making sense. 100%. And when I hear you say that, and then I like watch my own journey of trying to piece together all these things, I feel like everything you just said speaks to a lot of the own internal kind of journey. I've gone through and still continue to go through. We were speaking before we, in the podcast, we're talking about compassion. And I'll find myself like trying to be compassionate about that. Like Don't overanalyze it too much. And it's funny, because like, I guess, tying it into podcasting, I've noticed, especially lately, it's been a lot on my mind, because probably because I'm doing these very tight interviews, these very tight episodes, is how much can get cut out of podcasts, and it helps it land even more. Because if the goal is about communication, and you're communicating selfishly, then you're not like being a good communicator, you know, you're not saying what needs to be said to communicate something to the audience. So it makes me think of like, I guess from a brand standpoint, what I'm hearing you say is make your words matter, and make sure they're moving in the direction of the mission of you bigger mission is right. Yeah. And you just reminded me like, I kind of want to bring this down to earth for a second, like the tangible thing to do because I kind of just spewed a lot out there. I wasn't, I was with you. I was nice out there. You know. Dr. Michelle Mazur, is a great example. She's actually taught me a lot of this stuff through her work, which is I highly recommend it. She has this idea philosophy framework, called the three word rebellion. And it's like getting your whole business kind of down into three to four words. So hers is called three word rebellion. And it's working to create a message and turning it into kind of a movement, like something bigger than you. And that's the thing if you have a handful of like, phrases, specifically one powerful phrase that is easy to remember, it's simple. It wraps up your business, like what you actually help someone do the problem you solve. Then someone can remember that just like I shared, what I just shared about Dr. Michelle Mazur, she has a three word rebellion I wouldn't be telling you about that if hers, three word rebellion and slogan and phrase or whatever was this, like, get a clear message and convert you know, high ticket clients blah, blah, blah. That's shit that you hear out there. If it was that, I wouldn't remember it. I wouldn't be telling you it right now. So super helpful. And that landed my brain like Well, I know what I'm gonna be working on. It's hard work. It's messy work, but it's so worth it, it'll make your life so much easier. Even though I try to pack as much value as I can inside the short podcast episodes, the reality is sometimes it only takes 20 seconds or less to get the message across. That's why I'm posting quick bite size helpful tips and strategies just for podcasters. Every week on Instagram and Tiktok. My user names there are just like the podcast, it's at Digital Podcaster, Follow Digital Podcaster and learn specific beginner tips as well as more advanced automation techniques. And everything in between. When you follow me at Digital Podcaster make sure to send me a quick DM saying Hi, I'd love to meet you. Thank you. And let's dive back into the episode. What is one thing you wish more people knew when it comes to building a thriving brand. So I kind of talked about internal. So I think it's only fair that I talk about external which is really my favorite part. That's where I thrive. So external branding, we just talked about internal, like your vision, your why your purpose, your words, your story. And then external is the identity around that, that gets been used before. But I kind of like this example of like, if Dylan if I saw you and every time I saw you, you had a completely different wardrobe. Your hair was long one day, and then it was buzzed off the next day. And some days you wear glasses. Some days you wear beanies, some days you have an accident, like you just changing every time I see you. First of all, I'm going to be like who the hell is this guy, I don't trust him. He's seems interesting, but it's really weird. So I'm not going to trust you, I'm not going to understand not gonna be able to like grasp who you are as a person because you're constantly changing. And that's what I call a wandering brand. And I have been that so many times. And I've seen most brands out there that don't have their shit figured out brand wise are wandering brands. They don't have a Northstar. They're not consistent their colors, their fonts, their visual vibes and energies just all over the place. I want people to understand that our world and our brain like mostly operates through visuals, right? We see things throughout the world, and we store them and files in our brain. And words are really powerful, but they say a picture's worth 1000 words. And there's a reason it's because our brain operates that way. It's how we've you know evolved having a brand identity and external brand that is simple. And I'm really going to hone in on simple here. Because yes, you can go create this like really fancy well done. Brand. That's amazing. But what I would rather you do, or if you don't have the resources or time, just start with something simple. So just stick with a vibe, stick with a identity for a year or two years, that's going to stick on people, which is what you want, because you want them to subscribe, you want them to come back and build that relationship with you over time and hopefully become a customer or client and then better yet become a salesperson for your message and for your brand just like I am for Dr. Michelle Mazur. Right. I love that. And I love connecting with brands like that's why I've been making these like bootleg content, clips, Logos brands, because there's these previous brands that have had like an emotional connection to whether it's cup of noodles, Burger King, Santa Cruz, all these different brands that I feel an emotional connection to, I love it. And when I see these podcasts, I'm like, there's no connection here. Everything you just said is like, you're helping bridge that connection. And it makes it just makes it more meaningful. Like I'm such a big fan of what you do and how you help people because I think it is really important. It elevates everything people do. And I think it's a blind spot for a lot of podcasters. I'll just say that. And I think that it's one of those things that even just a little goes a long ways. I also want to I don't even know I'm saying this, but like I want to in the future, talk a lot more and be curious to talk with you about this and another episode of audio branding. I think that's a really fun topic to explore nothing that you can see visually only things that you can hear. That would be fun. Love that. So what are ways you work with people now? And how could someone work with you? I basically have one core offering. It's called Brand box. And I just take people through brand story, strategy and design. It's a very simple framework that I've created over the years. So we work on brand story together. That is yes, creating your actual story. But also just the words that kind of like we talked at the beginning the phrases like your bio, what's your main three word rebellion statement that you can use time and time again so that you're not having to like recreate the wheel every time and change your bio all the time, change your website header and it's just a drain if you're doing it that way. It's not sustainable. So story and then strategy, where do you fit into the competitive landscape? Like how are you different? Why are they going to choose you? Why are they going to live Send to Digital Podcaster over all the other podcasts about podcasts out there. And I'll tell you there's a really good reasons singled me out here. Why is that? Did you know why? Or? Or I know I listened to it. Why? I know. Well, you you just said before that visual branding piece, I think you have that figured out. So I'd love to dive into that with you another time. But you are a few things that a lot of other people aren't, you're really consistent. You put out consistent content and ideas that are actually tangible and helpful. So that's like, first and foremost, you're extremely clear. Like you're the name of your business. I know exactly what you do, right. And then your visual side of things is also interesting and unique. And it's consistent enough that I see you all over the place and I know immediately who it is. So I feel like you're doing a lot right in the realm of branding. Thank you. It's so helpful for me to hear that. Thank you so much Myles for hopping on today and we got to chat more on the podcast in the future. Yeah, man. Thanks for having me on. This was fun.