Embracing Your NeuroSpice: The Art of Crafting an Authentic Personal Brand

Discover the power of showcasing your true self through your brand with the wisdom of Rachel Lee, a sage in brand styling for entrepreneurs who march to their NeuroSpicy beat. Our conversation reveals that embracing the vibrant tapestry of your personality isn't just refreshing – it's essential for resonating with your audience. We share personal stories and professional insights, unraveling the complexities of marrying personal identity with professional branding. As your guide, Hank Eater, I'll take you on a journey through the layers of my own brand identity, from the choice of playful yet assertive brand colors to the integration of my unique "Neuro-Spices."

Expect to uncover the secrets to articulating your personal and professional selves in unison, as we navigate the nuances of self-description across cultures and the self-discovery process. Rachel and I dive into how we can use friends, family, and introspection to gather the pieces that form our complete picture. By the end of our discussion, you'll be armed with the tools to start peeling back layers of your own identity, like the most intriguing of onions, to reveal a brand that is undeniably you.

For those ready to craft an identity that captures the essence of who they are, Rachel
Lee extends an invitation to connect and explore the creation of a branded identity that stands out in the digital landscape. We remind you that with authenticity and a splash of NeuroSpice, achieving success and independence through a home business is within your reach. So, join us for this episode and feed your entrepreneurial spirit with a dash of authenticity and a pinch of personal flair.

Website: https://racheltylee.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/racheltylee/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/racheltylee/

This program is brought to you, in part, by:
Oxygen America

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Transcript

Hank: 0:40

Welcome to the Home Business Success Show. Join us as we speak to home business entrepreneurs for tips, tricks, do's and even don'ts for running a successful home business. Welcome everyone, I'm Hank Eater, also known as Hank the PR Guy, host of the Home Business Success Show. You're listening to bizradious all entrepreneurs all the time. I'll introduce my guest right after my two cents marketing minute.

Hank: 1:15

Authenticity is a buzzword these days, but more than that, it's essential. If you're not being authentic, your audience will see right through you. Maybe not consciously, but you'll send out covert signals through voice, facial expressions, body language that can turn your audience off the bottom line. Embrace your authentic self and wear your authenticity and even your eccentricity as part of your personal and business branding. And speaking of branding, today's guest, rachel Lee, is an artist, designer and brand stylist that helps distinctive brands and neuro-spicy entrepreneurs develop a unique look that's just as loud as their personality. As an art kid turned creative entrepreneur, rachel has spent the past five years helping entrepreneurs and small biz owners showcase their differences through disruptive brand styling that turns up the volume on all the cool, worky things that make you you, from custom hand-lettered logos to complete visual rebrands. Rachel can help you ditch your generic do-it-yourself templates and craft a signature look that is 100% as unique as your brand. Welcome to the show, rachel.

Rachel: 2:44

Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here today.

Hank: 2:48

Well, it's great that you're here. If you would, let's get started and tell us about what it is that you do in your business.

Rachel: 2:55

That's a great question. I feel like a lot of people look at what I do and think, oh, you just make businesses look pretty and on the surface yes, that is what I do. I help repackage brands to look fantastic, but not just that. I actually like having conversations with brands about what their identity is and what is that magic thing that makes them special, and then I help them capture that and communicate that through visuals that you can see on the Internet. In the simplest of terms, that is exactly what I do.

Hank: 3:28

So you kind of get to their essence and try to capture that essence in a visual representation that can be their brand.

Rachel: 3:36

Exactly. It's not just about looking good. It's about expressing who you are and being as genuine and authentic as possible. About that.

Hank: 3:46

Yeah, we'll get into authenticity again in a few moments, but this is the second time in two weeks that I've heard the expression Neurospicy, that that expression came up on the show. How do you define Neurospicy?

Rachel: 4:02

Neurospicy is actually a word that I discovered recently myself. It's a newer term that is often used in the neurodivergent community, and when I say neurodivergent, that basically describes people who are on the autism ADHD spectrum. Their brains are wired a little differently from what they call typical people and they tend to see the world differently. They tend to operate a little bit differently, and I really like the word spicy that you tack on top of the neurodivergence, because it's not that you're just different. When you add the word spicy on top of that, I think that adds a little bit of an extra edge, a little attitude, and you get to celebrate that Like I'm not just different, I'm going to own it. And when you use the word spicy, you sort of sink your teeth into that and it becomes something that you get to share about with the lens of I'm proud to be different, instead of oh yeah, like I'm just, I'm just a little different. Instead of feeling a little apologetic about that, it feels more like you own it and you step into those shoes.

Hank: 5:10

Very, very cool. You know, I came across some of these concepts when I was talking to Cara Jean Wilson and, yeah, the one of the conclusions that we came to is that I think we're all a bit neurodivergent and Neurospeicy and we're all probably somewhere on the spectrum. You know Some more so than others. But, yeah, I know that I've had a lot of Things that have gone through my head and my relationship with the world in the course of my lifetime, so I think I kind of relate to what you're saying here. Well, going back to authenticity, if we're going to demonstrate authenticity, we must demonstrate that in our branding. What are some of the ways we can do that?

Rachel: 5:57

I like to start with asking yourself the very deceptively simple question of who am I and how do I want the world to see me, and Starting with asking yourself that question first, instead of looking around at everyone else in your industry and taking a look at how they're Presenting themselves and asking, okay, now how do I position myself differently? When you start looking at everyone else around you, that's already a recipe for disaster, because you're not asking yourself intrinsically what is that thing that makes me different? You're just trying to position yourself based on the pieces around you. Now, I'm not saying that it's not important to do your research Absolutely. Do your research and get inspired. But when people ask me, how do you figure out your brand style? At the very core of it, it is about understanding what is that thing that you want to communicate about your brand to that world and then having a Conversation about what's the best way to capture that, using colors and fonts and graphic elements and or photography. There's many different ways that we can communicate using nonverbal communication, and the sky's the limit when it comes to the how. But when it comes to the what, what is it that we're trying to communicate? It's super important that you get super clear on that first and then that informs all of your decisions Afterwards. So I'll give you a quick example because I know sometimes it can be hard to conceptualize that One thing that I wanted to communicate about my brand is two things.

Rachel: 7:27

I'm a fun and playful.

Rachel: 7:28

That is one side of me, but I have a side of me that is super cool and I'm gonna say badass like I'm, I am like you can't push me around, like that sort of feeling, and I want to communicate Both of those things at the same time because I happen to be a small, petite female with really bubbly energy and if I just put that out into the world I feel that it's gonna attract a certain type of person.

Rachel: 7:54

But I also want to put up a little bit of the other side, where it's like come and play, but don't get too close, like I want to communicate both of those things in tandem and as a result, I ended up choosing two very specific colors for my brand. I chose pink, which represents the fun, bubbly sort of energy that you feel, but also black, which is the standoffish, like hey, don't get too close to me, sort of vibe, and you put both of those colors together, and that has a very unique sort of feeling whenever you look at that. So that's just like one very brief example about how those two things translate. But it always starts with us asking yourself who am I and what is it that I'm trying to communicate?

Hank: 8:39

Very cool. I'd like to say to our to our radio audience and our podcast audience, who can't see us, that here you are wearing Kitty cat ears. You've got on pink kitty cat ears with with white Neon. It looks like you know, it's lit up in white neon and it makes me think of you know what essentially a cat is, because I've had a lot of cats over the years and they are that they're bubbly, they're sweet, they're friendly, but you get to a certain point and they'll scratch you. So you know, you just gave me that with the, with the kitty cat image on the things that you're wearing on your headset. Yeah, very cool. Well, at the core of branding is Is deeply understanding our own identity and finding ways to communicate that with the world. Would you please share some thoughts about that?

Rachel: 9:37

Yes, the identity question is often very Complex because we are not just what we do, and I think that's the thing that people tend to Gravitate towards, especially in a professional setting people. The first question that people ask you when you do networking is Oftentimes tell me what you do. And then you spit out a few titles and you talk about how important you are, and then that's it Right. But when you actually dig deeper, we are not just our professional selves. We are a combination of our story, our background, the people that we surround ourselves with, our likes and dislikes, our superpowers, our pet Peves. We are a combination of all of these amazing things. We're kind of like onions and I think when it comes to Creating a brand that is Dynamic and not one-dimensional, you need to find a way to capture all of those different layers and Communicate them through your brand for people to understand that depth, because no one that I have met is completely One-dimensional.

Rachel: 10:41

But when it comes to branding, we often present our brands as such, because we only want people to see that good side of us. It's normal, of course, I want people to think that I am professional and I know what I'm doing, and all of the first great impressions, but the reality is there is many different sides of us that we often don't let the world see, that we might feel shy of showing in a professional setting. But if we actually choose to find a creative way to incorporate all of those things, you actually stand out. People see you and they connect with you because there's might be also those things that are part of their identity that they're too afraid to show. You facilitate a deep sense of connection when you have a dynamic brand that presents all of the different aspects of your identity. Did that make sense?

Hank: 11:28

That makes a lot of sense, yeah, and I think you could try it out a little bit of whatever sort of eccentricity or Neuro spiciness that you've got as part of your brand. And one thing that just called that to mind for me was that One time at a local networking meeting where we're all sitting in the room and we get up in the person you know, the host that point said you know, share what you do in the. You have two minutes. Share what you do, but share also something about yourself. And at that point I was driven to share that.

Hank: 11:59

When I was a kid, when I was about eight, nine years old, I Sort of in the back of my mind had this belief that I had been dropped off here by like a spaceship and that I'm living on this planet and I'm looking at all these people who are really basically alien. And then I smiled and I said you know, looking around this room, I'm beginning to think that maybe I was right about it. And I got some laughs from some of the people, I got some head scratches from other people and Maybe even a frown or two from a couple of the people, thinking maybe I had insulted them. But you know, it's just that's what came through at that particular moment, and sometimes I do feel like I'm I'm the stranger in a strange land. How do you approach figuring out a customer's unique special identity and Make it part of their brand?

Rachel: 12:51

It starts with a very deep and intense conversation. I often find that a lot of creative entrepreneurs and a lot of designers I could speak for designers because I myself have a design background oftentimes they have a very quick conversation with the client, you know, maybe 15 to 30 minutes an hour maximum, and they ask a few basic questions about their business, what they're trying to communicate, and then they go straight into designing and oftentimes they go into the design part of the project with a lot of assumptions that might not be completely accurate about what the business owner is trying to communicate, about their brand and, as we know, with a mismatch in expectations, that usually ends in disaster, where the designer creates something beautiful they always create something beautiful and then they bring it back to the business owner and ask them hey, what do you think about this? And the business owner looks at all of them and thinks, oh, these look good, but something's off, like it doesn't quite fully capture what I was trying to communicate. And the designer's like, oh, darn, like, okay, I'm going to go back to the drug bar, I'm going to try again. And the process goes on and on and on until maybe sometimes you get to the end after a bajillion revisions or you never actually make it to the end goal because you never started the project with really getting clear on what is it that we were trying to communicate.

Rachel: 14:17

So what I actually like to do with my clients is start the relationship with a 90 minute deep dive interview where I get to know everything about my client's brand, business and identity. So who are you, where have you been and, most importantly, where's this vision of where you want to go, what do you want to create and how can we create a brand that captures that? And once I get the full picture, it's kind of like doing a full body scan to diagnose everything, instead of going to a quick walk-in clinic where they take your temperature, like check a few things and then you walk away with a prescription. I do the full body scan to understand all of the different layers that exist within that if it's a business, within that business or within that person's brand identity. And I ask a pretty personal question Sometimes you have to go there in order to get the full picture, but when you get the full spectrum, that's how you're going to be able to fully capture all of the different ranges of that person or that brand's identity.

Hank: 15:25

Right, and that's a little tough to do sometimes. Does it take sometimes helping them to break down some of the walls or barriers they might have about revealing certain parts of themselves?

Rachel: 15:37

Absolutely. It's a tough conversation to have for some people. In some of those interviews I've had people tell me hey, rachel, I've never talked to anyone about this before and it feels weird for me to share this, especially since oftentimes we don't know each other very well. These are some people that I've met maybe once or twice, and I know that sometimes, because it might be a strange conversation for people, I have specific prompts or questions that I use to help people find a way to answer the question if it is a tough question. So an example of that is when I ask about their style preferences or I ask them to describe themselves.

Rachel: 16:19

It could be very hard, especially when you're talking about yourself. You're like, huh, am I actually all of these things? It's hard because we have so much personal bias we can't see past ourselves. So a question that I like to ask when I'm trying to get a sense of a person's vibe is, instead of asking, tell me what are three words that you would use to describe yourself, I actually ask the question.

Rachel: 16:42

If I were to talk to your closest friends and family, your partner, your best friend, your dog or your cat what you're like in your best day, on the best type of day, what would they say about you? And then they would instantly come up with like a bunch of things. And sometimes I've actually had some people be like, hey, give me a sec, let me go. Let me go ask my wife hey, honey, what would you describe me as? And that actually helps get them going in specific areas where they get stuck. But I won't go around it. It is tough for people to talk about it sometimes, but in order for us to capture the full spectrum, sometimes we do have to go there.

Hank: 17:24

Right. If I'm not mistaken, you're speaking to us from Canada, right?

Rachel: 17:28

Yes, I am. Thank you for Canada.

Hank: 17:31

Yeah, and I don't know what it's like there, but here in America there's like a great disconnect between, a lot of times, who people think they are and what they do. You know, and you've got that notion of you know, especially the people who are working nine to five jobs for, you know, 20, 30 years, and but one aspect of that is that people tend to identify themselves by what they do and it's in the language and we both speak English. So maybe you know, you think you'll definitely see what I'm about to say. But in America, in English, they say you know, you know what do you do? And they will say I am, I am a designer, I am a bricklayer, I am a psychiatrist, but in other languages, and I used to speak more Spanish than I do today because I spent many, many years in Miami and I learned quite a bit of it.

Hank: 18:31

But now I've been 17 years here in the mountains and I've lost most of it. But in Spanish they wouldn't say I am. They would say I work at laying bricks, I work as a psychiatrist. You know, they don't. It's not I am, because they they do understand, I think, inherently or instinctively the disconnect between you know, saying that I am this, and even goes down to something like saying I am hungry in English, I am hungry in Spanish, yo tengo hambre, yo tengo mucho hambre. I have a lot of hunger. I have not that I am. So it's less of a commitment to identify yourself with things outside yourself.

Rachel: 19:18

That is so interesting. I didn't know that, but that is the benefit of having different languages under your belts and seeing how people identify in different contexts. And for me, as a Chinese born Canadian I am culturally disconnected from my culture where, even in Chinese culture, if I were to lean on the little Chinese that I know the way that they phrase things, it's actually quite similar to English when it comes to the words. When you describe what it is that you do, I think it misses the I am, but the phrase itself basically implies like, oh yeah, like I'm I'm a designer or I'm an engineer, and it is interesting, though, how the language that we use it has these assumptions and connotations baked into them that we don't even notice. So thank you for sharing that. That was super cool.

Hank: 20:15

Right right, I've also noticed that with Chinese and I can't say that I'm any kind of an expert on it, with the exception of I had told you that way back. It almost seems like another lifetime. I had a girlfriend from Hong Kong, but there's not a notion of articles of speech like I would say I am going out to the car. She would have said I am going to car, I'm going to car, not to the car, because the article is not part of the Chinese language. But I think I've just diverted I'm really good at diverting at the things and, wow, the time is really flying. So let me ask you this if there were one bit of advice you'd give to an entrepreneur about finding their own unique branded identity, what might that be?

Rachel: 21:02

I'm going to say something that a lot of coaches would smile at, which is you should have a long sit down and spend some quality time with yourself. And one thing that I actually did for myself when I was figuring out my brand is I sat and I journaled for a very long time and I just used the prompt at the very top of my page who am I? And it was a very it was a very long journaling session. I think I actually spent about a few weeks. At some point I migrated to a Google doc and I just brain dumped everything that I wanted to say about myself onto there, and you'd be surprised with what you find.

Rachel: 21:41

There are a lot of layers like explore your story, explore the things that you do or don't like. Ask yourself, why do I feel that way? Ask yourself, what are the things that you're passionate about, what do you believe in, who do you want to be, who are you right now and what do you want to change about that? Like there's so much to explore and when you are done, you're brain dumping and you have all of that stuff just out on the page. Go back through and just do a comb. Are there any patterns that popped up? Were there certain words that came up quite a bit? Were there any ideas that you're like oh, I didn't realize that.

Rachel: 22:17

Like, this is a very prominent belief and that's very clear in my story and my likes and dislikes and my hobbies Like, are there things that are repeating and concurring that you realize are actually at the very core of who you are? Regardless of who you are and what you've done or who you want to become, those are, like pivotal. Those are the things you sink your teeth into and those are the things that you figure out how to translate into a visual aspect to communicate about your identity. But always start with asking yourself the big question who am I and how do I want the world to see me?

Hank: 22:52

So it's kind of like the philosopher I think it might have been Plato who said no, thyself was that. I think that was Plato. My brain kicks in and out on things. That being said, we're out of time, so what is the best way for our listeners to reach out to you for more information or if they want you to help them discover their branded identity?

Rachel: 23:12

Yes, you can find me on pretty much all the social media platforms. My handle is the same across all of them it is Rachel T Y Lee, and I'm on Instagram, linkedin and Facebook Mostly Instagram. It's a very visual platform, so I like to hang out on there the most. But if you want more information about what I do, feel free to visit my website, which is rachelteyleecom.

Hank: 23:38

All right. Thanks for being here with us today and to our listeners, tune in every Wednesday for the Home Business Success Show here on bizradious. Remember you can achieve success, freedom and independence in your own home business. I've done it, Rachel has done it and you can too. This is Hank Eater, wishing all of you a fabulous day of home business success.