Overcoming Old Identities with Asia Dore

Episode 021 — Overcoming Old Identities with Asia Dore

If your business (or life) no longer fits who you’re becoming, you’re not “behind”—you’re evolving. In this episode of Overcoming Anything, host Anne Vryonides sits down with Asia Dore, a brand strategist who helps entrepreneurs shed outgrown identities and step into their next era with clarity and confidence. Asia shares her own pivot from photographer to strategist, the grief of letting go, and the simple brand framework that makes reinvention feel actionable—even when you’re in the messy middle.

Asia Dore is a brand strategist on a mission to simplify and revolutionize the concept of branding so every entrepreneur can take full advantage of it to grow their business. She has helped hundreds of business owners build effective, profitable brands that empower them to leverage their unique expertise.

3 Key Takeaways
• The “messy middle” is part of transformation—reinvention requires the uncomfortable in-between
• If you want to be recognized for a new identity, you must consistently communicate it with a clear core message
• Branding becomes simple when you define: what you do, who it’s for, how you do it differently, and why it matters

Timestamps
00:00 — Welcome & introduction
02:10 — The mantra that reframes growth: undoing yourself
06:30 — Asia’s pivot: photographer to brand strategist
12:20 — The grief and guilt of letting go of an old identity
18:10 — How to bridge the gap when your audience knows you for something else
24:40 — “What feels icky?” Finding the signal that it’s time to pivot
30:20 — Standing out without being flashy: the power of a core message
36:10 — Personal brand vs business brand: how to decide
41:20 — Fear, doubt, and the antidote: facts, proof, and real-life evidence
47:00 — Asia’s 5-part branding foundation (simple, repeatable, effective)
53:30 — Next step: Asia’s masterclass + where to connect

Links & Resources
Asia’s Expert Branding Masterclass: https://asiadore.com/masterclass

Links for Asia Dore: https://asiadore.com | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn |  Pinterest | YouTube

Disclaimer
The content of this episode is for informational and inspirational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional advice, therapy, diagnosis, or coaching.

Please share this episode with an entrepreneur (or anyone in transition) who’s outgrown an old identity and needs permission—and a framework—to step into what’s next.

❤️ Anne

#OvercomingAnything #OvercomingAnythingPodcast #AnneVryonides #Podcast #PodcastDiscovery #ApplePodcasts #SpotifyPodcasts #NewEpisode #PodcastGrowth #PersonalGrowth #IdentityShift #Reinvention #EntrepreneurMindset #BusinessMindset #BrandStrategy #PersonalBrand #BrandingTips #ThoughtLeadership #WomenInBusiness #SmallBusinessOwner #OnlineBusiness #MindsetShift #ConfidenceBuilding #PurposeDriven #ResilienceStories

Transcript

Anne Vryonides 0:00

Welcome to Overcoming Anything, the podcast where we dive deep into stories of resilience, transformation, and growth. I'm your host, Anne Vryonides, and today we have an incredible guest who is gonna share with us how to overcome an old and outgrown identity. So joining me today is Asia Dore. She's a brand strategist on a mission to revolutionize and simplify branding by empowering entrepreneurs to leverage their unique expertise. Welcome to the show, Asia.

Asia Dore 0:29

Thanks, Anne. I'm so excited to be here.

Anne Vryonides 0:31

Excellent. So glad to have you. So before we dive in, I always love to ask, what's one quote or mantra that keeps you going during tough times?

Asia Dore 0:42

There is a poem by Nara Waheed called The Fix, and it goes Getting yourself together. What about undoing yourself? And as someone who's always very focused on achieving the goal and getting to the end and having the final draft complete, and it's all about the destination. Reading that, probably like a decade ago now, was a really good reminder that, the journey is just part of it. It's gonna be messy. You have to trust the process. If you're gonna make a delicious meal, your kitchen is gonna be turned into a mess. There's gonna be stuff everywhere. There's gonna be flour on the countertops. Same with cleaning a room. Same with, becoming someone new. Like any sort of transformation requires the messy, ugly, awkward, uncomfortable middle part. Reading that was just a true reminder to, to trust the process. Even though I hate doing it, it's required.

Anne Vryonides 1:41

I love that. I've never heard that poem before, but I think that's always the challenge for everyone. The messy middle. You're like, how long is the middle gonna last? Am I gonna make it through? But that's very reassuring, so thank you for sharing that. Let's start at the beginning. What is the most difficult thing that you've had to overcome in your life?

Asia Dore 2:02

Within my business, one of the toughest things that I overcame was, a big pivot that I had back in 2020. I started my business as a photographer and I had built my entire business on the service of photography, on the identity that I was a photographer. So when I started to feel this pull away from that, I specialized in brand photography for a while, and I realized that the strategy behind the brand photography was the part that really excited me, which led me to my work now as a brand strategist, Uhhuh., But realizing that was really difficult because I wasn't a brand strategist. That was, sort of what I realized I was actually doing within my business. The part that really excited me, the things the skills that I could use, that, the experience that I could bring in, it made sense. On paper, but in reality, my entire audience knew me as a photographer. So overcoming that hurdle and doing something completely different really felt like abandoning everything that I had built in my business so far, and even this identity of being a photographer. So that was really tough.

Anne Vryonides 3:19

I was gonna say, so how did you overcome that challenge? Because if you switched identities from a photographer to a brand strategist, how were you able to get clients or how did you bridge that gap?

Asia Dore 3:33

I mean, it's like just talking about the messy middle. It was very messy and it took course over a year or two to fully do it. The funny thing about it though is that I think it really could have been so much simpler if I would've just let myself do it. If I would've just, let myself, be okay with this new identity, be okay with the shift, if I would've just allowed myself to let go. It would've been so much simpler, but it was me feeling like I was abandoning something that I'd already built. It made me feel guilty, more than anything. Yes, I was nervous about the shift, like, would people take me seriously? Is this even possible for me? But more than that, it was the, honestly grief, like I went through, I think the stages of grief, of losing something else rather than gaining something new. First I had to overcome that hurdle. But once I did and I was just like, this is the thing that's exciting to me right now, I'm just gonna try it out. After that it was really just about, okay, if I want people to recognize me as a brand strategist, if I want people to know that now I'm doing this. What do I need to put out into the world to make sure they see me that way? Which is really what branding is. It's about, okay, how do I wanna be seen? What do I wanna be known for? And then literally what things do I go do and say and share in order for people to know that's what I'm doing, that's who I'm am. So the letting go was the hard part.

Anne Vryonides 5:07

I can imagine.

Asia Dore 5:08

But the action steps really were quite simple because branding is really quite simple.

Anne Vryonides 5:14

So who was there to support you during your grief and your transition? Did you hire a coach or consultant or someone that kind of helped guide you to from where you were to where you wanted to be?

Asia Dore 5:27

I am very lucky in my life in that I have a really fantastic support system. My parents are always very supportive. My fiance's extremely supportive. I have some really great friendships that have lasted, over a decade. And I also did have a fantastic business coach at the time, so I truly was in like, it was like best case scenario for me. Oh, that's good. And I know how lucky I am and how blessed I am to have that support system, but at the time it was really helpful, especially with my business coach, to just be able to externalize here's all the jumble that's going in. On in my head. Let me just word vomit at you. And the amount of clarity that I get from externalizing I think helped a lot in that transition.

Anne Vryonides 6:15

That's good. I'm glad that you weren't alone and that you had people to support you and your dreams, and then someone to support you on your execution.

Asia Dore 6:23

Yes, I'm extremely lucky in that regard.

Anne Vryonides 6:27

So what advice would you have for someone if they want to create a new identity or they want to create a new brand? What are the first things that they need to really conceptualize in order to bring this to life?

Asia Dore 6:41

Well, when it comes to identity and branding, they really go hand in hand. Especially if you are building a personal brand. This is true regardless of the type of brand, even if you're branding a product, even a product brand has a personality and a persona. But especially if you're building a personal brand, it's the identity It's so tied up in that because we also want our brands, to be honest, we want them to be genuine. We want them to be unique just like we are. And so we put a lot of ourselves into our brands, into our businesses. So if you are experiencing, sort of an brand identity crisis when it comes to, your business. I would say the first thing is to, figure out like what feels wrong. What feels off, what feel like specifically what feels icky? Is it when you get an inquiry for a project and you're just like dreading it'cause you're so tired of offering that service? Or is it when you're working with a particular type of client and they just keep, somehow these types of clients just keep finding in you and you're like no more. Regardless of what it is, figure out specifically what it is. Because I think that when we get specific, it helps us with the transition because we know now what we don't want and that frees up, our brain space because then we can get all the frustrations and disappointments and dread out, right? It frees up our brain space to focus on, what we do want and. More importantly, why do we want that? Like, why do we want this new thing? Why do we want this shift? Why do we want to make this pivot? Because if you're having a crisis about it, if you're listening to this podcast, like this podcast episode, you're probably having a crisis about it. It's, how do I wanna say this? If you're having a crisis about it, it's probably not just a matter of, oh, there was a shift in the market and so now I'm gonna shift my business to match it.

Anne Vryonides 8:45

It's

Asia Dore 8:46

probably not as simple as, oh, I'm gonna offer this new product that I'm excited about. Now it's probably if you're having a crisis, it's more like I'm passionate about something else now. Okay. The way that I'm doing things isn't working anymore on a personal level. Now I need to be doing something differently. So it's a little deeper than just, oh, I'm shifting my business.

Anne Vryonides 9:06

Okay.

Asia Dore 9:07

So getting clear about what it is that we do want is gonna help. A lot in that regard. So now that you know, okay, I don't want this to be bored, now that I do want this, I want my business to look like this, or I want people to recognize me as, someone who offers this now or who is an expert in this other thing now, then it's just a matter of. Okay. Getting clear on what it is that you actually want to offer in your business. What do you want to do? What is the problem that you want to solve this new problem? And then who do you want to solve that problem for? So that you know who you're talking to in your marketing. How you do it differently is a really great thing to know when it comes to building a brand because it sets you apart. And then figuring out that core of like why any of this. Matters is really gonna help get people to care. And then it's just a matter of just doing those things. Nobody is paying as much attention to your business as you are. So even though this pivot might be really huge for you. Other people are just along for the ride, right? You can be clear about Hey, I'm doing something differently and I'm really excited about it and this is why you're welcome to join me, on this new adventure. And then you just, you go for it. This is what you're doing now. Commit to it. Because the more committed you are, the more confident you are when you talk about this new thing. The more people are going to trust you as an expert in this new thing.

Anne Vryonides 10:32

I like that. In the sea of social media, it is quite crowded right now. How do you stand out when you think of branding? Do you wanna get these eccentric colors? So as people are doom scrolling, they're like, wow, fluorescent pink. But then I know that may not come across with a luxury brand or like a calm professional brand or. I guess I'm trying to say is it the words we use, is it the colors or what do you think really differentiates a brand in today's market?

Asia Dore 11:04

Psychology wise and social media wise? I am not an expert on these things. I'm sure there are a lot of little tricks that you can use and hooks you can use to grab people's attention. But what I will say. And the very boring yet incredibly true answer is that the most important thing you can do to stand out is have a really solid core message. Okay? Simple and solid core message that speaks directly to your ideal client, and say that thing over and over, and over, and over and over again in different and fresh in new ways.

Anne Vryonides 11:38

Okays.

Asia Dore 11:38

That's good. You don't have to stand out among everybody. You just have to stand out to your ideal clients.

Anne Vryonides 11:45

Ooh, that's good. I like that.

Asia Dore 11:47

No, nobody else matters. So as long as it's very clear what you're offering, what problem you're solving, the right people are gonna pay attention. Because we naturally want our problem solved. Right? Right. Even if we're not actively looking for solutions, we have it in our subconscious that this thing is frustrating us. So if you're scrolling, or clicking through emails or whatever it is, and someone. Is talking about the exact thing that you're struggling with, and they're saying, Hey, this is why you're struggling, and here's the solution and here's what to do next. That's gonna naturally get people's attention without you having to be flashy and use all the colors and the hook. So yes, those things can be helpful because the internet is noisy, but when it really comes down to the foundation of getting people's attention, it's having a clear message and saying it over and over again.

Anne Vryonides 12:35

I like that. Thank you for giving us permission to say the same thing over and over again because I think a lot of times we think, oh, I have to come up with something new and fresh and I can't say what I already said. So that is that's important. Thank you for giving us that permission so we can just keep saying it in different ways. Yeah.

Asia Dore 12:54

If you're sick of your message, good, that means you're sharing it enough. Congratulations. Now, keep doing it. Get bored.

Anne Vryonides 13:02

That's a great benchmark. So if someone is let's say, just starting a business right now, would you suggest that they brand themselves as an individual or brand themselves as a company? Or would that be contingent upon their exit strategy? If they wanna eventually someday sell off their brand?

Asia Dore 13:21

Yeah, I can't really make an overarching like generalization about that because it depends on so many factors. But what I will say is if you are starting a business and you're unsure. Literally you can just Google like business brand versus personal brand. Okay. There are a million resources out there that talk about what the differences are, what the pros and cons are. I would say if you are offering, a product or a service and you want your brand to be built around. The product or service, it probably makes more sense to brand yourself as a business, as a company, as an entity. But if you are more focused on utilizing your expertise in addition to your ideas and your opinions and your perspectives, like all of those unique things that kind of put you more as a thought leader, then it makes more sense to brand yourself, as a person. Okay,

Anne Vryonides 14:20

great. That makes sense. So if you could break down just a real simple framework that you use to go from a photographer to a brand strategist, how would you describe that and share that with the listeners?

Asia Dore 14:36

Real simple. So first of all, figure out what you don't like about what you're doing right now. Figure out what's wrong, what's frustrating, what is icky? All, all, get all that stuff outta your brain. Okay? Then figure out, okay, I want this other thing. Why do I want it? What's exciting about it? What kind of difference do I think it would make? And then move on to, okay. What does that actually look like in terms of a business model? Do I need to change up my business model? Do I need to change my, my service offerings or my messaging? Probably if it, depending on what the pivot is, and then after that you literally just do. Those things, right? You create a new offer suite. You redesign your website, you change your bio on social media, you email your current clients and say, Hey, just letting you know at the end of this contract term, we're not gonna renew because I'm doing this fun other new thing. Now you,, let your audience know what's new and what's changing and what's different, and you're, you show up excited about it because if you're excited about it, your audience probably will be too. And one of the things that I. Really underestimated when I was going through my big pivot is that, again, once I let myself admit what I wanted once I let go of the past identity, I realized that it was really so simple to make that shift, like publicly make that shift to my audience because I didn't just build a photography business. I built a brand as Asia Door. So yes, people knew me as a photographer, but even more than that, they were probably following me also for my personality, for the things that I was talking about, the things I was sharing. And that is so overrated when it comes to building a brand. Building a brand allows you to more easily flow through your evolutions, your natural evolutions as a human and a business owner, because the things that you're putting out into the world. Are already reflecting your true, genuine self. Like it's not an act. It's not, a mask or a, like a manufactured identity. It's really real parts of you, which makes it so much easier to shift. So your audience, like I had people who were in my audience for years as a photographer and they never bought from me until. I decided to pivot to brand strategy because now I was offering something they could actually use, but I had already been building those relationships, building that trust, even though I wasn't offering something they needed at the time. So don't underestimate, I guess the. The smartness, the intelligence, the emotional intelligence of your audience. You're probably gonna get a lot more support from your current audience than it feels like you're going to get. I went on a tangent there, but really the No, it's great. The steps are when you really break it down, it's really, it's so simple. It's the letting go. That's the hard part.

Anne Vryonides 17:32

Right. I agree. I agree. So what have you learned about yourself having gone through this experience that. You could reflect back on as like a person about you as an individual. What did you learn about creating a new identity for yourself?

Asia Dore 17:50

I think I, I learned two really important lessons, number one, trust your intuition and learn how your intuition communicates with you. Like I recently learned re like very recently, like a few months ago, learned that my intuition doesn't talk to me. If I know, if I'm like having internal dialogue, that's just my brain. It's not my intuition. My intuition just knows. And when I look back on this pivot that I had, I knew for like way longer than I let myself admit. And that's why it felt so conflicting.'cause my brain was saying one thing, my intuition was saying another. So trust your intuition, and learn how it communicates with you is the first thing I learned. And the second thing I learned is that, quitting stuff and trying new stuff. Without any real, plan. Like it can be a strategy like that can be a business strategy. I think trying stuff is actually a really underrated business strategy because you can download all the courses in the world. You can hire all the best coaches who tell you exactly what to do, but you don't know exactly what's gonna work for you, like truly until you just. Try stuff and see what happens. So trust your intuition and be willing to try stuff.

Anne Vryonides 19:08

What if someone is scared and they have this fear? They're like, okay, I know I'm really good at this and this is what I'm known for, but I really wanna do this on the other side. So they have all your tools ready to go, but they're just like doubting themselves. Then they're just afraid. What advice would you have for them?

Asia Dore 19:26

So real, like it's like you're so not alone in that everything is scary, especially when it comes to entrepreneurship where you are the one making all the decisions. And like 99% of them, you probably don't know if they're, it's the correct quote, unquote correct one. My favorite like thing to tell people who are scared of this is that mindset work is great, right? Your breathing exercises are great, your journaling is fantastic. But to me, like nothing beats cold, hard facts. Just like real life data. So if I were to apply this to my situation, to my pivot, yes, I would do the mindset stuff because it is important. But before I even touched the mindset stuff, I would sit down and just write all of the like logical facts of why it makes sense for me to be a brand strategist.

Anne Vryonides 20:21

Hmm, that's a good advice.

Asia Dore 20:22

What kind of knowledge do I have? What sort of experiences have I had? How have I helped my clients in this specific way? Like what actual success stories do I have when it comes to helping clients in this way? What success stories do I have when it comes to applying this knowledge to myself and my own business? What sorts of. Awards have I won? What have, what kind of blog posts have I published? What sorts of ideas and perspective have I shaped by observing the world, right? In my case, the branding industry and realizing. Why are we all making this? So why are we all making branding so complicated when it's really so simple? Why isn't anyone talking about how simple it is? Right? To me, that's a fact of why I should be a brand strategist, because I know I can help people simplify the process, a process that has become so, so complex for really no reason at all. Right? So all of these reasons I would just list out and. It's sometimes tough to be objective about it, and it feels like, you know, like you're tooting your own horn, but yes, toot your own horn. Like toot toot away. We need evidence of why you are an expert at this thing, of why you should be doing this thing. So just. Be open to it. Be open to tooting your own horn. And then once you have all the facts, then you go do your mindset work. Okay.'cause for logical, practical people, if you don't have the underlying facts, it's gonna be really hard to rewire your neural pathways to think something you don't actually think if you don't have the logic. To back it up. So I say start with the logic and the data and the facts, and then move into the mindset work. And I bet if you combine those two things, the fear is gonna go away because you're gonna see. Logically, I need to be doing this like that. There are things that are wrong. I need to help people fix them. That's a very general way to say it, but I feel like if you are having this crisis and you are in the position where you're having a hard time with your pivot, you need to get into the facts of like why you should be doing this, not only for yourself, but also for the world, for your audience. How can you literally make the world better if you step into this other role?

Anne Vryonides 22:42

Okay, great. And then do you recommend that people kind of beta test their new idea with maybe, five friends or five clients, Hey, what do you think of these colors? What do you think of this messaging? Does it resonate with you? Are you a big fan of that or do you just trust your intuition?

Asia Dore 23:00

I think it completely depends on the person, and I think you should do whatever you need to do to make yourself just light a fire under your ass and go do the things like whatever it takes for you to take action. If you feel better taking those baby steps, do it.

Anne Vryonides 23:14

Okay. If

Asia Dore 23:15

you feel better just being like, I'm all in now, then do that. If you do decide to beta test things though, make sure the people you're sharing your stuff with. Are your ideal clients, otherwise you're gonna get opinions that don't matter.

Anne Vryonides 23:29

Got it. And what else would you like to share with us about branding? Any misconceptions or things that you wish the listeners would know if they're considering a rebranding process?

Asia Dore 23:41

Oh my gosh. Yes, but I know that we only have so much time. So I, I touched on this earlier, but, i've been talking about like how branding is so simple. There are only five steps, and I mentioned this a little bit before, but I'm just gonna repeat them now. Step number one is figure out exactly what it is that you do, exactly what you're offering, exactly what problem you're solving. Step number two, figure out exactly who you're doing this thing for. Who's problem are you solving? I'm talking about your ideal client. But I'm not talking about their demographics. I'm not talking about their annual income and where they live and where they shop on Saturday mornings. I'm talking about their actual psychology. What are they frustrated with? What are they scared of? What are they motivated by? What do they want more importantly, who do they want to be and how does your product or service or offering help them become that ideal version of themselves? Number three, figure out what you do. Differently than everybody else who's offering the same technical thing as you. Your how is typically within your signature method? So if you don't have a signature method or you are confused about what yours might be, get help with that because that's what sets you apart from everyone else. So what you do, who you do it for, how you do it differently, and then figure out why any of it matters. You know, this is what I was saying about writing down all the data, all the facts. Okay, cool. You wanna offer this thing? Why does that matter? Not only in terms of you helping your clients directly, but like in the grand scheme of the entire world, what is the ripple effect that you solving this problem for? People will have on their families, their relationships, their communities, society as a whole. The whole world like Zoom, way out. And then lastly, go talk about those things, right? Figure out your message from those things and then go talk about it over and over and over again until you're bored, and then say it some more.

Anne Vryonides 25:38

Okay? Great. So is there a book that helped you on your branding journey that you could recommend for our listeners or any other book that's changed your life?

Asia Dore 25:49

Um, oh my gosh. Okay. I feel like I read so many good books. And then as soon as someone asks like, what are you reading? What did you, what have you been reading? I'm like, I don't know. A book that helped during the process. I can't think of a specific book. I do love reading, personal development books and some business books. But I, I will say what really helped me, it's not a book, this is kind of a cheater answer, is, like I said, just externalizing what was going on in my brain. Writing is an okay way for me to do that, but I find when I can just. Verbally word vomit, either at someone or just in a post voice memo, and then go back and listen to it. It helps me so much with just clarifying my ideas and figuring out just what's in here, what's in the brain that feels all crumpled and heavy. And once it's out in the world, it just feels so much lighter. So getting that clarity, that I think was the thing that really helped me through that process. Sorry for cheating on the answer.

Anne Vryonides 26:53

Oh, that's totally fine. Thank you for sharing your framework with us. This was very beneficial, especially for any entrepreneurs who are listening and looking to rebrand or create their own brand. Where can people follow you? Or learn more about what you do.

Asia Dore 27:08

Yeah. If this conversation is resonating in terms of, you feeling like excited about this pivot instead of, nervous or scared, or even if you need to jump over that hurdle of feeling nervous and scared, I have a masterclass that walks you through the five things that you need in order to brand yourself as an expert. So this is gonna be perfect for someone who is in that pivot, who is in the process of admitting they want something new. Who's in the process of, okay, I know what I want to do. What else I, what other thing I want to do? Now I just need to know, like the action steps to take this masterclass is gonna be really helpful for that because it's not just about you seeing yourself as an. That's step one. Step two is getting other people to see you and recognize you as an expert. So that's gonna be a really great next step for anyone listening. And that's just asia door.com/masterclass.

Anne Vryonides 28:04

Awesome. We'll go ahead and put the link down below. So thank you so much Asia. I really appreciate your time, and if you found this episode helpful, please share it with anyone who might be facing a similar challenge and needs to hear this message of inspiration and this framework. See you next time on overcoming Anything.