IAM420 – Brand Expert Helps Developing Brands for Small Corporations and Individuals

Tiffiney Cornish is a brand expert with over 10 years of marketing and business development experience. She worked as an Industrial Engineer for Estee Lauder helping to streamline production processes to increase revenue and accuracy of output projections. She also spent 8 years in the fashion industry as a model and creative director. In 2014, she started TC Creatives: Branding and Design Studio which focused on developing brands for small corporations and individuals.

• CEO Hack: (1) Book- Never Split The Difference (2) Self-care
• CEO Nugget: Don't give up, do something fulfilling and believe in yourself
• CEO Defined: Leading through example and doing things from your heart

Website: https://tc-creatives.com/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/tc_creatives
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tc.creatives.agency

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Transcription

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:30

Hello, hello. Hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast, and have a very special guest on the show today. I've Tiffiney Cornish of TC Creatives. Tiffiney, it is awesome to have you on the show.

Tiffiney Cornish 0:39

Thank you for having me.

Gresham Harkless 0:41

No problem. Super excited to have you on and what I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about Tiffany so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Tiffiney Cornish is a brand expert with over 10 years of marketing and business development experience. She worked as an Industrial Engineer for Estee Lauder helping to streamline production processes to increase revenue and accuracy of output projections. She also spent 8 years in the fashion industry as a model and creative director. In 2014, she started TC Creatives: Branding and Design Studio which focused on developing brands for small corporations and individuals. Tiffiney, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Tiffiney Cornish 1:19

I am

Gresham Harkless 1:21

Awesome, let's do it. So to kick everything off, I wanted to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story, and what led you to get started with the business.

Tiffiney Cornish 1:27

So like I said, I started as a model. And after doing a number of photo shoots, I don't know if I was promoted or demoted to creative director, I started doing more to the media production side for my clients. So I started producing their videos. And I started producing their campaigns for magazines and the like retouching for their billboards. And while doing that, I started noticing some holes in their branding. I would just begin to offer suggestions which led to me starting to do this work for the clients.

So now I was working with these businesses, instead of being on a front end in front of the camera on the back end to help them. So drive that revenue. And as it continued to grow, we got out of the fashion industry and started to work with all types of industries all the way from Hollywood directors, to beauty to financial services. So I grew from seeing a need and the clients that I was working with. And then having that background, that biomedical engineering background, that industrial engineering background that has that business processes background, and then being both myself, a business and a business owner, I just felt that I was able to accomplish these things produce businesses.

Gresham Harkless 2:42

Nice, I definitely appreciate that, especially having so much expertise to be able to lean on, because I think a lot of times, you have people that are really, really creative, and they have the ability to do that. But they're lacking in the business process, even looking at the processes, but then you have somebody that's process driven, and then it doesn't look quite as good. It'd be nice to say that. But it's great to be able to have that mix of everything that you're able to provide to the clients that sounds

Tiffiney Cornish 3:07

Yeah, definitely agree. And it works well. So I get to be able to do the hard part, which is those business processes, but then also make it look like a billboard, because coming from the fashion industry, everything has to look like it's all like fashion, to me in my mind.

Gresham Harkless 3:24

There you go. And that's definitely a great bar to make sure that everything is coming out to and you're reaching and achieving. So I wanted to hear a little bit more about TC creatives, can you take us through exactly what you're doing for your clients, what you're working with

Tiffiney Cornish 3:38

Absolutely. TC Creatives is a full-service branding and design studio. And by full service we mean we do everything to take it from the ideation phase to profit and beyond. So we do everything from the brand strategy, which is like the mission statement the values with the target audience, the competitor strategy, and the go-to-market strategies, we also do the naming of both the business if it's not already have a name, but also the products if you're doing product expansions, we help with naming those.

We do the logo design color palettes, typefaces, the entire brand identity, web development, media production, commercials, and campaign photography, as well as we do brand management, which is reputation management monitoring the mentions, we do social media, email management, and customer relationships. So it is full service. And then we do the consulting phase to help determine you know, new product offerings, and how to readjust the revenue models to understand that ABC analysis which is so important for retail and E-commerce businesses. So it's everything from the I have idea phase to hey, my company just made 3 million this year. We support businesses all the way through.

Gresham Harkless 4:53

Nice I definitely appreciate that because I think a lot of times when you are in that, oh I have an idea of Asier have no idea exactly where to go after that. And it sounds like correct me if I'm wrong but is there a brand that comes from that idea phase and you start to figure out what that is? And then it manifests itself in the logo and all those other pieces.

Tiffiney Cornish 5:15

Absolutely. So from that idea phase, we go in and we think about, one, what we want it to be understanding the company's mission. The purpose is the first step before even deciding who the target audience is because you want to make sure that the customers you're targeting are also going to have a similar mission and purpose for themselves. So you build that relationship and trust through them and build that community.

And then from there, the logos are then to, attract those certain types of the target audience, same thing, colors, and typefaces are going to work with that very particular niche market that you've defined based on defining the business itself first, in terms of what it's standing for, and what it's going to represent.

Gresham Harkless 5:59

Nice. Yeah, definitely appreciate that. And I think that's how you have that consistent brand, definitely correct me if I'm wrong, but I think sometimes people have that idea. The first thing they do is they go get they come up with a name, they get the domain, then they come up, and maybe have somebody do their logo. And they haven't even thought about what they want their company to stand for, or what their mission and vision personally is. So sometimes a lot of that stuff gets convoluted, I guess, for lack of a better term, when you don't have it done that work systematically.

Tiffiney Cornish 6:27

Yeah, when you don't have a clear foundation, it's easy to just find, and follow the shiny object, right? You say, hey, this person wants to buy this, I could do this, oh, this person wants this. But it's similar. And it's not really what I offer. So I'm gonna do it this way. And then you want to dilute your brand and really just becoming an overall business that offers anything. And that's really not good, especially with things being so accessible. Now, with the internet and social media, you want to make sure that everything is clearly defined, and then you build that community.

That's why businesses like Apple and Starbucks do so well, because it's a community and it caters to that community. And then people who are not in that community go to other places. So you want to have that you want people to feel welcome with your brand and feel happy to be involved with your brand and others that are involved with it as well.

Gresham Harkless 7:14

Absolutely, absolutely. I appreciate you for sharing that with us. So I wanted to ask you, you might have already touched on this for what I call your secret sauce. And it could be for you personally, or it could be for TC Creative as well. What do you feel kind of sets you apart, it makes you unique.

Tiffiney Cornish 7:28

Me and TC creative with the fact that we've worked well. Personally, I've worked with businesses from Estee Lauder to Wells Fargo Hunter and Accurate City, I hope. So I've worked with Fortune Five hundreds, as a designer, as a model as a consultant. So I've been able to understand and engineers a lot of different things that you don't get on a front end when you're speculative, or even going to business school, you get to see things and motions. So being able to have backgrounds in multiple industries.

And then like I said, being able to be both a business and run a business, those are two totally different things being a business entity in yourself, versus controlling a staff and budgeting and human resources are two totally different things. So being able to have that full understanding, I think really gives value to the customers that we are the clients that we work with. Because we are able to not just touch on, what it looks like aesthetically, and make that trust connection, we can also say, Well your revenue model or your buying patterns are a little off. And this is preventing your growth. And I think they appreciate that a lot more because we're able to offer more complete solutions.

Gresham Harkless 8:43

Yeah, absolutely. And I know a lot of people who are listening to this as well are very aspirational. They may not have the Starbucks or the apples right now. But as you mentioned, it seems that's something you can grow into. So it's great to lean on somebody that has that expertise in that experience, to know that you're able to build your business, or probably at least at the very least follow the same principles that they're following.

Tiffiney Cornish 9:06

Yeah, well, you want to define your own principles. And that's why companies like Nike do so well, because even though they their principles may not be popular opinion, they stand by them firmly. And once you define what yours are, as a business owner, you should stand by them firmly. And then those people that agree with you, that community will follow you and believing you because they know that it's genuine and you really do care. You're not just being opportunistic.

Gresham Harkless 9:32

Absolutely. That makes perfect sense. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. This might be an app or a book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Tiffiney Cornish 9:46

I have two- for a business book called Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss. He's an ex-FBI hostage negotiator and he teaches how to negotiate with limits compromise and make sure when you are negotiating with customers or clients, that you're coming from a sense of value, more so than making compromises.

Now, personally, as a business owner, I think self-care is very, very big. And it's a really huge deal that some of us take for granted. But as a business owner, especially a small business, if you're sick, the business does not go on. So you have to make sure that you spend time taking care of yourself. And I do have a very, I like to think that is not rigorous. But it is extreme where I get up at five in the morning, and I, you know, meditate. I read, go to the gym, and do a number of things before the business opens at 9 a.m. Just to make sure that time is there for me before I get consumed with, you know, making sure other people's businesses are running well.

Gresham Harkless 10:50

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And I feel I've heard the book never split the difference. But I don't think I read it yet. But I would definitely check that out. And I always say, when you get on the plane, I was talking about putting your oxygen mask on. And that was like my whole mantra for this year, is making sure you put on your oxygen mask. And that might be self-care, that might be meditating or taking a nap or whatever you have to do to make sure you're your best self because we as you know, business owners give so much that you want to make sure that you are taking care of yourself as well.

Tiffiney Cornish 11:21

Absolutely, yeah. And if you're a solopreneur, you cannot run your business if you have the flu, so you're doing unnecessary steps and making sure that everything can go on as needed, but also that you are healthy and happy because that's the most important part of running a business.

Gresham Harkless 11:39

Absolutely, absolutely. So now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. Or if you can happen to be a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Tiffiney Cornish 11:50

Don't give up, business is hard. I say this all of the time. People see you notice Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs and they're like, oh my gosh, they were billionaires at 20. And it's so hard and they don't see them crying in a corner by themselves and having a good month and not making money for six months. And pawning off their family heirlooms to make sure the doors stay open and a lot of business owners, will have that up and down. But you have to make sure that you stick with it. Believe in yourself and make sure that what you're doing fulfills you. Because if it's not, it's not a business worth having. And if it does fulfill you you won't have a problem containing it.

Gresham Harkless 12:34

Yeah, absolutely. I definitely agree with that. And I think it's Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell talked about Bill Gates actually was one of the people talking about how you don't realise how much time and effort they put into being who they are. And I think a lot of times, like you said, you see them on the cover of Forbes, or, on the new channel, and you're like, Okay, well, that's a success. But you don't see all those behind-the-scenes things. Like you said, the panning the jewelry, and things like that, it took to get there and a lot of the sacrifices and things that they make, and sometimes you'll see somebody's finish line rather than them running throughout the race. And you think that's exactly what success is. And that's all it is.

Tiffiney Cornish 13:15

Exactly.

Gresham Harkless 13:17

Nice. And so I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote unquote, CEOs on the show. So Tiffiney, what has being a CEO meant to you?

Tiffiney Cornish 13:28

I think being a CEO means to me leading through example, being exemplary and your value using the goals of the company, making sure that you are fulfilling the needs of your clients. But with a smile and surpassing those, I don't like to say, over deliver under promise, because I feel like you should promise still, but even exceed your own expectations and do it from the heart and not just from the baseline or the dollar sign.

Gresham Harkless 14:03

Nice. I love that. Because I think if you come from that mindset or that mentality, then it's hard to lose just because you are coming from that part of your heart, so to speak. And then I think when you started thinking about the bottom line, you kind of get distracted about certain things, you can cut costs and things like that. But if you're thinking about genuinely providing the best service and product, then you can't really lose.

Tiffiney Cornish 14:30

Yeah, and you're happy doing it, right? So when you do things that you're happy doing you usually do better than with some you're doing something begrudgingly. So I think it's always great to do it from your heart, give from the heart.

Gresham Harkless 14:43

Absolutely. And Tiffiney, I truly appreciate you and appreciate your time. What I wanted to do was pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you can let our readers and listeners know and then of course how best they can get a whole view and find out about all the awesome things you guys are working on.

Tiffiney Cornish 14:59

So Thank you. So in terms of a business sense, we work with businesses that are small and medium-sized business. So even if you're starting out with not much of a budget, we do even do things as small as consultations to help you understand the necessary things that you need to have a complete brand. As a full-service agency, we've worked with companies and guided businesses into things like Tiempo, que pair CrunchBase, TechCrunch, and things of that nature to be showcased.

So we do like to work with people who are not idea phase. If you have an idea, in phase one, just be confident in yourselves and also look for people who can support you and have more background. And generally try to deal with businesses that have a higher level of work companies that are used to managing businesses that can make $2 million dollars or $5 million a year because you don't want to outgrow your mentors. And then for us, we can be reached at our website is Tccreatives.com.

Gresham Harkless 16:12

Awesome. Thank you so much Tiffiney again, and we will have that information and those links in the show notes as well. But I appreciate you for your time and all the awesome things you're doing and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Outro 16:23

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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