IAM1013- Entrepreneurs Helps Businesses Develop Authentic Brands

Most businesses struggle to define their brand. Gabriel and Kelly Shields help businesses discover who they are to develop a brand that’s authentic to them, creating loyalty and trust with their audience and people. As a husband and wife team, they understand how a successful business is like a successful marriage — it requires two very different people to discover their shared values in order to make healthy and beneficial decisions so they can better the life of the other person. Gabriel and Kelly help businesses look beyond products and services so they market effectively and establish the perfect marriage between a successful brand and successful people.

• CEO Hack: Putting trust in people and supporting them
• CEO Nugget: Define your values and know where to plant them
• CEO Defined: Servant leader

Website: http://benucreative.com/

Brand Workbook (Your Ultimate Guide to Building an Enduring Brand!) > https://benucreative.com/brand-workbook/
LinkedIn > https://www.linkedin.com/company/benucreative
YouTube > https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOr7onuL-GG0B1isa6p-gwA

Full Interview:

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Transcription

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00:36 – Intro

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO podcast.

01:04 – Gresham Harkless

Hello, Hello, Hello. This is Gresh from the I am CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today Gabriel Shields of Be New Creative. Gabriel, it's awesome to have you on the show.

01:12 – Gabriel Shields

Yeah, awesome to be here. Thanks so much for having me.

01:14 – Gresham Harkless

Definitely. Super excited to have you on. And before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Gabriel. So you hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. And most businesses struggle to define their brand. Gabriel and Kelly Shields help businesses discover who they are to develop a brand that's authentic to them, creating loyalty and trust with their audience and people. As a husband and wife team, they understand how a successful business is like a successful marriage. It requires two very different people to discover their shared values in order to make healthy and beneficial decisions.

so they can better the life of the other person. Gabriel and Kelly help businesses look beyond products and services so that they can market effectively and establish the perfect marriage between a successful brand and successful people. Gabriel, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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02:01 – Gabriel Shields

Absolutely, I'm super excited to dive in.

02:04 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Well, let's do it then. So to kind of kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit, hear a little bit more about how you got started, and what I like to call your CEO story.

02:11 – Gabriel Shields

Absolutely. Kind of it all got started when my wife and I decided that we wanted to kind of jump into something a little bit more meaningful and we wanted to help businesses to really discover something about themselves, do business a little differently. We saw a lot of businesses that you know the onboarding process or the company culture was really it wasn't really formed in the way that was about values and success for the business in a way that really built it on loyalty and trust and creating a sphere of people that were a community, that marriage as we talk about. And so we wanted to take some of the principles that we live by and see how to apply them to business.

And so we started when we started, we were basically building websites at first, but we eventually kind of realized that like, you can't really do a website unless you know what the messaging is. And so that's when we kind of went, maybe we should do the strategic piece. And then it kind of all fell into place as we started to do the strategic piece, we realized that that really exemplified our values of relational business practices. We had to get to know the business people to be able to understand how to tell their story in a way that connected with the story of the people that they want to ultimately build those relationships with their clients, their customers. So it worked out really well.

Yeah, it definitely sounds like that. I appreciate you for sharing that. I love that marriage metaphor that you kind of talked about. And I think that you're absolutely right. Where I think, and I know when we first connected, we kind of talked a little bit about this, where a lot of times we think the brand or what that represents really is the logo or is the website, but really is so much deeper. So as you said, really understanding the people in the business and also the people they're trying to serve and how that marriage happens is really the foundation, it sounds like other branding.

Absolutely. You know, to put that in perspective, you know, the whole logo thing is it's kind of like, to use the marriage metaphor, it's kind of like saying the ring is the marriage, you know like the ring just kind of symbolizes what the unity and so as a husband and wife team and as business people, we realize we're not perfect at this, you know, like, when you do business with your team members, conflict arises, customers have potential issues, whether that's understanding how you're gonna help them, or they have technical issues or what have you, just like in a marriage, like, you know, it's not, it's messy and business is messy.

But the reality is, is that when you take that step back and say, how can I actually focus on bettering the life of the other person and focus on helping them rather than trying to get what I want and like trying to push for what I want, then ultimately you find that you actually have a more successful relationship with those customers because it's about them instead about you? When we strive for revenue or when we get afraid of the bottom line, what ends up happening is by default our value ends up becoming fear. And then that motivates us to go out of a place, motivate to make decisions out of a place of fear, rather than making a decision out of the place of servitude, which is like, how can I help these people and take care of them well?

05:12 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, that's extremely powerful. I love that servitude word and really understanding, like I think so many times, if we're just looking from that fear mindset we're thinking of how can I win where when we're looking from you know that service view mindset it's about a win-win-win you know and all the different constituents that are involved and really approaching it from that perspective is absolutely huge And so I wanted to drill down a little bit more here, a little bit more on how you work with your clients and your process? I know we touched on a little bit, but could you take us through a little bit more about that and what that looks like?

05:38 – Gabriel Shields

Absolutely, yes. So we have a process that we like to call define, design, and live. And so the way that this works is that the idea here is we really do call it like our tagline is discovered your brand. And we found that in the define stage, you know, you really, let me Fast forward a little bit. A lot of people see the business from the outside in, right? They see the logo, they see the colors, they see the photos, they see your marketing, but we're speaking from the inside out. So the defined stage is really defining like, what is this actually about? What's the problem that we're trying to solve? What are the values that we're trying to express? And now I don't mean like value, like value brand, like Walmart. I mean like core values.

Like what do we believe? Because behaviors stem from beliefs. So we can define those core values of the business. We unite all of our people internally. In turn, we help communicate those values outwardly in a way through all of those design pieces through all of our marketing, and through all of our communication, in a way that customers get. And so the reason why we call it a discovery phase is because people end up discovering a lot about themselves as people, you know, as, as why did I get into this? What do I want to achieve? What do I want my opt-out strategy to be? How do I want to support my people? What decisions do I want to make to support my team?

All of that stuff happens to define. And then in the design stage, this is the part where we apply all of the aesthetic pieces and the strategic pieces to be able to communicate and express those things. And then the last part is the fun part is that once all that's done, you're living it, right? You're getting able to utilize it and execute it on a daily basis. And if you really spend the time to define it well, then you're really not going to have to go back as often to redesign and reinvent the wheel on that live stage. It's kind of like, we, we always like to say it's better to have to refine than redefine. And so if you define well, you're just gonna go back and you're gonna refine a little bit. Oh, need a little bit of a refresh on that, on those elements of my brand rather than being like, well, you're gonna have to scrap this and do it all over in 5 years or 2 years sometimes, you know.

07:50 – Gresham Harkless

And so I want to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. This could be for yourself or your business or a combination of both, but what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

07:59 – Gabriel Shields

I think it really is that that piece of, you know, a lot of branding companies, unfortunately really are just, you know, a logo, you know, It is really branding seems to mean graphic design unfortunately in a lot of companies. And for us, it is really just having set, Kelly and I really wanted to set that relational business practice. I mean, we really believe that you know, in this world, in this digital world, people tend to think about life first in URL terms and not first in IRL terms in real life. That's what that stands for. And what ends up happening, you know, is that people think that they need all of these digital platforms, rather than thinking about all of the life, all the living that happens outside of, you know, the Zoom call and the website and the social media post.

And so we really strive to dive deep in a relational sense to really, to be able to strategize because, we really do believe that knowing kind of how to have a successful marriage of business really comes down to sharing those values, understanding those values, that and getting to a place where we can actually like dive deeper. And I mean, our clients end up sometimes becoming like some of our best friends, you know, because when you're on a mission together and you clearly know the direction that you're going, then you have a deeper sense of the relationship.

You know, if you've ever had those, like put it in friendship terms, if you've ever had a friend, you know, the difference between a really good friend and an acquaintance is generally not just shared interests because acquaintances share interests. It's something deeper. And generally, it's that person you can go a little deeper with like emotionally, spiritually, whatever it is, you can go a little deeper. You know that you can trust them. You know that you can call upon them. An acquaintance may love the same Xbox games that you do And they may be all set to go to the barbecue.

But when crap hits the fan, you're gonna go to the people that you trust, that you know, and the way that you get there, whether it's in a marriage, whether it's in a business, whether it's in a community or friendship, is really seeking to understand. And that understanding or that strategy in business, that understanding really comes from diving deep into what you believe. Behavior stems from beliefs. So let's dig into what you believe so that we can figure out how we align. I think that's what sets us different. Kind of the long answer, but the short answer is kind of the tacked-on at the end there.

10:38 – Gresham Harkless

So. No, that's a perfect answer. And it's so funny that you say that because I say so many times that we forget about the human aspect of business and we forget about, you know, that relationship and that relational kind of interaction that we can have, you know, within our business and within our lives. I think when we tap into that, as you all are able to do so well, it really allows, I think, organizations and businesses to really reach a deeper and stronger bond and connection. So definitely appreciate that. And I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

11:15 – Gabriel Shields

You know, I think at the end of the day, it's, it's coming to the realization of, and this may sound kind of overly simplistic, but I sometimes think some that's the stuff we overlook. It is really that piece of putting trust in people and supporting them. Because often we hear the delegation piece. The problem with just saying delegation is that, unfortunately, a lot of times when we haven't done all that work that we talked about previously is that we end up, if they don't know how they fit in the organization, then what ends The up happening is that they're not doing it right. We have this like, why didn't you read my mind?

Why didn't you know what I wanted? Even though I haven't set any ground rules out for you. We haven't done a tone guide. We haven't talked about the brand personality, right? When they do that wrong, it's easy to just jump in and be like, I'll just do it. So I think it's really preparing that. So what I like to call it, giving all of your employees that value piece and saying, here's what we believe in, but it's also giving them like a brand personality. So they know like the tonal, the tonal pieces.

12:19 – Gresham Harkless

And so I want to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It could be around branding, or it might be something if you were to hop into a time machine, you would tell your younger business self.

12:30 – Gabriel Shields

Oh, wow. Yeah, the younger business self is interesting. I feel like my younger self wouldn't have enough patience to listen to everything that I wanted to tell my younger self was pretty stupid. All of us you know don't wisdom comes with time. I kind of said it earlier, but what I would say, and this is something I've had to learn, so I like to say it a lot to people, because I think it gets overlooked, which is, and it goes back to that value piece, which is that if you do not take the time to define your values, fear by definition will become it, and then those will drive your decisions. And, you know, I know this from, you know, I'm not me being able to give this advice is because I've made these mistakes.

You know, I want to, I want to put that out there that there's a humility and like a leader. I think if a good leader is because that leader has had to be humbled, you know, and I've seen this weather like, that's why we do compare the business and the marriage thing is because honestly, you know, I make, you know, I try to be the best husband and the best business leader I can be far from perfect. 1 thing that I have to constantly realize and put in check is, whether am I operating out of a place of fear or faith. And when it comes to that, I have to ask myself, what am I putting my faith into?

You know, if you plant a seed in your hand, it's never going to grow. You know, if you just hold on to it, you hold on tight, I'm not going to let go of the seed. It doesn't grow. But if you put that same seed into the ground, you know, just a mustard seed, it's going to grow into a 20-foot tall tree. So it's where you plant your beliefs, where you plant them. If I'm holding tight-fisted onto this mustard seed that I won't let go of because I'm too afraid that if I let go of it, I'm not gonna succeed. Well, guess what? I've already made my bet. It's not gonna grow. I've already failed.

14:19 – Gresham Harkless

I wanted to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're open to different quote-unquote CEOs on the shows of Greybier. What does being a CEO mean to you? I love it, you said it earlier and I'm gonna, I don't know if you came up with it, but I don't care. I'm gonna steal it. Like, I love that servant leader. I love that you said that. I think to me, you know, I never wanna get, I think it was Simon Sinek. I was watching him some years ago and he talked about that the title doesn't belong to you.

you know, that these same guys that like make, you know, millions of dollars and have the private jet and it's all rolled out for them. The guys come and carry their bags. The moment that somebody else takes over that title, nobody's waiting in the car for you anymore. You know, they're not there for you. They're there for the title. And I think for me, CEO, it's just a reminder of that humility that like, I'm only here by grace. You know, I'm only here because it's been given to me, to steward.

15:12 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, Gabriel truly appreciates that definition. And I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do was just pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know and of course how best they can get a hold of you and find out about all the awesome things you and your wife are doing.

15:30 – Gabriel Shields

Absolutely. Well, first of all, I want to say it's a pleasure to have been on the show. And I really thank you for taking the time to have us on or to have me on. Kelly's here in spirit. But you know if if anything that we talked about today kind of resonates with anybody you know feel free to reach out you know we're on LinkedIn, and you can find us at be new creative.com as well. And we do all this stuff that we talked about, we do in workshops and we work one-to-one with people. So if you've learned from that, just, you know, give me a little call out, we'll shout out on LinkedIn or on our website, on be new creative.com and we'd be happy to, you know, if you're local, grab some coffee. If you're not, grab some Zoom.

16:12 – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. I definitely appreciate that Gabriel. We will have the links and information in the show notes as well too, so that everybody can follow up with you. But definitely appreciate all the work you do, and all the impact that you have on organizations. And you reminded us of the impact that we can have as leaders, especially serving leaders. So truly appreciate you again, my friend, and I hope you have a great rest of the day.

16:29 – Outro

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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