IAM1678 – Educator, Brand builder and Self-care Advocate Helps Clients Build Their Brands

Taylor Morrison Teaser 00:00

I created Jubilant about three years ago, and it was really because I discovered I loved helping entrepreneurs build these companies and really get clear on their brand stories. And then also create the companies in such a way that the companies were something that was bringing them joy instead of a lot of stress, and was also bringing their customers joy.

Intro 00:24

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 00:51

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I am CEO podcast, and I appreciate you listening to this episode. And if you've been listening this year, we're doing something a little bit different where we're repurposing our favorite episodes under certain categories or topics that we think are gonna be extremely impactful for CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business owners. This month is going to be about not forgetting about the human part of business. Often we forget about the human part of life. We often forget about the human part of business. So look forward, self-care tips, fitness, burnout, purpose, biz and personal, personal branding, motivation, drive, success, understanding your why, and of course, how important customer service is. But at the heart of it, it's all about, remembering the human part of business. So sit back and enjoy this special episode of the I am CEO podcast.

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I am CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today, I have Taylor Morrison of Jubilant. Taylor, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Taylor Morrison 01:48

Gresh, thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Gresham Harkless 01:51

I'm excited to have you on as well. And what I wanted to do is just read a little bit more about Taylor so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Taylor Elyse Morrison is an educator, brand builder, and self-care advocate. She owns Jubilant, a brand experience firm where she helps clients connect to their mission, vision, and values, strategically build their brands and create brands aligned processes that are efficient and enjoyable for all involved. Taylor, are you ready to speak to the I am CEO community?

Taylor Morrison 02:20

Yes, I am.

[restrict paid=”true”]

Gresham Harkless 02:21

Awesome, awesome. Let's do it. So the first question I had was to hear a little bit more about your CEO story and what led you to start your business.

Taylor Morrison 02:28

Yeah, I've been starting businesses since I was a kid. I would be interested in something and then I would go to the library and get a bunch of books on it and then try and monetize it. And as I got older, I realized that it was less for me about running the businesses. It was really about the process of building a business and who's my target audience. And then I realized, oh, that's a job that you can have, you can help people build brands.

So I created Jubilant about three years ago. It was really because I discovered I loved helping entrepreneurs build these companies and really get clear on their brand stories and then also create the companies in such a way that the companies were something that was bringing them joy instead of a lot of stress, and was also bringing their customers joy.

Gresham Harkless 03:17

That's awesome. And I love the fact that you, for one obviously had those entrepreneurial tendencies when you were younger, but then two, you also seem like you had the self-awareness to understand that it wasn't just any aspect of the business. It was actual building of the business and the processes and the systems and putting those things in place, which I really, really love doing.

Taylor Morrison 03:35

Yeah, it took a while for me to get there, but I've been running with it ever since I figured it out.

Gresham Harkless 03:40

There you go, that makes perfect sense. Yeah, it always sometimes takes a little bit longer than the snap of the fingers, but that's why you enjoy the process.

So I wanted to drill a little bit deeper and hear a little bit more about what you're doing at Jubilant, how you're helping build these brands and helping out these entrepreneurs and business owners.

Taylor Morrison 03:55

Yeah, so I call us a brand experience firm because we really believe that brands are every interaction that you have with a customer or a potential customer. So a lot of times I talk to people and they think the brand is just the logo or it's just a website, and those are parts of your brand, but it's not everything. So we really try to start everyone out by getting really clear on their mission, vision, values, and who they're serving and then build out from there.

So we do things from strategy, sometimes we help a little bit with the execution. I love playing around with the processes once we've gotten really clear on the mission, vision, and values, and showing clients how they can bring those things to light and really differentiate their businesses with all of their processes. And I like to say, it's finding that right mix of tech and touch so that people don't feel like a number, but you're also not doing everything manually.

Gresham Harkless 04:49

Yeah, that makes perfect sense, especially in this day and age. To be able to balance the physical with the electronic, I guess you can say, is definitely something big that you're you guys are able to do. And, if I heard you correctly, you said that the logo is not all your brand is about, it's about something a lot deeper than that.

Taylor Morrison 05:05

Yeah. Especially at the beginning when I would just say, yeah, I do branding. Then people would think that, oh, you're a designer which I double in design, but that's not really my main thing. I do actually have a designer on my team now, and that is a piece of what we do, but I still am really always trying to battle that myth, that your logo is your branding, because it's really not, it's just scratching the surface.

Gresham Harkless 05:30

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And I think you said that it's literally everything that helps you interact with clients is part of your brand. So I love that kind of, I don't know if it's the right phrase, but the holistic view on like what branding is and how much it can infiltrate all aspects of your business.

Taylor Morrison 05:44

Yeah, I love that. Holistic is definitely how I would describe it.

Gresham Harkless 05:47

Awesome. And, I know you touched on helping your clients figure out what their kind of secret sauce is, I like to call it. So, could you tell us a little bit more about what you feel differentiates you and what is your secret sauce?

Taylor Morrison 05:59

Yeah, I think our differentiator is really our starting point. So when I first worked with clients, we would just dive right in on whatever their problem was at the moment. Which was great, I could get results for them. But then when we would get to choose between two good things, we wouldn't have anything that could really be the deciding factor. So now we start all of our clients with either them giving us a refresher on their mission, vision, and values, or us working together to create or update those missions, visions, and values. And that's our starting point.

And then we use that to refer back to any work that we do and make sure that it's really aligned and holistic. So I think for us, we've been able to do so much more for our clients by making sure that we all are starting from this firm foundation. And then when we're not sure what the right choice is or where to go next, we have a reference point to go back to.

Gresham Harkless 06:51

That's awesome. And I love that kind of reminder because I've always found, and correct me if I'm wrong, you might see the same thing with your clients. Sometimes you can have people that are doing the exact same quote and quote service, but if their mission, vision and values are different, they might have different ways that they go about solving that problem or how they might go about creating whatever service or whatever it is but it aligns with that.

Taylor Morrison 07:14

Exactly. It's the mission, vision, and values, I feel like are the most underrated differentiator because they allow you to do the same thing, but to be coming from a different place. And then that's how you get to a point where there really is enough room for everyone because the way you go about it might resonate with one customer and the other customer might go down the street for someone else and that's fine. You're gonna be attracting clients and customers who are energizing to you instead of trying to get everyone and kind of hoard everyone, and then probably end up with a lot of people who are causing you stress.

Gresham Harkless 07:48

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And then definitely there's enough to be stressed about as a business owner, so you don't want to add on to that. If you're able to go through that exercise to be able to do that. So I appreciate you for doing that.

And now I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but it's something you feel makes you more effective and efficient.

Taylor Morrison 08:07

Yeah, this one I thought long and hard about because I feel like there are so many things that have been helpful to me. But most recently what has served me is actually working with a coach, which is not something that I really thought I needed. I thought I was very self-aware, which I am. But having someone to talk to and see things from a different perspective or ask questions that I didn't think to ask has just given me so much growth and development over the past few months that now I can't imagine not regularly working with a coach.

Gresham Harkless 08:41

Yeah, that makes sense. And sometimes when you're so close to whatever it is that we're doing, and from a day-to-day basis, sometimes even just having a sounding board or a different perspective can sometimes open up different viewpoints and sometimes different opportunities that we may not have seen before.

Taylor Morrison 08:57

Yeah, it's very valuable. After my coaching sessions, I'm always like so energized. I normally get something done that would've taken me several hours in like an hour because I'm just ready to go and feeling really fired up.

Gresham Harkless 09:11

Nice. Yeah, that's perfect and a great CEO hack. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. This is a word of wisdom or piece of advice, or if you can hop into a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Taylor Morrison 09:23

Yeah, I would tell myself to show up. So much of what I'm doing now is stuff that I wanted to do or was interested in doing right when I first started, and I was just afraid to put myself out there. And that fear doesn't ever really go away, or at least it doesn't go away for me. But what's changed is that I show up and I do it anyway, and I put myself out there. And for the most part, it has really good results.

Gresham Harkless 09:48

Yeah, that makes sense. Feel the fear and do it anyways. And a lot of times, you know, those things are needed for us to step up. And I think even the most, quote and quote bravest people have some type of fear that they're dealing with and they're feeling, but they feel the push and they do it anyways. And you know, you can see it in yourself and your business. So definitely appreciate you for doing that and also reminding us of that.

Taylor Morrison 10:10

Yeah, I was just gonna say that quote was from the other thing that I almost made my CEO hack, which is a book called Secrets of Six Figure Women. The author says, feel the fear, have the doubts, and go for it anyway, and that's definitely been like my battle cry for the past year.

Gresham Harkless 10:25

I love that. Can you say that one more time? Feel the fear.

Taylor Morrison 10:29

Have the doubts, go for it anyway.

Gresham Harkless 10:31

I love that. Yeah, that's definitely a great reminder for all of us to have. And, now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different quote and quote, CEOs on the show, but Taylor, I wanted to ask you, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Taylor Morrison 10:45

Yeah, this was such a great question. I had to do some reflection around this. I think that for me, being a CEO is about responsibility and accountability. So you're building this thing, whether you're just the sole proprietor, or you've got this huge team, at the end of the day, you're the person who's saying, I'm gonna do what I think is best for this company and for the people who are involved with it. Whether it's the employees or the clients and the customers, and knowing that if something goes wrong or right, you're the person who's decided to take responsibility for it.

Gresham Harkless 11:21

Yeah. That makes sense. And it's a great reminder of the power that you can have as a CEO. As you said, no matter how big or how small, you are responsible for not just yourself, but for your clients, your customers, or your team members, whether they be employees or contractors. So it's important to keep that in mind. So I think that's a great definition and I appreciate you for sharing that with us.

Taylor Morrison 11:41

Yeah, thank you for letting me share.

Gresham Harkless 11:42

No problem. And, Taylor, I truly appreciate your time. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know. And then of course, how best they can get ahold of you.

Taylor Morrison 11:53

Yeah. I would just encourage people to step into being a CEO. As I said, no matter how large or small your organization is, you're building something and there are so many people who have ideas and aren't getting off. They aren't taking the steps towards them, and you're doing that. So step into that power that you already have.

And then in terms of getting in touch with me, you can read more about Jubilant and what we offer at wearejubilant.com. And then also my personal website, taylorelyse.com is where I talk a lot about the things that I'm passionate about. Some of it is around brand building, and some of it's around self-care. And then I hang out mostly on Instagram at taylorelysemorrison.

Gresham Harkless 12:36

Awesome. Awesome, awesome. Well, I appreciate you Taylor, and we'll make sure to have those links in the show notes just so that people can follow up with you and hear about all the awesome things that you're doing and all the awesome things that you're building and creating. I appreciate you again for taking some time out and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Taylor Morrison 12:51

Thank you so much.

Outro 12:53

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.

[/restrict]