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Creating a Dynamic Brand Identity with Brigitte Bojkowszky · The One Small Change Podcast

0:00
Welcome to the one small change. I'm thrilled that you joined us
0:04
again for this exploration and transformation and that I'm along
0:07
with the journey with you. I'm your host, Yvonne McCoy, and I bring almost
0:11
thirty years of entrepreneurial experience, but I bring a passion
0:15
for discovering growth through the power of one seemingly small
0:19
change. So I am so happy that you joined me, and you
0:22
are going to be amazed at what you hear today. The
0:26
this week, we are talking to Bridgette
0:30
Borski, PhD. Bridgette,
0:33
they are going to learn so much from you. And
0:38
tell us about the one small change or the insignificant
0:42
decision that you made that sparked a transformation
0:46
and help you do what you're doing. Oh, hello,
0:49
Yvonne. Thank you so much for having me here today.
0:53
That is a huge question. That's small, that's small step.
0:57
So I believe one small change can
1:00
create a domino effect that sets
1:04
transformation shifts into motion. For me, the
1:07
pivotal change was a mindset shift. This was the
1:11
first thing from thinking I can't to I can't.
1:15
It was a journey of moving from playing
1:19
small to truly believing.
1:23
I am worth it. Yeah. It's this shift,
1:27
that something like that doesn't happen overnight. Yeah.
1:30
It it requires courage,
1:34
persistence, the willingness to start, just to, to
1:38
start taking small, consistent steps,
1:41
one foot in front of the other and important is
1:45
one foot in front of the other into nothingness and
1:49
trusting your instincts, your intuition, and everything that
1:53
happens for you. So I think this is or this was
1:57
the most important thing for me, at the
2:00
beginning to start one small change. And
2:04
my story and my my journey reflects
2:08
this mindset transformation because I started as a flight
2:11
attendant, a job that taught me the
2:15
value of cultural diversity and connecting with people.
2:19
And from there, I stepped into a series of
2:23
seemingly disconnected roles.
2:27
One step after the other, I didn't know what was, what was
2:31
gonna come. I became a student after I was a flight
2:34
attendant. I became a corporate leader, then a student again,
2:38
then a corporate leader again, then a professor, and then
2:42
finally I ended up as an entrepreneur.
2:45
So each chapter, each step,
2:50
each little pivot represented a leap of
2:53
faith. I I I absolutely love the way that you talk
2:57
about this because, I don't know, it it it really
3:01
reflects a a change that I had. You know, it took me
3:05
a really long time to understand that I thought
3:09
that you took an action and you either
3:12
succeeded or you failed. And Yeah. I was brought up to
3:16
to think that you had to be successful. So if I thought I couldn't
3:19
succeed, I didn't do it Mhmm. Which meant that I was
3:23
playing very small, you know, staying very much in my comfort
3:27
zone, never, you know, venturing out. And
3:31
gradually over time saying, you know what? The more you fail,
3:35
you know, if your direction is you're going in the right direction,
3:39
the the more you you actually learn from failing. Failing is is a
3:43
way to learn. Typically, we you know,
3:46
you can learn from your success, but we tend to learn more from our
3:50
failures. Absolutely. We are learning from
3:54
our failures and we and it's that's that's the that's
3:57
the true learning. That's that's as you say, it's a
4:01
leap of of of faith. It's it's where we
4:04
really, really make huge incremental
4:08
steps. But, we
4:12
usually are hesitant towards that because
4:16
we are not the ones who continue
4:20
starting or continue getting out of this comfort zone
4:24
because usually we're reject, you know, we are
4:28
hiding again in our comfort zone and that is
4:31
not where growth happens because growth happens
4:36
when we get out of this comfort zone. And it's
4:40
not easy in those uncomfortable moments that
4:44
where we build the resilience, right, and
4:47
discover what we are truly capable of. We never go beyond
4:51
that. And recently I heard resilience is the
4:54
immune system of our soul. Oh, I like
4:58
that. I like that. Yeah. It's the pause it's it's
5:02
the it's it's the ability that we as human beings
5:05
possess to bounce back from these setbacks, to adapt, to change,
5:09
to overcome challenges, to overcome hardship and and
5:13
to, and also towards
5:17
adversities in life. And, and and
5:21
we do that always a little bit better every time.
5:24
Yeah. It's like a muscle that we are training. It's
5:28
like, the muscle, like confidence,
5:32
becoming that's also a muscle. You just need to step
5:36
out of the comfort zone. You see suddenly it's working
5:39
and then you feel comfortable in doing that and then you take on the next
5:43
challenge and the next hurdle, and you are able to conquer the
5:47
next struggle. And that's how we learn. So we step into
5:50
the into the unknown, first of all, because
5:54
growth lies outside of our comfort zone to embrace this
5:57
uncertainty and the opportunity to stretch beyond
6:01
and going into this, I always call it this untapped terrain,
6:05
something we are not used to breaking your
6:08
mental barriers and then learning through that,
6:12
evolving through that, because all these setbacks are
6:16
the stepping stones for us to elevate and
6:19
then really to become something that we are truly
6:23
are and, and, and walking this unique path
6:27
and very often against conventionals. And for me
6:31
coming back to the small changes, it really, I'm
6:34
gonna summarize that again because it's so important.
6:38
It sets off this domino effect that transforms
6:42
our lives, our careers. And
6:45
for me, this change came very, very often.
6:50
So it's like, events that are kind of,
6:56
events that that build up something that
6:59
is not related, a path, a puzzle
7:03
that comes together, something, you know,
7:07
it's it's it's it's a puzzle of seemingly
7:11
disconnected events suddenly make sense altogether that
7:15
has So I need to I need to stop you because you've said so many
7:19
things, and I wanna make sure I wanna make sure
7:22
that I emphasize some of them. So one of the things, and
7:26
I think this is particularly true of entrepreneurship. I, you
7:30
know, I was having a discussion with somebody else, and, you know, we we
7:34
we said entrepreneurship is not for everyone.
7:37
Because one of the elements of entrepreneurship is uncertainty.
7:42
You know, it just is the nature of the game. You just you know, it's
7:46
not like going to work at a nine to five and you get a regular
7:49
paycheck every two weeks or whatever. So there is a
7:53
massive amount of uncertainty, just, you know,
7:57
saying that you're gonna be an entrepreneur. And so
8:01
what I say to people is you need to have a
8:05
reset. You need to be able to when something happens, you need to
8:09
be able to stop and go, okay. What
8:13
worked right? How would I ideally like it to be? What do
8:16
I need to make that happen? So that you can pick yourself up. And
8:20
and the mantra that I gave myself when I was losing weight
8:24
was it doesn't matter how many times you fall down. It
8:28
only matters how many times you get up and how fast. So if
8:32
it takes you a year before you you start your diet again, it's gonna take
8:35
you forever to lose weight. If it takes you a month, it won't take as
8:39
lot. If you but if you can start at the very next meal,
8:43
right, saying I'm gonna eat right again, right, Then and
8:46
and the same theory is true with entrepreneurship. You know, you try
8:50
something. You know? Like, you say you pick a strategy, like, you say you wanna
8:53
be visible. Right? And you try something and it doesn't
8:57
work. You don't wait another year before you try another strategy.
9:01
You know? And you know that that's that's part of it that that,
9:05
you know, that everything is changing. And so, you know,
9:08
if you wait until you get something, you think you're gonna get it perfect,
9:12
it's not gonna be perfect for the new time when you finally do it.
9:16
Does that make sense? I mean, so that so that was one of the
9:20
things you said that, you know, just by the fact that you've decided to be
9:23
an entrepreneur, you need to be resilient. I think
9:26
discomfort is a place where
9:30
amazing things can happen, and I think you talked about that. That's where
9:33
opportunity happens. That's where creativity
9:37
happens. And, you know, the other lesson that
9:41
I learned was the this you know, I said,
9:45
this is the best $40 piece of advice I ever got. And it
9:48
was from my therapist. And she said, if you don't ask for what you want,
9:51
you're gonna be uncomfortable, and you're you're not gonna be happy because you're never
9:55
getting what you want and what you need. If you ask for what you
9:59
want, you're gonna be uncomfortable, but you have a much better shot
10:02
of getting what you want and being happy. And for me, it
10:06
was, oh, so I'm gonna be uncomfortable
10:10
both ways. You know? Because I guess I
10:13
thought by not asking, I was actually comfortable, but I wasn't.
10:17
And so that that is the thing. We we are, you know, we
10:21
are experimenting. And so now I don't call it being uncomfortable. I call
10:25
it being excited. Yeah. I'm doing something new, so I'm
10:29
excited. Yeah. And the and this is it,
10:32
actually, because you said either or, I was uncomfortable.
10:36
But when you are uncomfortable in both, like, options,
10:40
then think beyond that. What is my ultimate goal?
10:43
What is my vision? And then re engineer. Mhmm. So
10:47
that is my vision. And what can I do now to
10:51
achieve that? So if I stay the same, then nothing is
10:54
going to happen. But if I wanna change that, if I
10:58
wanna lose weight, for example, then there is something I can
11:02
do now. Go in introspection, feel into yourself,
11:06
what do I really want, what do I desire, what makes me
11:10
happy and feel into it. Is that being stuck making me
11:13
happy? No. It's making me uncomfortable. Is it like seeing
11:17
myself in in a positive in in in a fit body?
11:21
Oh, yes. That makes me happy. That's where is this
11:24
passion. It ignites, you know, warmth. It is
11:28
is is exciting. It's it makes you passionate.
11:32
Okay. So what is the first step that I can do towards
11:35
that? And that is also instead of
11:40
feeling this uncomfortable, feeling like you are
11:43
you are, you are
11:47
stuck. There is the feeling of freedom.
11:50
Suddenly, something lightens up, something
11:54
ignites, something joyful comes up, happiness comes
11:57
up. Just the thought about a future state. And
12:01
now it's about you whether you wanna go towards that
12:05
direction And that means making the steps
12:08
into something that you are not used to. And that is all
12:12
about the concept of growth mindset. Having a growth mindset
12:16
elevating is changing. It's becoming a better version of
12:20
yourself. It's elevating towards what
12:24
you want, and everyone can do that. It's it's changing
12:27
mindset. It's changing your thoughts from something that is
12:31
holding you back and something that is empowering.
12:35
So so one of the ways that I explain it is I think of entrepreneurship
12:40
as kind of, being an explorer. You know where
12:43
you wanna end up, but you may not go in a straight line, and you
12:47
may not stay on the highway. You may have to go off road to get
12:51
to where you wanna where you wanna go. So I wanna make sure that we
12:54
have enough time to talk about, your gift, which
12:58
is amazing, and ways you know, three things that you
13:01
think entrepreneurs should do, to help them get into this
13:05
growth mindset, to help them really step into, you know, their
13:09
best self. So you could take it at the view. I threw a
13:13
couple of things at you, so you could take it at any order you want.
13:16
I wanna relate to to the free gift I have. That's a
13:20
checklist. So if you wanna become an entrepreneur of or if
13:23
you want if you're not quite sure about your branding, about
13:27
your entrepreneurial brand, that is your personal
13:31
brand because you're the face of your company and your company brand, I have
13:34
a checklist that gets you there. And I want to walk you very quickly
13:38
through that three step entrepreneurial branding blueprint
13:42
that I have created. It's my, it's my signature
13:46
framework that I've worked with. So since I'm also coming from academia, I was
13:50
in corporate, I work with scientifically proven
13:53
models. And this three step entrepreneurial
13:57
blueprint, as I say, is is a structured
14:00
at
14:09
and authenticity. And that entails three
14:12
steps. The mindset shift. So from a
14:16
mindset of an individual country be
14:20
contributor to recognizing yourself as a brand, as a business
14:23
owner, as a leader. And then it also
14:27
helps you, this, the first
14:31
step mindset shift to to,
14:35
overcome your self doubt. This limiting beliefs
14:38
and transform them into empowering beliefs. And
14:42
it also involves what I talked before. It's,
14:46
crafting your vision. Where do you want to go? What do you want to become
14:49
Your mission, how you get there, your big why, your higher purpose,
14:54
and to value survival, transforming this limiting into the
14:57
empowering beliefs. This is the first step and it's
15:01
a stepwise process and you cannot skip the
15:04
steps. Because when you start with the last step, like
15:08
building your company and you haven't done your mindset
15:12
shift and you have not built your personal brand, you do not
15:16
not have the foundation where you have a strong brand that stands
15:20
for something. Yeah. You cannot position yourself in the
15:23
market as distinctive,
15:28
recognizable, something that is unique and has
15:31
power. So the second step in the whole process is
15:35
defining your personal brand. You're focusing on who you are at your
15:39
core because your personal brand is a reflection of your
15:42
values, of your passion, and we have talked about that how important
15:46
passion is and the unique story that you are telling.
15:50
And, you're about to answer, what do I stand for? What
15:54
sets me apart? What is my uniqueness? What makes my
15:57
greatness? What makes me relevant? What makes me distinctive in the
16:01
market? What story am I telling that no one
16:04
else can? So your personal brand serves as the
16:08
foundation of your professional identity. So
16:12
and that is the essence that attracts the right opportunities
16:16
and the right connections. And building upon them, you are
16:20
creating, or building your company or your business
16:23
brand. And in that, in that
16:27
step, you solidify your personal
16:30
brand. You extend it to your business
16:34
and it involves laying the foundation for defining
16:38
the industry that you're in, the category you are in, and
16:41
you're also, trying to understand
16:45
and focusing on what is the target audience
16:49
you are serving. Whom do you wanna attract with your
16:53
offer that we only you can provide in that in
16:56
that way. Yeah. In that plant of your secret sauce,
17:00
your superpower, that's what you are, what your passion is.
17:05
And I also wanna mention that a brand always has
17:08
a duality. It has a rational and
17:12
an emotional part. Yeah. Success I like that.
17:16
Yeah. Integrates both. It's like the rational people
17:20
know exactly what it's in the category of soft drinks or
17:24
online services or whatever that is.
17:27
Yeah. Automotive, fashion.
17:31
Yeah. But also the category. What specific is it about?
17:36
And then, yeah.
17:40
And so and the pricing. Yeah? But then there's also the
17:44
emotional part. How does the brand make you
17:47
feel? What is it the feeling that I wanna
17:51
elicit, yeah, from my clients or from my
17:55
potential customer? Because the feeling overrides
17:59
pretty much everything because that's where you connect on an emotional level. That's
18:03
where people then remember you. First the
18:06
heart and then the mind. Yeah. And
18:10
then you make the brand sticky. You make
18:14
your image you because the image is created by
18:17
your customers. You are, you are with your
18:21
identity presenting yourself in the market and
18:25
that creates an image in customer's mind, but it has to come and
18:29
go through the heart. Yeah. And that's where you
18:33
align and hopefully then with the right clients. So you need to
18:36
know who you are first, then who is the customer you wanna
18:40
attract, and then this together really creates an
18:44
impact. And and that's exactly I mean, that's exactly what I
18:47
what I do in my coaching program. And the thing that's interesting that
18:51
I see with so many people is you talk about the emotion and the, you
18:55
know, and the the logical. And I think,
18:58
at least for myself, I tended to be very
19:02
logical because it's like, I can lay this out for you in a logical
19:06
way, and you can see that it makes sense. And
19:10
I think that if you have self doubt, you tend to go to
19:14
the logical because it's not about you.
19:17
And you need to do just the opposite, and you need to almost
19:21
say to your clients I mean, one of the things that I find is, you
19:25
know, when you say to your clients, I've been where you've
19:29
been. I know what you're going through. That's why I can, you
19:32
know, I can present a solution because I've gone through that.
19:36
Do you know? And it's like I said I said to somebody, you know, almost
19:40
everybody that I've worked with, we've had to shift the way that they introduce
19:44
themselves and take from the logical to the personal first
19:47
and then the logical. I said it's like if you went into a bakery and
19:51
you said, I want your best gooey brownie, and the baker said, okay. Here's two
19:55
cups of flour. Here's a half a cup of cocoa. Here's a recipe.
19:59
That's not what you're looking for. Right? And it doesn't
20:03
it doesn't meet that emotional need. So I you know? And I
20:07
and I think that the the the first two steps of what you were
20:10
talking about, I think that that everybody
20:14
needs to have that whether they're an entrepreneur or whether they're work,
20:18
you know, because I think one of the issues that happens
20:21
is I I don't think you succeed in corporate
20:25
either until you have a personal identity, until you
20:28
know people, you know, higher up know this is the person to go to
20:32
for this. Exactly. Exactly. And
20:36
that's what I'm also doing, but I'm using different, scientific
20:40
models for that. So I work with with companies
20:44
to reshape the corporate identity, And I'm
20:47
coming from there. I'm coming from,
20:51
who are you? Yeah. What it's it's
20:55
coming from this emotional side. You know,
20:59
it's about the values. It's about our vision, our mission.
21:02
It's really about who we are truly authentically.
21:06
How do we want to present ourselves? And it also,
21:10
it will, it, it works in all industries, even though in the
21:14
financial sector, we more and more, we want to humanize
21:18
brands because it's really about,
21:22
becoming trustworthy, you know, for our clients. We are
21:26
living in a world. We wanna deal with people. We
21:29
wanna deal with the humans behind these brands, especially
21:33
now in the wake of AI. So it's we are coming back
21:37
to, yeah, being people and having these relationships.
21:41
And the same works for leaders, because we wanna be
21:45
compassionate leader. That's why the latest trend and I think it's
21:48
it's something that is really becoming established. It's about compassionate
21:52
leadership. It's not being only empathic. You
21:55
know, we just talked about, being empathic
21:59
and understanding and putting ourselves into the other person's
22:03
shoes. This is really feeling with them, but
22:07
being compassionate goes one step further. It's
22:10
taking action. It's helping to find a solution, and that's what
22:14
we want for our clients. Well, I you know, I think
22:19
one of the things that's really, I think, educated out of us
22:23
is our specialness and our uniqueness and the way that
22:26
we you know, it's like follow the leader, do what you're supposed to do,
22:30
get to the right answer kind of thing. And I think that,
22:34
you know, having a mind you know, a a a growth mindset
22:38
is something that everybody needs to have. I mean and it's
22:41
something whether, you know, whether you don't work at all,
22:45
you know, and, you know, you're you're a caregiver for somebody,
22:49
you know, or whether you are an entrepreneur or whether you're in a
22:53
corporate situation, because the world constantly
22:56
changes. And if you're not growing, you're stagnating.
23:01
Right? And, you know, to me, you know,
23:04
sometimes I I feel like I'm a kid. I'll hear something and I'll go, oh
23:08
my god. That's like I get so excited
23:12
about the smallest thing sometimes. Yeah. But but it's
23:16
you know, for me, that's like it's like seeing the world
23:20
with a child's delight. What what's you know, I I
23:24
I remember so often when my kids were little,
23:27
I had a one one of my kids would say
23:32
when they were cold, they would say, mommy, I'm hot. And I'm like,
23:37
mommy, I'm hot. And then until I realized he was
23:40
touching his skin and his skin was hot, He felt cold, but
23:44
his skin was hot because he was cold. You know? And it was like,
23:48
oh, I guess that's true. You're you know? But they would say
23:52
things and you would go, that's not right. And then you'd think about it and
23:55
go, oh, that could be right. I mean, depending on how you're
23:59
looking. So having a growth mindset to me is kind of looking
24:03
at the at the world, you know, through the eyes of a child
24:07
and and and wonderment. Do you know? And and how it
24:11
can make you different. Okay. We could talk about this forever. We definitely
24:14
where we go. It's what we think is where we go. Right? Where
24:18
we where we think, it's where we look, it's where we go. What we are
24:22
focusing on, that's where, life takes us. Absolutely.
24:26
And Have our thoughts. And then if he says, hey, mommy. I'm
24:29
hot. He's visualizing his hot because he doesn't know how
24:33
to otherwise deal with that situation.
24:36
So so you have given us some great things. We've got
24:40
the checklist that we're that we're gonna have.
24:44
So that's gonna be amazing. I can't wait to get my hands on that.
24:49
So let me ask you the trick trick question. When was the last
24:52
time you did something new for the first time?
24:58
Okay. This is something
25:01
really funny. I actually signed up
25:05
for a pole dance classes program
25:09
yesterday. What what kind of dance?
25:13
Pole dance. Pole dance. Oh, okay.
25:17
Oh, us. I mean, this was something I was
25:21
always curious about because it's such a unique blend of dance
25:24
and acrobatics. And for me, it's not just about the
25:28
physical challenge, but about aligning my body, mind, and soul.
25:32
And there's something graceful about this movement, especially when it's paired
25:36
with music like classical rock, which I
25:39
love. And I like to challenge myself and try new
25:43
things. It's like with Muay Thai boxing, I have been doing that since
25:46
02/2006 and I love it. It's
25:50
becoming very fast minded. So you always one step ahead
25:54
and always on the move and protecting yourself. And this is
25:57
something that I think,
26:02
it's it's an experience that will push me not
26:05
just physically but also mentally and emotionally, really bringing
26:09
everything in alignment. And I feel it's a beautiful
26:12
way to grow and connect with myself in a
26:16
in a completely new way. So I'm always my,
26:20
my, my own test subject. You know,
26:24
I like to test things on my own and see how
26:27
things are, are evolving and, and I'm
26:31
sure I like it. So I will keep you posted on that.
26:35
Please do. I I I I I'm always surprised at people's
26:39
answers to that question. And the first time somebody asked me,
26:42
I was like, so that's why I think it's
26:46
such a good question because it also it also reminds me just to keep
26:50
stay curious and do new things. Alright. I hate to do this, but
26:54
we need to wrap up so that we are, doing what we need to do.
26:57
And so as always, if you haven't done it already, please
27:01
subscribe and share this podcast with others. Engage
27:05
on social media with it. And I hope you know, the reason I do this
27:09
is this is my way of giving back to the community to introduce
27:13
you to a variety of people who can, supercharge
27:16
your your business, and it is a way to help
27:20
you to fuel your quest for growth. So I hope you continue to
27:24
join me on the one small change and that, you know, we will
27:28
take a look at the smallest changes and the benefits that you can get
27:31
from that. And if you haven't listened to, you know, other of
27:35
our episodes, please dive into them and see,
27:39
how you can, you know, make your vision bolder and find more
27:42
innovative possibilities. So do you have any last
27:46
words for us, Bridgette?
27:50
Yeah. I mean, there are some it's it's about
27:54
branding and your brand. So your brand is not what you
27:58
do. It's who you are and how you show up in the world.
28:02
It's the light you bring that turns invisibility into
28:06
impact. So I think that Sorry. I
28:09
really like that. Oh my god. This went way
28:13
too fast. Alright, people. You know,
28:17
we talked about this a little bit, but, you know, remember change can be
28:20
simple, but it's not always easy. And we shared in this
28:24
episode that it requires courage, resilience, and a willingness
28:28
to step into your comfort zone. So I hope you do continue to join me
28:32
on the one small change. Until next time, please stay
28:35
curious. Bridgette, thank you so much for doing this.