Latest / Becoming Irresistible / Season 2, Episode 16. How Character Branding Builds Confident Kids and Strong Foundations for Success.

Transcript

Season 2, Episode 16. How Character Branding Builds Confident Kids and Strong Foundations for Success. · Becoming Irresistible

• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to Becoming Irresistible.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Jay, a high achievement lifestyle strategist and irresistibility expert.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: Today we're talking about something that has become more important than ever in today's world, and that's personal branding.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: Now, whether you're applying for college, interviewing for your first job, starting a business, or simply building relationships, understanding personal branding can help you with your goals.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: My guest today is Erna Blooms, branding expert, artist, and author of the book Truth Mirror.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: And she helps people discover and communicate who they are in a way that's authentic, memorable, and aligned with their values.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: Today we're going to explore what personal branding or branding really is and what parents can do to help their children build a brand that opens doors throughout their lives.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: Erna, welcome to the podcast.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Hey Jaya, thank you so much for having me here.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's an honor for me to be invited to your podcast.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we really appreciate all your expertise and knowledge.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I just want to jump in because I have so many questions for you.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm excited.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Let's do it.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: Well, first of all, let's start off by addressing what is a personal brand.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: How would you explain it to a teenager or a college student?
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so a lot of people in personal branding space have different ways of explaining personal branding.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: But to my definition, personal branding is like the essence of your business and your personality and your being.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's basically it, you know?
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: So for some of you who never done or heard about personal branding before, just know that it's it's the essence.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Your essence is like when you have friends and they remember you as funny or as the crazy one or like the smart one or the kind one.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Those are basically like your personal branding right there.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: And many people doesn't know that personal branding is not only just for business, but it's for individual as well.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: Well, do we all have a personal brand, whether we intentionally create one or not, even if we don't?
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, we do.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Each one of us have that are born with a personal brand, actually.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: The thing is they did not know that is that I call it the character branding, actually.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: When I first started my job at the corporate career, all the way to creating my own business.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that character brand has stayed with me.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I didn't have the words before until I actually, like probably a couple years into it.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: So you mean there's a niche under um personal branding, or do you mean niche under character branding?
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: Can you explain what the difference is for us?
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I think the best way to explain to me, I'm gonna use analogy.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a foodie, so I'm gonna use analogy here.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, like personal branding, there's two types of um philosophy.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like one of them is about how you look on the outside, right?
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: And then for uh another one, it's like the outside and also more of the inside, you know, which means like your virtues.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I have been in branding space for 23 years, and I did not have this understanding until one time, like I actually start exploring my own business.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Why do I start a business without even my own like brand, like personal branding?
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I just start doing it and I go screw.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: So the best analogy is like think about it as a cake, right?
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: So a cake has a frosting and has the cake inside.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Now, personal branding is like the frosting, and character branding is the cake.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Can a cake have no cake inside?
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Probably not so good.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you have seen it before, you know, where you have in weddings when people want to have like these three-tier, four-tier cakes, and not all of them are cake that are just frosting.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: Do you like this?
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's good to look at, but then it's not you don't want to eat it.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: So you want to have a good cake with a good frosting.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: So both are very important.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: However, it starts with the cake.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: The ingredient of the cake is important, and then what is the what is the frosting that goes with your cake?
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's a great analogy.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: So you really focus on the whole thing, the character branding.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yes.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: So you start with character branding, then the personal branding.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: This is kind of under the umbrella, you know, of personal branding.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: But character branding is kind of like what anchor you and make your audience to be like your best friends instead of just another acquaintance, another attention, you know?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's the difference.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, very good.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: People generally hear the phrase personal branding or branding, and they think it sounds fake or like they're self-promoting, or that it just applies to business.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: Is this really mostly important only for people going into business?
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Well, in personal branding, majority of the time they they start thinking about personal branding because of the business.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where I actually realized that character branding, even though it's under the umbrella of personal branding, is actually the foundation of personal branding.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to start there.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you have like certain virtues, certain things that bring value about your being, not doing, but your being, you know, that's what you have is the character branding.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: And what I help people do is like to help them with some series of deep dive questions to so they know the character assets.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Because once they know the character assets, they feel empowered and they know exactly how to uh build themselves up from the inside out.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: So you kind of help them dig into the components that will be important for their branding.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: So they have the roots.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the roots of your uh the branding overall.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: I would recommend you to really think of yourself as a brand.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes we go through life.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: I have done this, you know, we'll go through life a little bit lost.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like we didn't know which direction to go, and we're always comparing with other people.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's kind of like some of the symptoms of when you're lacking uh the awareness of your own character.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Brand is like you're comparing to other people, you just feel not confident, you fear of judgment, you know, all that stuff because you do not know what you have.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, you you're worthy because of all the assets that you were born with, but you do not know what that is because maybe your upbringing, it's not your fault, you know, because it's maybe your upbringing, you felt like maybe someone else is more favored because they have a certain way of being.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I have that before, you know, so where I feel like, oh, maybe because I'm maybe outspoken or maybe I'm quiet, you know, whatever it is, you know.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I think you just end up to be like comparing and think like you're not good enough, but there is a place for everybody.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: So you help people work through those symptoms of not having a good sense of their own uh character branding.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, correct.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry, okay.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's really fun, it's a really fun process.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's a fun process.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's a fun process.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, good.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's good for everyone to know.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: This is not not a scary or painful process, hopefully.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's a fun process, something hopefully enjoyable for you to go through.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh well, what do you think is the biggest misconception around branding?
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well, um, yeah, like you said before, you know, like sometimes branding is like too fake.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like they're like they're forced and they're like hard, and um, they're not for me.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and I think that's exactly what I'm trying to break away from those myths, you know, like actually having your branding, character brand, is very, very fun and very empowering for your life.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: And it's also very fulfilling.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: When people are doing this like fake kind of for something, for example, if you're like quiet normally, you like, or like you are, or maybe you're like outspoken or something, and then you you you don't like to dress up so much, you just like to be casual, more sporty, for example, right?
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: And you feel like, oh, maybe I should wear like suits, because that's just what personal branding should look like as a lawyer or like a professional, something like that.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: You have to dress a certain way, right?
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, to some degree, I agree with you.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: However, if you really hated it and you're faking that, that's like a performing energy, right?
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: And that performing energy it will not sit well with you nor your audience.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because people can feel it.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: It starts with you.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: When you can own whatever it is that you, you know, you have, and then you can communicate and you can walk your life with it, you will attract because you own it.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: So getting to the part where you own your whole character, yourself, the good, the bad, and the ugly, that's actually a gift.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the gift that I hope that I we can provide for you today, is the starting point of that.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: Hope to answer your question.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think you you did.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think that someone can have a strong personal brand but a weak character brand?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think so.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, well then can it be the opposite?
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, just think about the cake.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: Can a cake, you know, um have the frosting without the cake?
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: But only visual.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Visually pleasing, right?
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so can can a cake with have no frosting, for example?
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oli cake's my one of my favorite, you know, they don't have frosting.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's some cakes that don't have the frosting, you know.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel like, but which one people prefer?
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: They prefer the one with the cake for sure.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Not the frosting.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of like that.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: But which one is harder to you know really cultivate?
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Is it the character branding then or the personal branding?
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: The funny thing is just because personal branding has been around for so long and we've been so like brainwashed by so many like media as how you know personal brand's supposed to look like, right?
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like models and you know, certain kind of like definition of beauty, certain kind of things, you know.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: So then character branding is actually easier if you just break away from the conditioning that we have had.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: But because we've been conditioned, the harder part is to break through that.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, personal branding, it's uh actually honestly a lot harder because it's a lot more expensive to upkeep your certain look, and it's not sustainable, actually.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's harder.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's not sustainable from personal branding.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: But but what if it's rooted in your character branding?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: Then that is powerful.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: If you start with character branding, then it will become a lot more easier and flow.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: You don't feel like you're you're lost.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, oh, one you don't follow trends, you are the trend.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, you're the trend.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, actually, that's a couple of mentors out there in personal branding.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: Have recently I saw like they got the point.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Someone's name Jun Yu, for example, you know, he said, like, you are the niche.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, finally, someone get it.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then another person said, You are the brand.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I forgot the name of the person.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: So you're the trend.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, got it.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you are your character is the brand.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: Your character is the brand.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: Well, is this is character branding, is it the same as reputation?
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: Can you kind of talk about if it's different?
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: Is it the same?
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: What is if it is different, what's the difference?
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's really the it is actually one of the frameworks.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: I have like a framework called the 10 S, which is a five-step process.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: Let me just explain that the five, right?
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, is like the process is character clarity.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: And a second one was like uh creative communication, third one is credibility channel.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: The fourth one is uh the connection currency.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then the last one is the conversion part, you know.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: So now we're talking about the credibility channel right now.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: And okay, so reputation's a part of that?
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, definitely.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: When you have a strong character brand based on virtues that bring values to people, you have credibility.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you have a lot of friends around you that always invite you to places or like ask for help or things like that, you have a character brand because you bring value to them.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: There's a credibility there.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so it's one small part of the character brand.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not the whole thing.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, it's it's a small part.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: Well, how early do you think someone should begin thinking about branding?
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, for our parents out there who are like, okay, well, should I teach my kid about this?
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what what age or how early should someone think about this and and be able to understand or develop it in any way?
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: As early as you could be.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: As early as you could be.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: The moment you realize there is this, I mean, when you listen to this podcast, that's when the first time you're introduced about it, you should start there.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: And for parents, I think the best way to develop this is two ways.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: One is for you to live, to own and live your own character branding.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: And the second part of it is allow freedom for your children or your teens, right?
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: You know, to actually find and discover theirs.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: And their character brand will be different than yours.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: You might have some like overlapping values, and you can totally teach them that as a starting point.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: However, like to me, uh, I think I learned from my dad where he gave us a lot of freedom to be who we are.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: And even then, I still struggle a little bit.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: So imagine if someone growing up and they've been told to do certain things, you cannot do this, you cannot do that.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: And there are things obviously we we we need to be discerned about as parents.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: However, when it's not dangerous, let them explore themselves.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: If let's say you have like a money issue, we because they want to explore something.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: That is not their problem.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: That is your problem.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: So you do not limit your kids, you know, ability to explore because of your current situation.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: I know it's hard, but I think there is a there is this gap of space between your current situation and where they could be, which means that it doesn't cost anything to create that space for them to explore at home.
• 14:58
  unknown: You know?
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and now with uh internet and all the the information we have, hopefully that I mean, even if you don't have a lot of resources, you can still get some activities, information, and and explore things, even if you don't have a lot of money.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: So uh that's that's a good point.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, use the resources you have and find out and even ask.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes people will help you if they know that this is something important for your child, and uh you just don't have resources, right?
• 15:31
  unknown: Yeah.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I think like you know, self-trust and confidence is one of the few things that I wish that I knew and I really embodies early, early on a lot more.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I would like that, I think parents to to kind of create that pathway for them to self-trust and also to have that their like really innate confidence in knowing who they are, right?
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean you will be evolving throughout time and as you grow older, but uh I think at home is where we begin.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: And what we want to make sure is we, as parents, stay out of their way of being who they are.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: And to me, it's uh it's a it's an art, definitely.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: That is you have to be parents, you know, which means like you have to give them the rules and things like that.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, you also want to give them freedom within their rules, what they can do for themselves.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the best part of it is I think to have the dialogue.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's like a conversation, that's like open-ended conversation.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: If someone like your daughter or your son, you know, they want to do something, they want to pursue something completely different than what you want them to do, and you just ask them questions.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: Just why is that important to you?
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then just keep like asking the four deep why.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so, and then really be curious about the answer.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: And don't shut them out down, you know, like because along the way, I think they have built trust with you as well, and um they actually help you be able to guide them better.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: So, so yeah, because it's it's hard when you have like um you as a child, as a teenager, especially, you know, they have like this identity crisis, right?
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: They want to find their identity.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I think um their parents are doing a great job about this, but some parents are still learning about it, and we all can grow together, you know, so everybody has their own pace.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: But um, yeah, I think having conversation, learning about good questions, uh, some of the the questions I have in my book, Truth Mirror, is helping that too, to kind of bridge people closer.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, just I was gonna bring this up at the end, but here is Ernest Beck.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I've been I haven't been reading it.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: It and the questions are really the gold in this book, I think.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they really help you dig into yourself and and figure out that that pathway.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: So um, this is a great book.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'll show it again at the end, but uh definitely I've learned of a few things uh so far, and I haven't even finished.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: Also it takes time, you know, because you have to reflect and you live life and then you reflect again.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a reflect, a lot of reflections.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I think we we spend so much time with other people, and we don't spend a lot of time for ourselves.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so I would like really invite everybody to enjoy getting to know yourself.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's really, really lovely.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, I remember the first time uh I have this energy uh healer at the time I was going through like relationship uh healing, right?
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: She told me to look at myself in the mirror and say, I love you.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: Boy, it was awkward.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: The most awkward thing.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, why am I having a hard time looking at myself in the mirror?
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not just awkward with other people.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's awkward, it's looking at yourself.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: You have to say, I love you because you know, that was hard.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: So they said, like, whatever it is, you just do it every single day, and you have to be authentic about it, you know?
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes it's as simple as, hey, I love you because I'm even trying this really ridiculous exercise because I'm trying to, you know, make a good way to loving myself, for some.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like it's as simple as that.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: But then it eventually, as the practice goes on like years, and you just become naturally like I'm comfortable looking at the mirror right now and say, like, man, you know, I'm gorgeous.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: I look, you know, awesome, you know, you look great, you know.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I used to be like, whoa, no.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: I had a similar exercise where you smile at yourself because when you smile at yourself, you cannot be like you can't be happy and sad at the same exact moment.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: So when you learn to smile at yourself, you're actually putting yourself into a state of happiness.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: But I also felt that same awkwardness in the beginning.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's really hard to do that when you haven't done that before, and it takes time, but then eventually you can do it.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: But it takes some time to get in those kind of practices when you've never done them.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: And also another point I wanted to say about this uh book and just about what you were saying about having freedom and space.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: I think a lot, at least in the the area I'm in, there's a lot of culture of parents, really overwhelming.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: I think I I put it as overwhelming their kids with so many things, so many activities.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like, and I realized in my own journey that I some of the issue was there was no space.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: There was no space to just receive what it is and who you are just naturally.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: So I I encourage parents out there to not only plan a million activities for your kids, but plan for them to have some space, some time, just so they can reflect or just be who they are without any responsibilities or even classes that are from 8 a.m.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: to 6 p.m.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: at night, you know, um, all day and then the next day again.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I've seen that so much where I am that it concerns me because I feel like a lot of time the kids end up, like you said, under these constraints of what other people want them to do, and they have never stopped to think about their own character branding or who they are at their their own essence.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: I I think you brought up a very good point about spaciousness.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's something that it's it's a big like what time is to me like the biggest resource that's very valuable to me, you know, and spaciousness kind of attached to that.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things that I feel when I feel successful is because I have spaciousness to do the things that I want.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I would like to, I know that's um is hard for parents because I've been there.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: I was in corporate job, there was no time for anything, even like running a business sometime.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have all the spaciousness in the world that you want.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: However, if we are intentional about building this for our children and ourselves, because we do have to walk the talk as well.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's too.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not just for the kids, that's too.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't have to be a lot, you know.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now you can start with just 30 minutes of conversation.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like I used to like be on the go run, run, you know, uh it's like a rat race all the time.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I loved it by the way.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: I was driven, you know, from a job.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: I was getting promoted, and this and that, you know.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: However, I was having a hard time slowing down.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: And the funny thing, universe just gave me like this situation where I got into car accidents, after car accidents.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: Really?
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: I actually have to like, it's like got the message, you know, like I need to slow down.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: And like during that time when I'm slowing down or during COVID, is when I actually have this framework came to me.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: When I actually have the time to really get to know myself.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: COVID actually was a like blessing in disguise to me.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like things slow down.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: I was a few years into my business and COVID happened, which is rough, right, for the business.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: I work with the personal growth space.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's great.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I actually did my rebrand at the time.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: I actually started writing my book in like two years after that, you know.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: But and I took a lot of courses and some mentorship program and things like that.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: And slowly kind of finding myself, and through that, I start having clients having similar issues I had.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I start using some of the questions, and then they got clarity from it.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: And from their I got clarity too.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm like, and then I start repeating.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, why am I asking the same questions?
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I actually ended up creating an intentional framework about it, and then I start writing the book um 2022.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's when I actually wrote my 11th chapters.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: But I did not launch it that time, I launched it in 2025, December, because I wasn't personally ready to put it out there.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like I was still growing, I was still practicing the things that's in the book.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I want to use some of the framework with more clients to see how they respond to it.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: So then now 2025, I'm glad I waited because I rewrote the whole thing.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: You didn't.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: I did.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: I refined a lot of things.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: No, the framework was still there, just a refinement of the delivery of things because people receive it differently, you know.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm glad I because I grew too within that three years, and the way I communicated the frameworks and uh the way I can explain things is a lot better than before.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: No, well, definitely the refinements were good, I think, because I'm I can see that you worked on this very you put a lot of effort and time into this.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: So this is uh really great.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: So can you talk about evolution in branding?
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: Is it better to pick one thing, one one type of I guess when you talked about character branding, it's a it's a whole uh group of things, but is it better to just you know pick one group of things or one style, one uh essence to your persona and just stay with it?
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: Or is there some sort of evolution that naturally happens, or is there an evolution that you should expect?
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: What are your thoughts on that?
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of time people came to me saying, like, hey, I need a logo, right?
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's how they start.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so first thing is like I ask them, Do you want to build your business short term or long term?
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then uh, of course, we know the answer to that one.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, then they lean in when I ask that question.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you just want a logo without understanding about branding, then you are basically building it short term.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: But if you are trying to uh build it long term, and we all want to do something long term, obviously, you need to understand the branding, the essence of your brand, the essence of who you are.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because logo is just one part of the icon communication piece for people.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's like a loyalty icon, basically.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so I love working on logo.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'm pretty, you know, pretty conceptual about logos and things like that.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: I have a lot of opinion about it.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there are a lot of too simple of a logo out there, you know, like that's not really represent who you are.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, it works for some businesses, some people.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: Not everybody needs a logo, but everybody needs to understand their brand.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: I need to understand their branding.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I think the best thing for you to do is uh, well, obviously, you know, there's two sides.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now we're gonna talk about the the first two steps.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: And we talked about character earlier, yeah.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now that the first two steps first thing is character clarity.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I have an exercise uh where I ask people to go on Pinterest.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: This is something that you can do too, you know, go on Pinterest.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: Look at things that you like.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I call it the big yes and no exercise.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, where you take a look, I think in in one of my chapters.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um Yeah, I think I remember this question.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's very fun.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people actually end up liking this one because it's uh eye-opening for yourself.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because there's two parts of the branding.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like one is the soul, the voice, the message, the values, but another part is the visuals.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: Do what do I look like in fonts, in colors, right?
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: Those things on a website, on social media, for example, right?
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: So it can be a blue color, it can be like a red color, you know, where am I?
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so I have actually helped clients pivot their colors a lot because they did not know like why about some client, uh, I think it was real estate, years, seven years ago, they had used green color.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: But by the time they came to me, it was already dated, you know.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so when I asked them to do this, you know, Pinterest exercise, if if you're in my VIP program, I will be the one pulling stuff, you know, for you, and then you just react from it.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: But because VIP can cost quite a bit, you know, so I just want to have this book out there so that anybody can try this exercise on their own, like a DIY, which is gonna be a good starting point for you.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: So you go on Pinterest, you pull out anything, any images that you like photography, quotes, uh fabrics, interior design, anything.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: And make sure that you pull something that's like big yes for you.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_02: Big yes.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then have fun.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: Spend like you know, like maybe maybe like two different days and pulling different things, you know, it's like an hour, maybe two hours.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: I would say two hours, you know, each day.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then um, then you come back the third day and you look at their patterns.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: See what colors like seems to be repeated there.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: See, look at what fonts simply like resonating with you.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't want you thinking the first two times when you're pulling stuff.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: Because when you get into like the brain mode, the thinking mode, then you lost the soul.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: You just become paralyzed.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: You you cannot be free flowing.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: No, I want you to like completely free flow, no discernment whatsoever, just whatever comes, and then you can analyze afterward, you know.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_01: So you have to Well, so this sounds like something you could do with kids, even.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, absolutely.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: That sounds like a fun exercise to do with kids.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: My question is we all know some kids who have very strong characters since they're young.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but then we also know kids who maybe not it may not be as clear.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I think we can still this do this exercise with both, but do you expect that to change just because someone is young, or is that something you see that it stays?
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the funny thing about I feel like uh the younger they they are, the more authentic they are actually.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: They don't have all this like noise, you know, they don't care about those noise.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I think so it's easier to identify then.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because they are like younger, you know, as long as like I said, the keys do you create safe space for them to be who they are?
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: Some kids are like loud.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes kids are naughty, you know.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's I love naughty kids, honestly, because like they are very um you know adventurous and they like to explore, you know, and they are very curious.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: I was a curious person, I ask a lot of questions.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: See what I do now?
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: It relates, you know.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm actually at I'm 51 right now and I'm learning to decode myself.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: I just saw something today uh on Instagram that was really cool about Michelangelo carving uh sculpture.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: I love sculpt analogy too.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's like, oh, you know, how do you know how to do this?
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: If someone was asking, how do you know where to carve and stuff?
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, oh, easy.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: I just take away anything that's not David, you know, it was like a David sculpture, and then and then it's like that sounds easy, but it still sounds hard, right?
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of us that's like older, we have noise and conditioning around us that we have to carve out those things.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: But kids, I think like they are born almost there, actually.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's funny, like that's two parts, right?
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: When you're younger, you have those innate things.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: All you need to do is just refine your direction with that.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's a different kind of guidance when they're younger, you know.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: Older, you have to find your character bread, like reverse engineer yourself.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_01: This one's kind of building, you know, like you're saying when you're so a lot of times when we're older, so the character branding has always been there.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's just that we've covered it up with all this conditioning, yes, conditioning, yeah.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: And we allow, yeah.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's it's some people have more choice, you know.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes people just yeah, a lot of conditioning, a lot of situations that has to be decoded.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: So wow.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: So you should parents go out and do this now when they're younger.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: Be the best time.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then you know what a parents could do is like, for example, if you have two kids, right, and one of them is quiet, the other one is the worst thing you could do is unpair them.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: You say, Oh, you need to be more like your brother.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: I think more like your sister.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, no, you know, because that's what happens sometimes in a lot of households, right?
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so we yeah whether you favor you know one or the other, the other one that's not favored can feel like they're not enough.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: And because they're not enough, they kind of go through life feeling not enough.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: And they end up performing to be, for example, if you're shy and they say, Oh, you need to be more like your brother, a little bit more outgoing.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: And you have to perform that, like forcing.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: And or vice versa, if you're like very outgoing and then you say, Oh, you need to be more your sister or something, you know, because you're they're quiet and very just chill, you know.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: And you just felt like, oh, I guess my loudness is not accepted.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like my being is rejected.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: My being has been rejected.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: So you don't feel belong in your own self.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I think um uh being a being a daughter, being a parent, you know, um, I have two parents that's like they're kind of like my mom is a strong woman, and I I really applaud that she has to you know discipline us because my dad has to work hard, you know, and but my dad gives a lot of freedom.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of there's a contrast between both of them.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: And someone has to do both of them, you know.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_00: And the the thing is what I think um as what I think works for me at least in my you know family, it's that when someone is quiet, I think my dad is very good at like customizing his care and love for each one of us.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: So we never feel like you know we have to be someone else.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that's what you can do as parents is to honor each of your kids as individuals, right?
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, if they're quiet, it's like, oh you know, you're so peaceful and you're like so sweet and stuff, and then you have your other one that's like a bit more outspoken.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, oh I really like your opinions, like what else?
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I mean like show interest in the direction because that's the best thing you can do for them to feel I'm good.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: And and it's also showing them like how to live with other people in the community.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be all the same.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: You can be honoring someone who's different than you.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: And that helps with humanity, I think.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love that.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_01: I love that because uh it's true that uh when we see something we like in one person, we sometimes want the other person to have that, but we don't necessarily register that they have their own strengths and they may not have the same strengths always, but and that's okay.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's okay not to have the same strengths, yeah.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: Can I introduce an analogy for you?
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, please, please do.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: I think in relation to that, I always believe that each one of us is a world puzzle piece, you know, a world puzzle piece.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: Because without you, the world puzzle will not be complete.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: And you guys play puzzle, right?
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: Not one single puzzle is exactly the same, right?
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: I like it.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: They're always a little bit different.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's you know, and each one of them, I think the typical puzzle is like it has like the bums and the dip, right?
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: So the bums are the you know, strengths, and then the dips are your uh blind spots, things that you are not very good at, for example.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: And that's okay, you steal a whole piece of puzzle, you see, and we need each other, so you need to find.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: I think uh the work in this life, to me at least, is like to help myself and also people around me to find where the piece belongs, where that belongs.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_01: That's great.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_01: I love that analogy, Erna.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's yeah, a great analogy.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: I got that during the spaciousness, during COVID.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then we're spacious.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so this is why it's really good to philosophize, like allow time, don't overly um stimulate yourself with it.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, give some times where there's just nothing expected, right?
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_01: And then you will be amazed sometimes at what comes to you when you weren't expecting it.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: So that's great.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, next question.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_01: Have you seen people lose opportunities because they haven't developed their brand or thought about their brand?
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_01: I was one of those, honestly.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, can you give us an example of how that impacted you?
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: This is like hmm, okay.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: Let's say your character brand is good.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I remember I had good character brand, but the visual branding was not developed.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, when I the personal branding side of it.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_00: The personal branding side was not developed because let me backtrack my my uh story a little bit.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I left corporate job after 15 years working there, right?
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: Moving up the ladder from graphic design all the way to creative director.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_00: So then I left that world because I got connected with a mentor who was able to uh do coaching and things like that.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I really love her lifestyle and the way she does it, you know.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then I also met another uh artist who have such a simple life.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: She only sells like two things art prints and greeting cards.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: She can make a living out of that.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I have knowledge, I can do this, you know.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_00: So then I left the corporate job to pursue art full-time.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: And my first trade show went really well.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I break-even, which is very hard to do.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: And that's because uh I have a lot of experience in the corporate job, learning about account management, profit management, and things like that.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I was able to manage my risk that way.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then the second year, like you doubled the income, the second year, the third year, I was able to maintain that growth basically.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: So then I got a lot of referrals through my art business.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I started doing branding work.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: I stumbled into the branding work, which is what I did for 15 years before.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: So when I was working with people, you know, and then suddenly you have like multiple referrals.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then so at some point, like they really liked me.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: They were about to, you know, introduce me to the family and everything like that.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: At that time, I was still using my art brand as my invoicing, branding stuff, which is completely different than what I actually able to do in branding space.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: Different kind of professional look, very top-notch, edgy stuff.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: But because I didn't update it, guess what?
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the credibility kind of like uh, you know, like um, I see.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I realized that that's when I realized, you know what?
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: I need to make sure that my character branding and the visual personal branding part align.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_00: And this happened also to other clients, friends and family, more like friends actually.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: And they struggle.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: They struggle to find that character brand.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because number one, they didn't want to do the deep work of getting to know themselves.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_00: And they're finally turning around because when they start seeing people start doing it.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad to see how the evolution to answer your earlier question about personal branding evolution is getting into more character brand now.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of online creators nowadays rising up above corporation brands.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_00: Corporations need these creators, they start from individual character brand, you see?
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like someone's talking about they start like, oh, I like fashion and I like cooking.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_00: So then then see create a channel about that.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly the character assets.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that if you have three character assets that you know about yourself, you can start a brand now.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_00: You can rebuild something.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: So the the weirder the mix is, the better.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_00: So we have for someone his plastic surgeon.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, when when you think about plastic surgeon, there's a kind of negative connotation about it.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: You change people's natural look, right?
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of thing.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: What's cool about his character brand is he said, I cannot help anyone who doesn't think themselves as beautiful.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's what he said.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: Oh.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, that is a really interesting point of view.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like a contrasting point of view.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_00: Plastic surgeons that believe you're beautiful as this.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: You want to fix something, I will help you.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_00: But I cannot fix the inside.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel like that is really cool.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_00: And someone that I feature in the in the book named Um Kill Spencer, Spencer Nikose.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he actually like um he's a combination of a sportsman, and then he's also like a product designer, and uh, he's a musician, and he incorporated all that into building his business.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he started by creating Kill Spencer brand, which is very high-end uh handbags and so that he creates and produce in LA area.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_00: And most people do it in Asia, but he believed in keeping it in the US and he's built a good audience from that.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then on top of it, he he branched out to like creating because he says also like playing tennis, he like he likes a lot of uh what do you call sports from from tennis, golf, and sometimes basketball.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_00: So he also said like he was working so hard at this business that sometimes he started getting weight, you know.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: And he and he wants to exercise also.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: So he's created this collection of balls and things, basketball for sure, a lot of things that's sports related, uh, including the sports bag and everything like that, because he incorporated that for himself too.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_00: You see, so sometimes that's an integration about your lifestyle and your journey in life into your business.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_00: This is part of character branding.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's the evolution, right?
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_00: Is like your evolution.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_00: You're always involved.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_00: The beautiful thing about character branding, like first on social media, right?
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_00: If you have followings that's only like you for certain topics, certain trends, what if if you change, right?
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_00: Then you will lose them, you know?
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_00: But if you have this strong character branding, like just based on your virtue and things like that, you actually are able to pivot anytime your audience will stay there.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't focus on the topic, you focus on you.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like that's a very strong point, Erna, that if we really develop our character branding, we are going to have lifelong relationships and and that's that's something really to think about as you're thinking about your own brand.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_01: I love this.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_01: This information is so great.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_01: Okay well, so um let me ask you if if someone ignores this topic completely, what will happen?
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_01: What happens?
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_00: They will be fine, they will not be as fulfilled as some of us that's doing the work.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that at some point they realize it's gonna be important.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody have their own pace, you know.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like they said, like uh the teacher's always there, right?
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like when the student's ready, then the teacher appears.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_00: The same thing with this kind of topic, you know, like you might hear it now as like a planting seeds.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_00: You might not do anything about it because it's like, oh man, I I can't do this right now, I don't have capacity to think about it, or like I don't get it.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_00: But then you got matured up, like I did.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_00: And in some way, it's a way of life, honestly.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_01: Character branding is kind of a way of life for But do you ever end up with being branded in a way that it that's from other people, not from you?
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think so.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_00: I think I I've seen more of my clients.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like I have I have half of my clients, my VIP clients, came to me because they kind of throwing spaghetti on the wall kind of situation.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think this looks trendying and stuff, so they they create they just make it look like someone else's collection.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_01: They're trying to like emulate somebody.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_00: Correct.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_00: They're copying someone else's book because they did not know their asset.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_00: So then uh at some point you can go so far, and after a while be like, why am I feeling I'm missing something?
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_00: Why I feel like I'm stuck when you're feeling stuck in your own in a business and brand like that, then that is a good symptom, indication that your character branding needs to be evolved or at least discovered and strengthened.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_00: I I have seen when I start doing this deep dive with some clients, they say, like, oh my gosh, or no, like this is topics that I don't even like familiar with.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_00: This is like a like repeated from different people, like saying, like, you took me to 360 degree of my own business, so they said.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_00: And sometime a client came to me, you know, like crying because they said, I don't want to, I don't want to share my story because my story is very sad and depressing and all that stuff.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, like, let me listen to it.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so then we did the deep dive.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_00: It was a longer deep dive at that time because he had a lot to unpack.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_00: But then at the end of the day, I thought like she has a very strong positioning actually through her story.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: And it you don't have to tell everything the skeleton skeleton in the closet of the situation.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_00: There is a way to position you based on that.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_00: But you just have to do the research and yeah, uh exactly.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_00: I I kind of see myself as and I want you to be this way too.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like a Sherlock Holmes, like a detective, you know, that's like super detailed, like very anal, to really find those gems to solve the mystery of you, you know.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so I love that game.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I think I would like to invite you to be the Sherlock Holmes.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's fun.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_01: And doing your book, it's been a like you said, a fun journey.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_01: So Sherlock Holmes, uh this journey, this is this is a fun Sherlock Holmes adventure.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I like that.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, very it's a lot of fun things, and um I I try not to go too.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's so much you can do, but I think like if you finish the book and um I think you you will have a clearer idea, you know, on who you are, uh, which is a good place to be that I all feel happy about that.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um on top of it, actually, like I started doing this Bunny Man Social, right?
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_00: Bunny Man Social.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's a meetup group.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I started it this May because I feel that I want to connect with my audience, I want to connect with my community in person because there's so many things with AI and all the technology that make things more distant.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm kind of going against the grain because I really like have a whole soul.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_00: I really like meeting people in person.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I know it's not feasible to meet everybody.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_00: However, I'm doing my best to meet with people in LA and Orange County.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I do meet up uh twice a month.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_00: One of them is the third Thursday of every month in Pasadena, and then the other one is OC.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's last Saturday, you know.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that might change, but for now, that's that's where it is.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_00: But the the thing is we go through some of this question together.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_01: Guys, I've been to the Bunny Munch social uh twice and uh as as of now.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_01: And uh have I can tell you that we have gotten into some really deep, really interesting discussions, which I did not think was possible with people that I had just met, but we we got into those things, really learned some fascinating uh I would call them truths about myself just from talking to other people and sharing those conversations.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I really enjoyed that.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's um a really great thing for anyone, but especially for creators.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_01: I think that was some of the space that feels safe for people who are in this journey of creating and building their businesses.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_01: But anyone I think really um could benefit from going to it.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_01: It was just I had a great time.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_01: So if anybody wants to go to that, we will definitely post that in the show notes as well on uh where you can find out information on that.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I only have a couple more questions for you uh for today.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna definitely have to have you back on the show before today.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_01: Besides what we talked about with the uh Pinterest and picking uh the big yes, um, is there anything a parent can do to help contribute to their child's branding or to help them build a strong character brand?
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think invite them for discussion of what they're passionate about, what they're interested in.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_00: Just ask them the question, then let them lead you.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_00: Let them lead.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like, for example, like uh maybe 75% of the time you'll be the one leading them, you know?
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_00: But then 25% of the time create that spaciousness, uh whether it's an hour, whether it's like once a week or every other week, once a month, whatever it is, just start.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_00: Just start with what you can.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_00: And for example, if someone like, oh, I really like doing tennis, but you're not into tennis, okay, you know, like maybe let me go with you, or like, you know, find find ways, find ways to like kind of support them on that and let them show their world to you or discover it together because you are giving them this respect and the seeds of leadership by letting them lead you, right?
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_00: In not just your life, but maybe in their future relationship, you know, whatever it is.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_00: Leadership is very important in life.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, including character branding.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_00: They have to lead themselves, they have to have self-trust.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_00: And you are the only person, the closest person to them that can show them that you believe in them.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's the biggest gift that I think you can give is to someone is like that you believe in them, you see them, you want them to, you know, find themselves.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_00: I think like that's that's love.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's really love.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_01: I think that definitely will help them build a strong character brand and foundation.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's great.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_01: I think uh well, what mistakes do you think parents maybe even unintentionally make that could damage a child's character brand or their branding in general?
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_00: The funny thing is your beautiful gift is also your kryptonite, which is love.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_00: Different ways of expressing love.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm parents of two girls, and I've been there too.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_00: Where fear of them getting hurt, okay, it's not a mistake, I would say.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not a believer of failure mistakes as something that's to be frowned upon.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's all just data to me.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_00: I used to be afraid of, oh, my daughter's gonna be hurt stuff.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_00: So you kind of like try to overprotect them.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_00: So then my mom did the same thing.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_00: She's like, oh, you're gonna get dirty.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_00: So like a lot of Asian parents, right?
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like, don't get dirty.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_00: But that's the way you learn.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I had a lot of allergy before too.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I couldn't go to the garden without any, you know, like allergy reactions, severe allergy reaction.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_00: But but my brother didn't have that, you know.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_00: So you might have through wanting them to be safe and to be clean, you didn't allow them to explore for themselves.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_00: For themselves, exactly.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, so that's kind of the I always say the mistake that people unintentionally do sometimes.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I have known someone, a friend that said that she has a daughter or like twins or something like that, and the daughter's always asking the mom, say, Mom, is it okay?
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, is it okay if I do this?
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_00: Is it okay?
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like if your kids keep asking you that, is it okay to do this?
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_00: Something is missing here.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_00: She has no self-trust, she doesn't have this trust that you trust her enough to make a decision.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_00: If you see that, what should you do?
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you see that you are on a gas pedal, yeah, you are like very strong about that.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_00: So just ease on that.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, ease on that.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_00: Just slowly back down.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, yes, honey, it was okay, you know.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and give them parameters.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's just like, hey, you don't have to ask me for this, you don't have to ask me for that.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_00: I trust you.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_00: Oh that's if somehow like I notice something, are you okay if I call it out for you nicely?
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_00: Just like that.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_00: You have to like kind of lead that part of it because they are already so conditioned by now to like really, really follow.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_00: And you do want them to respect you for sure.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's like core values, you know, very important.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, character branding has to have the form of respect, self-respect and other people.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's very important in character branding.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_00: And the thing is, you don't want that to sabotage you know their expressions as as well.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe reassuring them, but giving them some parameters of what they can do.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_00: Catch yourself too.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_00: Catch yourself sometimes as parents.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you you you might have that good idea, but then in like the panic mode, you just like yell at them.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like, oh shoot, you know, like I think you just have to catch yourself, take a deep breath.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's okay.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_00: We are human, and you have to circle back, say, hey, I didn't mean to do that.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I really want to go.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, really sorry about that.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, um, I'm still practicing, I'm still like wanting you to do you know, just just be intentional about it.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_00: And it's okay to apologize.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_00: I think learning to apologize to your kids is a beautiful thing.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I had a very fun discussion that I I listened to this last Sunday, where my friend, she was the speaker at this event, and um she told me like how her daughter is so good at uh putting her in a position to apologize to her.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_00: That was the funniest eloquent way of saying that.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_00: So she was very good at uh explaining that, you know, because sometimes our kids, my daughter, have straightened me out sometimes, too, and I'm grateful about it.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_00: So listen, you know, listen to your kids.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_00: They know stuff too.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_00: They know you so well, it's scary sometimes.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, we all can practice a little humility here, you know, and you don't have to know everything.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_01: We do but if you do, you can say they put you in the position to apologize.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, put me in the position to apologize, thank you.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, yeah, it's very eloquent way of saying it as a parent.
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I really like that.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, we've come to the end of this hour, but I wanted to ask you one more thing.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, do you have any um advice that has helped transform your life that you've heard uh along the way that might help our listeners in their lives?
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I think at this moment, at this state of introduction to character branding, what's very important is befriending your dark side.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_00: Which means like this, like I used to be kind of uh allergic to my own, like, let's say past trauma, past pains, or things like that.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_00: And you justify things have to be positive all the time, you know.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, and then I just recently got healed from that.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_00: I went through this like energy healing exercise, and I realized the pattern of like escaping from that, you know.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because the whole thing about us is we have light and dark sides.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_00: I call it our flossom, our flossomeness.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_00: People think about it is flossom, but it's awesome.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's flossom.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's not my term.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_00: Someone else told me about flossom before, like a long time, like years ago.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_00: But I love this so much because flossomeness is power character branding, you know, and those things that we're sad about and what we we were like afraid that we don't want to expose, and we think that people are gonna judge us for it, you know.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually the thing that makes us human and actually relatable and connecting with others.
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_00: I just posted something very vulnerable.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you've seen those um recently on my Instagram.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, I have seen those.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm 51, you know, and then the whole list of things that I'm I'm ashamed to admit.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_00: I got the most engagement, the most like views, not that those numbers matter, is the main thing is what I love the most is when I actually went to this event, the same event that I went on Sunday.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_00: One person that saw my post approached me and said, Hey, I really like that post.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, nobody approached me before on that kind of vulnerable stuff.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_00: They said, like, I felt the same way, and I just did not know how to say it.
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_00: And your words kind of helped me put the words in my commission.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_00: So to me, like that was really powerful.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's healing for both of us.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_01: Wonderful.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I definitely have not heard of flossomeness before, so that is a new concept for me, and probably for a lot of people who are gonna listen to this.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I appreciate you bringing that to us.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I just want to take a few minutes here, since we're closing, just to show everybody the book again, Truth Mirror.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, can you tell us where people can get this?
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_01: If they want to.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, you can get them on Amazon.
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, just uh type in Truth Mirror.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's the art.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I have the book too.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_01: I will try to put a link in our show notes as well.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_00: Well, art of being your truth.
• 55:28
  SPEAKER_00: The art of being your truth, reflection guide to building your empowered lifetime brand.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_00: And if you just type in Truth Mirror and Erna Blooms, my name is it should pop out, you know.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll put a link to that.
• 55:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, also, if you want to learn more about the bunny munch, where should people find out about that?
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_00: So you can follow me on Instagram at ErnaBlooms.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's E-R-N-A-B-L-O-O-M-S, like the flower blooms.
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_00: And like, you know, and on my link tree, there is uh I always update it with the next one.
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the next one is August 20th in Pasadena.
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'll put that hopefully also in the show notes.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_01: And now um, I know that this is not, you know, your main your main uh work now.
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_01: You're working with branding mostly, but you have this beautiful art, and I'm I even see it in the back behind you.
• 56:20
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if are you still is that still available for people if they oh yes, yes.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_01: Can you show us?
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have one there that you can show?
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_01: This is beautiful.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_01: She does these beautiful works of art and cards.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so this is just one example that she has created that whole design.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_01: Beautiful.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_01: What does it say there?
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_01: You can't see it.
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_00: This is called uh this is called the Hedgehog then the lion.
• 56:47
  SPEAKER_00: This is one of the art that actually connected with my purpose when I was still a corporate job.
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason why I left corporate job is because I dedicated this art to someone in um Germany who was uh suffering from who was suffering from uh RADZ, which is arthritis, and she had a permanent condition and she said, Oh, sorry, I couldn't follow you back.
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I said, no worries.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then I sent her a lot of links for cure, but she said, This is my permanent condition.
• 57:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I just basically um gave her this art, created this art based on her condition.
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_00: And she immediately followed me after I like dedicated to her, and that moment of connection made me realize how powerful art could be uh to connect people to strangers from two different parts of the world.
• 57:29
  SPEAKER_00: She was in Germany, I'm in the US, strangers, right?
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_00: So then I realized, you see, like I hide, I hid my art before.
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody knows.
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_00: I was in branding space, nobody knew I was an artist, by the way.
• 57:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because I thought, okay, artist doesn't make money.
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like again, the conditioning, right?
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_00: Then when I saw that, I realized that oh my gosh, this is what I actually meant to do.
• 57:49
  SPEAKER_00: So then from there, everything starts opening up.
• 57:52
  SPEAKER_00: So now I call myself I'm the artist of life.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_01: But but each of your artworks are have a story.
• 57:58
  SPEAKER_01: Can you just tell us that one story so people can understand what it is?
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, so um it's called curious morphology, and it's always like a combination of two things into one, you know, okay, and then turning into a meaning.
• 58:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I have one, like I have my mug right here.
• 58:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, this one is kind of like uh wisteria bird, okay, which means like um this one is mean like um be your own kind of beautiful.
• 58:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because be your own kind of beautiful, yeah.
• 58:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like character branding, actually.
• 58:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's you know, because it's like a pickup combined with a wisteria flower.
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_00: There's no such a thing out there, right?
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_00: So, same thing with Hajjang Dandelion, you know?
• 58:39
  SPEAKER_00: There's no such a thing.
• 58:40
  SPEAKER_00: Had Chang Gandalf.
• 58:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the meaning of this one, what it says here, it's um make a wish take a chance, right?
• 58:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, sometimes we are going through some stuff in life, and this is the meaning is like turning your pain and uncertainty in life, and you know, turning it to wish and hope, basically.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, that's all we can do, you know, sometimes, right?
• 59:01
  SPEAKER_00: So yes.
• 59:02
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm so glad you shared that with us.
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to highlight all your strengths, and you know, branding is uh uh one of your huge strengths, but you have so many.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_01: So uh where can people find your art if they like your art?
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, um, so curious morphology um dot com.
• 59:20
  SPEAKER_00: If you go on my Instagram and just uh, you know, you can follow the Instagram and I'll have posting and things, you know.
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_00: But in the link tree, there is like uh all the links there to my services, to my book, to like bunny munch, you know, all the events gonna be.
• 59:34
  SPEAKER_01: So if you just follow Erna on Instagram, you should be able to find everything there.
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I will try to put as much of it in the show notes as well.
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Erna, for joining us today and sharing all of your knowledge and expertise.
• 59:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure this has been really helpful for a lot of people out there.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_01: Hope we'll have you back on the show again at some point because enjoyed us questions.
• 59:56
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 59:57
  SPEAKER_01: I now have so many more questions.
• 59:59
  SPEAKER_01: So um that's great.
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, for people out there who want to do in-depth branding work with you, they can reach out to you as well.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:00:09
  SPEAKER_00: The link to you there's like a uh like I think calling the link for like booking like a complimentary call because you have questions or things like that.
• 1:00:17
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:00:18
  SPEAKER_01: Well, have a wonderful day, Erna.
• 1:00:20
  SPEAKER_01: And for everyone else out there, stay irresistible until next time.
• 1:00:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:00:24
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much, everyone.
• 1:00:26
  SPEAKER_00: Have a good one.