Latest / Have you met you? / Ep. 22: Entrepreneurship as Resistance: Building an Authentic Brand Patricia Johnson
Transcript
- Sasha Pearl: On the podcast today, we talked a lot about my program, Big Biz Energy. It is one of the programs that's helped Patricia so much in really getting clear on her philosophy and her positioning in her own branding. So if you are interested, it is a three month program. We meet six times. The first month is all about identity. We use human design to really dive deep into the energetics of who you are to uncover what is your authenticity in the world. Patricia Johnson on the podcast today. We are so excited. Patricia is someone I've known for God, like what, six years, seven years, five years? Yeah. We are the embodiment of social media friends turned IRL friends. And I'm obsessed with that. So Patricia, let's start off with, tell us more about you. Who are you in the world? What do you do? Have you ever built a brand that you wanted to make feel more elevated or more playful or more of whatever the trending thing ⁓ is in the world look at it and be like, wow, ⁓ feel like a complete in my own brand. is what we're talking about today on the Have You Met You Patricia Johnson of Cultivation Studio. She is a brand strategist web designer. Patricia Johnson: something like that. I am a brand and website designer. So I run a website design studio called Cultivation Studio. And I work primarily with values led entrepreneurs who are creating brands and businesses that are an authentic expression of themselves and their values and their visions in the world. Values driven, I kind of throw that word around to try to be like an all encompassing like label for the types of people that I work with. But to me, Sasha Pearl: We may forget who we are and Human Design is beautiful because it takes us back to our purest form of being. And I get to be that mirror to reflect that back to you. And then we move into our brand messaging and you are guided in a journey of really getting clear on your messaging for your branding. And then we move into aligning your And we're gonna dive deep into what is authenticity? What is building an authentic brand? What is entrepreneurship as a radical of And really diving deep into the intricacies and the identities that we have to hold in order to walk through these iterations of our businesses, ⁓ of our brands. So we're not holding a mask up the masses. ⁓ Patricia Johnson: That means ⁓ people who are designing not only their own realities that they want to live in, but also creating a pathway for others to do the same thing. ⁓ So that could be like a mental health therapist or an executive leadership coach who got tired of working a nine to five and decided to launch her own job. Sasha Pearl: We are actually showing up in our fullest authenticity, our fullest potential. And when we do that and honor who we are in the world, we are to be attracting those ideal clients to us. And that is where good branding lives is at that intersection. So we'll be talking about that today on the podcast. Sasha Pearl, the Energy Architect and I wait to get into it with you. Let's go. business. So we make sure that everything that you are showing up for is something that you want to do. So really bringing you back into your signature state of being whether you're a projector who needs to be more in success or manifesting generator who needs to live in deep satisfaction. ⁓ start uncovering and assess what's not working for you in your business and what are you willing to fight for in your business. ⁓ the end of the three month program you will be very clear on who you are in the world. ⁓ Patricia Johnson: That's what I like to do in my own business. So I like to help others basically do the exact same thing through brand and website design. So the idea is that I create a brand and website for you that allows you to then show up in that business and create the job and the life that you want. Sasha Pearl: you will have a very clear messaging system to use and utilize through all of your and you'll have a clear idea of how to create offers and simplify your business, if that's what it needs, ⁓ to ⁓ amplify who you in world. Because businesses are here to create structure, ⁓ so then we can actually amplified in who we are. ⁓ But yeah, that's incredible. I think there needs to be more people in the world who are amplifying authenticity and not the cookie cutter beige frameworks of the world where everyone looks the same. So I feel like Patricia and I actually do very similar things at different intersections. I would love to hear, because your background is in marketing. what is, what was this like threshold that you had to walk, like what happened? in the world. So if you're interested, please DM me on Instagram, BigBizEnergy, or feel free to email me at Sasha at DesignedToBeHuman.com. And I would love to just hop on a discovery call with you and see where you are at on your journey. And until the end of May, I'll be offering $500 off BigBizEnergy. feel free to reach out and I can't wait to hear from you. How did we get to you running your own business and then having this philosophy to help and serve other people on their journeys? Patricia Johnson: Yeah, okay, so it's kind of a long story. bear with me as I go through it. yeah, so my career before I started doing brand and website design, I started off as a marketer, doing digital marketing. So that would be like managing websites, doing email marketing, social media marketing, and that kind of thing. And ⁓ it was kind of funny to me that I wound up having a marketing career because I was always kind of grossed out by marketing and just like the entire ethos and culture. around it that you think of when you think of like a marketing like dude bro. ⁓ It was just kind of weird to me that I found myself in that world because that wasn't the part of marketing that spoke to me. ⁓ So if I actually go even back further before that, when I was like a little kid in the early, early days of the internet, for me, the internet was a tool for connection. And I mean, this was before Facebook even existed. This was when there were like message boards and neo- Sasha Pearl: My face. Patricia Johnson: But before even MySpace, but that's also included. Yes. So for me, the internet was a creative outlet and ⁓ I taught myself basic design and basic coding. And I really use the internet as a way to connect with other people. Cause I was a really bored, lonely teenager in a suburban town in New England and the internet was there for me to connect with people. And so I happened to know how to use social media. So that's kind of how I wound up in this marketing career in my twenties. ⁓ And then I got laid off. I think I was around 30 or something, whatever. It 2019, it was right before the pandemic. I got laid off and it was this whole big career disruption where, you know, if you've been through a layoff, you know, it's like really traumatizing. kind of begin to question your personal value and your place in the world and what the heck you're even supposed to do every day. ⁓ By the way, if you ever get laid off, take... bubble baths in the middle of the day that is like the just leaning into the luxuriating of enjoying all the time that you have on your hands all of sudden. While you're crying. Yeah. So I got laid off and then immediately after the pandemic happened. ⁓ So it was just this like real shakeup. I mean, we all experienced at that time, of course. ⁓ But it made me step back and take a look at my career and realize like, I don't think I want to do marketing anymore. And Sasha Pearl: while you're crying into the bubbles. Patricia Johnson: What I actually liked about marketing wasn't the data, the statistics, the paid ads, the sales. Like I'd never really liked the selling products, but I liked the connecting with people because that's what resonated with me even as a little girl on the internet. So I took a break from the marketing world and decided to kind of go back into website design. So that was kind of the interesting thing for me once I got laid off and didn't have a job to go to anymore. That's what I found myself. gravitating towards was creativity and design and art, ⁓ which wasn't something I had tapped into for very long time. ⁓ Sasha Pearl: But wait, what were you doing at your job that you got laid off from? Patricia Johnson: social media. Sasha Pearl: for what type of business. Patricia Johnson: So for a long time, I was working at a mission-driven government consulting company. And I left that job and was at a social media agency for three months. That's the job that laid me off. And that was like consumer brands. Like one of the brands was a dash cam company. And so ⁓ it was not cool. My job as the social media manager was to scour the internet for dash cam videos and then to... Sasha Pearl: Okay. Patricia Johnson: purchase them from the people who posted them so that we could use them on the dash cams, ⁓ Instagram and social media to basically prove, you tell the story that dash cams are important. But like what that meant for me was I was watching like crash videos all day long. no wonder I got laid off and I was like, I never want to go back there again. It's terrible. Sasha Pearl: That's insane. There's like, ⁓ I can't remember what the movie is called, but essentially it's just everyone watching like terrible news. And then if it's like terrible, then they go and hide it. And she's just watching people getting murdered, et cetera. Anyway, it reminds me of the dash cam. More to that. Patricia Johnson: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I wasn't even driving at the time. I didn't have a car. So like, it wasn't totally relevant to me. But even that I remember I would like leave the office and walk down the street and be like spooked by cars driving by because I'd spend the whole day looking at dashcam videos. So that was my exit from the marketing world. ⁓ I ran really I ran really fast far away. And I would say to like, Sasha Pearl: Sounds divine, actually. Patricia Johnson: the catalyst of me getting into what I do now. I did try for a period of time to find another job. It wasn't like I immediately went into working for myself. I did try to apply for other jobs, but I remember looking at ⁓ job listings and being like, OK, well, I want to do like 15 % of this, but the rest of it I don't want to do. And so now I'm being locked into, if I were to take this job, I would be locked into this job listing that you wrote. that supports your business where I actually only want to do like maybe 15 % of that if that. So that was kind of a wake up call for me where I was like, okay, this career that I have where I'm going further and further down this social media route, I've almost just fallen into it because like I said earlier, I happen to be good at connecting with people online. So wasn't actually that I wanted to be a marketer, that I just wanted to connect with human beings. So. Looking back now, I understand that that's what I was aiming to do in my career. I just didn't have the awareness to realize that. So the great thing about becoming a designer was I got to pull more creativity into my career and more creation and just curiosity and joy and ⁓ things I wasn't able to have as a marketer. ⁓ But then also, as a business owner, you are a marketer. So I had all these skills that I could lean on from my previous career, which was really great. ⁓ And my whole philosophy in not just design, not just my own marketing, but like how I connect with my clients and really every facet of my business is that at the end of the day, we just want to connect with people. And the types of people who I want to work with in my business are the types of people who don't just want to sell products. They don't just want to get rich. Obviously we all want to get paid. You we have bills to pay. We want to take vacations, all that. That's great. But like, that's a very different customer. profile than someone who is spitting out business after business and wants to rake in the dough. The people who I am and the people who I want to work with ⁓ are craving something deeper and are craving a life that's an expression of who they are. And they're driven by wanting to connect with other individuals. So that's a long-winded explanation of how I got to where I am today. Sasha Pearl: So I love that you bring in the level of connection and the level of depth that you're just like innately drawn to because we look at your human design and your your son sign. Her human design is a one three at manifesto with emotional authority and her core gift is gate 48 the well of depth. So you go deep on everything that you care to go deep on and then you're also Libra son which is deeply relationship. So all you want to do is connect but like only if the connection serves. at the level of authenticity because I'm going to assume if it's anything lower than that, you're like, I don't give a fuck. It's absolutely boring. So at what point did you, how did you know to pivot specific? Was it just this like, uh, it's called standout Squarespace. If you're a website designer and developer, highly recommend that course. It's insane. We both went through that. Um, Patricia Johnson: boring. Sasha Pearl: Was it that course that really set you up into the business that you have now? Or would you say you already wanted to be a website designer and developer for Squarespace? Patricia Johnson: So I actually took a course before that. The first course that I took was the I Love Creatives Squarespace course. Sasha Pearl: ⁓ I did too. Wait, we're on the same path here. Yes, I forgot about that chorus. Yes. Okay. Patricia Johnson: you Yeah. And I can't remember if I was already signed up before the world shut down in the pandemic or whatever it was. It was like pretty early on in 2020 that I, that I did that course. And that course is a really great intro to Squarespace and website design. So it kind of served for me as like a, a pressure check to be like, is this something that I actually want to do? And when I finished that course, I was like, hell yes, I want to do this. Let me go even deeper. So that's how I found this, the standout Squarespace course, which is much more. I learned a lot about code as it applies to Squarespace specifically. And also Rach, the course director, does a lot of business teaching in the course. So she really teaches you how to set up a website design business. So both of those courses definitely helped me move in that direction. So I would say when 2020 started, I had just gotten laid off. I had picked up some social media freelance gigs. I was teaching yoga at the time as well. And then I was kind of playing around with these courses. And then during the pandemic, you know, the yoga thing wasn't really happening anymore, unfortunately. I was doing virtual yoga for a bit, but again, the connection thing, it didn't really happen for me virtually. So ⁓ over the course of that year, then I started to think, well, wait a minute, I can do social media. I'm starting to take photos. Now I can do websites. Like I've got a package here that I can sell to people. So that's ultimately how Cultivation Studio was born. towards the end of that year was that kind of marriage of those three things that I enjoy and that I wanted to offer. Sasha Pearl: What I find really interesting about people who are starting the careers is I believe from my perspective that it's actually one of the bravest things that you'll ever do for yourself. It's also gonna be one of the scariest things because you have to actually look so deeply into the mirror and look at all of your shadows because in order for you to actually show up, in order for you to actually find clients, you have to sell yourself. You have to show them why they should go with you. I would love to hear what were the identity thresholds you had to walk through to really show up in the confidence that you have now. Like you're about to launch, um, this is one of your first live workshops, like fully owned. Yeah. Patricia Johnson: I've done workshops before, always with other people. So this is just me, just my brain. Sasha Pearl: Yes. Yeah. I would love it. So we'll talk about that workshop here in a second. It's called authentic by design. ⁓ but I would love like going to like starting out, you don't even have a website or you don't even have a concept to then having, like putting all this stuff together to now being like, ⁓ I'm going to brand and launch my workshop. And this is, know, now I have all these, et cetera, things like that take very separate identities to show up in that way. So I would love to hear what were these ideas, like where were you at in the very beginning? Like, probably naive and like, I know, deer in the headlights to now. What was your process and like, what were you thinking about at the beginning of your business to where, what are you thinking about right now? Patricia Johnson: It's so interesting to reflect on that because what I often hear from other people when they talk about starting their businesses is that at some point they made a conscious choice to start the business and start doing this thing. And for me, when I look back, it doesn't really feel like, I mean, there was a moment where I made the decision and I started moving forward, but in my brain, it doesn't feel like there was a moment where I was like, okay, I'm going to do this now. I just was like following. I was just naturally following what I was being led to, if that makes sense. I didn't even question it. I think what I'm getting at is I've always been someone, I've always had passion projects. I've always had things I'm curious about. I've always been taking courses and I've always had my hands in a lot of different pots. And so I think the way that I viewed me starting my business was like, well, I'm just gonna try this thing now. It was just kind of like an experiment. I'm like, well, let's just see how it goes. because I already lost my job, I had unemployment, we were in a freaking pandemic, like what else could happen? I might as well just like throw this at the wall and see what happens. And so as far as confidence, like. I mean, it's funny because I don't feel like a confident person necessarily all the time. But then if I were to step outside of myself and look at this person who started a business, I'm like, well, obviously she's hella confident. Otherwise, she wouldn't have done all that. ⁓ So I think I just started without thinking about it. I just did it. ⁓ It was kind of almost accidental. ⁓ I saw it as like an experimental process. And now six years later, here I am still doing it. And I think the other thing is too, Again, I've always been someone who's shared who I am online. It's just something that comes very natural to me. I just am doing what my body wants to do. I don't know if that answers your question. Sasha Pearl: Yeah, absolutely. I feel like there's those parts where it's like, maybe you weren't like fully conscious or online to the why it was more of like, I have to pay my bills to then being like, ⁓ wow, this actually war is working. And now I have some cash flow to reinvest in my own trainings and education. And now I'm going to do a website and you've hired systems manager, we've done big biz energy together, like you have really put in the time effort to really understand what you want to be bringing forth. into the world so you can serve in the way that you do. So I would love to also hear more. You talk about entrepreneurship as a radical act of resistance. So tell me more about this philosophy. Is this something where you knew and valued this idea from the beginning or is this something that the more that you talk to other business owners and the more that you were in your own business, this is the philosophy that came to be? Patricia Johnson: So yeah, so that is like the guiding philosophy of really it's deeper than my business. It's just me as a human being is the, or the, the, the human that I am now is focused on entrepreneurship as resistance, as like this radical act of creating your own life. ⁓ And I credit you for helping me come up with that, by the way, in what was big biz energy that we did together last year. ⁓ When I look back to when I started my business, I hired a business coach when I first started before I even launched because I kind of knew I needed some help to, I wanted to do it right. I wanted to make the right offers and understand who my audience is. And, you know, I understand the value of brand strategy and positioning and all that. So I invested in a business coach right away. And part of the work she and I did together was figuring out what my why is, what my vision is. And I wasn't fully aware of it at the time. ⁓ What I kept coming back to was me wanting to work with community-driven businesses. ⁓ Now I say values-driven, it's basically the same thing, but for some reason, community kept coming up as the consistent theme for me. And now over the course of the past six years, I've really teased out more and more what that actually means. And especially with your help in that program that you run, you helped pull that out of me. not just the foundation of my business, but me as a person. And so the idea is that As an entrepreneur, you are outside of the structures that exist. You are stepping outside of the nine to five, outside of the corporate world. ⁓ that is a world that in many ways perpetuates systems structures that are restrictive to ⁓ all us at the end of the day, but particularly depending on different identities, races, genders, ⁓ sexualities, that. ⁓ It's you kind of your identity has to be in a bit of a box in the corporate world a bit of a box Yeah, you get it you burned your resume because you really like this Sasha Pearl: bit of a box. A big, big box, actually. don't... Yeah. Well, I don't want say I am only accessing 1 % of my gifts in this world where I can only do one thing or two things. And it's like, I'm so much more of a human being in person than this is. So anyways, I just want, I'm like, excuse me. We need to stop. Patricia Johnson: next. Yes, yeah. And your job, I I felt this when I was trying to apply for jobs after I got laid off and I'm looking at these job listings and it's like someone else wrote this. Like, I want to write my own job listing. Sasha Pearl: Ooh, wait, I love that. Yeah, did you end up writing your own drop listing? Just for fun? I know. Patricia Johnson: or job description. No, but I should. I mean, can't do my business every day, right? Like I'm a brand designer. I do this every day, you know? But that's what we do as entrepreneurs is we take back that power. We empower ourselves to decide what we are going to do not only in our careers, but in our lives. so entrepreneurship is really a vehicle for us as individuals to design what our own lives can look like. beyond whatever the box says, right? And in doing so, when we create our own lives and create the world that we wanna see, we then create the pathway for others to do the same. And I think I struggled a lot in the beginning of calling myself an entrepreneur because to me, I had a lot of negative connotation around that word. Again, it's like a dude bro thing. When I think entrepreneur, I think of scaling a business and getting rich and selling and... products and all that, blah. Well, yes, there's nothing wrong with wanting to have money. That's how we live and survive, but that's the number one goal. ⁓ So I'm really trying to reclaim the identity of an entrepreneur for myself because that connotation, that negative connotation that I have of entrepreneurship is just another function of that box system that I'm talking about. So let's just create a new Sasha Pearl: I mean, that will be amazing, but like in my own way. Patricia Johnson: Let's do away with the boxes. We're stepping out of the box. so ultimately, when you think of entrepreneurship in that way, it becomes radical. It's radical. We're rethinking everything, not just work, but the way that we live, literally. that's what I want to do. My current business is a function of that. And you helped me to see that, that the way that I help entrepreneurs create brands and create websites that allow them, that empower them to show up in the world as they are. that is a function of that personal mission that I Sasha Pearl: Yeah, so when she mentions this, we actually used her incarnation cross, which is like her life's purpose to really help inform that statement. Before she started working with me, there so many flower puns. And I'm like, in her Mercury placement, which is all about communication, it's the gate 39 of provoking people. And I'm like, no, it needs to lend, like not heavier in weight, but heavier in purpose. Patricia Johnson: Thank Yeah. Sasha Pearl: And again, that's cute, but are you cute? I feel like you're really intense, human being intense in like a really beautiful, like in-depth way, right? And so I just love that. I love that that was one of the key things that you took away from ⁓ our work together. And I love that so much. Yay. I want to go into the, when you speak of entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship as a radical act of resistance, you talk about the designing Patricia Johnson: You Sasha Pearl: designing our lives through the work that we do, through the careers that we have. Like this, this philosophy is not just like singular to the businesses that you create. It's actually a philosophy that you can, you know, utilize into every aspect of your life. So I would love to hear more of how you've taken your own philosophy and implemented that and integrated that into your day to day, your business, your relationships, et cetera. Patricia Johnson: Yeah, would say, I mean, first of all, I will say it's challenging. think one the things I've struggled with in my business is replicating the same way of working that I had when I had a nine to five and the same pressure that I put on myself to perform constantly and always be working and never take a day off and just always be producing and, you know, my self-worth being tied to my ability to produce things. Like that's something that is very much still alive in my brain and it's really hard. start off. Yeah. Sasha Pearl: Yes, same. Ease and flow, ease and flow. Patricia Johnson: Yes, so that's a challenge, but it's something that I'm working on. But I would say the number one thing that comes up for me, and I share this a lot with my clients, and this really is central to my own marketing philosophy. number one value that I have in my business is that I want my business to be a reflection of me. ⁓ I want show up as an authentic human in my business. That doesn't ⁓ mean that sharing every little last morsel of who I am. Y'all don't need to know about ⁓ my weird quirks and things that I do when I'm alone at home. It's not about that. ⁓ But it's ⁓ Sasha Pearl: Or it could be. Patricia Johnson: feeling like I can just show up to work and just be who I am and not have to put on a face and not to keep shitting on my corporate jobs that I had because there were some really great parts of that. But I look back to like going to an office every day and I kind of felt like even in just like the clothes, like the dress code, like having to put clothes on that I didn't necessarily feel comfortable. Like it's all kind of a performance that I didn't want to be part of anymore. I didn't want to perform this like fake version of me that I felt like I had to be to succeed in that world. Whereas now in my business, I want to just wear what I want to wear. I'm working in my house. I get to work with you. I met you through my business, and you are a friend now, a really close friend now. These are the types of people I want to surround myself with, not just Joe from accounting, because he happens to work down the hall for me. I actually want to work with people that resonate with who I am as a human, and I want to extract. Sasha Pearl: We love you, Joe. are you actively implementing that, like even in your relationships ⁓ in your business, specifically? I guess mentioned you get to work from home. you get to wear what you want. How are you showing up ⁓ in interacting with clients? Because I feel like that is one of the main things in corporate that I was like, I literally will not placate these people. I don't want to play fucking politics, I don't want to like massage your ego. Like I just want to say what I need to say and just do really good work. Like why do we have to play this fucking like, was it the ball and dance game or whatever? like, I don't, I'm not a circus. I'm not in the circus. I just want to be direct. Efficiency, you know what mean? So how has that, yeah, cause you're deeply, you're already connected, right? Like you love to connect with people. So how has that really shifted for you? Especially, I mean, when you're starting out, like you're kind of, you are like, Are they going to buy from me? they going, you know what I mean? Like you have all these like doubts of like, am I looking professional enough or, well, I don't know what your conversation was, but that was mine. I'm like, are they gonna take me seriously? Patricia Johnson: Yeah, that definitely is a balance of wanting to show up authentically, but also be taken seriously. ⁓ I think for me, as far as relationships with my clients, you were just describing the conflict that you had at your past job where you were of performing with clients. And as you were saying that, I was thinking through how I interact with my clients now, and I'm realizing I almost never do that anymore. I mean, it happens sometimes depending on the client, of course. Like you have to like position yourself as an expert. And sometimes there's like awkward client, you know, communication issues that come up. You have to like navigate in a professional way. but for the most part, think because hopefully because in my marketing, I set the expectation of who I am and how I engage in the way I show up before you even sign on for a project with me, you kind of know what you're going to get. So. I tend to attract people who aren't looking to play that game, who aren't looking to like pretend. And I see all of my clients as friends, you know, they're individual humans. My goal is to like really understand what's at the heart of who they are. And you can't do that by putting on a performance. Like you have to listen. You have to really listen and hold space for them. Yeah, that's what I would say. Sasha Pearl: Yeah. And I think it goes back into, I love that you just said that because like if you are on the other side of this client call or I'm the client or whatever, and I'm giving you 90 % of mass, then you're going to be creating a brand of the mask. And then when the mass falls, it's not going to resonate with you anymore. So you're doing yourself a disservice by not just showing up fully with who you are. let's talk more about the positioning aspect for you? it is very important in marketing. And so how have you utilized and positioned yourself in a way that helps you stand out from all the other Squarespace website designers? Patricia Johnson: It's really hard because there are so many of us out there. And I'm sure you feel this too, is there are so many designers out there. And it's especially hard when you have things like Upwork and Fiverr and AI, for Christ's sake, you you can get a website for little to nothing nowadays. So it can be hard to not fall into this mental trap ultimately of worrying that, you know, you're not going to... be noticed or valued for who you are. And this comes up with my clients a lot too, where, for example, I worked with an HR specialist recently who's just starting to go off on her own. she's like, well, I kind of offer, like, she didn't know what made her different. She didn't know what made her unique compared to other folks in the field. And it's pretty simple. At the end of the day, it's who you are as a person. You know, as designers, maybe it's a little bit easier for us because our personal taste is filtered through what we create. Obviously, every designer has kind of a specific way that they design the specific creative flavor that they're drawn to. So that's one thing that could set you and I apart. ⁓ But it's also, you know, it's our expertise, it's who we are as people. I know for me, having that marketing background is really helpful for a certain type of clientele. ⁓ For you, having such an intuitive you know, background and interests and expertise that's really relevant for you and your certain type of clientele who you want to work with. So I think it's all about really understanding what makes you who you are as a person. Like literally what are the innate qualities that you have that make you a human being? And then also what are the certain expertise and skills and things that you've gathered over the years that... make you good at what you do. So it's kind of marrying those two things together. So that just underlines why being authentic is important because if you lean into who you are in your messaging, then people who vibe with you naturally as a human being are gonna be drawn to you. Sasha Pearl: Yeah, and if you are creating copy or a website that has nothing to do with you and they hop on a call with you, they're going to be so confused and the distrust that will happen on these conversations will be valuable. But this is actually a good segue. Let's talk about authentic by design, the workshop that you're going to be launching next week on Wednesday the 20th. Are we going be going over this framework there? Okay. Patricia Johnson: Yeah. Yeah, thank you. Yes, yeah, so this is basically the foundation of what we will be covering in the workshop, which is ⁓ whether you are the brand, it's a personal brand, or whether you have a brand that you want to connect on a real meaningful level with your people, ⁓ that's who this workshop is for. ⁓ If you are someone who, like I have been mentioning, yes, of course, sales is important, but that's not necessarily your number one thing. Really, connection is meaningful to you. ⁓ That's what I want to help you do is to figure out how to connect on a human level with the people who are engaging with your brand, which of course is even more important now in the age of AI where ⁓ it's going to be even more important to feel human and to connect with people on a human level online. And so the framework that I'm sharing is how to think of your brand as a human, how to identify what are the qualities that you have or that your brand has that feel human. And how do you then translate that into a visual experience? And my whole philosophy is something, it's based on this realization that I have come through over the past six or so years of my business that I know you will relate to and that you, I know you lean on a lot in your own business, which is that ⁓ brand strategy, it's incredibly important. It's the foundation of how your brand shows up in the world. And it's really important to get very clear on, you know, who your audience is and their demographics and all these things. ⁓ at the end of the day, you can only, strategy can only get you so far, right? Like you ultimately have to, I shouldn't say you have to, it's, when it comes to translating your brand into a visual experience, that's all based on feelings because design is a feeling. Like, yes, we can strategize maybe halfway there, but ultimately you need to understand how your brand. should feel. So the premise is if you want your brand to connect on a human level, it has to be based on how you want your brand to feel. So there's a strategy piece, but there's also a really important intuition piece. And a lot of my clients will come to me and they'll say things like, well, I just really don't know. I I have this brand, but I just have no idea how I want it to look like this. I'm hiring you. I want you to figure it out. And what we what we've come to find out through our work together is they actually do have a vision. They just don't have the language to translate that into an actual visual design. So that's what this workshop is. The goal is to kind of pull out that intuitive vision that you have and turn it into a strategy. Sasha Pearl: I love that. What's that quote? It's like, people won't remember you for what you say. They'll remember how you made them feel. That's very similar to, well, that's the quote that came to my mind when you're about this. So for someone who, I'm a projector, I can see deeply into other people and I just like understand their essence like immediately. But for me to go through the framework processes of answering these questions of who am I, what am I good at, Patricia Johnson: Yeah. Yeah. Sasha Pearl: I'm seven years into my business and I'm just starting to really understand and own some of these gifts that I have. Starting out was so hard. So what would you say to someone who is just starting out or who's in a career pivot or who just hasn't even taken the time to think about what are you actually good at? How would you get them to like, what are the questions you would ask them to excavate the truth and the essence of who they are? Patricia Johnson: to figure out what they're actually good at. Sasha Pearl: to what they're good at, what their brand essence is, like their own authenticity, right? Because sometimes people are so removed from themselves, they might not even know what authenticity is. Patricia Johnson: I mean, I think that has definitely been true for me in my own journey. Like I said, you know, at the beginning of my business, I had this awareness that like this feeling of community was really important to me, but I didn't really understand why. And it wasn't until working with you last year that I was like, that's why, that's why, because we're resisting capitalism. duh. But it was there all along. I just didn't have the awareness to understand that. And I think, You know, as much as I could come up with questions to ask to sort of guide you to the right path, which I do have some questions like that, but it's not something that you can accelerate necessarily. You have to kind of experience it and feel it over time. And so much of that for me was, especially in the first few years of my business, was just throwing shit at the wall and just trying stuff and seeing what resonated with people, what didn't, and honestly, more importantly, what resonated with me. Like, because it's not just about what are you good at, it's about what do you really enjoy? I don't enjoy social media marketing anymore. I don't know if I ever did really. I enjoy design and connecting with people. And that wasn't something that I was conscious of right away. So I guess if I were to make it into a question, ⁓ I would ask you like, what are you naturally drawn to? What like really piques your curiosity and what kind of brings joy in your life? Not just what are you good at? Sasha Pearl: Yeah. And from a place of like, you're not making any money, you're still just showing up for it because you love it so much. Also, so I just want to bring back to the energetics of Patricia. So Patricia's a one three. So the one line is all about the researcher and understanding the data, the facts of things, but the line three, when she's like, you just have to throw spaghetti at the wall. Like that is her line three through and through. And I always say one threes are really interesting because it's like, Patricia Johnson: Thank Sasha Pearl: If you are only stuck in the line one of just gathering all the data, all the research, you're only going to be in your head. So you're actually never going to know until you go and experience that. So my number one feedback for people who are one threes is to, that's great. You have all the information. You have probably more than enough information by like times a thousand. So why don't you go and try that on and see if you even like in the first place? Because the data can, it could present as this is going to work out really well for me. And then you go and do it you're like, I fucking hate that. Why would you still choose to do something that you hate? Because the data was supposed to be work out a certain way. I have this vision of like dragging someone through and like their feet just like getting stuck in like quicksand. Like have you ever had those moments or had a moment in your business where you're trying to like push something up, push something out into the world and you're like, why am I even, why am I doing this? Like you're following someone else's framework. Patricia Johnson: the time. ⁓ Sasha Pearl: Tell us about that experience for you and what you truly learned. Patricia Johnson: Yeah, I, so I've gone through a few different iterations of my brand in my business and ⁓ my, my experience over the past six years of figuring out who I am in my business has been such a learning experience and just again, like trying shit and throwing shit at the wall. So for example, I think I was about three years in and I was getting consistent clients, but I was like, I really want to make some more money. Like, how do I get more money out of this thing? And, you know, baby business owner, I think like, I got to reach like a higher caliber of clientele. I got to reach like higher paying clients. And who is that? Well, they, you know, my, assumption is they are drawn to like more polished design, more clean, like the bland brand type vibe, very clean and spacious and ⁓ elevated is the word that I would go to. So that was my assumption. So I was like, okay, well, I need to appeal to these people. So let me just. got reach like higher paying clients. So let me just. redo my whole brand. And ⁓ just made it kind of bland because that was the vibe that I thought that I had to go for in order to make more money and attract higher paying clientele. redo my whole brand. And so I stripped away a lot of the color. I changed my font into a serif, like, I don't know, elevated feeling font as opposed to like the big bold kind of bouncy font that I had originally. And just made it kind of bland because that was the vibe that I thought that I had to go for in order to make more money and attract higher paying clientele. And I wouldn't say my business took a hit necessarily. Thankfully, I've built up such great relationships and such a big network that I was able to lean on that. But I took a hit personally in my business. And it no longer became fun to show up. I hated sending people to my website. I hated it because it just felt like a performance. I had kind of come back to that concept of me performing this thing that I felt like I needed to perform in order to attract a certain type of person. But ⁓ I took a hit personally in my I hated sending people to my website. I hated it because it just felt like a performance. And I've had this realization since then where, and it's funny because I talk about this in my business all the time, but I wasn't doing it myself. So I really have learned this lesson several times over and over again. But the lesson is that the more that you are you and the more that you show up authentically, the more that you will naturally attract the people who are meant for you. So in this version of the brand that I created that didn't reflect me, there is such a disconnect that I could no longer show up as that. And so I was completely disconnected from who I wanted to be in my business and who I wanted to work with. Since then, I've redesigned the brand. And now I love looking at my website with your help also. Sasha Pearl: Yeah, it looks so good. I'm like, you guys have to go see it because it's like these animation things that I'm like, how did you make it look so clean? It looks so good. Patricia Johnson: It's kind of best of both worlds where it looks elevated and it looks fresh and it looks like a person who's smart and knows what they're doing built it, but it also looks like me and it feels like me. because it feels like me, now I feel so much more empowered to just go out there and be like, here's my brand and take a look at it. And here's what I offer and come to my webinar. it's just, that's where you asked me earlier about confidence. I think that's a lot of where it comes from. It's just having a brand that like, unashamedly shows me and not a performance of me. Sasha Pearl: Oof, I just got chills. Yes. Patricia Johnson: you But of course, we're always changing. We're always evolving, right? So maybe a year from now, I'll look at my website. I'm like, ugh, I don't like that anymore, you know? And maybe it'll be time to change it again. And that's OK as long as it's coming from a place of following who I am. It's an iterative process. We're humans. We're always changing, right? And so as long as you're not, the goal is to get out of the box. Sasha Pearl: another quote came to me. I think this is like Albert Einstein or something, but it's like, energy cannot be destroyed. It can only be transformed. And I think that is ⁓ very important if we about when we think about authenticity and like the energy authenticity holds, ⁓ right? Authenticity is one the highest vibrations that we can exude in our life as long ⁓ with happiness and joy, So if we are wearing this mask and it's not authentic, then what energy is the mask that we're wearing? Right? Because either way, it's going to be exhausting because we're not, we're not acting from our, our own source, our own soul. Right. And this brings me into like leading by example and building this business. I think when we're baby business owners, as you said earlier, we're, it is correct to follow other people's frameworks. Right. And so we're like, we're going to do this, we're going to this, we're going to set up this way, blah, blah, blah. And then we're in it and we're like, why does this suck so bad? Oh, wait. Patricia Johnson: Mm-hmm. Sasha Pearl: I forgot this isn't even mine that I created. So for you, what were some pivots, major pivots that you had to make in your business to really start asking yourself and be in choice of designing your life? What were those things that you had to drop, create for you to now be where you're at now? Patricia Johnson: think it's a lot of what I'm still working on is. the overwork, the need to produce constantly, the perfectionism. Every Instagram carousel has to be completely pixel perfect. Sasha Pearl: I only cannot make a carousel to save, but I'm like, I'm so done making carousels. Patricia Johnson: ⁓ Well, that actually brings me to my point is like, often being authentic. mean, first of it's a buzzword nowadays. And I almost like try to lean away from saying authenticity too much because everyone talks about how important authenticity is. And it's become this thing where even like the big brands are trying to be authentic because they know that to connect with other humans, you have to feel human and so everyone's trying to be authentic and it's I'm kind of tired of hearing that. So like what does that really mean right? And oftentimes being authentic if not most times can be kind of scary because it's such a deep vulnerability and yes there's like a rawness and a realness to it but like that's kind of scary to show up in that way. You, first of all, Authenticity is about like learning in public, right? Like building in public, creating in public. So just getting out there and saying like, hey, I'm doing this thing now, or I'm trying this thing, or like, let's talk about this thing. Like that's what I love social media for is just having a platform to connect with other people who, and just like share what you're doing. Yes, authenticity is scary and vulnerable. I think as much as I talk about authenticity being important, there still was and still is in many ways a fear of really putting myself out there. And that is something I have been working on a lot recently is walking the talk and actually using my voice on the internet and putting myself out there and telling people what I'm doing. and building in public and making mistakes and trying new things and not just keeping it all in. ⁓ And doing my workshop and just putting stuff out into the world instead of quietly twiddling my thumbs and hoping that I'll get clients. I think my point is that... being authentic, there's an element of showing what's going on under the hood and being OK with sharing things that aren't 100 % polished. You are a human being. You're always a work in progress. We're always moving and evolving. And the polished parts of you aren't even the most interesting parts of you. That's not what people are going to connect with, really. being polished isn't real. It's not a real thing. Sasha Pearl: People who are more polished on social media now are getting unsubscribes, unfollows, all of the things because there's like, people are so done. We're like too smart now to see, there's no way your life can be that perfect. And the fact that you can't see that, we don't resonate with you. We just don't resonate with you at a certain point when your authenticity is perfection. That doesn't make any sense. Patricia Johnson: Exactly. that's when it comes to specifically when it comes to marketing my business, that is something that I have. I mean, I continue to continuing to work past it and it's a struggle. But I'm trying really hard to be actually authentic when I show up and not focus on that pixel perfect carousel because. Like not only is that not interesting to people, but it's just not a real expression of who I am. A real expression of who I am is this, is us having this conversation and me just sharing my thoughts as they come into my brain, even if they're messy and convoluted and whatever. Like this is the real me and this is what's going to connect with other people. So that is the box that I'm continually trying to like pull myself out of in my business is like actually just showing up and being okay with a little bit. being little bit messy and being okay with being a work in progress and being okay with changing. Sasha Pearl: Yeah, absolutely. I'm actually really curious, what is your relationship to messiness ⁓ and imperfection? And was it previously to what it is now? Like what is that big fear that actually if you showed up messy, what would people think about you? Patricia Johnson: ⁓ man, yeah, we're getting deep here. is like, let's my attachment to perfectionism. ⁓ yeah, it's like, it kind of goes back to what you asked me before about like ⁓ being taken seriously. Like I wanna be seen as an expert. So it's this like kind of almost like push and pull between like, yes, I wanna be who I am and I wanna be this like, fun, silly, crazy, playful Patricia, but I also need to make money and I need to, I want people to take me seriously. I want people to know that even though I'm like fun and crazy and silly and goofy, that like, I also know what the fuck I'm talking about. And so it's like, how do you hold both of those? Yeah. How do you hold both of those things at once? And it's hard. And I think that the more that we do that and we show up silly and messy and weird, but also really fucking smart, the more that we can show other people that it is possible. But yeah, that's a work in progress for sure. Sasha Pearl: Yeah, okay. I love that. I actually think that you bring up a good point too, just as I reflect on what you just said. I'm like, because I have a bubbly demeanor, I used to be blonde and I talk kind of like a valley girl sometimes. That people think I'm like, ⁓ you're just like a nice person. And I'm like, no, I've gone, I ain't, yes and, yes. Patricia Johnson: You're like, Dixie. Yeah. Sasha Pearl: and I've got a lot of shit and yes, I have a lot of depth and yes, you will be seen and yes, I'll ask you the hard questions. But like, it's so interesting how some people just want to put you into a box of whatever kind so they can then associate you to help from their own perspective and lived experiences. And you're like, wait, why can't we all just say a little bit more open and allow more space and time and patience for people to actually reveal their true selves to you, right? Patricia Johnson: And I think also this perfectionism comes, if I can speak for myself, comes from a place of wanting to control other people's perception of me. Like I want them to think a certain way about me, which is normal as a normal human desire is to like, I want to be liked, I want everyone to like me. I don't want anyone to hate me. I'm a Libra. Like I wanted to be everyone's best friend. Like knowing that someone might be mad at me or upset with me or like disgusted is just like the worst possible. Sasha Pearl: Ooh, I just got some e-chills. Yeah. Well, and as a manifesto too, like that's your core wound. Your core wound is like wanting to be liked by everyone and the shadow of wanting to be liked by everyone where actually you're like, no, you're, are a very specific type of energy and the people who are like understand that are obsessed with you and the other people are just not going to like you. But it's like when you start being like people pleasing and trying to like everyone on board with you, that's where all the authenticity like, goes out, goes out the window. Patricia Johnson: thing that I could ever imagine. Sasha Pearl: And this is why love human design, because you can really start seeing the spectrum of, I guess for you, anger or peace. And you're like, ⁓ who are the people that are bringing me peace? Who are the people who are causing this anger and frustration? Patricia Johnson: Yeah, for me, it's funny because I tell my clients this all the time and at the same time, something that I really am working on a lot is that you really have to be okay with the fact that not everyone is going to like you. That's just the reality of being a human. But it's also the funny thing is it's a core part of brand strategy. The point of brand strategy is that you want to reach a very specific There is a very specific archetype of individual that you want to reach in your brand and you want to ignore You don't give a fuck about anyone else because as long as that one person is seeing you and is resonating with you You're doing your job. And so then we as humans we show up in our brands and we're like But I want to be like like everybody and it's like you got to get rid of that because there is that specific person that you're talking to and if you make someone else feel a certain type of way, like you just have to deal with that because that is the side effect of actually creating that connection that you want is, yeah, there are going to be some people that don't resonate with you, but the better part of that is like you're actually going to connect on a real level with that person that is meant to connect with you. Sasha Pearl: Yeah, and at the end of the day, then you're like, you're not wasting your time on people who don't see you, who don't recognize you, and who don't want to be a part of your community. It's like, they already know you, so they already want to invest in you, or they wouldn't have reached out in the first place. So think that's super powerful ⁓ to understand, especially if you just feel like this world is all about instant gratification, it only goes so far. ⁓ Patricia Johnson: It's very healing for me. feel like we're getting out the things that I need to work on, but also that I like to talk a big game about in my business. Sasha Pearl: The last thing I will say about that ⁓ is sometimes what we say to other people is actually what we need to hear for ourselves. If someone were to really know you. What would they need to know about you? Patricia Johnson: I want them to know that I just want to have a good fucking time. it's not about, for me, know, work is whatever, money is whatever. Like at the end of the day, I just want to be here and have a good time and I want to laugh. I want to joke with people and my business is a function of me being able to do that and helping other people do that. And yeah, that's what I'm here for. Let's have fun. Sasha Pearl: Fuck yeah. If it's not fun, I'm not doing it. ⁓ And how can people connect with you? What's the next touch point that they work with you in what capacity? Patricia Johnson: Exactly. Yeah, so if you are listening to this in time, you can come to my live workshop on May 20th called Authentic by Design, where we'll walk through my framework to creating a brand that deals more human and that connects with your people in a real way. It's a of combination of both strategy and then intuition. So I would love to see you there. And if you're watching it after, there will be a recording. So you can always go to my website and find the recording as well. ⁓ But yeah, in general, go to my website, cultivation.studio. And if you would like to sign up for my newsletter, it's called Buds. It goes out every other week. And I share some insights on what it's like to be a solopreneur and also some tips and tricks for branding your own business and a lot of the stuff that we've talked about today. And follow me on Instagram, threads, LinkedIn, et cetera. I'm in all the places. Sasha Pearl: We love that. Thank you so much for being on the podcast and all of those links will be in the show notes. Thank Patricia Johnson: Thank you.