Tips and Tools for Achieving Your Brand!
UKIYO
Detach, Live, & Accomplish Your Goals
What if you just let go for one moment and just dream? Dream and envision the greatest version of YOU without any inhibitions or limitations. Where would you be? What would you being doing? Who would you be with? How many lives would you be impacting?
For this post I am using Ukioyo metaphorically, click HERE to learn more. Imagine yourself in the UKIYO zeitgeist from the EDO era, unrestrained and living in the moment. In this mental space you are free to dream about how the 'present' you can use your wisdom, age, education, and access to resources to build a strong, sustainable brand. Just take a leap of faith, shun the naysayers, celebrate with your supporters, and heed the words of advice from the savants as you set the plan in motion to accomplish your goal. I bet you have something great you’re thinking about achieving as you read this, is it going for that promotion, searching for that new job, going back to school, starting your business, losing weight, or starting a new fitness regimen? Whichever it is, let me share my 5 step foolproof guide to jumpstarting your next big endeavor: So allow yourself to dream. Imagine yourself in your own UKIYO. You are truly only limited by the voices in your head. The road to success is not easy, but it's worth it. Your legacy depends on you being brave, resilient, and relentless in your drive for success. What are you waiting for? Go build your brand! Dr. Raedene Copeland is a professor, speaker, coach, and brand consultant to individuals and businesses locally and globally! If you love what you read, comment, share, and like us on facebook. For the latest updates from Dr. Copeland, subscribe below:
Find a recording means/device of your choice. Transfer your ideas from your head to written form using the SMART system. What is the SMART system you ask? SMART is a business management term that says goal setting should be: Specific, Measurable/Meaningful, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound. Don’t just write your ideas, specify deliverables, stages, level of importance and deadline dates for achievement. It is a beautiful thing when you go back through your notes, or my favorite, search through your old emails and find an email where you shared your goals with a friend. The feeling is either one of accomplishment from achieving some/all of your goals, laughter at how you have evolved in your desires, or disappointment that you have not achieved the goals that you still desire today. It’s ok…it’s never too late. 
I am a firm believer that secrecy of goals is a stumbling block to success. Now yes, you do not want to share your intellectual property for the next big idea in technology or your trade secret for a new product, but you do want to share your goals with a couple of people and make them real. In my time observing how various individuals go about achieving their goals, I have found one interesting trend: individuals who are afraid to voice their goals are sometimes afraid of failure. However, if you are brave, confident and resilient enough to share your goals, the pending questions in the upcoming months about how your new endeavor is coming along will literally shame or guilt you into action if you are being lackadaisical. According to how you are motivated, this is a healthy impetus (I am sharing because it works for me). You basically need a combination of 'internal' and 'external' motivators. You can share with people just to voice your goal and make it real, flesh it out basically. The more you talk about a goal the clearer it becomes as each person will ask a different question about your plan. You can also share your goals with individuals you think can benefit from your goal and in essence get useful preliminary feedback on the value of your proposition. Click HERE to read research on this. 
You are not an island and don’t be fooled, no one has ever accomplished their greatest successes on their own – so why should you? Think about your network - your inner and outer circles - and pick a person or two whom you have observed is relentless in the pursuit of their goals. This person is someone who will not let you slack, is good about keeping scheduled check-in appointments and will tell you the truth about your ideas, progress, and focus. This person is someone whom you trust, respect, and can give you insightful feedback on your specific endeavor. For example, if you are applying for school, find someone who has experience in the academic world and can also give you feedback on your application and admission essays. If you want to launch a business, partner with some who is entrepreneurial and also has experience with business, marketing, branding, or your industry.
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Now anything worth achieving comes with some competition, and trust me, you have competitors. It is naïve of people to think that they have come up with something so unique that they do not have any competitors. Now let me teach you a little marketing to make my point. There are two types of competitors: Intra- and Inter-competitors. An Intra-competitor is a direct competitor with a similar product in the exact delivery format as yours while an inter-type competitor is an indirect competitor with a similar product in a different delivery format. Let me clarify using 2 examples: 1) Education: there are only so many spots to get into your school of choice, you will have intra-competitors who want to get your exact degree and complete it fulltime at a brick and mortar institution, while you will have inter-type competitors who will want your exact degree from an online source/format (light but useful example to help you apply it to business) 2) You want to open a business. You have a product/service and would like to sell from a brick and mortar location. Similarly the intra-competitor has a similar product with your same delivery format – brick and mortar. Your inter-type competitors will have a similar product but sells it only online. In many ways there is competition everywhere, meeting the needs of the consumer market with slightly varied solutions and through diverse channels. The truth is that you cannot win the race, if you do not know and have not studied your competitors. Know the competitive landscape and what it will require of you to be distinct and dominate the competition. 
The last stage is to go after your goals with relentless passion and resilience. As they say, 'Go Big or Go Home'. Success takes a little bit of crazy, lots of focus and an unparalleled obsession to achieve your desired outcome. Challenges will come, guaranteed, however in your quest for gold, failure is not an option, and the world of possibilities you have committed to in your vision helps you charge forward to the next level.
Copyright 2016.