Pollen

My non-designer friends are becoming designers! 🤩 Seeing what the folks at Pollen have designed for their brands has been amazing—I can't wait to see this work out in the wild. In our final Design for Non-Designers session, I'll walk participants through some core design principles to help them take their content to the next level. Here's a preview ⬇️

🆕 Announcing the Referral Agreement - Pollen’s newest ready-to-use agreement, now in our contract builder. Have you considered a referral partnership with your fellow independents? One way to deepen your networking and increase word-of-mouth-based referrals is to formalize an affiliate fee when you send each other business. This is becoming an increasingly common way to build your relationships with fellow consultants. When you refer a client, you'll earn a percentage of the net revenue generated during a specified period after the referral. This helps you create a powerful network of complimentary service businesses, each driving growth by referring clients to one another. And our turnkey agreement makes it that much easier to establish an affiliate agreement with like-minded service providers. Pollen’s contract builder, created in partnership with our Legal Expert-in-Residence Jennifer Becker and our partner Josh Barrett at Matchstick Legal, Inc., also includes a customizable Discovery Letter, Independent Contractor Agreement, Non-Disclosure Agreement and Master Service Agreement Statement of Work. Pollen members, access the Referral Agreement now: https://lnkd.in/eh7JtDpA

Typography, wordmarks, monograms, oh my! 😱 Today during Pollen's Design for Non-Designers sprint, we chatted about all the different types of type and how your brand personality can influence your typography choices. We had so many great questions and resources floating around in the chat and I can't wait to see what sprint participants create! Coming up: Color 🌈 + Imagery 📸 Here's a little preview. ⬇️ P.S. There's still time to join us. Head to the comments to learn more.

Here’s one thing most “gurus” won’t tell you. Discipline is the only cheat code, it’s impossible to hack your way to success. But there are a few shortcuts that I missed when I first started out. Specifically, as it applies to marketing my services. This was both frustrating and embarrassing since I came from a marketing background. It seemed like I knew how to help everyone but myself. Beyond that, most of the resources back then were focused on how companies could grow their business. There wasn’t too much out there for entrepreneurs like me. Fortunately, things have changed and I’m glad I can help others who are going through the same frustration and confusion I experienced. I’ve partnered with Pollen to create playbooks (not hacks) that provide tactic-level information to solve your most pressing business problems. Not to play favorites, but if you only have time for one, I’d check out the “Increase your Perceived Value with Clients” playbook. I’d share all the details but hopefully the title is self-explanatory and you can check out a preview below. It will take you two minutes but it could save you months or years of frustration. And if you have a moment, share a lesson you wish you learned sooner below. I’ll be following along and I know you can help a lot of other people as well. ________ #entrepreneur #consultants #pollenpartner

Typography, wordmarks, monograms, oh my! 😱 Today during Pollen's Design for Non-Designers sprint, we chatted about all the different types of type and how your brand personality can influence your typography choices. We had so many great questions and resources floating around in the chat and I can't wait to see what sprint participants create! Coming up: Color 🌈 + Imagery 📸 Here's a little preview. ⬇️ P.S. There's still time to join us. Head to the comments to learn more.

What are your go-to methods for getting more clients? We’ll be tackling this in Lex Roman's Pollen Sprint: Growth Strategy for Independents (August 19-28). This Sprint is perfect for independents looking to build a sustainable growth model and get more clients. After this Sprint, you’ll take away: ✔ A completed growth blueprint with key channels, metrics, and opportunities ✔ A channel audit and clarity on which ones to prioritize ✔ Resources for getting more referrals and growing through your clients ✔ A repeatable, scalable growth system with clear action items and next steps Lex ran this Sprint for us in February, and it was such a hit that we’re running it again! Lex Roman is a marketing creator and an indie growth marketer who’s spent 10+ years leading growth projects for tech companies like Gusto, Prosper, and Burner. She was instrumental in popularizing "growth design", started the Growth Designers community and has given talks internationally on the subject, teaming up with analytics companies like Amplitude and Segment to educate tech teams on how to use data to inform product growth decisions. These days, she writes, speaks, and teaches all things related to finding your buyers. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/d5CNj4d4 — Next Sprint: 💰 Pricing Strategy for Independents with Austin L. Church (August 6-15): https://lnkd.in/d7_UgQCV Pollen members have access to all Sprints.

Looking for step-by-step guides on all things branding? Jamie Cox is our go-to! As Pollen Expert-in-Residence, she’s got multiple Pollen Playbooks that'll help you solve any of your branding challenges.

You’re going to want to RSVP for this one → our Founder & CEO Hillary Bush will be hosting "Her Own Boss: A Talk with Women Who've Embraced Independence” in partnership with Tech Ladies®. The panel will feature experienced Pollen members who have transitioned into independent careers: - Jamie Cox, Pollen Expert-in-Residence: Brand strategist and founder on a mission to make brands less boring - Alison Gretz, Pollen member: Design Executive turned Leadership Coach and Training Facilitator working at the intersection of the future of how we work as humans, and leading healthy, high performing teams - Liz Wright Pollen member: Executive coach, human capital consultant, and facilitator working with high performing leaders, C-level executives, and entrepreneurs across industries, including tech, government, and financial services This event is free to attend and perfect for anyone interested in entrepreneurship, self-employment, and learning from women who have taken control of their careers. Where: Virtual, on Zoom When: Wednesday, July 24th from 1:30pm-2:30pm RSVP here: https://lu.ma/sha8ao6b

AI for brand building?! Say it ain’t so. 👀 But, I'm all about working smarter, not harder. So I use this ChatGPT prompt to quickly build customer personas that I then refine using my (human) brain! 🧠 This #chatgpt prompt is perfect for any solopreneur, founder, or entrepreneur looking for a fast starting point to narrow down who their target audience is. Copy and paste the prompt below and try it out! 🔽 —---------- You're a brand strategist, and I’ve hired you to build my brand. I provide [service] for [general audience]. My goal is to [company mission or vision]. Create audience personas to help me understand my audience's pain points, wants, and needs. Here’s a little about my typical clients:__ [include as much as you know about the folks you've loved to work with] With this information in mind, I need you to create three ideal client personas. I want you to include a one-paragraph bio for each persona, including demographic information like [demographics you need]. Within these personas, I want you to create a list of each person's wants and goals, their needs in a new partner to help them solve their problem, and pain points within their business that I can help solve through [your work (i.e., copywriting, brand strategy, etc], and misunderstandings about my services. Their bios should speak to the persona's pressures and stressors and the factors that will lead them to decide on adopting a new partner.

🆕 See all our Playbooks at a glance Pollen Playbooks provide independent consultants with tactical walk-throughs to solve your most pressing business challenges. Based on vetted expert wisdom, the playbooks cover a range of topics from branding to scaling to operations and more. Some highlights are: ✨ Build a Customer Persona by Jamie Cox ✨ Decide If You Need a Virtual Assistant by Ashley Quinto Powell ✨ Increase Your Perceived Value with Prospects by Terry Rice Get a preview of our Playbooks Library here: https://lnkd.in/dEag92Zq