Episode 143. Behind-the-Scenes of My Podcast Rebrand (Building Thought Leadership as a Solo Entrepreneur & Content Creator)

You may have noticed some big changes in my corner of the internet. A new podcast name, messaging, and cover art. As a thought leadership coach for personal brands and solo entrepreneurs, I’ve seen how it is so important to lead by example and show what’s possible – So why not start with myself, right? It’s time to peel back the curtains on the thought leadership strategy behind my business pivot and podcast rebrand.

In This Episode:

My decision to rebrand my podcast from Side Hustle Club to Thought Leadership
Rebrand my podcast to grow my thought leadership program and become a successful content creator
Your 1-3 year dreams and goals
If you’re feeling comfortable right now and your goals don’t feel urgent

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My New Thought Leadership Strategy: Rebranding My Podcast and Growing My Coaching Business

Prefer to listen to this episode on YouTube?

This episode is the first one released under our new podcast name: The Thought Leader Club.

For those of you who were with the show prior to this episode, you might have known that for the past 3 years, this podcast was called The Side Hustle Club Podcast.

But over the past 6 months, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about my vision for this podcast over the next 1-3 years, and ultimately made the decision to make some changes.

In this episode, I want to share with you all the thought process behind the rebrand of both this podcast as well as my signature coaching program.

Then I also want to have a conversation about your 1-3 year dreams as well. I hope that by the end of today’s episode, you’ll be able to see your current situation and 1-3 year goals from a fresh new light and with renewed energy, and feel empowered to continue making your big audacious dreams and goals happen over the next few years.

My Decision To Rebrand To Thought Leadership Podcast

To start, I want to share what prompted me to even entertain the idea of a rebrand in the first place.

As some of you may recall, my offer’s messaging used to comprise terms such as “5k-10k months” or “6 figures,” “soft launching,” “signed X clients in Y months,” or “made $ in Y months”.

But this year, I really took the time to think about why I was using such verbiage in my marketing and content.

Even though all of these terms and phrases were true to me, my business, or the clients I worked with, if I were to ask myself the question, “Cheryl, do you want to be known for this language?” I would say no.

That’s when I realized I was checking off the ‘boxes’ of what I thought I had to be as a coach in a particular niche. I was subscribing to what I thought a business coach is supposed to do, say, or sell.

Now, this leads to another observation, which is that I noticed I was attracting several different profiles of clients. Although at the time of onboarding my clients, I was truly confident that they had a problem that I could support them on.

Now with hindsight, I can see that there are different themes in the qualities or characteristics of the clients.

For example:

Profile 1: Experiences intense disappointment or frustration when they aren’t signing clients (yet), questions their content and messaging over and over, asks for repeated coaching and revisions on their offer’s messaging, feels angry towards their audience, etc.

Profile 2: Genuinely wants to learn the skill of thought leadership and build a unique thought leadership strategy, enjoys the content creation process and wants to become a successful content creator, thinks about their people more than themselves, etc.

These are just some of the examples of different profiles of clients I have worked with. But as you can see, even if both Profile 1 and Profile 2 struggled with the problem of signing clients, they are still two very different types of clients.

The lesson here for me was, although I could technically help many types of clients, there were clearly certain types of clients I personally preferred working with, and my process/approach is more conducive to their success.

This is why I also took a lot of time, meaning, months, to think about, “Okay, besides my process or approach to helping clients, what ARE my gifts and strengths as a coach? As an entrepreneur? As a successful content creator?”

I observed from my list of strengths that there were clear themes when it comes to what I’m really damn good at and hence also am really damn good at helping others with.

For example, some of my superpowers include creating very creative, interesting, and thoughtful content, nudging people to share their story in an authentic and compelling way, conveying sincerity in my own content, organizing information in a clear, easy-to-understand way, etc.

In a nutshell, I realized that among the skills I was building my brand around, such as thought leadership, soft launching, and doing the bare minimum in your business, there were definitely one or two skills that my strengths are best geared towards: which is coaching clients to become known for their unique thought leadership and building a body of work that captures that thought leadership strategy.

But what happened over the recent years was that I was not able to fully tap into my superpowers when I was operating out of who I thought I had to be as a coach.

Now that I’m gaining more clarity over what I’m really, really good at, the specific characteristics and qualities of clients that I am best suited to support and work with… And I also have the awareness that I was making a lot of decisions in my business based on what I think I should be, with all of this new information about myself and what I was doing, the final question I asked myself was, “What do I want to be known for in the next 1-3 years?”

For the past few years, I was known for “Side Hustle” (ex: Side Hustle Coach, helping side hustlers, The Side Hustle Club Program, Cheryl was a side hustler from 2019-2021, etc.)

But in 1-3 years time, what I really want to be known for is: “Thought Leader”, “Coaching future thought leaders”, “Teaching people how to build a body of work that captures their unique thought leadership”, etc.

That’s when it hit me: 1) My story (and myself) has evolved, 2) As a result, there is now a big gap between where I was now (2023) versus where I want to be 1-2 years from now.

Specifically, being known for side hustling, creating a 6-figure business as a side hustler and teaching on how to sign clients. Although all of these were my lived experiences and it’s something I have helped people with, it worked.

Being known for these things was what helped me reach my goals and dreams. Now that my dreams have evolved, in the next 1-3 years, I no longer want to be solely known for side hustling, helping you to sign clients, etc.

Instead, these outcomes and skills are the byproducts of what I truly want to be known for, which is helping others build a body of work that lets them become known for their unique thought leadership, their story, and how amazing they are at what they do.

This was my 1-3 year dream. And if this is what I want to create over the next few years, then I have to start aligning my present-day decisions to match what I’m building and working towards, starting today.

As you can see, there were a number of strong reasons that led me to decide that me and my business as well as the podcast are ready to undergo a rebrand.

But here’s the interesting thing: All of this was bubbling behind-the-scenes for about 6 months. Ever since around February, actually, which is not long after I launched a program called The Podcast Club and started supporting clients inside that program specifically on building a body of work via podcasting.

You might be wondering, “Okat, if you knew since February, and you’re only rebranding now in September/October, why didn’t you make changes earlier?”

I will admit that waiting MONTHS before making changes is not exactly characteristic of me, because I’m typically someone who takes fast action. But for this particular situation, I decided to NOT make decisions immediately for the following reason – There were also many internal identity-related thoughts I wanted to work through first, before implementing the external changes.

Did I finally decide to make changes in September, when I launched our new program, The Thought Leader Club, and now in October, which is the rebrand of our podcast?

From February to August 2023, it felt like any new changes would have been made out of anxiety. It felt impatient, uneasy, and fidgety.

But by August, I observed that my relationship with the thoughts around a rebrand was much more calm, relaxed, and assured. This is because by now, I had more time to marinate in the decision and dream about what I really wanted to be known for and what I want to offer into the world, who I want to serve most, how I wanted to build it, and why all of this matters to me and the vision I have for my future self.

While previously, I was mostly thinking about the “how to” (rather than the what, who, why, how, etc).

But as with any change that you might go through, in any area of your business or life or career, you will probably be confronted with resistance towards the change.

In my case, I noticed that I was clinging really, really, really hard onto the identity of “I’m KNOWN as the Side Hustle coach”.

For example, my brain was fighting really hard to convince me to not rebrand and continue being known as that Side Hustle coach:

Side hustling is how I started my business; It was my lived experience & story
I have become KNOWN as THE coach for side hustlers
My podcast (The Side Hustle Club) won an award
People know my story (1. Quitting law school 2. Side hustling for 3 years before becoming a full-time entrepreneur 3. Quitting PhD)
People know the skills I teach (ex: Thought leadership, soft launching, side hustling and building your business on 0-2 hours a day, etc)
I show up in search when people type in “side hustle”
I can still help clients with my past program promises (ex: Sign clients)
My marketing and messaging were working (i.e. I was signing clients)

To top it off, I was also circling in thoughts such as: Will my existing clients be upset? What if I make less money because of these changes? What will my audience or clients think if my program’s price is lower than before? Will they mistakenly think it’s because I’m not doing well in my business? What if I stop getting new people discovering my podcast because I no longer show up in search results?

But of course, I knew that staying in indecision or inaction will not help me, my business, or my people. So for each problem or concern that my brain gave me, I had to start being proactive and go into problem-solving mode.

For example, if my brain is concerned that an existing client might be upset → How can I approach a situation where a client might be upset? Or, what if I make less money because of these changes? → Well, in that case, how can I prepare for a season of lower sales if this does happen? And so on.

During this time period, as I was starting to envision what this rebrand looks like and start to plan ahead for the changes I’ll make in my business and brand.

I also had to remember my three mantras for creating a business, career and life that you’re proud of:

Sometimes, creating a life that you’re proud of is NOT what others expect of or want from you. This means you have to stand firm when pursuing what you truly believe in and always take full responsibility for your decisions and actions.
It is okay if people don’t support you in the beginning. Stay committed to your vision and goals.
Ultimately, creating your dream life, career, and business is a choice you have to make. There’s no right or wrong. Just make a decision and move forward!

Finally, the ultimate question that helped me really solidify my decision to rebrand was: What’s in it for my peeps? How would this rebrand actually help my people? Why does it matter to them?

To me, the answer was clear as day:

First, when they see me leading by example (ex: Being willing to go first, acknowledging that she’s changed her mind, being aware of her own gaps, etc.), that gives them permission to be more self-aware and make changes as well.

Second, when I’m honest about who I work best with and what I can help clients best with, I am zoning into my gifts as a coach. This means that all of my current and future clients benefit from the coaching experience. This also applies to clients who no longer want to work with Cheryl because of the new direction and this benefits them too.

These are the thought processes that led me to make some changes around here in the world of Cheryl Theory.

In September, we officially announced our brand new signature thought leadership program, The Thought Leader Club. Now, in October, we have officially rebranded the podcast. I cannot be any more excited for what we will create together in the next 1-3 years.

Your 1-3 Year Dreams And Building Your Thought Leadership Strategy

Now I want to shift the conversation to talk about what are your 1-3 year dreams and the vision you have for what it is you’re building.

When it comes to goal setting, dreaming big, and having a vision for your life, business, and career, although there is no right or wrong in what you’re aspiring towards.

I do think it’s worthwhile to ask yourself whether you’ve decided on a certain goal because it seems like the natural next thing to work towards. Maybe because everyone else in your industry is pursuing that for themselves so it just seems like the normal next level.

Or whether something is truly aligned with your potential and what you want to be known for, as well as your deepest, truest vision for the life or lifestyle you want to create. Without the penetration of others’ expectations, their opinion of what you should be doing or who you should be, societal norms, and so on.

What do YOU really want, without the influence of the voices and noises around you? THAT is what I want you to get clear on as you’re thinking about your 1-3 year dreams.

To help you with this, I want to invite you to reflect on some of the following questions as well because it will help you gauge where you are “out of alignment”. Meaning, where might you be adhering to a set of boxes, rules, best practices, or beliefs that someone else created, but they aren’t in integrity with you or what you truly want to build over the next 1-3 years?

Why this is something to start paying attention to from the get-go is because if you’re subscribing to someone else’s boxes of what you should be doing or aspiring towards, then at some point, you’ll start to feel a lot of friction with what you’re doing. A lot of resistance. A lot of frustration. A lot of imposter syndrome. Feeling out of integrity but you can’t quite put your finger on why that is the case.

And eventually, you’ll see that either you have to change yourself to fit the mold of what you think you should be doing or fit the mold of who you think you should be becoming. Or, you make the courageous choice to change the rules that you’re playing by.

To start, I want to offer several questions that will help you bring to light what might be those current rules and boxes that you’re subscribing to, and then seeing whether anything needs to change:

What does a successful thought leader look like? For example, How do they show up? How do they dress ? What does their day to day life look like? How much time do they spend on their body of work , business, etc?
What does a successful thought leader career look like? For example, What is the indicator of success? What do you think it takes to reach that level of success in your thought leader career? How long do you think it takes to get to that successful thought leader career?

Depending on the type of thought leader career you’re building, feel free to tailor the questions. For example, someone who wants to build their thought leader career as a podcaster might want to tweak this set of questions accordingly, as it will be different from someone who wants to build their coaching or service-based business.

Then, look back at your answers, and ask yourself, where did each of these expectations, definitions, rules, boxes… Where did each of them come from?

More likely than not, within what you’ve written down, there are some rules, boxes, expectations, and beliefs that really don’t sit right with you. Instead, you learned them from someone else. It was internalized from the people around you, whether it be parents, culture, industry colleagues, mentors, and so on.

If anything that you’ve written down just doesn’t sit well with you, first, try to understand where it came from and second, ask yourself if this is what you really want to adhere to as you build your thought leader career.

Finally, if it’s a no for any of the things you’ve written down, then number 3, ask yourself, what needs to change?

Then, it’s time to dream about what you want to create in the next 1-3 years. Take out some pen and paper and give yourself a luxurious amount of time to just dream.

As you’re mapping out your big dreams and goals for the next few years, also dream about the vision you have of yourself.

What is your potential that is on the brink of being activated as you embark on your 1-3 year dreams? Who are you at the end of the 1-3 years? How is that different from the current version of you?

Explore this from the perspective of the values you embody, your habits and routines, the way you show up online and offline, how you take care of your physical and mental wellbeing, your physical environment, lifestyle, self-image, how you spend your time on the weekends, and so on.

Honestly, a lot can happen in 1 year, let alone 3 years. But in order to make things happen, you first have to know where you’re even headed.

Then, back it up with relentless commitment to your dreams and goals.

Next, I want to take some time to share a really incredible story that ties everything we just talked about, all together.

Your 1-3 year dreams and goals

After working at her previous job for 8 years, one of our clients decided to quit and pursue her dreams at the beginning of 2023.

Today, she runs her business full-time and is digital nomading around the world. Since we started our coaching together just a few months ago, she’s already spent time in Australia, Singapore, Thailand, the U.S., and Mexico.

Here’s what she shared with me earlier this week, “I also finally got down to tracking my biz revenue thus far this year and projections for Q4, and realized I’m actually on track to hit 90% of my goals! I feel at peace and completely okay that I may not make it 100% actually, as I feel both personally and professionally. I’ve actually made so much progress, and that matters more. Sure, I may miss my initial target by a little (but that was an ambitious one anyway). Overall I can’t believe I’d actually be earning more than my previous full-time job, all while having my own schedule, digital nomading and traveling. Just feeling grateful for the progress and taking this big jump to quit my job and staying committed even on tough days!”

I wanted to share this story with you because this client also experiences her own fair share of self-doubt, uncertainty, stress and anxiety. She is a human being just like the rest of us.

This is also where coaching comes in – To support you as a human being as you go after your big ass crazy dreams.

Here’s why I’m especially inspired by this client’s story, even despite her very legitimate fears of “What if things don’t work out,” the regular highs and lows of entrepreneurship, as well as the appeal of staying in her previous comfort zone (i.e. the job). She still chose to pursue what truly lights her up in life (For her, this includes travel and doing work that ignites her).

She recognized that she has agency and power to make decisions and change the trajectory of her life and career. And she has the relentless work ethic to back all of this up.

Because of her decisions and commitment to her dreams, this client has literally changed her own life in less than one year. This is what entrepreneurship is all about. This is what thought leadership is all about. This is what life is all about. It’s about dreaming big. And then following it up with the decision and actions to make those dreams a reality.

As my client would say: “Don’t just go through life, but let your experiences and travels grow with you.”

All that to say: your dreams matter. Your dreams deserve to be realized and actualized into reality, rather than putting them on the back burner for another month. And another month. And a year passes by and nothing has changed again. A lot can happen in just one year, let alone 1-3 years.

If You’re Feeling Comfortable Right Now And Your Goals Don’t Feel Urgent

What’s potentially happening right now is that you simply don’t feel urgent when it comes to those 1-3 year dreams and goals.

Maybe you have a stable source of income, so growing a successful coaching business doesn’t feel that urgent. Maybe you’re busy AF with not just work, but also your hobbies, social life, etc., so starting a podcast doesn’t feel that urgent.

Maybe you’ve been eyeing a certain certification or course for months because you want to have more training or education under your belt first, so showing up online doesn’t feel that urgent.

Honestly, things feel okay right now. Yes, there are days when you’re more stressed than usual. But overall, you’re feeling comfortable.

This is also exactly why you’re not committed to your dreams. You’re waiting for things to change before you commit. You’re hoping that some sort of opportunity will magically show up one day and shake things up for you. You’re thinking “Well, one day, after XYZ quiets down first. Then I’ll actually get started.”

You’re putting instant gratification in front of what you really want for the long term.

It’s time to get the hell up and go. Start walking. Run. Fly. SOAR.

Your dreams aren’t just a ‘maybe one day’ or a ‘nice to have’. Your dreams MATTER. Yes, it’s comfortable AF right now, and your incentive to change is probably pretty low. I get it. I SEE it.

This is why you should book a discovery call with me ASAP. So we can actually get clear on what the hell it is that you want to have and create.

Get on a discovery call so we can actually talk about HOW to make your dreams happen. Even if right now, your dreams and goals still feel lofty and far away, at minimum, please give yourself the opportunity to start seeing clearly through the fog so you can at least move towards the right direction.

You could continue staying here and not move towards any direction, or you could move towards a direction that will set you up for your 1-3 year dreams and goals.

Because irrespective of whether or not we work together, I want you to see your current situation and 1-3 year goals from a fresh new light and with renewed energy. Then, you get to decide what to do afterwards with the new insights you gain from our discovery call 🙂

With that, that wraps up our conversation for today. Thank you so much for not just tuning into this episode, but also for journeying alongside me through this thought leadership podcast.

Whether you’ve been here throughout the past 3 years of this podcast, or maybe you’ve recently discovered this show, I cannot express how grateful I am that you are here. Thank you for taking the time to tune into this show. I do not take your time for granted, and it really, really means a lot to me that you’re here. So, thank you.

And hey, do stick around as this show is now entering its next level. This episode is the first one under our new name, The Thought Leader Club. As we enter into the next era of this show, I look forward to supporting you with your 1-3 year dreams and goals, and I’m really, REALLY excited to see how we all grow for the months and years to come.

Sounds good? Awesome. Let’s get to work.