MEET ARIANA
Ajara Marie is marketing executive and a rising business mogul with an in depth experience in Community & Youth Development, Events Management & PR, Communications and Marketing, Training and Capacity building, Clinical Services and Partnership development in Sierra Leone and abroad. She has successfully created her own brand and managed for the past nine (9) years. She is the CEO of Women Mean Business, a company that provides branding, marketing and PR to entrepreneurs as well as workshops and event for females who want to start or grow their brands and businesses.
At Ariana Diaries we know that 2019 has been crowned as the year of collaborations. Forward thinking entrepreneurs are in haste to make new connections and create synergies that will support their growth. How do you identify successful brands? How do you become one?
To support this quest, we had a sit down with Ajara Marie. Why? Because we know she is a woman who means business. She shared with us her tried and tested techniques for building and identifying successful brands.
TO BUILD A SUCCESSFUL BRAND; YOU MUST:
Learn from your mistakes
When you’re building a brand, you are going to make mistakes along the way, but it’s not about the mistake you make, but the lessons you learn from them. That is what’s going to help you grow and work better towards the direction you want to take your brand.
Don’t be afraid to keep going even after you’ve been burnt
As business people we have all been burnt and hurt by people especially when you feel like they took advantage of you or stole your idea. There isn’t an entrepreneur who haven’t had this experience. Over the years I have learned that there are very few original ideas and businesses. Most businesses are built from someone else’s model or idea, what makes a business or idea different is the special sauce or flavour you add to it. As tempting as it gets to not want to share your ideas to others, its sometimes good to get another opinion or help with developing your brand. There is always someone out there who can add a spice or two to help make yours taste better. No successful person can it alone, you have to find people who are like minded and going in the same direction as you or want to see you succeed and partner with them to set your brand apart from others. Pray and protect your business or brand and make sure you set up boundaries before letting them fully into your business circle. Get familiar with copy write laws, contracts and NDA.
Be intentional about building business Networks and Relationships.
I often think of myself as a connector who likes to meet different people, learn from them, share and connect. I often times get great leads and get connected to some powerful people, but realised that I was doing a bad job at cultivating business relationships. I would either forget to reconnect with them after meeting or just got scared about what may come out of relationships. Our dreams can and will often times scare us.
I have learned that life is all about relationships, who you know, how you treat people and how people remember you. So in order to build a successful brand or business, learn how to network and build business relationships.
Few things to remember, networking is a give and take and not just an opportunity for one to take from the other. Remember that you are building a brand, so people will always remember you based on their impression and experience with you brand. Lastly, when you became intentional about building business relationships and sharing opportunities and collaborating with others more doors will open up for you without you even realising it. I’ve grown my brand and business through the use of my networks and how I relate with others.
Be Faithful & Fearless and always put God first
Faith– Is a word that has kept me going when the going gets tough and I wanted to give up. It’s a word that has helped me walk in purpose during my entrepreneurial journey. Believing and aligning my work with what I’ve asked God for. It’s not easy to walk in faith, you will often time want to give up or switch direction, but you have to be steadfast and walk in faith. Faith is what will differentiate you from becoming a successful entrepreneur and that of a mediocre one. And always make sure that you put God first in your business as you do in other aspects of life, when he is the centre of your brand you will go further than you could imagine.
Fearlessness- I use to be afraid, afraid to roll out my ideas, my plans, to connect with people and just take risk to achieve my goals. I’m also a dreamer and often times dream BIG and I remember I would doubt myself or get scared of failing or being disappointed. Then one day I realized that FEAR was keeping me from achieving my goals. I had to learn how step out in faith to conquer my fears. I also learned that my dreams and aspirations are always in line with God’s plan for me, so I make sure that I pray about any and everything I want to do, to see if it aligns with my life’s purpose. Sometimes I go out there on my own and I have to weather the storm, but that doesn’t keep me from being fearless in pursuit of what sets my soul on fire.
Be Passionate about what you are building.
I believe that you need to make sure that your passion is connected to your purpose and that it’s aligned with God’s plan for your life and your business hence one of my mottos is turning my passion into profit for a purpose. You have to love what you do in order for you to keep growing. For those who know me, they know that I am very passionate about community and connecting people. These two passions of mine has helped me build a community where women can access opportunities to grow their brands and businesses. I have also grown by gaining wisdom, knowledge and understanding around the work that I do and meeting new people along the way.
Take time to Bloom.
Lastly I think we have to learn how to say less and do more when your building a brand or business. We often miss out on opportunities because we launch premature plans. Ideas and plans need time go through their cocoon phase before they are realised. Take your time and stop competing and comparing yourself with others. We are all unique and go through different growth processes so take you time, walk and work at your own pace and bloom when it’s your time is right.
Now that you know the steps to becoming a successful brand, how do you want to be identified! Here are 5 takeaways to identifying a great brand:
1. Consistency– a great brand is consistent in their work, your lifestyle and message, Be consistent on and offline.
2. Creativity– Creativity is what will help you stand apart from other brands.
3. Innovation– In this ever-changing world, innovation and the use of technology to innovate is paramount. Perhaps the most important question to ask oneself is this; what tools or resources do you need to keep up with the needs and demands of your client?. What are they looking for, what makes them competitively useful to the world?
4. Collaboration –This is the key to success, people who work together can achieve more and gain more from their work and community.
5. Celebration– A successful brand celebrates their small and big goals as they are reached along the entrepreneurial journey. Clap for yourself first , before expecting others to clap for you.
