A solid foundation for your business is everything. I have talked about building a solid foundation for your business in earlier episodes and today I will be going into more detail about having that foundation in place and why it is so important.

Building a foundation for your business before diving into your design will give you the strategic plan or playbook that will help you make your designs. If you have already done your research on your ideal clients it will be easier for you to have the plan for what you want the design to look like, and who it should be targeting.I am a big fan of SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for strength, weakness, opportunity, and threats. Strengths are an integral part of your business. Weaknesses are the areas that you improve. Opportunities are the areas that will allow you to get your business into the spotlight for others to see. Threats are the areas that can put you out of business.

What I share with you in this episode:

• Strategy before your design
• Building a foundation for your business
• You have to have a strategic plan or play from a playbook
• The research that needs to be done to make the plan for the playbook
• Who is your ideal client?
• SWOT analysis
• Strengths: Our strengths are an integral part of your business. 
• Weaknesses: Where can I improve?
• Opportunities:  Some opportunities that I love are collaborations with people and businesses in my industry
• Threats: Cost of your service or product could be threatened
• Having a threat assessment is huge 
• Having a backup plan will help you pivot easily and continue on marketing and selling to your ideal client
• SWOT is a good tool to use to set up a strategy for your business before jumping into the design side of your branding
• “Want more information to get started? Check out my Brand Starter Kit