Conquering Uncertainty & Building a Cohesive Brand With Deb Lester
June 18, 2022
Through CNQR, Deb Lester guides women in conquering their fears so they can show up in their businesses as their most confident and capable selves. She believes that what holds many women back isn’t incompetence — rather, they have what it takes already inside them but lack the confidence and clarity to follow through to their fullest potential.
However, she wasn’t always as confident in her own business and brand prior to meeting Shana Robinson and working with The Branding Boutique.
Deb’s convictions stem from experience. In her previous business, she showed up in the way she thought she was supposed to rather than as true herself. “During that time,” Deb says, “I felt like the business was a true reflection of me. But I knew I had something else and I could take it to another level. I just didn’t know what that looked like.”
And she was right. She had more than enough knowledge, ability, and passion to be successful. What she needed was a cohesive, true-to-herself brand that would empower her to use the tools she already had.
So how did Deb build on the foundation of what she already knew and transform her limited, pieced-together brand into one that excites and empowers her? Read on to find out!
A Piecemeal Brand Won’t Take You to the Next Level
When Deb first started talking with Shana at The Branding Boutique, she thought she needed a photoshoot. But that was only scratching the surface of what she really needed to transform her brand.
“When you talk about your online brand, you think you just need photos and a logo,” Deb says. “But Shana focuses on the language of what’s important to you and being clear and unapologetic about that. I hadn’t looked at my brand that way before.”
During her calls with Shana, Deb realized she was missing vital elements of her branding — and not because she didn’t know what she was doing. She was doing just fine pulling together the components of her branding from different sources. But “just fine” wasn’t good enough to get her to where she knew she could be.
“I could either speak with an expert to take my business to the next level, or I could keep struggling by myself. And I was tired of struggling and spinning my wheels on stuff that I thought mattered but didn’t.” — Deb Lester, CEO of CNQR
It was this part of The Branding Boutique’s messaging that caught Deb’s attention — that she didn’t have to figure it out all on her own. Instead of trying to piece her branding together, she needed to work with someone who could focus solely on her and on making her brand reflect her true self.
Pricing Reflects the Unique Value You Offer
Even though Deb knew she was ready to level up, she still didn’t know how to get there. She was used to looking at examples from other professionals and trying to put her own spin on their strategies, but following someone else’s path would never lead to her own destiny.
“Shana taught me how to create my own lane. Not in a way that I had to reinvent the wheel or pull stuff out of thin air, but literally to carve out my own lane, and it was easier than how I had ever done it. I learned what my clients really needed and what I really needed.”
To carve out this new lane, Deb and Shana dug deep into who Deb is when no one is watching and how she feels about her business on a very personal level. In the process, Deb realized it was time to redefine her offers and pricing.
Deb describes the process as breaking up with her audience and reconnecting with the value she knows she can offer. “My pricing structure is completely new,” she says. “I went from selling a bunch of low ticket offers to selling fewer high-ticket offers, so ultimately I ended up making more money each month while working with fewer clients.”
It took time and confidence-building, but Deb arrived at a place where she could say, “This is what I charge” with full confidence.
The Right Name & Logo Tell a Story
With Deb’s transformation came a new name for her business. Before, she’d chosen a name that was fun and catchy, but CNQR needed to be more than just memorable. It needed to proclaim what Deb wanted women to experience while working with her.
She wants to help women show up and conquer their fears. “It’s not just marketing,” she says of the mindset she wants to cultivate in her clients. “It’s a simple yes or no question. Are you going to still show up and conquer, even when you’re not feeling it that day?”
But CNQR means more to Deb than just a mindset. She calls it her own life story. “When I look at my logo now,” she says, “I know there’s a story behind it, and that’s why I take so much pride in my branding. It’s the story of so many women — feeling unworthy and unqualified. But now you have the tools to make life happen for you. The decision is yours to wake up and do it.”
Clarity, Cohesiveness & Confidence Fuel Success
Deb’s favorite part of working with Shana and The Branding Boutique were the epiphany calls, where the two of them dug deep into Deb’s purpose for her business.
“Those calls exposed where my gaps were — not in a way where I felt inadequate, but in a way where I could strengthen everything. There were so many gaps, and not because I didn’t know what I was doing. But the way you make $1,000 is not the way you make $10,000.”
Once she had filled in those gaps, Deb’s business picked up momentum — and never stopped. Within four months of starting her rebranding journey, she was earning enough to quit her corporate job.
“CNQR just pushed the job completely out of the way,” she says. “My business literally made room for me to do it full time.”
That’s not to say Deb wasn’t nervous about giving up her stable corporate career. “It’s one thing to say you want to quit, but to actually quit is different,” Deb confesses. “It’s scary, because you have real-life bills and a real mortgage. But I just couldn’t deny the results and what was going on with CNQR.”
If she had continued building a piecemeal brand, Deb believes she would still be in business today — but not as CNQR, and not with the unapologetic confidence with which she now presents herself as CEO.
It’s Time to Level Up
As she moves forward with CNQR, Deb hopes to transition from online to in-person coaching as she helps women recognize and deal with their own confidence struggles. Having filled in her own professional and personal gaps, she’s now able to address gaps in the business marketplace at large.
“Women want to learn about business, but they don’t want fluff or fake empowerment. They want someone to call them out on where they’re struggling with confidence, and they want to understand how to do the work.”
Deb also plans to branch out into coaching and accountability groups to meet the needs of women who aren’t ready to commit to full one-on-one coaching. She understands the fear of taking risks, but she’s also living proof that putting yourself out there and making scary decisions is the only way to raise your business — and yourself — to the next level.
Ready to take that next step and start carving out your own lane? Apply for a call with Shana today!
