How many of you dream about starting a new business? How many of you dream of taking your existing business to the next level? How many of you get overwhelmed with figuring out how to distinguish your business from the competition?

If you said “ME! ME! ME!” You are in good company.

We (meaning me and Brian) are growing into a new place–a place our business has never been. We are gearing up for a HUGE endeavor this holiday season–one that will reach consumer women by the masses. (Details are soon to come–when I get the “green light”.) Brian and I have decided to take advantage of this endeavor and strengthen our brand–stretch our brand–test our brand’s message so we can spread our brand’s messaging more than ever. It didn’t feel like a huge task when we started. But when you start asking “What is the message you want your brand to convey, above all other things? Or, in 30 seconds, what does your brand stand for? And not only that, how do you communicate this in concrete forms like a website–even stationary?…Well, it’s a lot of thinking and re-thinking to where you start to feel dizzy.

I’ve always been one to find help and ask all the questions I can. So we’ve enlisted help. We are meeting with entertainment agents, literary agents, product licensing companies, big corporations, ad agencies–you name it–we’ve probably had a conference call in the last three weeks with all of them. And in the midst of this, I’ve realized there is a name for this search–for trying to strengthen your brand…building it bigger than what you’ve ever known it to be. It’s called digging. Digging for Gold to be exact.

We’re digging into the mines of our business and making sure that the gold of who we are isn’t buried. Does that make sense?

Each one of us has gold inside of us to offer the world. And it’s pure gold, the most valuable gold there is because it is authentically you and only you. Some of us have a sense of knowing this b/c we see a glimmer of gold and the glimmer alone motivates us to start dreaming of a business we could someday have. But the burdens and needs of the new business quickly overwhelm us. The fear and intimidation seems to only grow, and we become disconnected with that solid gold. The gold that shows the world who we are and the beauty we have to offer…well, it gets buried again.

Gold digging exists on a spectrum. Some of us know that the sheer experimenting we do with our camera is an act of gold digging. We are mining for our own identity and passions. The camera is healing us and helping us find ourselves. Some of us have struck gold. We thought that was “end of story” and instead it’s the beginning of the story. (anyone relate? ) Some of us are holding the gold, acknowledging it for the first time, and we can’t help but wonder whether or not the world will agree that “yes, we possess gold.” ‘Maybe we should just stay underground for the sake of not being rejected,’ we wonder. But some of us have become sick of the dust and darkness, and we are determined to surface with our gold. We are making our way through the mine, carrying our gold next to our heart–fighting the constant urge to panic because the way in is not the way out. The way out is a whole new path that we’ve never traveled. Along the way, we struggle to judge our gold’s worth by how dirty we’ve become as we find our way out, or how long it’s taking us to find our way out. Is the dirt and length of time a sign we should just stay under? Some of us have surfaced. We are standing in the light of day, wanting to hold our gold up but wondering if anyone will want to look more closely. We hold it up–we hide it. We hold it up–we hide it. We hold it up enough times until we are convinced that it takes more energy to hide it. Some of us are not surfacing, not standing, but studying. We are measuring how big this gold is. How far will this gold get me before I run out of steam? Is the size big enough for my dreams? Some of us have chisel in hand, and we are breaking our gold into different sizes. We feel a passion to share the gold, to make it accessible to all types of people. We can’t let this glimmer stay in one solid piece. It could reach so many more if we found ways to break it up, separate it, divide it. But then comes the unexpected pain and fear as we first throw our chisel down on the solid piece. Has the risk of believing that others want this too, cost us everything? Is our gold shattered and unable to serve anyone? Or, are we on to something? Some of us are not studying, standing, surfacing or chiseling, but we are running. We are running with our gold. We have broken the gold into smaller chips, even dust, and we are sharing it with everyone we pass as we run toward our dream.

This is how I would describe the cyclical life of a woman in business. Where are you on this spectrum? Are you in one place or multiple places?

I find myself in a place of running, but also a place of mining and studying. The mining is the inner challenge. I know I am passionate for women, but what does that mean? I know I want women to feel empowered and worthy, but how does that come across in everything our business does? I know all my passion comes from a deep place inside. It’s time to revisit the depths of that place and make sure I haven’t overlooked anything from when I first started mining.

The studying is also intense. What is the message in this gold? How can I position it, hold it up, give it away, so that many can see it, grasp it, be blessed by it? And how does this gold scale? What does its shape mean? I’m holding gold, but what makes this gold unique from everyone else’s gold. What makes this gold authentic to me?

All our phone conferences have been helpful, completely educating and enlightening. Some have been intimidating because I’m surrounded by people who want to help me mine, they literally want to roll up their sleeves and help me dig this sucker out. That is exciting and intimidating at the same time. I know that no matter how helpful their input is, how great my business coaching session was, I still need to do some mining on my own, in my own space, in my way.

Saturday morning I woke up with a start. I was dreaming of something to come. It was BIG and like a cold wash cloth, it wiped all the sleepiness away in an instant. I went downstairs. The house was quiet. Everyone was still asleep in the early morning hours. I got out my scissors and a couple of my favorite magazines. And I started digging. I started digging for my gold. I’m unsure of how to scale my gold, so I need to dig around it. I need to dig a little here, dig a little there, then step back and see what progress I’ve made–make note of it and then keep digging.

I decided to do this by cutting out all the images, sayings and words that jumped out at me–this helped me start to scale my gold. It helped me begin to see what my message is, what my passion is. I know the Me Ra Koh brand stands for authenticity. Now how do I communicate this brand message on multiple levels? Start with scissors and magazines, and let your mind wander.

We can brand ourselves two ways. We can throw up a logo and colors to “do it” or we can take the time to dig within ourselves, identity our passions, our likes our dislikes. It takes more time to do the second rather than hiring someone to create a logo, but taking the time helps us get in our skin. It helps us see what we’re about so we don’t just “know” it, but we “feel” it. (Hint: The feeling part is vital for women. )

I did a writing exercise last week, another digging exercise. I wrote a letter to myself as if I was 80 years old. I tried stepping into what I would tell myself today, if I was 80 yrs old and looking back. What would be important to note? What would I encourage myself with? What supportive words do I need to hear right now to take this next leap? What comfort as an 80 yr old, filled with experience and wisdom, would bring comfort to the fears and insecurities of a 36 yr. old wife with young children and a HUGE dream. I had no idea if this exercise would do anything for me. And well, it ended up being pretty powerful. This was another exercise in branding, digging for the gold within. Understanding what I want my legacy to be helps me understand my message for today.

And then one more exercise of digging that I recently did. I wrote “I wish ________________” twenty times. And then with speed writing in mind, I answered the statement twenty times as fast as I could. I tried to outrun the little editor in my head that says, “Don’t wish for that! It’s so selfish!” I wrote as fast as I could and crossed the finish line before my internal editor did. This exercise helped me get in touch with the “wishing” part of me that is a little girl–the part of me who knows how to dream big and shoot for the impossible.

A couple of these exercises were from The Artist’s Way–the best book on digging I’ve ever found. For those of you starting or growing a photography business, check out friend Dane Sander’s Fast Track Photographer book. It’s rich with ideas and exercises to help you discover what sets YOU apart from everyone else.

So you see. You are not alone in your digging. In fact, if you close your eyes you may hear me call your name to see if you want to take a break and laugh out how silly we look in mining clothes!

I would love to hear your thoughts today. This post, wow, this is coming from deep within. If you’ve never commented on my blog, feel safe to comment today. Tell me who you are and how long you’ve been mining. Tell me how your mining is going. What challenges are you facing? What wisdom have you gained?

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