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Big for Branding

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Whether it’s branding, designing, marketing or planning your next wedding, Leona Morelock is the guru behind it all! She is also our community partner for the month of April. 

Being a fresh, new company to Bowling Green just nearly two years ago, we quickly found out how important it is to have a name, image and plan down pat for our business. 

Too many people mistake a brand for an option rather than a necessity and that’s why we wanted to make sure we bring this amazing service that she provides to our members and community. Heck, if we could shout it from the rooftops we probably would. On second thought… social distancing doesn’t have any rules against that right? 

About Leona

Leona started with a love for social media and the urge to always be “in the know” on the latest and greatest. After working with friend’s social media pages, Morelock said the business started coming to her and it’s been only up from there. Today, she is a social media manager and brand strategist, maintaining her own blog and working with professionals in the wedding industry to style shoots and design weddings. 

Morelock has been in the field with her own business professionally for a year and is looking forward to the things she has planned in the future. She offers social media masterclasses to the public and is also planning her first ever personal branding retreat for those wanting to get an in-depth look at how to take their brand to the next level. Like many, with our current life situations, Morelock is making the best of it by maintaining contact with her clients and working on a webinar with the release date yet to be announced (stay tuned!). 

Why branding?

Without a brand, you simply cannot start a business. Read that again. Your brand is who you are; it represents what you stand for and how you plan to provide your products or service to others. 

When we sat down to talk with Leona, she spoke on the importance of being yourself in the business world. She says that as a customer, you are not just buying the product or service, you’re buying the person behind it. 

And. That. Is. Important. People want to know who you are, what you stand for and what your business looks like. 

“Your brand is what people say about you when you walk out of the room,” Morelock says. 

What’s the timeline?

There’s not one! Her advice: Know as much as you can know, learn as much as you can learn and do as much research as you can.

The good part: Then you just have to jump in and start doing it before you think you’re even ready.

I know I struggle with this one and you all probably do too. You will never be ready if you keep waiting for the right moment. When it comes to all things social media related, you simply must be social (hence the name) and up-to-date on the happenings. You also must be active. So get out there and make it happen! We will be here (remotely) but HERE working with Leona all month to bring you the best ideas and advice on all things branding. 

So make sure to get people talking, and even more importantly, make them want to get up and say, “I want to work with (insert your business name here).” Leona took the leap, Ment Cowork took the leap, and now it’s your turn! 

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3 Tips to Start September off Right

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As labor day weekend draws to an end, we all hopefully will head back to work this week with cleared minds and hopefully some rest. September has somehow snuck up on us, and can I just say how rude of summer to come and go so quickly. As business men and women, it is essential that we take each and every day to our full advantage. Today, I’m going to offer three tips to start the month off on the right foot and make it the most productive one yet. 

A new month brings the chance to start new, set goals, accomplish more and overall better yourself. Focus on where you’re at today, where you would like to be in the future and the steps you are going to take to get there. 

Get a good night’s sleep: I’m sure you have heard this one before, but how often have you actually tried to enable it in your routine? Leave your work at work, come home and be present with the ones you love and when it is time to unplug, I challenge you to really and truly unplug this month. Leave your cell phone charging across the room, lay your clothes out for the next morning and get to bed at a decent time. Wake up a bit earlier this month than you’re used to, even if it’s just 15 minutes. Use this time to manage morning tasks, answer emails and eat a nutritious breakfast. 

Set Goals: If you don’t have goals, WYD? This month set goals for yourself or your business. Whether it be one big one or three small ones, the ball is in your court. Put these goals somewhere you will look at them multiple times a day and each time you’re working on something, ask yourself if what you’re doing aligns with a specific goal. If it doesn’t, it probably is taking away from something more beneficial you could be doing. And that leads us to…

Avoid Multitasking: My personal worst. This month, rather than micromanaging one hundred little projects, try focusing on one project or task at a time. Decide how you want to manage your ideas and follow a list or timeline to check things off. Believe it or not, this will actually decrease stress and increase productivity. 

Find an accountability partner to help you establish these goals and stick to them. I hope these few tips help you start September off on the best foot possible! 

 

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Getting Zesty – Interview with Emma Napier

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Happy August! Each month for the rest of the year, Ment is partnering with a local business on our blog and social media accounts. This month is Zest Juice for Life, owned by Emma Napier: a 24-year-old from Bowling Green, Kentucky. The local juice shop located in the heart of the downtown scene has many flavors of tasty, healthy juice and they promote a healthy lifestyle in everything they do. 

Emma Napier, a graduate from Western Kentucky University, got her start working in an office for a national company in a corporate office. She was teaching spinning at The Spot next door to what would be her future business as well. She loved her coworkers and the work she was doing but disliked the stuffy and strict culture that was in her cubicle-filled office. “I soon realized that sitting at a desk was not for me,” she recalls.  

                             

Emma knew the previous owner of Zest from her job at The Spot and soon became friends with her. From this friendship, she fell in love with juice. She would drive all the way across town to get juice from the original Zest, the home of the former owner. The owner mentioned selling the business and asked if she knew of anyone who was interested. Emma knew instantly that this was the perfect opportunity to transition out of the cubicle and bought Zest Juice for Life. 

One of Emma’s favorite things about owning Zest is the amazing small business community located in Bowling Green. While she is a fairly new business owner, owners from all over town have offered to help her. “Bowling Green has such a thriving community of small business owners and truly want to see each other succeed,” she notes. She says learning a lot from so many people who have been in the same shoes as her. She has gotten to work with and collaborate with some of them and says they have helped her create her space, the logo, the menu boards, and more. 

  

Of course, I had to ask Emma what her -ment word was, which is a little something we do here at Ment by picking your favorite word with -ment as the subject and having it describe you, such as experiment, achievement, nourishment. Emma said her word was encourage-ment. She aims to be a smiling face to anyone who walks through the doors of Zest, and hopes her encouraging spirit keeps people coming back for years to come. 

Emma’s favorite juice she sells is kickin’ carrot, a juice that contains apple, ginger, and the star: carrots. Other juices you can find at Zest include Kale Yeah!, Jolly Green, Happy Beet, or my favorite, Hula Hooch. 

Check Emma and the rest of the Zest team out on their Instagram: @zestjuiceforlife! 

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