Episode 50: Why your story is so important to your brand or business with Lou Hamilton

Welcome to Dawn of a New Era, a business and marketing podcast with a difference, ranking in the top 5% globally for people who want to start, scale, and grow their own business. Dawn McGruer shares tips to improve marketing, motivation, and mindset, as well as her own real-life challenges and experiences as an entrepreneur. Guests include some of the world’s most inspiring leaders too. So, if you are an aspiring, established, or serial entrepreneur, this is your go-to podcast to fast-track results and rise to meet today’s challenges, and master the art of online influence and business success, and avoid common pitfalls along the way. Never miss an episode and subscribe and listen at dawnmcgruer.com.

 

Dawn McGruer:

Welcome to a very special podcast today. We have the lovely Lou Hamilton who is joining me today, and we’re going to be talking about the importance of brand storytelling, and why it’s so important for your brand or business in particular. We’ll be talking about elements of promoting yourself through podcasts which is very apt, seen as my podcast is now a year old this month, something that I’d wanted to do for a very long time. Now, Lou has been working with me for guesting on podcasts, and as much as I wanted to do my own podcast, I wanted to guest on podcasts and had been for sort of many years, really, while I procrastinated about launching mine.

Now, Lou and I share a hobby or an interest, which is art, and we’re going to be talking a little bit about creativity and how that ties in with your brand storytelling because I think we talk about the professionalness and the corporateness all the time and being an entrepreneur and business owner, but there’s a lot more flair that comes into our world because you don’t just have your podcast agency, and you’re not just a obviously an artist. You’re also an author with three books, one that’s coming out in autumn, which is Dare to Share. The previous books were How to be Fearless, and the second one was Fear Less, but you’ve also done documentaries, haven’t you, as well, and filmmaking. So, you’ve got a very varied background, but very creative. Is that fair to say?

 

The wiggly, winding, creative road

 

Lou Hamilton:

Yeah, it’s been a kind of wiggly, winding road, but always creative. So, I went to art school and did a fine art degree, and then a few years later, I did an MA in public art, which was much more about sort of being responsible as an artist for the work that you put out into people’s public spaces. People are going to be using it so you want to make work that is relevant for them. And I was making a big sculpture out of scrap steel on… It was placed on the side of the M4 near Swindon. It was a few months in the making, and I worked with the local community, and we did poetry workshops, and we made kind of little sculptures and kind of words that led up to the piece itself. And then, I did a plaque with the poem that had kind of… That I’d written that really inspired the sculpture.

And I’d had to sign a document saying that, which was the same contract that architects have to sign, which is that your sculpture has to still be standing in 50 years’ time. And I thought, “Do I really want to?” And I was getting more and more into kind of social issues and making work that was kind of had a social context, and I thought, “You know, maybe this sculpture’s not going to be even relevant if it is still standing in 50 years’ time.” And I loved the kind of the process of the story behind the sculpture, and that kind of really made me think, “Oh, maybe that’s where my interest really lies.” To cut as long story short, I sort of got into art as video and then I got invited to direct, co-direct co-produced, co-write a series on terminal illness for Channel 4.

Dawn McGruer:

Actually, I was going to say, it’s interesting because your journey, obviously, you’ve done lots of different things. Do you think there’s a stigma, again, sort of around becoming an artist in terms of being successful and well-paid and things? Because I remember when I was very much into art, I did art A levels, and I studied art, and I had favorite artists were Francis Bacon and Salvador Dali. I was really keen to get into it, and I remember being advised against it, like, “You’ll hit a point, Dawn, that your success, and is it a well-paid job?” I mean, I think things have moved on massively since then, but do you think that there was a stigma back then or still is?

 

The stigma in art

 

Lou Hamilton:

Oh yeah, definitely, there was. I knew going and doing a fine art degree was not going to pave my way to gold, and it sure didn’t, but I think that it wasn’t just sort of external pressures. It was internal as well that you just thought, “Well, you’re not going to earn money being a creative person or being an artist. So, you’re going to have to have a job on the side.” But what happened a few years later was that people like Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin, their lot came along and they were like, “No, why is that the truth? Why can’t we earn money making the work that we’re passionate about and that we’re really good at?” And so, they did find ways to make money with their art, and yeah, they were very successful for doing it.

But I think that their group kind of changed the mindset, although they took a lot of flack and there was so much criticism about their work and that, oh, well this is commercial so it’s not proper art. Well, time has proven that it is proper art, and they made money out of it. So, I think that over time, artists ourselves have had to challenge that idea, but it has only been recently that I’ve really taken that on board, and I actually have hypnotherapy around my money mindset and my creativity, and that shifted everything. I had three sessions, and from after that final session, the commissions just started rolling in.

Dawn McGruer:

Hmm. It’s funny, isn’t it? We were talking about challenges in one of my previous podcasts in terms of you don’t realize that when you’re holding onto things that every future decision is determined by that challenge. And sometimes you have to kind of go way back and start cleansing out some of that. I think a lot of people have done that during COVID because we’ve had more time.

I think one of the things that I like about your journey is that when I started in sort of the corporate world, I’ve always been the complete opposite to what I was working in. Even when I was a programmer, I was the complete opposite of what everyone would expect, and I think that’s my creativity kind of coming out all the time. And even now people say, “Your hair’s a different color, your makeup’s different.” I have no routine. And I know that every day, that is my artistic streak that comes through in terms of either my dress sense or the way that I structure my day. So, I think I am a natural-born artist or creative, and I think that anything I do though, that comes out.

When we think about obviously your journey and how you’ve told your story, tell us how that kind of pans out because I think a lot of people, especially in corporate, when they step out and they go into the entrepreneurial world, they find it hard to show them. They see a brand as the identity, but when it’s you, what’s your sort of advice in terms of how you’ve managed to bring your story into play?

 

Using creativity to help others

 

Lou Hamilton:

Well, I think for me, once I decided or recognize that painting was my passion, but always my purpose was using creativity to help others and somehow sort of make some kind of positive change in the world, and that side of things, that was through film. It definitely sure played out with the documentaries. We actually raised a lot of money for one of the people that we were following just by the nature of it going on television. And that was the first time I recognized that creative output could have a massive impact on others.

And so, using media in various forms was how I wanted to be able to do that, and as technology developed and podcasting sort of came to the UK, I mean, it’d been there in the US for ages, but the UK were a bit kind of slower on the uptake, I really recognize that podcasting was a way to tell people’s stories. And with filming, it had become quite hard work, raising the money, getting films off the ground, it was slow. And I was just like, “Do I really want to spend years and years and years trying to get these films off the ground?” Whereas with podcasting, especially when we went remote, it was just like, “Well, I can have a new person on each week talking about some amazing thing, telling their story”

And then I thought, “Well, now I’m doing this, but I can only have 52 women on a year. So, how else can I help more women get out there and tell their stories?” And that was when I came up with the concept of the Podcast Guest Agency, Silk Studios, and that has become my absolute purpose, and running parallel to that is my painting and painting commission. So, I really feel like I’ve got two hats and that my passion feeds me so that I can then do my purpose which is to help others.

 

Recognising success

 

Dawn McGruer:

I love it because it’s all about alignment, isn’t it? And I totally get what you say about being able to share the authentic you through your podcast because, for me, it was something I wanted to do for a while as you know, and when Dawn of a New Era came out, it just gave me an opportunity and a media that I could show up, but really talk about things that running an academy and an agency, I hadn’t had that platform to be able to share, and it would feel wrong to be talking about that on a social media course.

So, for me, I feel like by sharing my story, I’ve met some amazing and some of the most inspiring leaders in the world, but I also think when you talk out your pains and challenges, one of the things that I’ve spoken to you about is success. How do we recognize what success is? Because I think for many years I had a list of things I wanted to do. I’d tick them off, I’d move on to the next, and I was kind of on like a carousel. I wasn’t stopping to realize or absorb what I’d achieved. And actually, by doing my podcast and sharing the pitfalls, pains, and challenges, it does make you feel more connected to your story. What do you see as success? I think it’s a really difficult topic, but your alignment obviously to your passion and purpose, I think is testimony to your success. But what do you feel is success for you?

Lou Hamilton:

Yeah, I feel that success is contentment in what you’re doing, and it’s taken me a long time to get to this place, but I feel like now I’m in alignment. I’m really clear about what I’m doing and what I need to be doing to feel successful, whatever that word is. For me, it’s contentment. It’s feeling that I’m doing the right thing for me and that I’m somehow having an impact for others. It’s true. Success looks very different, but I think that what we all know now is that success isn’t at the end of the rainbow. It’s kind of as you’re walking along through the rainbow. It’s kind of every day.

Both you and I love our time. We really value time. So, if I was doing all the things that I’m doing, but absolutely up against deadlines and up against the mark all of the time, I wouldn’t feel successful because I haven’t got those kind of breathing spaces. And earlier on, the room here kind of looks over the river, and just every so often through the day, I just need to go and stand by the window and look at the water. And if I’m in my head just like mad, rushing from one thing to another, and that I can’t even take those moments, then that does not feel like success, even if I’m doing the same… All the things that I’m doing.

So, I think it is looking at what success feels good to you. What’s that life? And if time is important or being with your family is important, or whatever those things are that make your life feel kind of wholesome, then it’s about kind of building that in, and it’s not necessarily… You might have some money goals, but if that money goal is so big that it requires you to work every single minute of the day and to have a massive team that you need to manage, and then suddenly, all of that starts to not look really or not feel very great, then maybe reducing the money goal and then being able to create the things that are important to you along the way to making that money.

Dawn McGruer:

See, I think the pandemic has really made people stop and think. It certainly has for me. What success is, is often what society drives it to be. So, you do get caught up in money goals and ticking off these things on a to-do list. And for me, especially, I feel having a more enriched life is what I want and really putting the fun back into business. You think back to your past business years and you think about the times you really truly enjoyed, and it is, it’s about enjoying the journey, isn’t it, to getting to the goal, it’s not just kind of getting to it.

I feel that a lot of us now will want to kind of push forward and do something different, and that’s certainly why I’m launching my new program in September, for all the things you’ve said about freedom, flexibility, enjoying life, feeling connected, and really bringing my purpose into alignment.

In terms of obviously your books, talk us through then a bit of your brand story in terms of where did this all start, how did the Fear Less books come out? You’ve got obviously How to be Fearless and then Fear Less. What was the lead-up for that?

 

Fear Less

 

Lou Hamilton:

Well, I’ve always been fearful, and then I lost a very good friend when I was little, where we were kind of eight, but in those days you didn’t kind of deal with it. There weren’t people to kind of go, “Well, you’ve been through this. We need to kind of help you through that.” Then in my early twenties, we’d moved to Scotland and the Lockerbie bombing happened, which was a plane was blown out of the sky above where we lived, and everything just kind of rained down into our midst. And that was a massive sort of traumatic impact that, again, I didn’t know to kind of deal with at the time. I hadn’t lost anyone or hadn’t been injured. So, I just thought, “Well, you kind of…” That you pick up the pieces and carry on.

And it wasn’t until I was doing that series on a terminal illness and then another film on soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder that I realized that actually, I was suffering with PTSD and huge fear and anxiety. And it was kind of by then I was in my early forties so I was probably perimenopausal so that those kinds of feelings were getting worse, but what was happening was that I couldn’t suppress them anymore, and I was going to need to deal with them. And so, I kind of I trained to be a coach. I had coaching myself as part of the training. I also had therapy along the way. And then when I hit 50, kind of now in sort of full-blown menopause at that point, my children were leaving home, my granny died and I was sort of facing this sort of, “Well, what now?” My anxiety had kind of gone off the scale with the menopause. And so, “God, what’s this? And is this what my life is going to look like? My kids have gone.”

 

The birth of Brave New Girl

 

Lou Hamilton:

And anyway, I just was sort of contemplating all of this, and I just suddenly had the urge to pick up a pencil and start drawing again. And out pops this little what later became known as Brave New Girl, this kind of little stick character that was sort of totally fearless, could do anything, nothing stopped her, and if there were things that sort of or if there were obstacles, she just kind of invented ways to get around it. So, I don’t know whether she was kind of for me or whether I was doing her kind of to sort of send out with my children into the world, although they’re perfectly capable and fearless, so didn’t need that.

And so, I just kept posting these drawings, and the response I got was just phenomenal, and so I just kept drawing them and posting them with these little kind of sayings. And eventually, someone said, “Well, you should really try and get it published.” And so, I search for an agent, got an agent, and then it got published. It’s a gift book. So, it’s something that you just open on a page and this little drawing is there with a message to kind of help you for that day in that moment, and you take from it what feels right.

And then the next book was that I wanted to kind of really go into what fear was, and we’re never going to get rid of fear, but how can we use that energy to move forward, to keep going, to rise up against the things, the obstacles, the challenges, the traumas, everything. And I felt very strongly that it was our kind of inbuilt creativity as humans that allows us to kind of evolve and grow out of our fear. And so, that was when I wrote Fear Less.

Dawn McGruer:

Hmm. It’s interesting because there’s a lot of people who are listening to this who have a fear or phobia, and one of the things that I think is quite ironic for me and what I do is that I used to absolutely hate public speaking. And then I won Best Female Speaker, I think it was in 2018. The years are merging into one at the moment. And actually, when I feel fear for something, it actually does spur me on to what you say is that you do use it as a positive energy. And now, before I go on stage, I do kind of still feel that fear, but it’s almost an excitement. It’s changing how I feel about it. And I used to push fear away where now I just sit with it and kind of feel it.

And I think this is something that probably people are fearing the future with a pandemic. We’re fearing what could happen. And I think the fact that this came out of nowhere, I think it has induced more fear because no one could have thought about it. What would you say to someone who is feeling the fear about showing up authentically? Because you’ve got your new book, obviously, Dare to Share, how would you advise or give a tip to someone to just step out and show themselves as them rather than just a corporate brand?

Lou Hamilton:

I think it’s the kind of overarching mission. Why you doing this? Why it so important to you to do this? And when you know that, that will get you over your own personal fear. So, for me, I was always phone phobic. I couldn’t talk on the phone. Well, here I am… Well, speaking to you, running-

Dawn McGruer:

Including me, across social platforms.

Lou Hamilton:

Yeah, yeah. I mean, this would never, ever… I would never have thought I would have been able to do this. I certainly wouldn’t have thought that I could have a podcast myself and talk every week to somebody that quite often that I don’t even know that I’ve never spoken to before. And even before if I’m going to do an interview and I’m a little bit nervous, I can feel the fear, but I just think, “This is so exciting to have a conversation with another woman that is kind of doing their thing, and has their story to tell.” I’m in the position to share those stories.

And here today, we’re talking together about our stories and how it’s impacted us, and how we’ve grown from them. And so, that just gets me past the fear straight away because I know that there’s a bigger thing here. This is bigger than my fear. I would definitely say look to the things that are kind of bigger than you and why is it important, and if you focus on that, then it will get you through, and a good dose of deep breathing.

 

The importance of ‘about’

 

Dawn McGruer:

Yeah. See, a lot of people, I think, think, and I was probably guilty of this a bit, like, “Why does someone want to know that about me?” And I know when we trotted out my story and we went right the way back to my childhood and things like that, I actually thought, “This is what’s made me and made me make decisions I’ve made, and it’s why I became a business owner in the first place.” And I think through sharing this, either as guesting on a podcast or through my own, or even just writing blogs or social media posts or just doing lives, I’m sharing more and more about that.

And I think what’s fascinating is the more I’ve shared, the more connected and the deeper the relationships I’ve formed with people I’ve met on social media which I was connecting before, but I think people do want to know how did you get here because a lot of people will see you on a platform like on LinkedIn and think, “Oh, we’ve got 30,000 connections,” but it’s important to tell people how you got there, and also, I guess, share the pains and pitfalls along the way because that’s what makes it believable, and people resonate with it. If you were to give our listeners then one thing that they could do this week to really help use brand storytelling, what would it be? What would be your number one tip?

Lou Hamilton:

Well, first of all, I would look at, even before you sort of even think about podcast guesting, I’d look at the about you on your website because I don’t know if you’re the same, but if I go on to a business website or brand website, the first thing I look at is the about you. I want to know who is this person behind the brand, how they started, where did they… It’s relatable, isn’t it? It’s like, “Oh, right, now I’m buying into what they’re doing because I get where they’ve come from.” And it’s like if they’d been through these pitfalls and they’ve shared that, then it’s like, “Oh, right, okay. So, they’re not so different for me then.” It all becomes possible. And so, maybe look at a few about pages of other ones. Look at yours and see whether you’re giving a story that people can relate to and feel like, “Oh this is something I could buy into.”

And then start listening to podcasts and listening to the different ways that people tell their stories, and there might be one that you think, “Oh yeah, I really like how they’ve told that.” So, then think about your own story. Maybe jot down some key points through your journey that you think that relates to your business and how you got to your business. And it is, it’s the ups and the downs, and your passion, your purpose, the things that were really difficult for you, and how you’ve overcome them.

 

Art and book recommendations

 

Dawn McGruer:

Hmm. For sure. So, in terms of, obviously, you’ve got your new book coming out in autumn, and we know that you’re obviously a keen artist and very creative. What’s your favorite artist or favorite author that you’d like to share with us?

Lou Hamilton:

Well, in terms of art, there’s a sort of mix of them, and they’re very much sort of abstract expressionists, but also artists like Anish Kapoor who’s a sculptor, but the way that he uses color and shape is very much kind of relatable to my abstract paintings, and Sean Scully, I love his stripes. I’m definitely influenced by him. People always say about my work, “Oh, it’s like Rothko, Mark Rothko’s work.” I’m definitely sort of inspired by his work, and my own grandfather. I grew up with his paintings around. And even though he’s a figurative painter, he was a figurative painter, if you look in between the figures, the way that he works with paint is very kind of abstract, and I love that, and I think I’m very inspired by that.

In terms of books, I just love writers who are telling their stories. I love biographies and I love self-development books because I love to hear how people have got from A to B, and how they’re surviving. The very latest book that I’ve read is Blue Spaces by Dr. Catherine Kelly, about how water while swimming has healed her in times of grief and is a beautiful book, and she sort of helps you to sort of understand how water can help you. So, yeah, I’d highly recommend that.

Dawn McGruer:

I think there is something about reading and I still… I’m not a Kindle person. I have to have actual hard copy or paperback or something like that. And I remember, and I still think about this a lot, one of the books that made such an impact on me was Rita Carter, Mapping the Mind, and I remember reading it, and it was probably my late teens, but it was all about sort of the differences between men and women and why people think things. And you know what? Even when I go into meetings and things now, or I meet somebody who maybe has a different personality to me, I still go back to that book. I still think about how I read it and how I perceive people. And I think there are books now that I still would go back to that are many, many years old that I would love to read.

And one of the things I’ve just done this week is reorganized my bookcase, which was an absolute mess. And I’m reading one book at a time because I’m one of these people who likes to read about eight. So, I’ve now limited myself. I’m not allowed to start a new one until I finished it. I’ve really reinvigorated my love of reading. And I don’t know what it is about it. Podcasts and books for me at the moment, I’m finding really, really motivating and just, it’s really opening my thought space in terms of the way I’m thinking about things and making my decision-making process slightly different. What’s your favorite podcasts at the moment? Any recommendations that we can go and check out?

Lou Hamilton:

Well, yours, of course.

Dawn McGruer:

Of course, the Dawn of a New Era. A Brave New Girl from you, Lou.

Lou Hamilton:

And Brave New Girl second.

Dawn McGruer:

Well, I’m going to be appearing on yours tomorrow.

Lou Hamilton:

Yes, yes. Well, I’m very excited about that. I love podcasts that are people’s stories. I mean, as a Podcast Guest Agency, I’m listening to different podcasts all the time, and I’m so excited. There’s just not enough hours in the week for all the brilliant ones that I listen to. But actually, one that I do come back to a lot is Dr. Tabatha, The Functional Gynecologist. I’ve been through the menopause. I think I’m out the other side, yay. She’s brilliant, and the people she has on, and I think as entrepreneurs and businesswomen and men, we work really hard and we kind of do more hours than really we should even with our little moments out for enjoying water or whatever it is.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I’ve just taken a social media sabbatical-

Dawn McGruer:

You have.

Lou Hamilton:

… apart from LinkedIn. I feel like that’s different. Yeah. I think it’s really important to try and stay as healthy as possible as we get older because we want a good quality of life, and we want to not kind of just go run down the rabbit hole of being stressed and overworked and not eating right, and all of those things. So, as I’ve gotten older, I feel like my luxury is health, so I to that.

Dawn McGruer:

Yeah, for me, I’ve struggled with over the years. I don’t know whether I’ve just been kind of brought up in this kind of staunch sort of work ethic where it was like business first. I’ve just really kind of reprioritized in self-care first. And I talk about motivation, mindset, and marketing, and honestly, the motivation and mindset, this is like the biggest part of my business at the moment because it’s having such an impact on the marketing side of things because if I’m feeling good, I’m eating well, I just, it does, it opens up a whole new way of thinking. And the more time I’m taking out, the better I’m performing in business. I suppose when you’re creating a program or you’re writing your book, you know this is the thing, you need the space and the time. You can’t rush these things.

And I’ve spent about a year now creating my new program launching in September, I could have launched it earlier, but I think we need sometimes just to kind of walk away, as you say, from social media or other things, and do what we want to do, not what we think we need to do. And honestly, if anyone’s listening to this today, like Lou’s done, if you feel like social media is draining you, take a step back. Is there a final thought that you can leave our listeners with today? Anything that you feel that’s important for people or something that’s been pivotal for you?

Lou Hamilton:

I think that the power of your story, the power of your voice to share your experiences, your challenges, your ups and downs, I think you just never know who’s going to be listening and that your words may land in their ears just at the moment they need to hear it, and then they’ll find you. They’ll follow you. They trust you. They’ll want to be in your world. And I think that’s why perhaps the story is so powerful because we can bring ourselves to our businesses and to the ears of other people that want to find you and be part of what you’re doing. I really value other people’s stories. And so, yeah, value your story and share it. Dare to share.

Dawn McGruer:

Absolutely. So, if you want to go and find Lou, you can find her. You’ve got Silk Studios. You’ve got your social media platforms there. You’ve got Lou Hamilton. Obviously, your books. Your new one, Dare to Share is coming out in autumn, but you can pick up How to be Fearless and Fear Less. Where is the best place to connect with you? LinkedIn?

Lou Hamilton:

LinkedIn is really good, and my website, silk-studios.co.uk. And I’m doing a daily-ish blog where I’m not on the other socials for the time being. I am still putting out words and images and all the kind of funny things that happen along the way. So, yeah. Come and join me.

Dawn McGruer:

Yeah, definitely, in a way that it feels comfortable to you. So, if you are feeling a little bit jaded and you are suffering the social fatigue, switch it up. Go and check out Lou, and you can read some of her blogs. They’re definitely worth checking out, very inspiring. And yeah, thank you for being our guest today, and check out the podcast, Brave New Girl as well because there’s some fab episodes and guests on there too. So, thank you very much, and have an amazing day, and hopefully, our listeners have taken some really good advice about showing up in a way that’s authentic to them. So, thanks guys. Take care. Bye now.

Lou Hamilton:

Bye.

 

Thank you for listening to Dawn of a New Era podcast, and for your free checklist to find out how to boost your business for growth, profit, and success, and join our community, go to dawnmcgruer.com.