Meet Amandine... Personal Branding Expert
Jul 06, 2021
Hi ! I'm Amandine, I live in Bordeaux - France and I'm 35. After being graduated with a Master of Marketing, Communication and Business Strategy, I left Bordeaux to Paris and Geneva to follow my dream: working in the fashion industry! My busy days allowed me to increase my skills, hire and manage large teams in the "private sales" industry. I worked for wonderful brands : Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Yves Saint Laurent, Ralph Lauren, La Prairie, etc. I lead photo shootings, I hired models, I managed product displays and I created "brand universes" in order to sublimate and enhance brands I worked with. After few years I came back to Bordeaux and worked in a carpooling start-up where I discovered the power of personal branding. I was fortunate enough to experience things that I have never done before : the thrill of live TV on prime time, the stage fright of live radio shows, interviews in national and regional press, being invited as an expert for conferences. I lived incredible experiences, but I missed "pure creation" and my desire of independence and freedom was stronger than ever... That's why I created "Marque de Fabrique" in April 2018. Today, I do what I love most about my job: I help women entrepreneurs to create and manage their brand, I create "beauty", "uniqueness", I give meaning to each details!
What kind of work do you do?
I'm a Brand Strategist. I help advanced high ticket women coachs, consultants and CEO create and manage the Haute Couture branding they deserve in order to show their talent and spread their message around the world!
What inspired you to get started as an entrepreneur?
I worked for more than 10 years in start-ups, as a Marketing and Communication Manager. I loved this kind of fast-paced and challenging environment, this was SO stimulating, particularly the fact that you need to be everywhere, to learn a lot, to build everything. But, after spending so much years in these companies, I realized that I was struggling and working too hard for others' dreams and freedom!
What was your biggest struggle to get things going for your online business?
My biggest struggle was to understand that mindset and business were 100% linked. You can do everything perfectly BUT if you don't have the right mindset, it will not work. I understood it while working with my first coach in 2019.
Was there a time you thought about giving up? What kept you from quitting?
No! To be honest with you, I've been down, I had hard times but I never wanted to quit because I always reminded me why I did everything I did. And each time I imagined myself, sitting behind a desk on a 9-5 job, working for someone else... It always give me enough energy to go ahead!
And - maybe the most important - I have my own "cheerleaders"! A strong and supportive circle of friends and family who always told me they're proud of what I already achieved when I was down! It is SO important to be surrounded by supportive people who believe in you.
What have you learned since beginning?
I learned that you need to follow your own path, create your own rules rules and be aligned with everything you implement! Don't do things because a "marketing guru" told you that this is the thing you have to do or the last marketing trick you need to use to succeed! A lot of followers come and tell me "I read that I must create a 12-steps sales pages but I hate doing it, I hate writing and following all these steps, I hate reading it as a client. But I read that if I don't do this, I will not sell my new program!". That's totally wrong! Especially because if you're not in the right energy while writing your sales page, your audience will feel it. Your audience will not feel good vibes while reading. And your work will not be efficient. Some entrepreneurs don't have sales pages and make millions by using a simple webpage with a title, 3 lines of description and a payment form! Why? Because they're aligned with it. They explained what they offer in another way - from a place they're aligned with!
That's what I learnt and that's what I do today with my clients: I explain them what is possible, I show them all the possibilities to reach their goals and they pick the solutions they feel aligned with!
What’s the best advice you’ve received?
I was struggling building my website by myself. I was under pressure to ensure all was perfect (I realized at that time that I was the worst boss I've ever had!). Sleeping 4 hours each night. A friend of mine told me "Stop this right now and put your website online. Nobody cares about the small details you're working on. Better done than perfect!". It was a kind of electrochoc to me. Because while I was working on my website, it was not online. And I was invisible to my audience, while working on small details only me could see.
What advice would you give someone just starting out?
To start your business, you only need 2 things: an offer to sell and a client who wanna buy it. Nothing else. Even if branding is my job, I'm telling you this: when you start your business, you don't need a logo, you don't need a branding, you don't need a website, you don't need business cards. Because at the beginning, everything change so fast!
Don't loose time (and money) when you just launch your business!
How many times I heard "I'm working for 8 weeks on my logo and I'm stuck: I'm not satisfied by the result because I'm not a designer BUT without a logo I cannot launch my website, I cannot design my brochure...!" That's wrong. When you start, you can create a simple and basic logo with a nice free font, describe your offers on your social networks and send a Paypal link to be paid. Period. Make it clean, simple, straight to the point and use your time to search your first clients, check if your offers fit the market and improve it!
Some of my current clients made multiple 6-figures without a logo or a website. Just because their offers were a good match with what their ideal clients needed!
What’s the professional win you’re most proud of?
I had a pure professional crush with my business coach friend, Vanessa. In November 2020, we decided to follow our gut and create together a 3-months group program, on the spur of the moment, because we felt it. In 2 weeks, everything was ready to be launched and we booked all seats in a week, without ads, just because it was the right moment and we felt inspired by working together. It was quick, easy, smooth and fun: that was pure alignment!
Which book(s) would you recommend to help with success and personal development?
"The Secret", by Rhonda Byrne. Not because I think it's the better one, but because it was the first "spiritual book" I read. It was simple to read for an "uninitiated" person, easy to find and to implement. This book was the first of a long series, and it's symbolic because it represents the starting point of my spiritual development!
Do you have a routine that you attest to your success? If yes, what is it?
I don't have a particular routine. I just listen myself and my rhythm. I work when I wanna work. When I'm inspired, I can follow the flow and work a lot, without a look at the clock! And when I need to rest or when I feel the lack of inspiration, I go out, I enjoy a good glass of wine with my entrepreneurs friends, I read, I do something else than working.
I am creative and intuitive, I understood that creativity doesn't come on command and that I don't need to feel guilty when I allow myself a day off during the week because I deserve it.
How has social media played a factor in your success?
I am a pure connector. I never had new clients by saying "Hey! Click here to buy and get my new offer!". This doesn't work for me. I get new clients by connecting with my audience (if you know Human Design, I'm a 4/6 sacral authority MG). All of my clients were or almost became friends.
That's how social media played a factor in my success: because I can connect with people in DM, chat, ask them what they're struggling with and discover how to really help.
What are the biggest social media mistakes you see commonly made?
Seeing people doing things without alignment. Showing up everyday and posting 5 times a weeks because "that's what the algorithme wants". Whereas showing up because they want to, because they have something interesting to say. When you do something without alignment, you vibe it and your audience feels it. Have you ever experienced this: you made a post or a story without any particular preparation, just because you felt it, you needed to do it right now, even if your hairs and make-up were not perfect... And it exceeded your expectations (so much likes, comments or sales)? That's alignment!
What is the business tool that’s been most helpful?
During my business journey, I discovered a powerful personal development tool: Human Design. For people who don't know about it, Human Design is a tool based on Western astrology, chakras, quantum physics, I Ching, psychology and Kabbalah. It relies on your date, hour and place of birth to provide you a full Human Design chart. There are 5 Human Design types (Generators, Manifestors, Manifesting Generators, Projectors, Reflectors) and your chart will provide you amazing, clear and powerful informations to get a better understanding of yourself. By using it, I understood a lot about myself, my behaviors and how to optimize the way I did things in my business.
Is there something you wish everyone knew?
You don't need to have a huge audience on social networks to be successful: you just need to be followed by the right persons. Some of my clients are making +100K$/year with less than 1500 followers on Instagram!
The size of your audience is not related to your amount of sales. Your audience's quality is a key factor: better be seen and heard by 900 persons perfectly targeted and interested that 5000 who don't care about what you're doing!
What’s coming up for you in the next few months?
Today, you can work with me 1:1 through my [RE]BRANDING program (3 months to create your brand universe or rebrand your current business, working on marketing, communication, brand identity and user experience) or my [BRAND]MANAGER long-term coaching (done-for-you brand management on a day-to-day basis).
By October 21, I'll launch [BRAND]ME, a group program in order to help women entrepreneurs to create their own amazing Haute Couture brand universe! It's a perfect mix between:
- a 3 months live program to understand how to create by themselves their brand identity,
- an unlimited 1:1 support (by voice / text messages) to give them customized and expert advices during their brand creation: I want to help them create their own luxury branding, feel confident and supported during the process!
You can fill the form here (https://marquedefabrique.systeme.io/brand-me-waiting-list) if you wanna know more about it and register on the waiting list!
What has being successful taught you?
I learnt that I am capable of doing anything. And if I loose everything, I now know that I will be able to rebuild, 3 time faster :)
What are some fun facts about you?
- I'm a pure dog lover: I've got a fluffy assistant named Bonnie. My friends usually make fun of me because while watching a film, I'm sadder when the dog die than when the hero is killed!
- I learnt Japanese during high school - absolutely not useful today but nice to start a conversation in a networking event ;)
*Some clickable media, usually the book recommendations, are affiliate links, and should you choose to buy through using those links then The Infinite Power of You Inc. may earn an affiliate payout commission. This is at no additional expense to you, and helps keep this blog going.
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