Welcome back to Your Win-Win Teacher Business. This is our third episode in the Business Book Club series and as you likely saw in the title, today’s book is called Obsessed: Building A Brand People Love From Day One
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Read the transcript:
Janice Cook 0:00 Welcome back to Your Win-Win Teacher Business. This is our Business Book Club series, and today’s book is called Obsessed: Building A Brand People Love From Day One.
Janice Cook 0:13 You’re listening to Your Win-Win Teacher Business, a podcast for teacher authors who want to make a big impact in the world for teachers and students and have fun doing it. I’m your host, Janice Cook, here with a pep talk to start your week off strong. Some seasons of running a business feel hard and sticky, but it shouldn’t feel like that all the time. Let’s make your business a win-win together.
Janice Cook 0:38 Why am I sharing this book? I bet when I talked about brand and brand story, another famous book came to mind. I have read that book. I have read that book multiple times. We’ll probably even talk about it on the podcast at some point. But there’s a part of me that feels an opportunity to share some hidden gems, and I also want to amplify some female authors in this series. There’s no reason that we can’t do a 50/50 split in business book club with male and female voices. So Obsessed is a lesser known story about branding. Really zooming out and talking about brand in a different way today. And I think that it’s really exciting to take a brand that we have a really clear vision on, and an audience that we feel really clear about, and a train that’s left the station a while ago and stop and think, oh, yeah, I could attack this from a totally different angle and get a whole new world of ideas.
Janice Cook 1:48 As a consumer, you have brands that you are obsessed with. As you scroll social media, you hear people sharing things that they can’t stop talking about because they’re changing their life, and they are a huge part of who they are as a person. And so on this journey of thinking about things differently, in the book obsessed, we want to think, How can we get people talking about your brand the way they talk about their favorite brands? There’s no reason that we can’t have raving fans behind your teacher business, just like you’re a raving fan for so many brands in your day. So that’s the journey that we’re taking today.
Janice Cook 2:30 The reason this book stands out in the crowd is because it talks about modern brands. So this book is going to mention stores that you shop at and brands that you have on your shelves, and I think that’s really exciting. This author worked to make some of those brands, and knows the behind the scenes stories of A/B testing and places that they could have taken a left turn, but instead they took a right turn. And I think that we have a really special opportunity to kind of have a coffee chat with her through this book and learn so much and get curious about our own brand.
Janice Cook 3:05 Modern brands. Here’s three examples that I have in my notes from the book. One of them was Soul Cycle. Soul Cycle focuses on your personal transformation, not the calories burned. That’s so different from the experience you have in other health, wellness, diet, weight loss spaces. SoulCycle was focusing on the experience. They were focusing on you as a person. And that opened up a whole new category for them. So many people had exercise bikes in their home, but it’s not the same as the in studio Soul Cycle experience, and so they were gonna book a bike, commit to themselves, and show up for their favorite class and their favorite teacher and go have that transformational experience.
Janice Cook 3:56 Drybar. They weren’t selling blowouts. They were doing so much more than just drying your hair. You can dry your hair at home. In fact, many days you probably do. Drybar is not selling blowouts. They’re selling the happiness and confidence of a great hair day. They’re selling a feeling. They’re identifying the fact that some days you just need a boost. You just need to feel a little better to be able to take that big risk, to be able to show up and close that sale, to be able to go to that holiday event and feel like you’re ready for the challenge and all the peopling and the new opportunities. They’re selling a feeling. They’re selling a transformation. They’re not telling you about their signature process for drying your hair better than you can. That’s not the game that they’re in. They stand for something. They stand as a permission slip for you to indulge and treat yourself to that feeling as often as you determine you need it.
Janice Cook 5:03 And then the Casper mattress company, they were famous for opening up the category of mattresses you could buy by mail. What a tough thing to convince consumers is okay. They did it by leaning into why sleep matters, and not focusing on the tech and materials inside the mattress itself. They brought people out of that rushed and pressured showroom experience, and they allowed them to just test the mattress at home. In the showroom, you’d be lucky if you had 20 minutes with that mattress. At home, they let you test it for a generous 100 days. That’s one of those heck yes moments where you’re like, Well, I guess that was my final objection. I guess I can’t say no to that. I might as well just get the mattress here and test it out. At the beginning, they built brand awareness with a pop up napmobile to bridge the gap between that laying on a mattress shopping experience that consumers were ready for and where they wanted to evolve the category to at the beginning when they didn’t have any word of mouth proof, right?
Janice Cook 6:14 So it’s so exciting in this book to think about brand in a new way, through modern brands that you know and you see around you. And I always love to hear the story about the early decisions these brands made that really made them a hit.
Janice Cook 6:30 So in this book, when they talk about, what do you stand for? This is one of the hardest things for me to think about in the world of teacher business, but let’s think out of the box together. That’s what we do here.
Janice Cook 6:42 Branding is what people can see, but brand is what people feel as they interact with your company. So what does your business stand for? What emotional connection can you and your customers share? If I buy something from your store, how can I feel connected to you and the brand at every step of my customer journey? These aren’t quick and easy questions, but after I hear about how these questions transformed some of the modern brands I love so much, it really does make me want to go on a long walk and reflect on them. So the brands that we’re obsessed with, people gush to their friends and not just to sling an affiliate link. They enthusiastically share with others, even though they’re not asked to, and that brand, that item, starts to weave itself seamlessly into their personality. They become brand loyal because it feels like their brand. It feels like they’re a part of it.
Janice Cook 7:54 They used the why chain, and they talked about their customer’s problem, and they kept asking, Why? Why does this matter? But why? But why? And in the book, they instruct us to dig deeper with that exercise, until we get to death. So let’s take an example through that. In the teacher business space, you’ll say, I sell worksheets. Well, why does this matter? Because the teacher needs something for their kids to do in the morning when they come into the classroom. Why? Because they need to take attendance and deal with emotional needs and communication and get organized. Why? Because if they don’t get themselves organized, they’re going to lose the whole day of instruction, spinning their wheels and tackling things that should have been handled at the beginning. And you just dig deeper and dig deeper. Why? Right? Maybe if they can’t get a handle on their classroom, then they’re not going to have a job much longer. And why? If they don’t have a job, they can’t put food on their table and they die? I’m sure there’s a longer path of why questions that gets there, but basically you just keep going until you get to death and you can’t go any further. And so worksheets are one example, but Drybar had to go through the same list of questions. And so did Soul Cycle, and so did Casper mattresses, right? And it really helps you uncover the internal reason why someone finds themselves shopping today at all.
Janice Cook 9:25 The book reminds us of the power of enthusiasm for a joint cause. And I remember when I started Louise Henry’s Asana course, she started right at the beginning by sharing one of her big dreams. And she was the first person as a teacher who had ever done that for me. She was like, thank you for this course. Whenever you purchase something inside my brand, you are helping me build this in person facility for adults with autism. I’m going to build a place for my brother to be and I’m going to build a place for him to thrive with other people that are like him, and you invested in me, and now you were a part of this cause together. And I still remember that moment many years later, she since has opened up a more formal way that you can contribute to her charity on a monthly basis. It’s called Tim’s Club, if you want to look it up on Instagram. But she says, like right from the beginning, every sale that I make money directly funnels into that dream. So thank you for caring about that cause, and now we’re on this journey together. And for that reason, I still check up on Tim’s Club and the progress she’s making publicly on her dreams every single Friday, and I remember her brand and it brings a smile to my face. And every Friday, it makes me want to talk about Tim’s Club and tell everyone I know. And every time I talk about Asana, I think about Louise Henry. And every time I talk about Asana, I think about Tim’s Club, and I mention it to people who have something in common with me, so we can all help her get to that dream faster. And so think about how that’s different from the experience of when someone buys something in your brand right now, we might be solving a small problem that they have today or tomorrow, but we might be missing an opportunity to link arms with them and have something in common and have some enthusiasm to make a difference and be a part of something together.
Janice Cook 11:31 In the book, they said, to offer less, but to stand for more. We don’t have to solve every single problem out there, but if we solve a couple of problems in the world, and do it in a way where we really stood for an important cause and brought people on that journey with us in a meaningful way, I think we’d be much happier with how we spent our life when all of the business comes to an end. And so a favorite quote I wanted to share with you from the book says “Obsession comes when you build a brand that’s 100% in service of its audience” and it just reminded me of the importance of stepping away from the regular part of business where you need to make money. That’s why businesses exist. Hashtag capitalism. But it’s more exciting to wake up when you’re really excited about the people you’re serving and really connected to the problems that they’ve shared and the why that brings them to the search bar today. You become obsessed with solving their problem, and they become obsessed with seeing what you’re going to come up with next. So that quote was really impactful for me.
Janice Cook 12:42 I love that the book talked about behind the scenes content, because we know how important that is. I would say that when I’m on Instagram, I probably spend 85% of my time in Instagram stories. I want to know how your day was. We are teacher biz besties. I want to see the behind the scenes. I want to see every step of the way. I want to tap poll stickers and answer question boxes and really be in the room where it happens. I want to be a part of it. I want to be there for the ups and the downs. And I wonder if your audience wants that too. I wonder if you share polished reels and polished branded photos and polished branded Canva graphics. But I wonder if they’re just dying to see your face and who is creating the resources that they’re using in their classroom and why you created them, and find out your story and what you have in common. People are so desperate for connection right now.
Janice Cook 13:45 The other way to think of behind the scenes is with transparency. When you use transparency about why you made the decisions you did, why you’re only offering two languages, why you can’t offer a discount on this platform, but you can offer a discount on the other it just helps bring the customer and the business together. When we pull back the curtain and help them understand where we’re coming from, they come along for the journey with us. We’re getting rid of that us versus them, grumbly friction.
Janice Cook 14:17 Modern brands know that they need to truly be part of the conversation. People buy from people. People don’t buy from logos. People don’t buy from brands. The brands that people are obsessed with, they probably have some story where they got to go on an Instagram Live or a YouTube Live, or come to a focus group or meet the creator in some way. They got to be a part of more than just a Google Form survey, but they really feel like they’re a part of the next product that’s dropping because they got an opportunity to give some input and peek behind the curtain.
Janice Cook 14:59 So another quote I wanted to share. It said, “Brands create obsession by inviting their audience on a journey that has twists and turns, even cracks in the road, and it’s a whole lot more exciting.” So when I land on Instagram, I know that my day is not perfect and I am not perfect if I go on Instagram and I see only perfect, curated living rooms and only perfect, curated moms and only perfect, curated teachers, I am not going to feel like I belong here. But if I see people just doing their best, going on the journey of the ups and downs of their day and problem solving and being flexible and pivoting. Gosh, that’s a lot more relatable, and that’s a story I want to continue to tune into, because their life seems like mine, and it seems like real people running a real business the real way. And I think that’s a big secret. When I think about the brands that I love to follow, they do allow me behind the scenes, maybe not every day, but I bet I can pinpoint memories of times they did it. I know it really matters for me.
Janice Cook 16:14 And then the last point I was glad this book mentioned was community. We crave community more than ever. So when we appeal to a small, loyal crew, rather than trying to solve every single problem for every single person, we have an opportunity. We have an opportunity to connect with the right people from the start. And instead of accounting for every need, preference and problem, we can go deep with that small group of people really get to know them, and solve a big problem that’s specific to them – maybe a problem that was never important enough for another brand to take interest in and care for. We could solve that problem for them.
Janice Cook 16:58 The book did a deep dive into different types of creative loyalty programs, and that really got my wheels turning. I think you’ll really enjoy that section of the book. It’s time for us to think beyond what we see our competition doing, and really take cues from other businesses and brands that we love being a part of. How can we incorporate that into our own brands.
Janice Cook 17:21 Every person in the brand story matters. Every customer that buys something, every shopper that comes interacts with our brand and doesn’t buy something – they all have a story of what brought them there. They have a story of their experience, and we can learn from each and every one of them. If we get curious and we get humble and we ask for their input, and we truly read and act on their feedback. That’s how we create a feeling of community where customers don’t want to give up when a small bump in the road happens. And we create brand loyalty. They’ll be less tempted by another shiny choice that is served up by the market, if they feel a part of our brands. They’re going to say, No, I get all of my science labs from Rebecca. I don’t even want to look at these other ones the TPT search bar served up. She’s my girl because.
Janice Cook 18:24 And so the final quote I want to share says, “When choice is more of a burden than a gift, the brands that don’t force people to think too much win.” And additionally, this brought me back to that age old example of not wanting to dig through a Cheesecake Factory style menu at the end of a long day, but on a deeper level, it made me think about how often when we’re shopping, we’re tired, we’re overwhelmed, and we’re frustrated. And so the brand that can most clearly communicate their message and speak to me is going to win, because I gotta check out fast and solve my problem and feel better. I’m probably on my absolute last nerve and brain cell when I’m shopping. And so when I go in to a high end restaurant, the experience I get is that the chef decided that we’re having an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert, and he’s made two choices for each one, and those are the only choices I have to make, right? Do I want beef or chicken? Do I like mustard or do I like blue cheese? A very small menu of choices, and I get to my transformation of feeling rested and cared for and fed so much faster.
Janice Cook 19:38 I loved this book because encouraged me to take a modern look at my own business. And you might think that your business is different from the businesses you read about in this book. But the shoppers that are shopping in your store today have their own brands that they’re obsessed with, and they have their own brands that they love. And those brands took the time to care about them, and make them part of the community, and pull them behind the scenes, and tell them what they stood for, and stand out in the crowd in a way that they can’t stop telling their friends how obsessed they are. So if we don’t keep up and we don’t take some lessons from these modern brands, then it makes sense that shoppers, at some point, are going to stop resonating with the way we’re conducting business, because they become accustomed to a certain practice from the other brands they’re shopping for in the same day and the same week.
Janice Cook 20:42 So maybe you’ll read this book, and maybe you won’t, but either way, I encourage you to think about a modern brand that you are obsessed with, and how that feels for you as a consumer. And maybe you’ll just get curious about how the shopping experience goes inside your own brand and find a way it could be more modernized. If you need a sounding board as you unpack what this might look like for your teacher business, you know where to find me.
Janice Cook 21:11 Thank you for letting me share this favorite book from my bookshelf today, the customers interacting with your brand are surrounded by modern brands each and every day. They have favorites they are obsessed with, and so I think this book offers great food for thought on how we can make our customer experience the very best that it can be.
Janice Cook 21:31 If you have a book that’s collecting dust on your bookshelf that you’re hoping I’ll cover here on the podcast, I’d love to hear about it. I have a personal goal to balance male and female authors during this series, so reach out and share a book by both a male and a female author at the end of this episode. That’s my challenge to you. Remember, you don’t have to run your business alone. Read books and talk about them with biz besties. Share about this book on Instagram. Tag me @teacherjaniceva. Slide into my DMs on Instagram anytime to talk about the ups and downs of running a business. Leave a review on Apple podcasts and share a takeaway from the book with others to help them on their teacher business journey.
Janice Cook 22:16 Thanks for making this podcast a part of your day. To grab a link for the book we discussed today, as well as look at a growing list of all my favorite things. Go to cookfamilyresources.com/my-favorite-things I’ll also leave that link in the show notes for you. And if this podcast is becoming one of your favorite things, please consider heading to Apple podcasts to share a review so that I can connect with and support even more teacher business owners see you in the next episode.
Here is a playlist of other episodes about my favorite Teacher Business Books:
