One of our facilitation and training topics here at Flourishing Work is builiding intentional, personal brands. We know the value and importance of having the right brand, so we are here to break down our brand for you including the story of how we came to be, and how we made design decisions to reflect our company objectives.
Our Background
In January 2020, our founder Ashley was on a walk in her neighborhood reflecting on the need to change her company name to better reflect and describe the services. She had been in business about two years, and had helped enough clients at that point to have a good feel for what the need was in the world that my company was fulfilling. What she wasn’t sure about was how to connect the “dots” for her services – what started out as a coaching company not only quickly evolved into facilitation and training, but the topics of her coaching sessions evolved as well. She pondered what the connection could be between helping companies set goals at an off-site retreat, teaching new managers how to enhance their leadership and interpersonal skills, and coaching individuals on everything from finding their ideal career to their Myers-Briggs® personality type to how to negotiate their salary. The word “thrive” came into to mind, so she googled the definition. It was very close. She looked up synonyms, and “flourish” popped up. When she googled its definition, her eyes grew wide and with her heart wanting to jump out of her chest, she thought “That’s it! That’s exactly what I’m trying to do!”
The definition of flourish that she saw that day was: Grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, especially as the result of a particularly favorable environment. This is precisely my vision for people and companies. As she pondered how to mirror the content on her website to match why, how, and what she offered (inspired by Simon Sinek’s golden circle concept), ideas began to flow once she had the connecting “thread.”
The Name
This revelation lead Ashley towards her rebranding process. Inspired by her new key word, she began looking up names such as “flourish at work” and related permutations to see what was available. After exhausting the internet, Ashley turned to someone who could help her brainstorm(and thank goodness she did!). She reached out to a friend and colleague who helped her think through the exact words that then became our business name, and learned that having this support was crucial for her success. Through their conversations, this is what ultimately led Ashley to choose Flourishing Work:
1) Flourishing is not a destination. Does one ever finish flourishing? We don’t believe so – therefore, she chose the present participle with the “-ing” to signal that flourishing is a process and a journey.
2) Work looks different for different people. It might be a traditional office “workplace,” but it might not. Ashley wanted to be inclusive of those whose work looks like being a stay-at-home parent, a freelancer, or doing any type of work that is not in a workplace, so we opted against saying “at work” or “workplace.”
3) Including “work” in the name was important to signal that we offer professional services, as there are many personal and faith-based services such as counseling that also use this term.
4) An earlier version included the word “services” to clarify the business purpose, but we left that out because in context with the other words, “work services” sounded more like an HR function.
The Logo
Our logo holds just as much meaning as our name. Going back to the meaning of “flourish,” we help our clients grow and develop, which is what the leaf icon represents. Notice that it is also curved upward, which is intentionally meant to remind us of an exponential growth curve. This growth comes from the dot over the “I”, representing your individual growth as the “seed” that blossoms. Lastly, it was important to balance the nurturing personality of our founder and lead facilitator (represented through the soft lines of the leaf) with the corporate look of the clients we serve (represented through the Goudy all-caps font used for the company name). We found this balance was the key to differentiating ourselves from not only competitors, but spa services too!
We hope you’ve enjoyed learning more about the significance behind our brand story, and would love to hear your thoughts in a comment below. If you’re looking to start creating your personal brand, set up a time to chat with us here and head over to our Instagram for tips on how you can get started building your personal brand today!