#BrandMatters: Fearless Business

Robin Waite is the founder of Fearless Business, a Business Accelerator for Coaches, Consultants and Freelancers.

Robin helps them by offering insights on Product Architecture, Pricing Your Products and Sales. With ‘Fearless’ goal setting and accountability, Robin’s programme turns dreams into reality for clients around the world, helping them to double their income and more. On top of that, Robin is a thoroughly lovely bloke ;).

Having worked with Robin myself as a business coach (he came up with the idea of us creating our One Day Brand Workshops!), we were thrilled when he asked us to create an overall branding scheme for his Fearless Business Group.

We caught up with him 18 months on to see what effect it’s had on his business…and much more.

Tell us a bit about yourself

Firstly, I am a dedicated family guy with two young girls, a keen cyclist and terrible surfer.

My company, Fearless Business, is a business accelerator for Coaches, Consultants and Freelancers who are looking to slow down, create some space for themselves and charge their worth.

As we know, most business owners undervalue themselves despite being amazing at what they do. So my passion is delivering business knowledge around helping business owners to productise their service, articulate their value and to confidently charge more for their products/services.

I’ve got five books, including two bestsellers Online Business Startup and Take Your Shot with a sixth book underway specifically on the subject of pricing.

In my spare time, I love family walks with my girls and our dog Wilbur. I also love working on projects such as building an electric bike from scratch, and designing and building my own skateboards and longboards!

What led you to start your business?

Starting my own business was a bit of an accident! While I was at Uni, and holding down a full-time job, I realised I wanted more. My entrepreneurial journey started out buying and selling laptops to construction companies. It was never meant to be a business, just as a way of making some extra cash. I enjoyed the hustle.

In early 2004, a colleague approached me while I was away on holiday in Florida. He asked since he was building websites, and I was doing IT stuff, would I like to set up a company together? I agreed, and we set up a marketing agency together building websites and branding projects. We grew it to six figures within 4 years and at its peak to £250k with a small team of 4-5 designers and developers.

It was here that I realised my passion was in helping other businesses to grow.

What’s the best piece of business advice you’ve been given?

“The only two risks in business are that you can lose two things; money and face.”

This one statement helped me overcome the fear of both.

When you break it down what does it matter if you lose money or end up looking a bit stupid? The only person who is really here to judge yourself in business is you.

Now, I don’t care much about either money or looking stupid if it means standing up for what I believe in and doing it well. Money is just a natural by-product of a job well done.

What brands inspire you – and why?

The brand I always come back to is a surfing brand called Saltrock.

They’ve grown out of very humble beginnings. North Devon feels like my spiritual home, and where I always return to surf year-in and year-out. I remember discovering this shop in Woolacombe called Saltrock that did these awesome T-Shirts with amazing designs that really resonated with me.

What the brand stands for, the designs, the colours, the fonts, everything resonated with me. I must have bought the entire shop.

When Sapna worked with me she made the connection that being fearless in business was a lot like surfing; sometimes feeling like you’re drowning, but then catching a break and riding the waves…

My Saltrock tee-shirts ended up really inspiring the design behind what became the Fearless Business brand.

Not Robin, or his tee-shirt but you get the jist! Copyright: Saltrock

You can see the surf-brand’s influence on Robin’s Fearless Business brand from the hand-written type, to the distressed texture and the colours. The blue was directly taken from a tee-shirt Robin wore! Taking influences from outside of your industry can really help you stand out and stop you looking like your competitors.

What did creating or building a brand mean to you?

The Fearless Business brand is an identity for my business that isn’t all about the Robin Waite show.

When people invest in Fearless Business I want them to be investing in an idea, a dream of where their business can go to and our programme being the vehicle to get there.

Eventually, I was that process and community to outlast me and drive results without it hanging on my name.

What difference did your branding make to you/your team and your business?

It’s helped build an incredibly tight-knit community in the “Fearless Crew” and people feel they’re on an amazing journey together which is what I’d always hoped for when I left the agency and set up the coaching practice in 2016.

People hear about Fearless Business sometimes before they even get to know me. I love the power that the brand is building.

More ‘signage’ in that surf-brand style gives the community energy

Fill in the blank – My brand helps/helped me…

Push my ego to one side because Fearless Business, as a collective and as a brand, is better than just little old Robin Waite on his own.

The brand has the chance to leave a legacy beyond me.