We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dawn Foster a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Dawn, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
Finding and knowing my purpose wasn’t really something that was on my radar until 2018, the year I was baptized. I spent the year really thinking about what my purpose is – the gift that I have, what was I good at, and what I could share with others.
I was searching for ‘that thing’, and remember being at work one day, and shedding a few unexpected tears as a coworker nonchalantly told me about his Sunday School encounter with a child and his parent, where my colleague was able to say and do something that I felt would impact that child’s life for years to come. I was moved in seeing what it looked like to have a natural talent and using it with ease, to make an impact in someone else’s life.
I shifted my focus from ‘what was I good at’, to ‘what comes naturally to me, that I can do with ease’. When I shifted my focus, the answer came pretty quickly – Branding and Marketing. It was a no-brainer, and I started seeing examples of how I was already sharing with others, unintentionally. For years I’d been sharing quick nuggets, recommendations and guidance with business owners when they learned what my profession was (and sometimes unsolicited).
When I realized what my purpose was, it was now time to be intentional about it. So I filed paperwork to start my business, volunteered to teach a few branding and marketing workshop, and got my very first consulting client.
My purpose lead me to start my business, and has shaped our core pillars. We want to do what we love, support our tribe and community, and see our clients win. I’m intentional about making sure that at the very least, every business owner my company comes in contact with, whether they hire us or not, walks away with some type of actionable item so that they can do better and be a better business owner when it comes to their branding, marketing and entrepreneurial journey.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’m the owner of D. Foster Marketing. We are a branding and marketing consulting firm, that also functions as a full-service agency. What that means is that in addition to providing a strategy on the who, what, when, where, why and how for your business and brand, we can also execute that strategy – because we are strategists, creatives, designers, copywriters, web developers, etc.
We primarily help new business owners define their brand and what it represents. We also assist existing businesses in ensuring that their brand evolves with today’s client/consumer expectations and technology.
We get SUPER EXCITED about all things branding. And we also have awesome clients and businesses that we get to support. We’ve supported a pathology staffing firm, a book and film festival, a leadership institute, a femtech client, a real estate broker, a dental practice, an acupuncturist, a DEI firm, a wealth advisor, a ballet academy, a national landmark, a law firm and more. All different industries, with one thing in common: all serving a specific community and working towards fulfilling their own purpose. And because we can get behind the business and our business owners, it makes our jobs easier.
And for the business owners that aren’t quite ready for the support of our team, we have an online series, The Foundation Series, that provides guided video support and 2 hours with one of our brand strategists, to make sure that we are able to meet every business owner where they are in their entrepreneurial journey.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Looking back at what some of the keys to success has been for my business over the years, the main one has absolutely been knowing that I’m living out my purpose. As an entrepreneur, some days are tough. Where you have to show up and do the things that you don’t want to do and figure things out that you may not have the answer for. Knowing that I’m living in my purpose allows me to show up and keep pushing through those hard days.
The second thing that motivates me, keeps pushing me forward, and also helps to offset the tough days, is that I love branding and marketing. I geek out over it. Because I genuinely love what I do, I get excited. I’m a true believer that if you are running a business, and you aren’t passionate about what your business does, it’s going to be an uphill battle.
The third thing that has helped me along the way was a piece of advice that I received from a business-friendly. The advice was: Build your power team. And a power team are the people who fill in the gaps for you, when it comes to running the business. For example, my power team (currently), is my fractional CFO, bookkeeper and CPA. I’ve also had a banker, business coach, and speaking coach as part of my power team. Tapping into someone who is the subject matter expert, in areas that I wasn’t familiar with, has helped get me further, faster.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
I come across a decent amount of business owners who get it wrong when it comes to their branding and marketing. It is usually because they just don’t know what they don’t know, they receive bad advice, they attempt to copy and paste their brand, or they rush their branding.
One of my goals is to get in front of business owners in the early stages, to break down any misconceptions they may have, give them a solid foundation and understanding of branding and marketing, and get them going in the right direction.
I’m always hoping to partner and collaborate with people who host entrepreneurial workshops and panel discussions, as well as business coaches/consultants and organizations who want to provide education for their clients and audience on branding and marketing.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.DFosterMarketing.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dfostermarketing
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dfostermarketing
