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Are you ready for an open discussion with the best of the best and the best of what's next? Welcome to the Tony DUrso Show. Join in on a great conversation today with some of the world's great influencers as they showcase great advice and techniques that made them the game changers they are today. Now here's Tony DUrso. Tony: Welcome, I'm your host Tony DUrso. I interview some of the most successful people in the world, and I thank you for joining us. This show is dedicated to helping you turn your vision into reality, and here's a successful entrepreneur who provides insights and guidance you can use to move along your vision path, and you can listen to all of my shows on most podcast platforms. If you have Apple podcasts, AKA iTunes, please subscribe, and if you like what you hear, a kind review really makes my day. Now, before we get going, here's a big thank you to some amazing sponsors of our show. Please stay tuned for an important message from Audible®, who has the best solution for digital audio books. I'll tell you more shortly and a special note to help you find your message and build your tribe. I want to give you Russell Brunson's book for free through the mail. More info on them just ahead, so please stay tuned. Today's shows with Irina Leoni, visual branding expert. Let's see what we can learn today. Visual branding and digital marketing expert Irina Leoni has a fresh perspective on personal branding that is shaking things up for business owners. In today’s customer culture, businesses can no longer rely on logos and graphic design to communicate with their ideal clients. To break through the digital noise, entrepreneurs need to master their visual brand identity. That’s where Irina comes in. At the end of this interview, I'm going to do a summary recap of what we went over. So stay tuned for that. Here we go. Hi, Irina. Welcome to our show.

Irina:

Hi Tony. Thank you. Thank you. Glad to be here.

Tony:

Irina, I've been going through your website, going through your photos. So many! You are the visual branding expert, and I am so impressed and amazed at what you've done, and I'm actually as I mentioned to you right before this call, I'm in the middle of learning your training on how to use a smartphone, and we've got all sorts of stuff here for the audience that no matter where you are in a career or business, there's something here that you're going to learn about improving your branding. We're going to jump into that in just a few minutes, but first Irina, I want to follow your journey to success. So let's start from the beginning. How did it all start for you? What's your backstory? Irina: Wow. Well, it started when I was about 12 or 11, when my dad gave me a small film camera and allowed me to use his little dark room that was in our bathroom and develop a few films, a few photos. And yes, that was all the way back in childhood. Honestly, all I wanted to do was to spend time with my dad, because that was the only way to be next to him and do something. This is what we had in common. He was into photography and years later 10 years ago, I started my photography business. So it was way much later when the digital replaced the film. That was when I started taking pictures again and became passionate about it and learned to photograph people. Eventually I started the business. I learned everything on the go. Some people might know I was born in the former USSR. There was no such thing as business. I never heard that word when I was growing up. It was socialism. There was some bureaucracy. We're not going to get into politics, but I never heard anything about business. I didn't know how to run a business. The word was scary, but when I moved to United States, I had to learn how to do that. It was a very interesting journey. Tony: That is quite remarkable. And for those that want to see your first camera, it's on your site, which is www.irinaleoni.com and I'm going to spell that. I-R-I-N-A-L-E-O-N-I.com and it's quite something. You're all going to laugh when you see the first camera that she started with, and that makes me think of when I was your age, I didn't obviously go into photography, but to have a camera was the coolest thing in the world. And I remember because I would read comics all the time and there was an ad for a little tiny camera that was like $1.50 or something. It was the coolest thing to have, and I would get the camera and the film and I would shoot pictures all the time. Of course, it was very much of a hassle to develop. And so I was wondering if you've run into that problem because the camera's great, but then you've got to go get film, got to go get it developed, and as a kid that's expensive. And I know for you and where you lived, you had a scenario where funds were not necessarily easily available for something like that. Maybe it was looked upon as a luxury. Irina: Oh, yes. For sure. First of all, I lived in a small town and having a kid run around with a camera taking pictures was something that was amazing to a lot of people. I remember having a lot of requests 'take a picture of me'. I was into horseback riding, so every single person at the stables wanted me to take pictures of them. Everybody wanted to be my friend. That was an additional perk that I enjoyed in childhood. But yes, we had only one tiny little supply store in my hometown, and whatever was brought in somehow - I don't know, through which means to what was available for me to purchase film or paper. I could not be selective at what kind of grain or sensitivity of film I could purchase. I had to work with whatever was available and there was a lot of trial and error, definitely. And basically, I was spending all my money on that stuff. The money that I was getting from my parents for lunch, or somehow, you know, sometimes I would find some on the street. Whatever I had went to that store, and of course my dad was sharing his resources with me. Tony: How cool is that? Now I know that business was a foreign word. At what point did you have the vision that you saw yourself doing this for the rest of your life, taking wonderful portraits of people? And again, I've got to encourage you in the audience. You have got to check out her portraits. They talk, they speak. They're so unique in the ... I want to say pose, but they're not even poses. They're candid, they're authentic. It just really shows the essence and the personality of the person. And so you've got to go look up this website again – www.irinaleoni.com - while you're listening to this, because you're going to get so much more out of this interview because these photographs, they're visual and they really communicate. So Irina, at what point, where in your life, did you see yourself like, hey, I'm going to do this for the rest of my life and run around the world and take pictures of people? Irina: That is a very interesting question. Like I said, when I lived in Latvia, there was no such idea. I never thought I will have my own business. And I definitely, definitely never thought I'd be a photographer of all the things. I had the computer science education. I had a master's in computer science and I thought this is my career. I loved what I did. I loved computers. I loved coding. And it's kind of a creative way of living too, coding programs and making machines do whatever we want to do. That was exciting for me for a very long time. However, when I moved to the United States and found myself working at one of the investment firms - hang on, you'll get a kick out of this one. It was big firms making money of other peoples' money. Basically, we wrote software for investment funds. And when I looked at what I'm producing in the world, at some point - I guess it was a midlife crisis. Some people would call it that - I was just reevaluating what kind of footprint am I living in this world? What will be left behind when I am at the end of my life? And I did not like what I saw. I definitely did not think that I was producing anything exciting, interesting, or even being constructive. So it was an interesting time. A couple of years, I was just going back and forth, trying to figure out what to do with my life. I remember thinking and researching ways to buy a restaurant or hair salon. I was just looking at everything. I was looking at listings of businesses that were up online for sale. I was looking at how much people pay for business, how to promote it and I didn't know what to do with any of that. And none of that excited me until eventually people started complimenting me on my photos and specifically photos of people. I didn't think I had any talent at all and I probably didn't. I took a lot of training. I read a lot of books and eventually I bought a big fancy camera, ran around with it, photographed people for free, worked with models for free. You give them pictures. They give you their time. Took some trainings with some fashion photographers, some portrait photographers, eventually assisted some fashion photographers. And one day when I got laid off from that programming for investment funds job, it was a turnaround point. I remember walking home, running home, so happy, high-fiving one of the colleagues I met on the street, telling him hey, I just got laid off. High five! He was like, what? I couldn't care less. I was so happy that I have the money to invest in my business, and to spend some time figuring this out. I dove right in. That's how it all started. Tony: Oh, I love it. Irina, what was the purpose that you've uncovered for doing what you're doing now? What's the reason that you do this? Irina: What I'm doing right now is power portraits and teaching people about branding. That came with time. For about seven to eight years of running the business. I was just shooting everything. Anybody who would give me a call or send me an email, requesting a quote for any kind of photography service, I would consider the offer. I would make pitches. I would pursue agencies and I would just shoot everything I thought was exciting or paid any money. Eventually I got tired because honestly, doing coding in a cushy technology firm on Madison Avenue in New York was paying a lot better and taking a lot less effort - mental, emotional, and physical. So eventually I had to figure out what to do next because photography was wearing me down. And I remember I was a part of the Mastermind, a very exciting group of people and they started hiring me to do their photos. These people are the entrepreneurs, the personal brand businesses. They're the speakers. There were coaches, a lot of those. And I found that I get so excited photographing them, helping them develop that personal touch on their website, on their social media, with their audience. I learned so much through our planning sessions that I've developed training for people, which is kind of like a parallel running business. I have power portraits and I have the visual brand strategy. So that kind of helps people who want to hire me to do their photos. It helped them to learn how to approach the whole photography aspect, because a lot of people hire a wedding photographer to shoot their branding photos, and that is a huge mistake in my humble opinion, because wedding photographers run a wedding photography business, and they don't know what kind of pictures people need on their website. They don't know how to even connect with the ideal audience. They don't know who the ideal audience is. They don't examine any of those things. They basically create a bunch of pretty pictures, which is a good start. It's a good start, but it's not enough to actually take the business a notch, a level up. Tony: This is Irina Leoni, visual branding expert, and you can find her at www.irinaleoni.com. You know how to spell that, right? Okay. It's I-R-I-N-A-L-E-O-N-I.com. Beautiful Italian name and she's from Latvia. This is the Tony DUrso Show where you could learn from the wisdom and success of others to help you move on your vision path. Just ahead, the chat continues with Irina Leoni, visual branding expert, but first it's time for us to take a short break. See you back here in just a moment. Announcer: Be sure to friend us on Facebook. You can do it right now. Visit facebook.com/Voice America or search for us at keyword Voice America. Tony: It's the time of year when everyone is traveling or running around getting thoughtful gifts for the people you care about. Think about giving yourself the gift of Audible® membership. Now's the best time to do it with a special offer of 53% off your first three months. You can access an unbeatable selection of audio books, including bestsellers, motivation, mysteries, thrillers, memoirs, and more. You can choose three titles every month- one audio book and two exclusive audible originals you can't hear anywhere else. Listen on any device, anytime, anywhere with the Audible® App. It's great while commuting, at the gym or during your travels. 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That's Audible.com/D-U-R-S-O. I'll say that again. Visit Audible.com/D-U-R-S-O or text D-U-R-S-O to 500500. Check it out, sign up and tell me how much you love it. Tony: All right. We're back on the Tony DUrso Show where you can learn from the wisdom and success of others to help you move on your vision path. Let's see what we can learn today. Today's show is with Irina Leoni, visual branding expert. At the end of this interview, I'll give you a summary of what I got out of this, and I'll share some pointers with you. Stay tuned for that. A first-generation American immigrant, Irina came to the United States 15 years ago from Latvia with her newborn son. Building a business from scratch may be part and parcel of “the American dream,” but for Irina, the process was one of unexpected discovery and imagination. All right, and now back to the chat with Irina. Irina, you mentioned that this is a world of content overload and I can agree with you. There is so much out there on social media. If you're not watching it regularly, you miss what's happening with a friend, a company, something you're following. There's so much going on, and I believe you have an idea on this, if I want to call it an idea or concept, on how entrepreneurs can break through that to reach their desired audiences. Irina: Yes, I do. Yes, I do indeed. Basically, there are two main points. First of all, you need to grab attention with the images and the images are everything right now online. Whether you are reading an article or you're on social media or you're on their website, if it does not grab their attention right away, they're gone. Depends of course on how they found you, that also plays the role. This is why we're analyzing everything. When I work with a business owner, we look at their audience, we look at the business values and the personality of the business owner. Everything gets analyzed before we create the strategy and we create the mood board and then we proceed to the photo shoot. So there's a lot of planning going on. The second very important point is to relate to that ideal customer avatar that we've created. This is when again, the planning plays a very important role because we need images that will relate, that will tell the stories. And whenever a lot of personal brand business nowadays do a lot of press, they do interviews, they write articles for different media sources online, and they need photos that punctuate their stories. Every time they need to break up a text, you want to use some kind of an image that will actually make sense in the middle of an article, as opposed to just throwing some stock photo in there, because people are blocking stock photos. Our brains are so used to them, we can immediately recognize where the stock photo is being used. We block it out. We don't perceive any information from it. Unfortunately, that's how it is. So we need to pay attention to all of that when we're planning the photo shoot. Tony: Okay, I get that. That's very interesting on the stock photos. I don't think I use any. I did at the time, because once upon a time they were, they were free and easy to use and they were good for PowerPoints and so forth. But once you start getting into it, you do realize you really need something that really hits home to precisely what you're saying at the precise moment, and stock photos don't always do it for me, though I'm sure that there are ways. But that goes into another point here on social media, because as mentioned, there's so much of it and we're trying to get through. We have business owners that perhaps say that it doesn't work for them, or it's too much. It's hard to do and you now need to hire someone to take care of your social media. And then you wonder, is it really giving you what you want? Are you increasing your sales? Are you increasing exposure on your website? It's working for me just great, because I'm getting more and more audience listening to my show, which thank God, that's great. But what advice do you have for our entrepreneurs and small business owners in the audience on this? Irina: The same way we're planning the photo-shoot, same way we need to plan our social media presence. For example, if somebody is on Instagram, a lot of businesses right now are on Instagram, a lot of businesses are on Facebook, for sure, but let's say we take Instagram as an example. It's a very visual platform, and unless the business has a strategy of posts that they're making that include something relevant to the audience, something very personable, something that will connect to them on a personal level, those posts are very important to have. Then we want to also give value so we need to have some posts that bring value. Some people do videos. They teach, they give some tips, some bits of knowledge to their future customers or current customers. All of that is very important, but people forget that we all want to connect to the person behind the business much more than with what the business can provide, because at any particular moment in time, we are not necessarily in need of the services that are being offered, but eventually we might need them. And the only way people will remember us is that they're connected to us. They're still following us. They haven't muted us, right? We want to be fun. We want to be light. We want to be entertaining. We definitely don't want to come across as intense. We don't want to challenge their political or religious views, so that is very important and people don't strategize. A lot of people don't think about social media as a marketing tool, even though it's being talked about a lot online. You see everywhere some articles or videos or trainings about how to turn social media around, how to make it your marketing tool. But unfortunately, when you go on Instagram or Facebook, you see people are still posting about politics on their profiles, or they're posting pet videos and there's not much going on in terms of promoting the business or trying to connect to the audience. Tony: Those are some great points, Irina and again like you, when someone has something hateful or they're angry about something or complaining about something or political, I just turn it off because that's not what I'm interested at that time. I'm sure some of that stuff resonates with others, but for me, I always resonate with helping entrepreneurs, small business owners, expand and grow. And I found very successful because again, I thank God. I thank the Creator for bringing me such a great amount of audience here. I issue information, quotes, things that I've learned, things that are hard won that can help people such as just take action. You know, sometimes there's people to just think and think and think about stuff, plan forever, but you also have to just take action so that's one of my quotes. I find when you put personal photos ...again, this all leads back to you and your brand that you knew, when you put personal photos of yourself and what you're doing in different settings, not posed settings, not like the wedding or family portrait, it really communicates so much more what that person is. We've heard this probably in the past, some of you, a picture is worth a thousand words. I think it's worth 10,000 words because it says so much about the person and you can see - for lack of a better word - the authenticity of the person just emanates from those photos. Irina: Yes, indeed. I agree. And to add to that, I have to say that nowadays professional photos, professionally taken photos on social media are not as impactful as they used to be. Nowadays again, on social media, we see right away when something is being promoted and our brain flags it. On social media, I always recommend to post photos that are taken in the moment, on the go with a smartphone, the selfies, the snapshot, something that is not perfect. This is why I created the smartphone photography training by the way, because people were asking me how do I take better photos with my phone? They look at my Instagram feed and they say your photos are amazing, even though they're taken with the phone, but this is the thing. There are only a few things that we need to know to take a better photo. It's lighting, the composition. If they learn these two crucial things, and of course wiping the lens of the phone, every time they try to take a picture, trust me, the photos are going to be so much better. And this is what we are seeking out when we're on social media. I log into Facebook; I don't want to be sold to. I am looking for relief, for stress relief in a way or a distraction, right? Tony: Oh, I like that. That's why you go to Facebook is to get away from it all, to relax, not because you have to buy something. I like that point of view. Irina: Selling needs to become much more subtle. I have a few friends who are successful business owners, and all they do is sell on social media. I don't see anything personal, but for example, one of them has a really cute pug and he creates these memes with his little dog that is the personal connection that he creates with his audience. It's very good. He's still selling a bit too much in my opinion, because every ...well, let's say only every fifth or six posts is personal. Everything else is selling, selling, selling. I would turn it around and a lot more people will see his posts. Here's the thing with social media. It's very important to remember that the algorithm right now recognizes when people react like, comment, or share your posts and the more people react to your posts, the more they will see it. So if you're selling all the time, chances are people are going to see your post less and less. Because even if people find your post valuable, they click the link, they go follow and fill out something. They may even buy. Social media won't know it because they just left the platform and they didn't leave a reaction, and the algorithm doesn't register their interaction with your account. So next time, they're going to be less likely to see anything you're posting. This is why it's so important to have these smartphone pictures, smart phone taking pictures on the go, personal stories. Hey, I'm at the conference. I'm having drinks with my friend. This is my friend. This is my dog. This is my baby. I'm simplifying things. Obviously, we can be a lot more creative and entertaining with our personal posts, but I'm simplifying. Anything that people can relate to - the travel. Aspiration marketing is huge. We can use all these ideas in our personal posts and connect to the audience. One of my favorite accounts on Instagram has a dog and his theme is find the dog in all his pictures. A lot of photos are taken with a smartphone. The guy's a photographer. I must admit he knows what he's doing, but a lot of photos are taken with a smartphone. And every time I see the photo posted, I'm looking for that dog in the photo, whether it's in the window somewhere or under the fence, or there's a tail in the front or in the back somewhere, I'm looking for the dog. I'm interacting. I love that account. Tony: That's very interesting, and that brings home a great point where back then in the day, it was just some information about a company and their logo or some good graphics, but times have changed so much. When I see just the same logo over and over and over again on some site, it's not what I'm there for as we've mentioned earlier. I'm there for some relief or I'm there to learn something, and just pushing the logo in front of my face just doesn't do it, but having something more candid, more spontaneous, then perhaps with the logo that really does do it. Tony: This is the Tony DUrso Show where you could learn from the wisdom and success of others to help you move on your vision path. Just ahead, the chat continues with Irina Leoni, visual branding expert, but first it's time for us to take a short break. See you back here in just a moment. Announcer: Follow us on Twitter at Voice America TRN. Get the lowdown on guests, new shows and your favorites. That's Voice America TRN. Tony: Hey guys. What if people would actually pay you for your advice? Sounds cool, huh? Well, I'm going to actually give you a free book to help you find your message, build your tribe and change the world. 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We're back on the Tony DUrso Show where you can learn from the wisdom and success of others to help you move on your vision path. Let's see what we can learn today. Today's show is with Irina Leoni, visual branding expert. At the end of this interview, I'll give you a summary of what I got out of this, and I'll share some pointers with you. Stay tuned for that. And now back to the chat with Irina. You know, for part of my audience, the entrepreneur, the solopreneur, even the small business owner, I go to events. We all go to events. We go to conferences or trade shows, whatever. For me in my mind, I don't always think of pulling out my camera and taking a photo of something. But then again, you know, we're not necessarily going to have our own photographer follow us around. So how do we get past that moment? Because it's only after I'm done with the event and the whole thing I go, Oh, you know, I should have taken some photos, but I just don't. How can I get into that mindset, Irina? Irina: It's a matter of developing a habit, honestly. We're always surrounded by people. There's always somebody you can ask to take our pictures. People who are way into running their business typically have interns or assistants, so this can be assigned or delegated. I would have my VA remind me if I'm going to the conference to take photos. It's a matter of developing the habit. However, I find myself during the event - because you brought that up - during the event, it's very difficult to focus on that because you're in the moment. You're always talking to somebody. You're rushing to a meeting. You're rushing to a session. There's an exciting keynote going on. The room is dark. The pictures are terrible anyway, and we forget about our phone. It's the thing. It's kind of a balance. You have to develop that habit. Tony: I think so. And hopefully with this interview, it'll help me as well as members of the audience to get that, because I'll go to events like I've just said, and I'll come back and it's like, ah, I should have taken photos, but you're running around. You're doing stuff. That mindset just doesn't hit. Irina: That's the thing. The other thing is you can always follow hashtags from the event and you can always share other folks' pictures. They will be happy. Tony: That's a great idea. Irina: Yes, especially on Instagram. There are apps that allow you to share somebody else's posts. You don't even have to ask the permission most of the time, because the app automatically creates this little graphic that shows whose original post this is. You are just resharing. It's a great way to find content from the events where you forgot to take pictures. Tony: I liked that, and I am a little remiss on taking photos, but that's going to help me a lot, because then I could say, Hey, I met this guy or I did this, or whatever, whatever. Good. Those are good points there and I appreciate that. Now I presume for businesses that want to sell or promote or engage with a particular culture, you and I were both not originally from the United States, but we are both American now. You wouldn't know I was Italian from my accent because I grew up in Chicago. But when you want to reach that ethnicity or that type of people, you need to have that type of photos, but that may not necessarily be what your company is. So right now, to me, it seems like a juxtaposition here where my company does X, but I want to reach Y market. So how can you merge both together in some good, engaging photos. Irina: This is when the analysis of the ideal audience and the business owner comes useful, because we can combine the values, the shared values between the two different entities. Geez, a fancy word. Wow! I feel very smart. Deciding what is it that we want to promote as our business value, as the point of connection with our audience. We're not talking specifically about an ethnic group or a religious group, but some businesses have that, of course, but typically it's the human connection that needs to happen and we all have the same problems, same heartaches, same stresses. We all want to put our kids through college, pay our bills, go on vacation, eat something nice for Thanksgiving. All of that stuff is connecting us together as people and on social media, we don't need much more than that or online. In the stories that we tell people, it's just showing them that there's something outside of their little world, showing them how we deal with our stresses, how we deal with our unmet expectations or the transformation that we're selling. Showing that in photos is powerful. Tony: And we may have touched upon this, but I want to drill into it a little bit and that is we all are educated now that we have an avatar. We have that ideal person or type of person or class of person that is the best suited for our business or whatever we do. How can we use this visual branding that you do, training and all of this? How can we use this to really get in touch with our avatar? Irina: Imagine a business - I'm just going to go with the example here, because every business is different and there is no single pattern that can be applied to everybody. But imagine the person who is teaching people who sit behind the desk in cubicles their entire life and they don't interact with people very much so they're not very social. They're more introverted than extroverted. Let's call them programmers, which is what they are. Let's say this person is teaching them something about overcoming their fear of people or society. This is a very specific audience and the way to connect with them, this business will analyze very closely how do these people feel when they go out and they have to socialize with somebody? What are they like in social situations? What are they like on their first date? There's a lot of ways to approach them. You create a very specific situation. You paint a very clear picture in their minds and you're addressing their fears, and then you're selling them the transformation that you're offering. Does that answer your question? Tony: Yes, that makes some good points. And for the solopreneur, for the small business owner to really get into this, I highly recommend getting some smartphone training. I'm in the process of actually... Irina's free smartphone training that you'll find on her site at www.irinaleoni.com and there's some great training there, and I recommend getting that and doing that and raising your awareness and your skill level on taking photos so that you can take more, so that I can take more when I go out and use that because you're at an event, you're at a trade show, you're speaking, whatever. I mean, all the times I've spoken, I've never taken photos from my stage to the audience. I'm thinking now, while we're having this conversation, I should be doing this. I just pull out my phone and say to people, hang on one second and take some pictures. It would be so cool. And if you get into that mode, dear audience, and start training a little bit, just move up a few levels. You'll take more photos. You'll use them more on social media. You'll engage more with your audience and it starts with the training. So I do recommend that because this is going to help take your business to the next level, or if it's a startup that you have out there, you're going to need some good photos of your startup, your customer, your product, your service, whatever, and something like that will help. So I highly recommend the training. Irina, do I have to say anything else to people about the training? They'll just go to your website and they'll find it, right? Irina: Yes. It's right there in the menu. Direct link. Tony: Oh, good. All right. Now this is of course photos, images, pictures. These are visual. As we mentioned before, a picture can give a thousand words and I say 10,000 words because it's more than just the words. It engages on more depth, almost 3D. There's just so much more to it. And I think we'll get a lot more benefit out of using real photos, and by real, I don't mean a slight or anything. I just mean us engaging or our product engaging in something. I think this will help develop your brand, and as Irina calls it, your brand's personality. Irina, let's talk about brand personality. All these photos that we do on our services, on our brands, on our products, it helps develop who we are, and the more live photos, real photos, the more I believe people engage. Let's drill down into brand personality. How does that work? Irina: Basically, we develop a set of pictures that covers our higher online platform. And by the way, I have a list of photos if you want to give it to your audience, I have a list of photos that every personal brand business needs to have to cover their website, their social media, their marketing, their PR, and these photos start as simple as simple as a headshot for any submissions that we need for the articles to the stories that we tell, because as a personal brand, it's very important to have the stories that we're going to tell to our audience and connect with them on a human level. So, for example, I have a Google doc where I have, I don't remember how many exactly, let's say 10 to 20 stories that I've written and I use them in my speeches on the stage, sometimes in the interviews. These are the things that I want to tell people about me so they feel like, Oh, okay. She's cool. She's done that. I've never done that before. I've never heard that before. That's interesting. Let me check out her website. So we need to have a set of photos that punctuate those stories. And then we need to have a consistent flow of social media pictures, typically taken with our smartphone, but also the videos, the live videos that we do, stories of people who are into the stories on Instagram, which is s very powerful tool nowadays. All of these things, all of these photos are developing the personality behind the brand. Stories that we tell in the articles, in the posts, in the interviews, this is all personality of the brand. How do we present ourselves? What do we wear? Are we goofy? Are we funny? Are we somber? Hopefully not. Goofy works nowadays. Tony: Irina, tell us. What are you looking to accomplish in the next few years? Irina: That's a good question. When people ask me that I usually want to get into the tirade of, I try not to make plans because they have never came through for me. Life goes on and things change all the time, as well as my interests and the goals. But what I definitely want to do more of is speak to larger audiences and teach them more about how photos can affect the way people perceive their brand. Because we talk a lot about the copywriting. We talk a lot about Facebook ads and Google ads and promoting and PR, and all that stuff is very well covered online. But unfortunately, not too many sources are mentioning how to use visuals, and I don't mean logos and colors and the web design. How to use videos and photos to develop, promote the brand and connect with the audience. Tony: This is the Tony DUrso Show where you could learn from the wisdom and success of others to help you move on your vision path. Just ahead, the chat continues with Irina Leoni, visual branding expert, but first it's time for us to take a short break. See you back here in just a moment. Announcer: We're making it easier to listen to the Voice America talk radio network live wherever you go - on iPhone, Blackberry or Android. Download it from the Apple iTunes App store, Blackberry App World, or Android market. Tony: All right. We're back on the Tony DUrso Show where you can learn from the wisdom and success of others to help you move on your vision path. Let's see what we can learn today. Today's show is with Irina Leoni, visual branding expert. At the end of this interview, I'll give you a summary of what I got out of this, and I'll share some pointers with you. Stay tuned for that. Irina's Eastern European roots contributed to a unique visual aesthetic that Irina knew could change the face of digital marketing for her clients. Now, she helps business owners create personal branding platforms with visual impact that pull customers in and leave them wanting more. And now back to the chat with Irina. Irina, are there any personal habits that contribute to your vision success? Irina: Well, my morning routine is incredibly important. I have to get exercise every day. It gives me the energy and the optimism to get through the day, the week, whatever the challenge is that I'm facing. Without exercise, things don't look as bright, especially where I live. I know you are in California. Good for you. I live in New Jersey. Half the year it's pretty grim here. Tony: I lived in Chicago and I did my share for a number of years. I was a paper route boy, and I was out there seven days a week at 4:35 AM. I know what cold is. I know what weather is and I'm so glad I'm not there anymore. Sorry, people from Chicago. You guys all got to just check out California. Irina: Yeah, California is awesome. I'm going to show up there in January or February. Tony: You definitely have to look me up when you come out this way. Please reach out to me. I'd love to see what could result. Irina: Definitely. Coffee's on me. Tony: Thank you. And are there any great resources to share with our audience visionaries? Irina: I have a few resources available for download on one of my websites. They can have a PDF that combines the list of most important photos. They can also get a photo shoot plan because people when they're planning for the ...well, let's put it this way. A lot of people don't even plan their photo shoot. They think the photographer will show up, read their mind and figure everything out. Fortunately, that does not work that way. So I've developed a PDF that is free to download and use with any photographers that they want to hire. Please use it. You're welcome. There is also a quick PDF that teaches people how to edit their photos, their smartphone photos on the go, on the phone and make them look even better. Tony: Ooh, I like that. And where do we find that on your site, Irina? Irina: All of that stuff is available on www.visualbrandmastery.com - one word Tony: www.visualbrandmastery.com, and if we go to www.irinaleoni.com, is there a link to that just in case? Irina: The trainings are available through the link. Yes. Tony: Very good. Well, thank you so much. Once again, this is Irina Leoni, visual branding expert. She's regaled us with so much knowledge on this. I hope that everyone out here that's listening takes advantage of this and you can find her at www.irinaleoni.com. I-R-I-N-A-L-E-O-N-I.com, and the other one for some of the PDFs is visualmastery.com. Did I say that right? Irina: www.visualbrandmastery.com Tony: That's what I said. www.visualbrandmastery.com. Thank you so much, Irina. I absolutely loved it and this has definitely got me interested to take more photographs of what's going on and what I'm doing, so thank you. Irina: You're welcome. Thank you. I had so much fun Tony: To my visionary audience, thanks for hanging out with me while I featured an elite entrepreneur who took her vision to reality. I hope this was as inspiring for you as it was for me to do this interview. I learned so much about photos and social media and branding and positioning. How did you like the interview with Irina Leoni, visual branding expert? Did you get a chance yet to check out her website at www.irinaleoni.com and check out her first camera, as well as the photos that she takes? I'm serious when I say I'm impressed with her work. Any photographers in my audience? Please chime in with what you think. Can you imagine growing up and not even knowing the word 'business' exists, and being so poor that any kind of entrepreneurial activity is so remote, it's not even a possibility? I can share the same with me. I never expected it. I never thought about it. It never came to mind. What's the most interesting here and the most fascinating, and I have other guests that run into this too, is that when the right opportunity comes along, a new business activity sometimes seems to be born right along with it, such as having a camera as a kid. My case in point. I'm interested i you have any kind of interesting story on this as well, and would love if you would share that with me. Did you laugh out loud when Irina told the story of how happy she was when she got laid off? Did that ever happen to you? Have you ever hired a photographer to make special images for your website or perhaps your head shots? Irina is so correct on her photographer comment. Once I went to someone who was a good photographer, but specialized in weddings. We did a photo shoot for headshots. I thought they came out okay. I'm being kind. My wife instantly saw they were not right for my image. I hired another portrait photographer and did another photo shoot and this time the head shots were exactly what I needed. Yeah, the price wasn't what I was excited about but the end product was amazing. Absolutely amazing! Interesting, isn't it? Did you follow our conversation about content overload and how you can break through that? Do you use a lot of stock photos as we discussed? If so, how's that working out for you? Do you plan your social media against a strategy? I highly recommend working one out if you don't have a great strategy. You'll find tips and pointers in my free book, the Vision Map available on my home page. Did you know that I discussed strategy and how that fits into your vision planning for your business? Yup, I do. And it's free right now. Irina makes some great points about selling on social media. Did you follow along with all of that? The current social media algorithms recognize when people react, like, comment or share your posts. The more this occurs, the more the post is seen by other people and so on. Thus, if all you do is sell, that creates less engagements and therefore less people see your posts. Makes sense, right? There's so much more I got out of this interview. What did you get? I'd love to know how you use this information to help in your business or career. Tell us, tell the world. Tweet me at Tony D-U-R-S-O. Now grab hold of your vision. Decide you're either going to start something great or take it to the next level. You have to decide first. You know that. It always starts with a decision and you can get my Vision Map to help you along the process. The free eBook is at Tony D-U-R-S-O.com. I created my empire in just a few years. That's all it took. I had the Vision Map as my guide. I wrote it up so that you can do it too. Please follow me on social media. You can find most of those links on the homepage at Tony D-U-R-S-O.com, and you can also get the Vision Map there. And if you have iTunes or access to any Apple device, look up my name, Tony D-U-R-S-O and please subscribe to my show. A kind review there will get you tremendous appreciation back in return. Thanks, and remember: just take action. Success awaits those who persevere and remain steadfast despite the odds. Sow good seeds, do good deeds and join me on the next episode of the Tony DUrso Show Announcer: We hope you've enjoyed this week's edition of the Tony DUrso Show with his key influencers. Be sure to tune in again next Friday at 5:00 PM Eastern time, 2:00 PM. Pacific time on the Voice America INFLUENCERS channel.