Photo by Sharon Pittaway on Unsplash

At a recent business “speed-dating” event sponsored by Warrenton Regional Chamber (of Commerce), members had the opportunity to spend ten minutes with individual professionals in the fields of law, insurance, social media, and marketing.

In my time with Liz Johnson of Mountain View Marketing, she quickly considered my company’s business card and asked me, “How did you choose your logo’s colors?” My response of, “The original marketing company I worked with several years ago had me choose my own colors,” certainly surprised her.

After a moment she said something like, “In my 38 years of experience, I have never once asked a client to choose their own colors. I have always recommended the best branding colors to them.  There is tremendous meaning in color. The colors you choose convey their own message.”

This was one of those times where I sat back and thought, “Hey! I already know that.” I had just forgotten that I knew.

I knew that colors have meaning because when choosing the colors of my home, inside and out, I had studied Alexandra Stoddard’s Book of Color. Check out where I’ve written about that before.    https://liftedup.us/the-color-box/

So while I had carefully and thoughtfully created a vibrant kitchen in a deep merlot with buttercream cabinets, calm bedrooms in soothing hues of blue, and a creative thinking/writing space in a lovely green, I ignored what I knew about colors’ meaning when it came time to design my logo.

Looking back I likely spent less than two hours choosing my “four hands” colors.

I chose them because they were cheerful and not with any consideration of the science behind the effect they would cast on my audiences, clients, and students.

Now, an earlier version of me might have been offended at what Liz said. We have a tendency to become defensive when someone questions our choices, don’t we?

But I became enthusiastically excited because I GOT what she was saying. And I was even happier when I won a free hour of consultation with her to choose new colors. We’ll be re-launching my logo in a meaningful palette before fall.

A new friend summed up this experience beautifully: “Even coaches need coaches. Just because we’re experts in one field doesn’t mean we’re experts in every field.”

In business, as in our personal lives, sometimes we have to step back and seek, then accept, then follow, helpful advice from someone who knows more than we do.

Admitting that we don’t know everything is the first step to wisdom.