Welcome to Seek, Go Create the Leadership Journey, the podcast for

Christian entrepreneurs and faith driven leaders who want to redefine success.

I'm your host, Tim Winders, and here we explore how to lead with purpose,

build businesses with integrity, and align your work with your faith.

Whether you're navigating challenges, seeking fulfillment, or striving

to make an impact, this is your space to grow, to grow, to Innovate

and create a life that matters.

Let's dive in.

How can faith-driven organizations not only survive, but thrive

in today's marketplace?

Meet Justin Eklund, a branding expert, author, and speaker

dedicated to answering this question.

With over 25 years in advertising, Justin has crafted a unique niche

by merging faith with business to create compelling brand identities

that drive both profit and purpose.

His book Brand For Impact serves as a roadmap for leaders looking to infuse

their spiritual values into their professional ventures, promising not just

economic success, but eternal impact.

We'll explore how Justin's approach helps organizations elevate their

mission and achieve sustainable growth.

Justin, welcome to Seek Go Create.

thanks.

It's a pleasure to be on.

I'm excited that you're on too.

You're coming in from a cold climate.

I'm in the warmth, so we'll see if we can merge these two

together and have some fun.

I just read your book over the last few days, so we're gonna have fun

with, branding and impact and purpose and business and lots of cool things.

Before we jump in, though, this is not even really a good icebreaker question

anymore, but it's kind of a deep thing, so I'm gonna give you a choice.

What would you prefer to answer?

What do you do?

Kinda like the icebreaker e question or who are you choose and start answering.

Hmm.

I think those questions go together for me.

I'm gonna start with who I am, which will lead into what I do.

I've been doing marketing and advertising my entire life, it

seems like from a young age.

I was selling things out on the corner and.

doing fundraisers and trying to be an entrepreneur, even from a very young age.

And I think that's always been in my blood.

And then my parents are both artists.

And so that creativity piece has always been a part of, I am as well.

And in high school I went to a Christian youth conference, called Christ in Youth.

And the last day we, there was a, an invitation to come forward if

you felt like God was calling you into full-time vocational ministry.

And for some reason I felt that tug on my heart and I felt like this

is, this is a big decision, but I feel like God wants me to do this.

So I went forward, made that commitment.

I had no idea what that was gonna entail in my life, but I knew I

God wanted me to, to be involved in ministry professionally somehow.

So I went to Bible college, discovered quickly that God was

not calling me to be a preacher or a missionary or a youth pastor.

And so I was a little, you know.

Confused, wondering, okay, God, you called me into ministry, but this doesn't seem

like this is where you want me to be.

So, prior to that, I had done some internships with advertising agencies

and you know, that's interesting to me, so at least I'm gonna get my degree.

came back here to Wichita State University, got a degree in marketing

and advertising, started climbing the corporate ladder, doing all

the, the things you do, in the, in the advertising world, and,

and really, became, experienced and talented at writing strategic

marketing plans for organizations, for companies, and helping them succeed.

So, you know, this seemed like is, this is kind of who God's created me to be.

I'm thriving in business and in creativity and in this area of advertising.

So, long story short, God called me in, in a really cool way to a

missions organization called ywam.

I didn't know.

It felt like a detour from my professional path, but I felt like I couldn't say no.

It was also in Maui, Hawaii, so that didn't hurt.

So I went there, did three months of training in Maui, and then the plan

was to go to the Philippines for three months and minister to the surf culture.

Well, there were a lot of California people on my team,

and they were much better surfers than I was being from Kansas.

So I ended up in India.

They needed a worship leader, and so I went on the India team and had the

most incredible three months of my life just ministering to, and making

friends with some of the most gracious, humble, generous people I've ever met.

so that was my missions for a, they asked me to stay on and do

communications and marketing for them, and I did that for a while.

Really felt called back to Wichita, which.

It's only God if he can move you from Hawaii back to Kansas.

Right?

So came back here, met my wife, I was, playing in a worship band.

I looked down from the stage and there was this light coming down from heaven and,

you know, this beautiful woman down there.

So came down, met my wife.

we were, you know, six months later we were married and we've

been married 20, almost 26 years now, which is pretty awesome.

And, she had a, she had a job at the time and so my friend started

a medical missions nonprofit and he said, would you come and do development

and marketing for me for free?

I'm like, okay, that doesn't seem like again, the career path is not

a, is not going in the direction I thought it was going to go.

But I really felt like God was saying for that he wanted me to do this.

So I did.

Got him really, off to a strong start.

Music has been a part of this journey.

Ended up leading worship for a youth group, in town.

And my friend, who was the youth pastor, as soon as I got there,

he left and they said, all right, would you stay and be the youth?

You know, be the youth pastor for a while.

And then after that think we'd like you to do communications for us and

we don't have a job and it's not even gonna be full time and we don't know

if it's gonna work out, but we know this is what you do and we would love

you to do it for us here at the church.

So after my wife and I prayed about it, we did it.

And looking back in retrospect, I had a front row seat to watch God grow that

little church of 500 to over 5,000.

In 14 years with, five campuses and tremendous life change, tremendous

impact, all of that is just really God's leading and God's guidance.

And, somehow I had the good sense or the courage to be obedient

to where he was leading me, even when it didn't make sense.

So that was, marketing and ministry all wrapped into one and looking

back, you're like, Hey, God, this is what you called me to do.

So 10 years ago we've felt like, hey, we've done, we've done what God

called us to do here at the church.

Now we feel like he's calling us into the marketplace to help

purpose-driven, leaders, business owners, entrepreneurs make a greater kingdom

impact through the work that they do.

Not only in ministry, but in the marketplace and really helping them

understand that they can, see their work as a sacred activity and really

grow their business, whatever it is, glorify God at the same time, then,

at the same time really infuse their faith into their brand, and have a more

impactful, presence in the marketplace and be more successful ultimately.

So our company, Grove Nine is 10 years old.

We've been doing that, for the past 10 years, and it's just been a neat journey

to look back and see God's faithfulness, throughout every step of the journey.

Well, one thing that's curious to me, you mentioned that both

your parents were artists what type artists were your parents?

So fine arts painting and they both had fine arts degrees, so

would they were, in the marketplace at all or were they in education or were

they creating that, what was, I guess I'm trying to get to, you mentioned you were

selling things at a young age and things like that in a family of two artists, so

help me connect a few dots right there.

Yeah.

I think the artistic DNA is just part of, who God made me to be.

they weren't, commercial successes or teachers or anything like that.

They just enjoyed art.

God had given them talent for drawing and painting and creating.

I got a little bit of that, but I also got this business side,

It's really interesting.

When I went to college for advertising, you kinda have to choose, are you gonna

an artist and a designer or are you gonna be more on the business side of things?

I was really torn because I enjoyed both of those.

now running my own agency, it's been really cool to be able to

do the strategy and also, be involved in the creative execution.

Hmm.

So this is the part of the, episode where if any of our parents are listening,

I'll say, maybe turn it off for a minute.

I don't wanna throw parents under the bus.

But both my parents were educators.

I thought that I was gonna be a coach and teacher, et cetera, until I

found out how much money my dad made.

And I didn't realize we were poor.

But, did.

Any of the desire for financial success drive you at a younger age?

And specifically, did you see something in your parents that you desired or

possibly didn't want to be that way?

Growing up, and again, we've already asked the parents not to listen in, so

we're not blaming them on anything.

no, that's a great question.

I do think that at that intersection during college, everyone told me,

you can be a starving artist or you can be in business and maybe

be financially more successful.

So I'd be lying if I said that didn't enter into the equation at all.

Well, I think that's part of our journey.

And I think sometimes as people of faith, we don't want to admit that, but that

was what drove me in the eighties, man.

I was go, go, go eighties.

I was gonna make me some money, and that was what the Lord used to get my attention

because I was saved in more of a business setting than even in a church setting.

So, I think it's okay because then what happens is later

in life the Lord uses that.

Like he's using you right now and all to kind of bring some

of these things together.

you brought up, so this is a good time to ask this question.

You brought up that you were around a church for a number of years and then,

it grew and I'm sure your role and probably your job and pay and different

things like that hopefully went up.

I sometimes get a little bit snarky about church world.

It's like, we've got this great talent, but you need to serve the Lord.

You need to do it for free here.

But then you kind of left there and went into marketplace.

I think this would be a good time to put a stake in the ground.

And I want to ask contrast the differences that you saw at that time

or maybe even today, I guess between traditional church world and marketplace.

Hmm.

You know, I think there's a misperception out there between

the sacred and the secular.

I think that business owners, business people in the church

feel like their job is maybe less than, spiritual than the pastor.

And I think that's really important to dispel that myth.

And I've grown in my understanding and my belief on that as well.

And, God's the author of work and he invented it.

He created it and.

Therefore it is a sacred activity.

you know, the Bible talks about if, if we're doing it to his glory, then that's

also part of what he's created us to do.

So I really wanted to, not redeem is too strong of a word, but when we started

this company, I really wanted to help Christian business owners understand

that your work is just as sacred and just as impactful for eternity as the

person on the stage giving the sermon.

Hmm.

So you mentioned you went to bible school.

I went to bible school a few years ago, about seven or eight years ago.

And, just to kind of throw a little bit of gas on that fire.

I just got started with this divide between marketplace and

full-time ministry type things.

I noticed that there was a real pecking order with, with the way

they talked about certain roles.

you know, it's kinda like the missionary to a third world country is number one.

I, I do wanna say that a missionary to Maui, though I'm not sure where that would

fall in the pecking order, and especially.

To surfers.

Come on.

I mean, that's like, I don't wanna get off track, but good gracious.

That got me thinking about things and then, you know, then it was maybe

evangelist, pastor, et cetera, et cetera.

And then, you know, businessman, used, car salesman, lawyer, you know, that's

like the pecking order and all that.

And did you notice that when you were going through your schooling?

I think your bible school was probably at a younger age than mine was.

Yeah, I think there's some perception of that out there.

And yeah, it all comes back to that idea that, you know, what is ministry?

And, you know, understanding that everything that we put our

hand to, to the glory of God can be and should be ministry.

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, I've been doing a read through the gospels and, you know, the 12

that Jesus picked to hang out that.

Got this big party that we're celebrating in now started, none of them were

the scholars and the biblical, you know, religious people of the day.

They were fishermen, tax collectors and zealots and other type.

They would be the entrepreneurs of the world.

how long did you say you were in the church setting

that went from 500 to 5,000?

Yeah.

Over 14 years.

Wow.

Alright, so you learned a ton there.

Tell me some real takeaways you had, maybe just about organization and

organizational growth in general, but then maybe drop down and talk about what

you've learned in that environment that fed into, you know, the last 10 years in

branding for impact and things like that.

Because I'm sure you saw a lot of things that worked really well and

you probably had your hands in it and then maybe some things that didn't.

So just take some time and talk about that experience.

'cause I think there's a lot to learn there.

Yeah.

You know, a church as a nonprofit organization, is different

than marketplace organization.

And so I think there's a lot you can learn about how to grow.

and have, I think healthy things grow and there's, I think God uses

our intellect and our strategy, the what He's put that inside of us in

addition to just our heart, right?

And so he wants us to be thinking, Christians, and he wants us to be

strategic and he wants us to use all of the faculties that he's given

us, to move his kingdom forward.

So understanding that growth mindset isn't a bad thing, I think is important.

a church grows through really the people that believe in the mission.

Life change.

we were constantly telling stories of how God was transforming people's lives.

it all comes down to your why.

It comes down to what you believe and what you're called to do.

And when your why resonates with your audience's, why

you're gonna have a really.

Wonderful strong connection and community that you're gonna be able to build.

And I think that's true in the church, and that's true in the business world,

and in the nonprofit world as well.

So telling stories of life change, telling stories of transformation,

that's how you engage people's hearts and ultimately engage their resources,

which is so closely tied to our hearts.

And I think really important for any nonprofit to understand when you're

asking for money, when you're trying to raise funds, when you're development,

when you're looking for volunteers, it's gotta be about the why and the

mission and the calling, then all of those other things fall into place.

One of the things when we get into marketing and even branding and sales and.

You just mentioned the word growth, all of those things.

It for people with certain personalities, mine, it can sometimes

be a slippery slope, Justin, where

Hmm.

you begin going down a path where you say something to the effect of,

well, if we, if we had more revenue or if we had more people in the

seats, we could have a bigger impact.

We could have a bigger budget, we could do more.

And so then we begin justifying certain tactics or techniques,

and I'll, I'll throw this word out here, manipulation possibly in the

arena that, that you may operate in.

How can we keep those things in check?

And, and again, I know you, you may have been in a church environment

that you're still connected with, so I don't want you to.

Saying, say negative about them, but I like to have candid conversations here.

What are some challenges in a local church that's going through growth?

They believe that they've got a call to church, their town or their

area and you know, there are certain ways you could do things that might

be shortcuts or things like that.

talk a little bit about that, that challenge.

Yeah, I mean, I think it comes down to the heart of the leader, and that's,

that's really most important thing.

are we serving God with integrity, with excellence, with honesty is, our,

I can talk about this later, but we founded our company on the, the Fruit

of the Spirit in the Book of Galatians.

And I think if a church is following and growing in the fruit of the spirit going

to help inform those decisions, it's gonna help their motives be pure and their,

You know, a lot of times in the church there's this idea of, you know, church

stealing or, you know, member stealing or taking, taking somebody from this church.

And, you know, that was, that's, that's not a healthy thing.

That's not something that, that I think, sincere churches are ever trying to do.

I think there are, the statistics are overwhelming in terms of the number

of unchurched in our communities.

there are so many who are not connected to a, a faith fellowship in any way.

there's so much opportunity out there and people resonate with

different styles in different, methods and different denominations.

And you know, I think it's important for a church to have the greatest

influence that it can and build as much awareness as possible and say, this is

who we are, this is what we believe, and this is how, this is how we do it.

And if that's interesting to you, you know.

Come and be a part of it, come check it out and see what happens.

So I, you never want growth for growth's sake.

You wanna always have growth for kingdom, for kingdom purposes.

And it's about people to Christ and helping them grow

into fully devoted followers.

And I think if that's your heart and that informs every, that's the lens

that you make decisions through, I think that's gonna keep a church, on track.

one thing that fascinates me and you did a great job in the book, brand for Impact.

I've got it right over here, is the reason I'm glancing over there.

Got it on my Kindle here.

One of the things you did a great job of is you went through some techniques

and all, which was awesome, but you also brought some stories in of real

world leaders that are out doing this.

I, I'll make a statement then I'll let you respond to it.

One of the things I observe, 'cause I work with nonprofits and also work

with for-profit, and my observation is this, in the nonprofit world,

many times leaders struggle.

Yeah, with bringing in what I'll term as Babylonian or worldly techniques, methods,

et cetera, to function and operate and grow their organization in the for-profit

world, what I notice is, is they're operating in the Babylonian system and

they're attempting to lead with faith.

Then, like you mentioned, the gifts of the spirit and things like that.

I'll kind of frame that and just maybe let you respond because

I know you work with both.

What do you see related to that?

Also similar tension or some different things.

Hmm.

You know, I think there are so many faith-driven leaders in the

marketplace who desire and feel a calling do more with their business.

They, there's something inside of them saying, I wish I could share

my faith or express my faith a more profound way through the thing that

I do with the majority of my life.

Right?

We spend so much of our time at work, yet there seems to be this chasm

between their personal life their faith, expression, and then what

they do for a living, their business.

And, know, there are reasons that we uncovered during the research

for why that's true, Yeah.

You know, more often than not, we just saw leaders who were so

hesitant let those two worlds touch.

And so, obviously you interviewed and spoke to a number of them that

are able to merge those together.

What are some things that you observed in those people that

appear to, or are doing it well?

You know, courage is the big one, and I think that's the leaders

who have really done it well have said, this is who we are.

is who I am.

I'm the leader of the organization and this is what I believe and this

is what God's calling me to do with this business, with this company.

if it works, it works.

And if it doesn't, then know, we'll figure something else out.

If I'm going to be in business and I'm going to have a platform,

gonna make sure that God is represented clearly in what I do.

And I think that's the first step is just having the willingness

to really take a stand and say, this is what it's going to be.

we're gonna be unashamed about expressing our faith and the purpose gets us up every

morning and leads us to do what we do.

building widgets with excellence and with integrity.

reason we do it ultimately is to glorify God.

And we're not going to be afraid to say it.

You know, we're, we're gonna close on Sunday and if it hurts our

business, it hurts our business.

and we've, we've all seen how that's worked out for Chick-fil-A.

I'm from Atlanta originally.

I've been to their headquarters and I don't eat a lot of fast food anymore.

Some people might say it's blasphemous not to get you a good old godly

chicken sandwich every once in a while.

I'm not totally sure.

I agree with that.

However, yesterday my wife was out and about, had some errands to run.

I was doing some work and she brought me a 12 pack of nuggets in and

truthfully, they were quite divine.

I enjoyed it thoroughly and true at Kathy.

job.

Kathy spoke at her graduation when she graduated at Georgia

State University a few years ago.

Wow.

So one of the things that's interesting is fascinating to me, is I get to

prepare and study up on, on the leaders and people like you that I talked to.

I read your book this week, brand for Impact.

We're gonna talk more about it here in just a moment.

And I'm also preparing for next week's guest.

I believe that's when it'll fall, it's Ken Gosnell and he works with CEOs that

are working towards being well done.

I mean, not being well done, but at the end of their journey they can say it was

well done and we know what the reference to that scripture is being Well done.

That might've been a, that might've been an interesting slip

of the tongue there, but, but.

But you, you used the word and it came up in his book too.

So it's like rolling around in my head quite a bit.

And it's a word that means quite a bit to me.

And, and it's the word stewardship.

I really see a lot of leaders both in profit and nonprofit that, that

aren't doing well, that aren't getting the message of well done,

that we will talk about next week's episode that are not stewards.

They really perceive themselves as owners of everything in the organization.

But the ones that seem to do well,

they treat their organization more as they're a steward

of it and they don't own it.

And you talk about that a good bit in your book, talk about stewardship.

I.

Hmm.

some tremendous examples out there of, business leaders who have done this well.

And one of the companies that we interviewed, metal Forging

company called Well Deloy.

he was inspired by reading a book called God Owns My Business by Stanley Tam.

It's such a wonderful example of that idea of stewardship, right?

This is not my stuff.

I'm simply the steward of these resources that he's entrusted to me.

And that changes everything.

When you have that mindset, it allows you to hold loosely to,

those things and make decisions not based on fear, but based on faith.

And, you know, that's, tremendously freeing.

and as we know, you can't outgive God.

And these are his resources and he always returns that blessing in multiple ways.

And I think that's something that I hope people get from the

book is this idea of stewardship.

You know, stewardship is, for some people it might be a bit of a churchy

word, and so Justin, if someone's listening in and they're not.

Quite sure what stewardship means, and you address it in your book.

I think you do a great job there and you give great examples, but

if someone were like going, what?

What do you mean by stewardship?

I think you described a little bit, but what do you mean by stewardship?

tell somebody what it really means in your words.

Yeah, it's that idea that we're not the owner, we're simply the steward.

We're simply the caretaker.

God owns it all.

It's all his.

We didn't generate any of this on our own.

this is all from him.

In fact, our very, know, waking up every day with breath in our

lungs, that's a gift from him.

And so really that idea of, of stewardship versus ownership, I think

is, is at the core of your question.

And, and it's really freeing, you know, it's, it's freeing in relationships.

It's freeing in business, it's freeing in parenting, in every way.

This being, being a caretaker.

And doing everything we can to, to steward those gifts well, I think is, is really

the idea that, that we see in scripture.

And, you know, I'm not, I'm just over the 50 mark, so I'm not young anymore.

I like to think I'm still I'm not old either, but I've had enough life behind

me to see that God is so faithful.

And I think that's helpful to have some road in the rear view where you

can say, yeah, this works and this is the way God's created it to be.

I use AI at times to do some descriptions and things like that.

And the word that AI uses over and over again for people like you, like me, who's

10, 11 years older than you is seasoned.

Yeah.

We're seasoned, which I think is a nice way of saying we're older,

mature, or, something like that.

Justin, I am curious 'cause you, I love the fact that y'all interviewed and

you interact with a number of people.

Can you think of any practical, either day to day or just practical

things that leaders do that reflect stewardship versus ownership?

you see it in generosity, you see it in a business setting.

we're talking about this idea that we're stewards, not owners, and the

goal is to grow the company to God's glory and for God's impact your

perspective allows generosity, allows the organization to do so much more.

and to shine their light even brighter because they have a different mindset

about their revenue and their priorities.

Yeah.

I love you mentioned generosity because especially when money

starts being factored in, you can learn a lot about people when all

of a sudden that comes into play.

along the way with your agency, this aspect of brand became important.

Obviously you've written the book brand for impact, and some might say, I'm gonna

give a counter that I may or may not believe, but I'm gonna do it hopefully

to agitate you to get a good response.

Some might say.

That if you're doing it for the Lord or you're doing it for, mission or

whatever, that, you know, what brand isn't that important, how would you

respond if someone says, you know, I'm not concerned about my brand.

Brand isn't that important?

I would strongly disagree with that statement.

you have stirred the hornet's nest.

we live in a noisy world and we're called to share.

Ultimately we're called to share God's love and God's truth

and do it in a winsome way.

with all of the noise, studies, say we have over 10,000 marketing

messages hitting us every day.

How are you ever going to filter all that noise and actually get someone to

listen to what you're trying to say?

having a clarified brand is the most effective way heard.

as Christ's followers, we have a message that needs to be heard.

if people can come in contact with these businesses that are putting God first, and

operating with excellence, those are the businesses that I believe should be heard.

so that's why this book was so important to me to help those organizations

clarify their brand so that they can rise above the commotion, above the

noise, rise above the clutter, and.

Really be known for what they do and ultimately what they believe so that

they can have a greater kingdom impact.

So brand is so important and it's really one of the most cost effective

ways for an organization to finally get an edge on the competition, if you

will, to stand out and to be known.

and it really just comes through consistency and frequency.

And so if you can develop that brand that's unique, and then you're consistent

in your delivery of that brand, that's gonna make such a tremendous

difference for any kind of business

Tell me all the components of a brand and while you're thinking about that,

I'll give you a little bit of context.

We have a title here at our podcast called Seek Go Create that I. It,

that means a great deal to me.

There's an origin story and all that kind of stuff, but I've also

found in the podcast world that listeners don't know what it means.

you know, there's the name, there's obviously the visuals, there's web

presence, there's digital presence, all of those kind of things, I'm sure.

tell me all the components.

What makes up a brand?

Yeah.

at its core, at Grove nine, we, we say a brand is the one idea that people

think of when they think of you.

So it's not your logo, it's not your colors, it's not your

fonts, it's not your website.

It's not your social media presence.

A brand is an idea.

Right.

We talk about, Michelin is such a great example of a consistent brand over time.

Their tagline, because so much is riding on your tires, They've got

the big puffy Michelin man who's, who's carrying, and he's a protector.

you see these ads with dad's putting their, you know, their kids into a

car, sending them off to college.

putting Michelins on their, on that car because they love their kids.

And this, the brand is safety.

And over the past a hundred years, everything Michelin

has done has been consistently line with that idea of safety.

So now when you buy a minivan for your family, you're automatically

going to consider putting Michelins on your car even though they're

more expensive than another tire.

They've built that strong, clear brand of safety and whether it's true, we

talk about the law of perception.

There may be other products that are just as good or better than a

Michelin tire, but the perception is that is a safe tire and that tire will

help you take care of your family.

the power of a brand.

The brand is not the logo, it's not the words, it's not the shoe and the wing for

Goodyear, it's not the swoosh for Nike.

It's the idea behind all of those things.

S So in all the work that you do and also the research you've done, what are

two or three of the biggest mistakes you see people make related to their brand?

Well, I talked about consistency earlier and I think one of the big

mistakes is, is being inconsistent with the delivery of your brand.

Right?

So sometimes you're talking about price, and sometimes you're talking

about quality and sometimes you're talking about other features.

And if you're not consistently delivering one message again, 10,000

messages hitting us every day, you're never going to stand out.

There's a reason, you know, research says that we need to hear, see,

and hear something seven to 12 times before it actually sticks.

So consistency is really important when it comes to building a brand

that stands out and gets attention.

And really the second one is just taking the time to clarify your brand.

When they think of your podcast, what do you want them to think of?

personal brands are the same.

When they think of you, do you want someone to think of?

And if you don't clarify that brand, and then deliver it consistently.

People are gonna make up whatever idea, whatever brand they want to

about your organization, or you as a person based on very little data.

And so it's our job to develop that brand that's gonna be unique, and we're

gonna deliver that brand in a creative, effective way, consistently over time.

Right.

So I'm gonna put you on the spot just a little bit here.

I know probably being a guest here, you probably glanced at a few things

of our podcast and possibly me

hit me, hit me hard here, Justin, what are some things that you

went Oh, doing okay with that?

And then, Ooh, not so good with that.

Go ahead man.

I'm ready for it.

Give, give me some feedback.

That's really unfair.

I would love to spend time with you talking about this.

I think visually you've been pretty consistent with

the delivery of your brand.

I think that there's, there definitely are some things you're

doing well, and consistency I think is pretty strong as well.

I think that, you know, that idea of what does, what does the, what

does the organization really do best and what do you want people

to think of when they think of you?

Because you offer, uh, you know, a, a wide array of services, um, to people.

And even your podcast has, so many interesting guests from,

from all these different fields.

But.

What's the thread?

What's the one thing that you want people to get?

Like, if I give an hour of my time, this is what I know I'm gonna get in return.

And I think that's, that's really the important thing is

to, to put a, put a word to it.

You know, Coca-Cola, their brand for, for, has been happiness and they've

committed to say that when people think of drinking a Coke, they're going to

think of smiling and joy and happiness.

And everything you've seen has been people enjoying the time with

each other, drinking Coca-Cola.

And I don't know if, if that beverage actually brings joy to a person,

scientifically or physically, but from a branding perspective, they've

done a really good job of, of telling us that that's the, that's

the result we can expect when we.

crack open a Coke.

So that's, that's really my, my best advice is really figure out what

that one idea is, and then that you can infuse that into everything.

there's a, there's an app on my phone that I love.

It's called Evernote.

in a perfect world, you develop this brand idea before you actually

even name your company or your podcast, uh, or your nonprofit.

And then you can infuse that brand into the name and into the logo and into the

website and into everything that you do.

Um, so Evernote, it says what it does, it's a place for your notes,

they're going to be there forever.

It's, it's brilliant.

The logo is an elephant with a little dog ear, like a page.

is it an elephant?

Because elephants never forget.

So everything about the brand says longevity and permanency and safety, and

just a brilliant example of how all the elements of a brand can come together

in a, in a very straight line and create that idea that this is the best place to,

to put your notes, to put your thoughts.

That's good.

I, when, when you were talking about Coca-Cola, I'm from Atlanta,

so I, I'm fully aware of this.

I'm pretty sure that the happiness came from when they were

putting cocaine in those drinks.

Maybe not.

I don't know.

You know, everybody was, boy, these people are, are, are happy now.

It's probably just the sugar and other stuff.

I used to love having me a good old Coca-Cola about once or twice

a day, and I cut that out a few years before I was your age.

It might've been one of the best things I did.

As much as I love Coca-Cola, I'm not sure that it's healthy, healthy for us.

You know, one of the things, and I appreciate the feedback by the way,

and I know I did put you on the spot and you probably didn't want to just

slice and dice me right here, you know, being a, being a guest, but one of the

things, and, and I don't know if this is something I'm sort of cynical about or

whatever, but one of the things that I.

Observe is that we have quite the celebrity culture in the

world that we're in today.

And I observe, and I don't know if this is a correct or incorrect observation, that

there, there seem to be different rules for people that have a celebrity brand.

And so I'd love just if you've got thoughts or anything because you

know there, there's what I'd call an average Joe business guy building

it from the ground up or whatever.

And then there's someone who's already famous known as if they can almost

do anything without some of the principles that we're talking about.

So.

Does that make any sense?

I guess, I guess just speak to a little bit of personal and or celebrity

branding that we see quite a bit.

If anyone jumps on any social media platform.

Yeah, I actually, interestingly, I think that, that we're seeing a shift

where celebrity brands almost have more freedom to express their faith, right?

Steph Curry has bible verse on his shoe.

Um, almost every, almost every, many of the post post championship

interviews that we watch athletes give.

give glory to God first and foremost.

You know, they're not ashamed to put their faith out there.

Even if it were to hurt their personal brand, which it

doesn't, it enhances their brand.

It, it draws me to certain quarterbacks in the NFL because

I know that they're men of faith.

Um, they're, you know, they're not ashamed to say Jesus won, right?

It's, it's on the t-shirt.

It's just, I think that's, that's really been interesting to me to see so many

celebrities use their platform and their celebrity to express their faith, and

I think the business world, the average Joe can take a, take a cue from that

and say, these guys with so much at stake are willing to share their faith

in a very public way, am, why am I so hesitant to do that in my business?

So let's shift, we got a few minutes left here and I want to talk, uh,

more about, about your book, but I also want to give maybe some practical

things that some people listening in.

I know that we have listeners that are operating for profit.

And then I also know we have ministry people that are

operating in the nonprofit.

Some actually have both too.

By the way.

What are some things that you can give, and I know get the book is

the best tip, but, but what are a few tips you can give to either both

categories together or if you want to split 'em out, uh, that's fine too.

But, uh, give some tips on your brand for both the for-profit and non-profit

business or organization leader.

I think the most important tip, this is where we start with all of

our organizations that we serve.

We want to help them clarify their brand, We, we develop intentional.

We have an intentional research and strategic process to help them

decide what that idea should be.

You don't just wanna pick it out of the air, you want it to be strategic.

It should be a promise that you can keep true to who you are.

And it should also be as unique among your competition as possible, right?

It's less expensive and more effective to have a unique brand

than it is to compete with 10 other organizations for that same idea.

When you're doing that, you just really need to outs spind them or

be so creative that people think of you, um, instead of the competition.

So the most important thing is to take the time, do the research, really understand

what your brand idea should be, what your brand platform should be, and then

start to build everything on top of that.

So where we start with 90% of the clients that we serve, we.

We almost won't execute creative without doing that, that

foundational work on the front end.

And that's really, really very important.

Do you have, do you have, I guess, companies or organizations come to you and

say something to the effect of, Hey, we want you to do some Facebook stuff for us,

Yeah, absolutely.

which is not necessarily strategic.

Yeah.

right?

Um.

can help you, we can help you spend your money, but if you want to be a good

steward of those resources, you should do this first, you should do the homework.

Go through the framework and clarify your brand.

Come up with, with, uh, measurable specific objectives based on that

brand, and then decide which strategies make most sense for your business.

may not be Facebook stuff, it may be something else.

Right Justin.

What I do, I work with, uh, leadership teams and work on strategy and being

strategic, and my observation is that many businesses that we would term

successful have, in many ways, I don't wanna say they've stumbled onto that

success, but that success has evolved.

It hasn't been necessarily intentional.

I hate to say that they got lucky.

There are some that have, and, and so one of the things I attempt to

do is work with them and being more proactive as opposed to reactive,

which involves a lot of strategy.

I'm curious how many organizations, we'll call it, not just businesses,

but organizations, how many organizations come to you?

And, uh, and you just sort of scratch your head and say, Hmm, they

don't really know who they are, or they really don't have strategy.

And I don't know if it's a percentage or a number of that, so, but, but

do, do you see that very often?

All the time.

In fact, that's more common than not.

Does does it make you go, huh?

How did they get to this level of success?

Yeah, it really does.

And you know, it's, you've seen it many times working with organizations,

especially small to midsize organizations.

They, they saw a need in the marketplace.

They developed a product or service to meet that need and,

and they just continued to grow.

And they really never did the work of building a foundation that's, that's

gonna take them to the next level.

So they're always going to have incremental growth, but they're not

gonna have that more significant growth.

And more importantly, the, we call it the triple bottom line, the

economic, social, and spiritual impact that their business or their

organization could have they do that.

Um.

foundational work, that strategy work.

I notice a lot that they just have a tremendous work ethic,

so they could grind it out.

They may have been at the right place at the right time, or they may have saw a

need and they, you know, met that need, but yet they get to a place where they

are looking to do something different.

The, the word you use, and I've got your book up here again, I'll hold

it up so people that are watching the video can see brand for impact.

You've got two big words in this book title.

I'm gonna read, I wanna read to the, uh, subtitle, A Proven blueprint

to help faith-driven leaders clarify their brand, grow their

revenue, and make a greater impact.

There's a lot in that subtitle that's really good, but, uh, the word brand

and impact, those are two big words.

Talk about the word impact, because I, I see it thrown around quite a bit.

People say, oh, I wanna make an impact.

Uh, I interview a lot of people here.

I'm just, success to me is making an impact and things like that.

And, um, obviously you believe it's a big word because it's included in your title.

So talk about impact and what that means to you.

Yeah, it's, you're right, it has become a bit of a buzzword, um,

lately, but impact is, is resonance.

It's, um.

Changing things in a, in a way that resonates and, and has, you know, it

starts, it starts small, but it has a tremendous influence, a tremendous

impact as it resonates outward.

And, you know, that's really why we talk about, you know, Simon Sinek

has the golden circle, and it's the what, the how, and the why.

And most organizations, um, you know, the outside of the

bullseye is the what you do.

Many organizations are good at talking about what they do, then

how you do it, that starts to get a little more interesting and

maybe starts to set you apart.

But there may be a lot of people who do it the way you do it, but

the why is in the bullseye for him.

And that's, that's the emotional connection that

you make with your customers.

That's what gets you up in the morning.

And when people connect with that, they resonate with that.

That's really what's gonna create brand loyalty.

We just flipped his circle upside down and said.

put the what in the middle?

Let's put the how on the, out on the next circle, and then let's put the

why in the biggest circle, and then we're gonna radiate out from there.

Because the why makes the most difference.

and when people connect with your why, especially from a faith perspective,

about, you know, whether, whether Chick-fil-A has the best chicken sandwich

or not, that that may be up for debate.

I don't know.

But the truth is that people of faith to support the organization of

what it stands for and because their values and beliefs align with the

organization's values and beliefs.

that's, that's tremendously powerful.

And so I think when an organization can, can, uh, understand how to

incorporate their faith and their belief into their brand in a way that's not.

Cheesy, it's not salesy, it's not, um, disingenuine, but in a way that's,

that's really genuine and that's creative and that's interesting.

That's when people say, I love that I, that connects to my soul that that's

something that I want to be a part of.

whether, you know, whether those socks are better than these socks, I believe in the

story behind these socks, and I believe in that everyone should have a pair of socks.

And, and I, and I love that.

And so I'm going to pay more for your product.

that's impact, right?

That's making a difference the world.

And I think that's such a cool thing that we have the opportunity to do through

the, the arena of business and nonprofit is, is have this tremendous impact today

and obviously ultimately for eternity.

That's, that's our, that's our bottom line.

That's why we do what we do.

And.

know, we're called to, we're called, uh, for the great commission right.

To, to make disciples.

And that's ultimately, business is such a great way to do that.

And I think so many people are missing out on the opportunity to, to have more impact

and have more influence, um, and, and more fully fulfill the great commission

in their lives and, and in their work.

At your, at your agency?

I, I believe, if I'm understanding it correctly, you

could correct me if I'm wrong.

Y y'all obviously help people with the clarity and their purpose and things

like that, but I think you also do what I would call some of the granular, um,

tactical things, website design and, and campaigns and things like that.

I, is there one of those that you enjoy more than the other

at this stage of your career?

It's a great question.

No one's ever asked me that

It is not a trick question and no one's listened to.

Oh yeah.

Justin just said he hates doing websites.

He just wants to do clarity with people.

No, no.

I mean, but, but yeah.

I'm just curious because we do evolve and, and so I'm just curious because

the book really spoke more of the clarity message than the application

message, so that's, that's why I was wondering which one do you really,

which one speaks to you more now?

that's a great question.

The reason it's challenging is because once you do the clarity, you get to that

in all of the mediums, in the website, in the logo, in the social media, the

email marketing, um, in the billboards.

In this, in the public relations, in the swag, in the signage.

Like it, it's everywhere.

And so that first piece, that fundamental, um, brand clarification

and that strategy that's uh, pivotal to everything else being effective.

But I would say if I had to pick one, you know, we, we build identities, we

create logos for organizations, and the logo is, is, you know, you talked

about the pecking order earlier.

logo is pretty high up in the pecking order when it comes to

the thing that influences, um, the other visual elements of a brand.

So that designing logos, that, again, they don't just look good, but they

have criteria for why they work.

They're on brand.

Therefore, they're going to be so much more effective than just simply,

hey, the founder loves, you know.

Golden retrievers.

And so we, we knew we had golden retriever in the logo.

Like, what, why, you know, what does that have to do with anything?

the business initials, right?

uh, having, having two letters creatively joined together in the name

of the, of, of a logo is, is fine and interesting, but it could be so much more.

And I think that's, we, I get pretty excited about designing logos that really

express the brand platform, um, in a powerful, um, and, and effective way.

You know, you look at Goodyear, Goodyear Tires, their brand is really

about performance and speed, right?

And they've got the, this, the running shoe with the wing, and it's, it's

this idea of speed and performance.

And that's, that's powerful, right?

It's so much more powerful than maybe just a, a g and a y put

together in, in an interesting way.

So I think.

Seeing and there's lots of research you can do on hidden meanings and logos,

and sometimes it's a little too subtle and people don't actually get it.

But Amazon has the smile and it goes from A to Z and it says, we do everything

from A to Z and we're gonna give you really excellent customer service that's

gonna make you happy at the same time.

so I think there's designing an identity and a logo that that

incorporates the brand is really fun.

One thing that came to me, I was smiling, maybe not chuckling,

but I see people often.

That our newer business maybe, I don't know.

I actually see some more experience that they feel very strongly about putting

LLC or ink or, and you know, I'm, I'm an, I've got an LLC now, so I need to

put it, which I'm not sure, we don't need to go into that discussion, but my,

the thing that came to me earlier when you were speaking is that, my guess is

that someone has that clarity, then the rest it is, I don't wanna say it's easy,

but maybe it's simpler or it is easier.

I mean, would that be accurate?

Yeah, the decision making process is much easier, It goes from being

subjective to being objective.

now we have actual data informing the decisions that we make.

And it's not, don't just have to take a vote and see which,

which logo everyone likes best.

We can actually say these, these three options are all on brand, on target.

They're going to be effective for you.

And now we can let our preferences take over and say, Hey, we, we

love the way this one looks, but they all meet the criteria.

We wouldn't put it in front of a client, as an option if

it didn't meet the criteria.

Justin, you say that the book is to help faith-driven leaders

in the, uh, tagline here.

I've used that term faith-driven leaders before.

Sometimes I wonder if people really know what that means.

How do you define faith-driven leaders?

Yeah.

It's someone, it's a person of, of faith, um, who has, has, you know, we talk about

it as, as a Christ follower, someone who lives by the great commandment and

the great commission, and they desire to, to live those things out in their

family and their business and their life.

And so, that's, that drives our personal core values and the way we act and, and

the content of our character the idea.

the book is to challenge and equip them to do that in their business and their

organization as well, and to give some really, really cool, really practical

examples of other businesses who have been really successful in doing that.

Very same thing.

Justin, go ahead and let people know how they can connect with you

at Grove nine or get the book and go ahead while you're doing it.

Tell people.

Who should probably reach out to you?

Let's just say someone's listening in.

They've, some of the things you've said resonate with them

and they might want to connect.

Go ahead and tell 'em who, who should, who should reach out to you

and give all your information so that they know where to do that.

Yeah.

Thanks Tim.

organizations that desire to develop that triple bottom line to have

economic, social, and spiritual flourishing within their organization.

Uh, within, if it's a nonprofit within their community, within the people that

they serve, if they wanna make a greater impact, if they wanna grow, if they wanna

reach more people with the products and services, um, that they offer, that's

really who should reach out to us.

we, we say if you have a purpose than just profit, probably

a good fit to work together.

Um, and, you know, ours is, our, our values revolve really

around those kingdom purposes.

Um, and that's, that's really a great fit for us.

And I think that that synergy between the shared values really

creates, um, an advantage.

And, uh, it helps, it helps us help those organizations.

have that shared foundation, we have that shared purpose, we have that connection,

and that's part of our brand, right?

That's we named our company Grove Nine.

fruit grows in a grove and the fruit of the spirit, there are nine of them.

And we thought first one is love.

So let's make our logo the shape of a heart.

And we were able to incorporate the G and the nine into the, the shape of the heart.

And, you know, it lets us tell our story.

You know, let's just say this is important to us.

And if your organization values those same things, then let's have a conversation.

We think we can, help you do more good in the world, um, based on,

based on that shared connection.

Um, our website is grove nine.com, G-R-O-V-E, number nine.com.

website is justin eklund.com.

It's J-U-S-T-I-N-E-K.

You can connect with me at either of those places.

You can buy the book on Amazon.

I really didn't write the book to sell books.

I wrote the book to challenge and equip these faith-driven leaders and

organizations to a greater impact, um, through their business and see those

three types of flourishing, right?

The economic, the social, and the spiritual.

I think that that's, that's what God's called me to do, to help faith-driven

leaders make a greater impact.

And I think, I pray that this book will really be helpful in that.

I think I told you that I read it and got it on Kindle here, and, uh, I enjoyed it.

It's a good read.

It's not a complicated read, which I think is good and healthy for a lot of leaders

in today's world, and I love the stories you're interspersed throughout of what

I would term and I think you did too.

They're faith-driven leaders.

Justin, did I miss anything?

We're buttoning up against our time here, but is there anything else you

just wanted to say or share at all before we wrap up and close it down?

I just wanna thank you for the opportunity to be here and

for what you do consistently.

I think the faithfulness in your, your podcast and just the work that goes on

behind the scenes to, to really help organizations bring their, their faith and

their work together is so important and so very grateful that you're doing this work.

And, it's been a pleasure to, to be on the podcast and just hopefully share

a little bit of what, what we do.

I think the uniqueness of, of Brand for Impact and what we do at Grove

Nine is that we take this very, we've taken this very popular praise the

Lord, this idea of faith and work.

Is gaining momentum, right?

There are organizations that we just see this tremendous growth in this.

People are saying, yeah, this, this is important.

We wanna do this and look at all these other business

leaders who are doing it also.

so I think our agency and, and this book really brings that into the

idea of marketing and branding, that hasn't been, um, the idea many, many

faith-driven leaders are saying, I, I can do this in my business.

And we're saying, here's how you do it in your marketing.

it helps with that, that you brought up earlier, which is the

courage helps build confidence so that people can go out and do it.

Justin Eklund, thanks for joining us.

The book is Brand for Impact.

I'm gonna read this tagline again.

really good.

A proven blueprint to help faith-driven leaders, clarify their brand, grow their

revenue, and make a greater impact.

Get that book, it'll be helpful for you.

Thanks again, Justin, for joining us.

We've got new episodes here at Seat.

Go create.

Every Monday, like I mentioned earlier, I believe next week's episode with

Ken Gosnell is gonna be a great partner episode to this one because

there's stewardship conversation, there's how to do business and how

to be a steward in the marketplace.

So make sure you're listing in subscribe, leave us reviews, all that kind of stuff.

So appreciate you being here.

We'll see you next week on Seek Go Create.