My approach to not-icky, totally doable Personal Branding
What’s your reaction to the phrase “Personal Branding?” 🫣🤗🤮🥲🤷♀️
Personal Branding seems to really be the hot topic these days... whether you love it or hate it.
I've been hearing a lot of people in my network talking about it! I think it's especially on the rise because of career precarity, the rise of people working for themselves over the last few years, and of course the evolving internet at large. It can feel really icky and confusing to a lot of people, and it used to feel really icky and confusing for me!
But I think if you find the right approach that feels right to you, it doesn't have to feel bad. I asked around to some communities I’m in to see what questions and doubts people have around personal branding, then recorded a casual video to share a little more about my ever-evolving approach to personal branding.
In the video I share my current thoughts on:
Q: What does personal branding actually mean?
Q: Do I need personal branding?
Q: How do I pick a lane when I want to explore?
Q: Is personal branding egotistical?
Q: How can I make it not just about me?
Q: Personal branding feels really awkward when I haven't done it before
Q: Who cares about me and what I have to say?
Q: What if my numbers and past companies aren't sexy?
3 misconceptions about personal branding
My hot take on how to outsource your personal brand when you need some extra support (hint: It’s not hiring someone to create social media content for you)
Examples of people doing a great job with personal brands:
Creator - Lex Roman: Lex is always experimenting with new revenue streams, often talking to different audiences and launching new products. They do a great job of organizing all that info clearly and updating it on their website.
Independent - Bri Leever: Bri’s LinkedIn is a great example for those running their own businesses. It never learns LinkedIn bro-ish, but instead celebrates and pulls in others from her community, offers community-building tips.
Full-time Leader - Allison Stadd: My former Shake Shack colleague, Allison is a marketing leader in full-time roles, and always does a great job of keeping her online profile concise, up to date, and reflective of her interests with writing and music alongside marketing.
Full-time with a portfolio career - Mallory Contois: Mallory is the fearless leader of our beloved OGC. Her website is a great example of how to simply communicate a portfolio career.
Independent - Kari Ginsburg: I worked with Kari on her website redo (see more about that here), and I think she’s the epitome of an example of showing up as uniquely yourself and celebrating your differentiation!
I don’t think any of us have this “personal branding” thing all figured out, because we’re human! But I admire any of you putting yourself out there, trying to add value to others, and staying true to yourself. It’s not easy, but it also doesn’t have to be as painful as it seems!
P.S. If you haven’t watched it already, this video is best paired with my past piece on founder-led storytelling:
Other brand bits & bobs:
There must be something in the water! Just after recording this video, I saw the wonderful LaShonda Brown posted a video about personal branding. We approach the topic from different angles, so if you want to dive deeper into this and get her thoughts, I highly recommend checking it out! She talks about more of the considerations of using your name and likeness to market a larger product/brand.
Loved this piece on designing your life from
. “Instead of trying to force a vision, here is how you can lean into unfolding.” A must-read.I forget if I’ve shouted her out before, but I really admire what
is building at Really Good Vintage, as she opened her brick and mortar store recently. Her Instagram and Substack are a great example of content channels for a small business (without needing to constantly chase virality!)I’m in between some bigger projects (hoping to share some news soon!) so fitting in some of my Brand Power Hours in the meantime (60 minute ask-anything consulting session for $150). You can find out more about this here and here. This is right for you if: You’re working through some questions about your brand, content, messaging, etc. and you just need to talk it out and get some quick one-on-one advice, before going out and contracting someone for a larger project.
Ok that’s enough for today! Now I wanna hear all your deep (or not so deep) thoughts on personal branding.
Let’s chat!
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Omg! Thank you so much for the shout out! Branding is always such a moving target, I'm glad to hear that I occasionally hit the bullseye! :)