PERSONAL BRAND VS. BUSINESS – WHICH IS MORE IMPORTANT?
I recently listened to one of Jenna Kutcher’s Goal Digger Podcast episodes where she talked about building a personal brand vs. building a business. And it got me thinking.
For a long time, we’ve been taught to focus on building our business brands. So that’s what a lot of us have been doing.
However, Jenna made some good points about the importance of working on your personal brand instead, which got me inspired to write this post.
One of the most compelling things she said was that when you build a business brand, people will follow that business. So if for some reason down the road, you decide you want to switch business directions, you’ll have to start building a new business brand totally from scratch.
Whereas if you focus on building a personal brand, people will follow YOU as a person even if you end up doing different things along the way.
That means that if you were a family photographer for example and one day you decide you want to be an author instead, your existing followers will continue to follow and support you because you’ve established a high level of connection with them as a person. They’ll be genuinely interested in what you’ll be creating next.
I don’t know about you, but this alone is reason enough for me to believe that building a personal brand is way more effective long term than building a business brand.
To top it off, I found a really cool guide by Thinkific listing more reasons why building a personal brand is super important.
Apparently, according to one study, the freelance workforce is growing at a rate 3x faster than the overall workforce in the U.S. By 2027, freelancers are expected to make up the majority of the U.S. workforce.
Wow, this is really exciting because that means that more and more people are embracing the freedom-based lifestyle, which is what I stand for wholeheartedly.
But of course, that also means more competition for everyone, which is why it pays to stand out and be authentic.
And as Thinkific said, the key to differentiating yourself from your competition is building a personal brand.
So how do you create a personal brand that’ll help you attract raving fans?
Just follow this simple guideline and remember that things always get easier with practice. So if any of this feels unfamiliar or awkward to you at first, just take small steps now until it all becomes second nature to you.
YOUR PERSONAL BRAND SHOULD SAY:
Who you are
What you stand for
What your dreams are
Your personal story
What you create
Who your clients are
Things you love
So whenever you think of creating a personal brand, make sure you hit all of the points above and you’ll be able to show up in your own, authentic way that doesn’t compare to anyone else.