Let’s take a break from the in-depth posts this week and have a 1-on-1 chat. You up for it?
Cool. Let’s talk about how weird branding yourself is.
Everybody’s always talking about how to brand yourself right? (Even us.)
How to brand yourself as a hairstylist. How to brand your consulting business. How to brand your band. Branding yourself for success. Branding yourself on social media.
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Talking about “branding yourself” makes a lot of folks really anxious. They’d rather be perceived as someone who is humble, not an obnoxious self-promoting narcissist. Unless they’re a narcissist. But most people aren’t narcissists.
The truth about branding yourself isn’t about having a fat head. It’s about enthusiasm. And people enjoy working with other people who genuinely love what they do.
This doesn’t mean you have to be hype 24/7. It just means you’re proud of who you are and what you’re doing. Do you know what people who are proud of their work do?
They talk about it. And that’s okay!
They start YouTube channels and they make awesome Insta-stories and they make an effort to connect with you on Facebook and Twitter and stuff like that.
It’s easy for people to tell the difference between natural enthusiasm and calculated enthusiasm. So if you’re faking it won’t take long for folks to figure it out.
Self-promotion isn’t bad. Branding yourself isn’t bad. Talking about how dope something is that you don’t believe in is bad.
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Being uncomfortable isn’t always a bad thing, but being uncomfortable because you feel like a fraud is a warning sign. If you’re uncomfortable and feel like a fake when promoting yourself or your brand or whatever, take a step back and ask yourself why you’re even doing it.
What’s the point of doing something you’re not totally passionate about for the next seven years? To keep you busy until something better comes along?
If that’s the case quit now because you’re never going to get anywhere.
Harsh.
The truth hurts sometimes but it’s better if you come to grips with it now than seven years down the road when you’re looking back on all the time you wasted trying to build something you didn’t 100% believe in.
Let’s put it another way: if you don’t like talking about what you do or why you do it, why would anybody ever want to buy from you or hire you or do any kind of business with you ever?
Think about it.
If the guy telling me jumping out of the plane is totally safe and he’s done it a thousand times has the personality of a walnut, I ain’t jumping out of the plane.
But if the guy telling me to jump out of the plane is telling me it’s totally safe and he trusts his life with this parachute and the rush is nothing like anything else I’ll ever experience and he still isn’t over it even though he’s jumped a thousand times, I’m going to be more willing to swallow my fear and jump out of the plane.
Why? Because he’s being genuine with everything he says and that’s how people connect with each other.
People want to see your passion. They want to see your fire.
Don’t worry about branding yourself. Don’t hide your flame. Instead, take the advice of one the most well-known brands in the world and Just Do It.
Don’t worry about what anyone else thinks or what they have to say. Your brand is your brand and nobody else’s. Build it the way you want. And if it doesn’t work out the way you planned, it’s okay. The thing that matters is having the guts to try.
Sometimes it takes a few tries to get it right but if you’re truly passionate about what you’re trying to build, it will happen. We believe that with every fiber of our beings.
Later,
Xx Paige & Nick xX
*Note: If you take up residence under a rock, Just Do It is Nike’s slogan.
So the real chore here is how to be passionate about something without sounding like a walnut. The struggle is real!
~Corporal Klinger reporting for duty!