Save Yourself From Excessive Personal Branding

It might hurt you (and your business) in the long run

It might hurt you in the long run

There’s a popular piece of advice when it comes to kick-starting a new business, especially in the bloggers and copywriters’ side of the world: do personal branding.

We are commonly told to show our face every single time, whether you’re creating a publication, online magazine, or a serious blog, this is one of the many check-boxes on our to-do lists: show yourself. It’s a common piece of advice because:

• Giving your voice a face is always a good idea.
• You appear as a more relatable professional.
• It’s easier for your audience to trust you.

But how much personal branding is too much? What’s the impact of it in the long run for you, the person?

Consider This:

Your asset is your brain, your ideas, and thoughts that are set free and out in the world. If you’re working for clients, your asset is your personal writing style. This job is highly subjective as even non-personal articles are influenced by your voice.

When you go to sleep at night, your assets go with you. When you make your cup of coffee in the morning, your assets are waking up too.

Therefore, if you brand yourself too strongly, there’s no one else to fill your shoes. Without you, your voice, and your style, your business has no value. This is flattering when it comes to authors, but it can be overwhelming for content creators and copywriters, especially if you’re working for someone else.

Your clients don’t want any replacement for your brain, it doesn’t matter how brilliant it might be. They want you to create because they trust your assets and no one else’s.

But why do we need to draw the line?

Content creation can be an exhausting task, it requires a lot of mental work and, in return, can cause dangerous amounts of exhaustion (it’s no surprise that creativity and mental health issues are so tightly linked).

And when there’s no space for you to take a break without breaking your business, keeping up with the responsibility can feel like a monumental and almost impossible task. Without proper organization and a healthy mindset, you can easily burn yourself out of business.

Therefore, it’s not only practical to draw the line, but it’s also healthy for you!

With a slightly personal-branded business, you can have the best of both worlds: authenticity in your voice and independence from your own business.

But how do you achieve this? It’s slightly simple:

• Keep your name out of your business brand.
• Share your work under your name but give your clients a sense of teamwork happening behind the scenes. For example, use we instead of I when talking about your business.
• Be transparent about your schedule and working hours, including extra fees (your time is valuable!).

With that being said, remember that you’re the only one who really knows and understands your business, so take whatever suits your personal and professional view the best.

However, I’ll always advise you one simple thing: your health comes first. Don’t put any extra pressure on yourself, especially not for long periods of time.

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Not really trying to teach you anything, but perhaps we can learn together.