Make yourself a brand and become free
If you are like me, then you want to work for yourself. You don’t want to adhere to an organisation or a boss that you don’t agree with. You don’t want to be bound by a schedule decided by another. You don’t want to be following rules and guidelines imposed upon you, or relying on one pay check for your stability and security.
Perhaps you have other values and interests that you want to spend more time on. Maybe there is a creative project that’s calling to be birthed, a desire to go randomly hiking on a sunny Tuesday afternoon, or a spontaneous coffee meet up with loved ones on a Thursday. Perhaps you yearn for the freedom to work where ever and whenever you want.
You know there is more to life. You know theres a way to make money doing what you love with purpose and passion. You know there’s more wealth, freedom and fulfilment waiting for you in your interests and natural inclinations.
If you are like me, you want sovereignty. But without sacrificing your stability and security.
And you have every right to live a life like that. I am here to tell you that it is very possible, now more than ever.
Make yourself a unique brand - Why
Before diving in, let me be clear on the fact that I am not advocating for quitting your job. In fact, turning yourself into your own brand will give you leverage and edge in whatever industry you are in. Be it the corporate world, creative and artist endeavours, or entrepreneurial and self-employement ventures. A personal brand, built upon your authenticity will give you a leading edge wherever you are
These days, we are judged by our social medias. Employers, strangers, friends, potential lovers and potential customers scope us out online and consciously or unconsciously judge us based off our digital presence. The thing is, most people these days don’t see social media for the incredible and powerful tool that it is. Social media is predominately using the collective through endless entertainment and distraction. However, the successful and the free are the ones who are using it, rather than it using them.
So let me break this down by reason first, then we will explore how to make yourself a brand.
It is in the intentional presentation of our authentic expression, and the refinement of it, that we find one of the keys to our freedom.
For Corporate - Making yourself a brand will make you stand out amongst applicants and others in your industry. It’ll demonstrate organisation, creative thinking, individuality and a potential leader. We are visual creatures, and not many people in the corporate world know how to make an aesthetic and impactful brand of themselves. Many of you dont see the significance for it, but those that do will stand out, progress quicker, have more authority and find more stability.. Have people buy into you, especially your managers. and bosses, and you’ll have leverage.
For Artists & Creatives - An artist is not just a person, but a phenomenon to be experienced. An artist isn’t necessarily meant to be understood, it’s meant to shape, shift, express, influence and/or disrupt culture. As an artist, your brand is your vehicle for change and your medium for distribution. An excellent brand that represents you, your mission, vision and unique creative gift is vital to stand out and generate the needed support to expand. Your brand rallies your fans in which you ride into creative-actualisation.
For Influencers & Content Creators - There is an increasing rise of creators and influencers, and for good reason. But in truth, it’s not hard to out compete most of them. Many of them are disjointed, inauthentic and cookie cutter providing little value. Work on a genuine, well developed character, be true to yourself, offer real value based off your interests and passions, and create a well represented brand that speaks volume. This is about being seen and heard in a sea of noise, it’s not hard, it just requires tact and alignment.
For Entrepreneurs and One-person Businesses - Chances are you have more ideas in terms of businesses and future ventures. The personal brand you create for yourself will provide you with resources and attention that you use to expand these ideas. Get people to buy into you first, then they will naturally support what you do. Represent yourself, your missions and visions, express it publicly and bring people on the journey. Motivate and inspire, educate and guide,
For which ever one you fall into, this might take some reflection and self-examination depending upon the relationship you have with yourself. We want to understand who we are, who we wish to be, what our goals are and the ideal life in which we strive for. Our personal brand is based and built upon this.
Make yourself a unique brand - How
The foundation of the brand is you. therefore, the first step is understanding who you are, what you’re about and what you’re trying to do. Ask yourself:
What is the ideal life I am working towards?
What is the self-actualised version of myself? How do they act? How do they see the world? What are their values and mission for life?
What values do I hold?
What interests, passions and skills do I have? How do they feed into my ideal life?
What perspective do I feel is unique to me?
You are the base of which your brand is built. The greater you know yourself, the easier it becomes to create your brand. As you refine your brand over time, you’ll become increasingly recognisable in your industries/niches.
Brand Aesthetic
As mentioned, we are visual creators. If things look beautiful and/or interesting, we are captivated. A clean brand makes you stand out, it appeals to our psychology and demonstrates a certain character. In Canva or a tool of your choice, bring these elements together;
Pick your favourite 3-5 colours and experiment with fonts you like.
Find imagery and designs that you are drawn to, this will help you shape your brands image.
Write down your values and what your brand represents
We will keep it simple for now. Get this down as a base and start to craft an image of your Self.
Once clear, start to play with the layout of your social medias. Cover photos that contain those chosen colours or are similar to your imagery. Find, or better yet create a profile picture thats fresh, clean, interesting and captures you and the chosen branding. Then think about the content you want to create. What do you want to share, how do you want to share it? How do you want your feeds to look once someone clicks on them?
How to make Money
I’ll break this down more thoroughly in another article but for now, i’ll offer this..
In order for you to make money through this you need a product, service or connections (like affiliates for example). This will be determined by your passions, interests, skills and expertise. Those things that you are naturally drawn to and tend to come to you with minimum effort. Perhaps self-improvement as been a consistent interest, or cooking is your thing, maybe a fascination in finances or making music.
Whatever it is, you will have knowledge that is valuable to others, who do not have the time or energy to learn what you naturally are drawn to. People will pay for this. Wether you believe it or not, people will buy something thats valuable (value is measured by the solution to a problem, the time it saves, how it inspires or validates them). If it’s aesthetically pleasing, simplified and marketed to them then they are even more likely to buy it.
So if you cook and have found your favourite cookie recipe. Sell it.
If you make music, create a simple crash course, 1on1 teaching for beginners, or a collection of beats for people to use.
If you like finances, selling your spreadsheets or mini guide to payday distribution or something.
If you’re a personal development kind of person, sell a guide to the best integrations tat has genuinely positively impacted your life.
Keep it super simple to start with. You most likely already have everything you need in order to offer something of value in exchange for money. Don’t “try” and educate, dont “try” and sell something. Just share what you have and what you know. Learn some techniques to enhance your skills, yes. But just be you, and let people be moved by your passion, enthusiasm and knowledge.
For the best place and way to sell. Try Stan. It’s the best site I have found so far and quite simple to use.
So to recap.
Get to know yourself on a deeper level. Know what you represent, what you’re doing and what you’re aiming for in life and from yourself.
Make your brand, have it clean and coherent across platforms.
Have a service or product that you can offer to demonstrate skill, value, expertise and authority.
Then make your content, whatever it may be. You can really create anything as long as it aligns to the overall brand, which is ultimately based upon who you wish to be and the future life you envision.
If you need me, I offer a package of 4 calls over the course of a month where we do this together in a lot more depth. You can book that here
Or, if you want it made for you I can build your website, create your brand graphics, brand board and more. Check that out at the bottom of my landing page
There will be many more articles to come that’ll go into more depth.
For now, take care
Callum
