I posted something recently on Facebook looking for referrals for a good branding person. Someone who specializes in personal branding for online professionals.

I received a comment on that post that said:

“I don’t believe in personal branding – if you make your brand all about you then you aren’t building a real business. A business that you can sell.”

I get what this person is saying, but I don’t agree with it. Especially in the earlier days of building a business.

The most valuable asset in your business is you. People want to buy from people – and if they don’t know who you are, they can’t connect with you and that can actually get in the way!

The first thing I do when I go to someone’s website is look to find out WHO is the person behind the business. And if I can’t find out any information about that person then they’ve lost me… I find it really hard to connect with a business that doesn’t showcase who is behind it. Curious if you feel the same?

Plus it’s really easy to get caught up in “what should my brand be?” and “what should I call my business?” I’ve seen people get stuck here for months trying to come up with a good name and fancy brand.

It’s totally OK to use your name as your business name.

YOU are the best thing you can market. Who you are. What makes you unique. What you love and don’t love.

The more you can show up as yourself online the more likely you are to connect with the right folks. The more you try to ‘hide’ behind a brand that is outside of yourself, the harder it may be to make the best connections.

This isn’t to say that you should never create a brand beyond your name – there may come a time when you want to do this AND when it makes sense to do so. Especially if you want to potentially sell your business down the road (it can be tough to sell a personal brand business.) In my experience this usually kicks in once you’ve been in business for a while and have a clear methodology/product to build the brand around. It’s an outcome of doing great work with folks first for many years.

Be you. It’s much easier that way.

PS – There are 2 ways for us to work together, as you feel called to do so:

A Half-Day Intensive where we work together on the most important next step of your True Work journey. Includes a 3 hour virtual intensive, plus an additional two 1-1 coaching calls to integrate and implement.

A 5-month, private 1:1 Coaching Experience to take you through the 5 stages of the True Work journey. Includes an initial strategy session, 10 bi-weekly hour-long coaching sessions, and Voxer messaging with me in-between calls.

Click here for details about working together.