A Personal Brand Exercise For Sharing Yourself Online
February 13, 2013 Kathleen

I’ve got a worksheet for you try out today, the Online You Sharing Spectrum. We developed it while working on our Personal Branding Braid ECourse – but I’m sharing this one exercise out of all the others – well, partly as a sneak peek into the course, but also I think this exercise in particular really helps creative entrepreneurs work through two things I’ve been noticing from our clients more than ever lately:

1. They all have this deep desire to more accurately and authentically share who they really are 
2. But they’re scared

It can be confusing and overwhelming knowing what to share and how to share it when you’re at a dinner with friends – much less when you have the entire world at your fingertips. But I think nothing is more beautiful or powerful than getting to create an online space that’s so perfectly you, where you can capture, shape, and share who you are and what you’re all about. 

I do believe getting clear on your boundaries and creating within your limitations will make you more comfortable, and creative, with genuinely sharing who you are online.  Read on for the downloadable worksheet to start defining those boundaries, along with takeaway tips to begin more confidently sharing within those parameters. 

Where Do You Fall on the Online Spectrum?

Online Spectrum Worksheet

Downloadable Worksheet PDF: The Online You Sharing Spectrum

Straight from our Braid ECourse Personal Branding: Blending Who You Are With What You Do, from anonymous, to all out there – see where you land on the sharing spectrum now, and where you’d like to be in the future. Then list out some specific boundaries – the things you absolutely will not talk about online, the things you’re perfectly comfortable posting about, and finally the things you would like to talk about but feel a little scared. 

8 Tips on Sharing (and Shining) Online
You might even consider reading through these before you fill out your worksheet if you’re feeling stuck!

1. Sharing takes practice. Start small. You’re not immediately going to feel comfortable putting much of anything out there if you’ve never done it before. So test the waters with a Tweet or Instagram pic. Touch on topics before you dive into a full-blown essay on it. Sometimes a photo and one sentence will say more about who you are than a novel. 

2. Find your tone. Lots of people tell you to find your voice but I’m betting you already have a voice. I think you should focus on finding your tone. Is it sarcastic, dry, sweet, rough around the edges, funny, serious, sincere, vulnerable, bold, sassy, quiet? 

3. Learn how to listen. The great thing about sharing online is the instant feedback you get from your community. That feedback can come in the form of enthusiastic comments, “likes”, or even chirping crickets – those responses are valuable for helping you assess and calibrate what you’d like to share more or less of accordingly. 

4. Your corner of the internet will evolve and change as you evolve and change. I think part of the fear of sharing online is how permanent it can feel when you hit that “publish” button. I find fascinating about the internet is how ephemeral and temporary, yet archival, it is. 

5. It doesn’t always have to be deep. One of my most popular posts, to date, over at my personal blog was about my armpits. But guess who else is blogging about their armpits? No one. So even the little stuff can reveal lots about you and have readers thanking you for “keeping it real” without getting too terribly deep. 

6. Your goal is to attract or repel readers. I think we get most scared of sharing when we are afraid of offending someone. But if you’re everything to everyone you’re probably watering down who you really are and what you really have to say. Jasmine Star won me over at Alt Summit when she said this about building a personal brand: “My goal is to either attract you or repel you”. When you share your authentic self (the big stuff and the little stuff), the online tribe you were meant to have will not only be attracted to you and like will feel like they belong in your space.

7. Share elsewhere. You don’t always have to share in your own space. For example, I’ve felt the urge to write about my starter marriage – but my blog, a place where I celebrate the life I have created with my husband Jeremy, is clearly not the appropriate venue to talk about a failed relationship with my ex. So I’ve considered writing about the topic elsewhere – at a place like The Equals Record – a blog full of contributors who dig deep into the more complex issues of life. A place where a conversation about getting married (and divorced) young would be appropriate. And on the flip side – if I want to indulge in my consumer side I can curate a gift guide with a blogger like Meg Biram.

8. Be consistent. At the heart of any brand is setting expectations and then delivering on that promise. What do you promise to share? How often? And where? 

Lastly, here are some rad bloggers who all share who they are and what they do in very different ways (from private to all out there): 
• Danielle Krysa of The Jealous Curator – I didn’t know the author of The Jealous Curator was a woman until she emailed me on my birthday with a list of reasons why she was jealous of me. We’ve been friends ever since. But even before we got to know each other I learned a lot about Danielle just by getting to know what kind of art she liked, and why she liked it, every single day. 
• Sandra Juto – Sandra shares daily details from her walks, fika (that’s what Swedes call their coffee breaks) and work. She keeps her words brief but you feel like you’re in her whole world when you go to her blog. 
• Liz Fabry of EXACTLY – Liz is our Braid brand director and her blog captures the minimalist beauty (and mystery) that she exudes in real life. People live for her Weekend Breakfasts series – and on that note sharing what you’re eating is always a brilliant way to connect. 
• Megan Gilger of The Fresh Exchange – If you are wanting to share more and on a variety of topics Megan is the perfect example of how to do that with style and grace. She’s really great at keeping it real and making us all feel like we’re in it together but what I really admire is how she captures her content offline and then brings it to us as a beautifully packaged gift. 

Braid ECourse Personal Branding

If you want to know more about personal branding check out our Braid ECourse Personal Branding: Blending Who You Are With What You Do. This $75 ECourse is in session from this Friday, February 15th – 24th. You have through tomorrow to register! Pssst... Check out our guest post over at Freelancers Union for more personal branding tips and a discount on the course. 

Brand Exercises, Personal Branding
Are You Brave Enough to Attract Your True Dream Customer?
November 28, 2012 Kathleen

What if the image above was a bridal portrait instead of a side project? 

I recently received an email from an aspiring creative entrepreneur, a photographer to be exact, asking me how she can do what she loves and get paid for it. Her fear is that the “bread & butter” paying clients, might not “get” her offbeat aesthetic when it comes to her passion projects.  Sound familiar? Read on.

Here’s her letter to me: 

Hi Kathleen, 

I've been following your blog for a few years now, so I know you are one busy lady, but I was wondering if I could ask you a quick question that I've been struggling with lately. I've been honing my skills in photography, graphic design, and illustration over the past few years and I'm hoping to start a successful sidebusiness within the year. However, my true passion is coming up with offbeat and weird photos and illustrations... but I don't think I can make money from this. 

I struggle with presenting these strange pieces of work in my portfolio, because on the surface I know it doesn't appeal to conservative or "conventional" potential clients. For example, I don't want a picture of a guy holding sparklers in his underwear, wearing a monkey mask, scaring away a potential wedding or family portrait client. However, it seems like more people get a response out of my off-kilter work, as opposed to my standard portraits. Do you have any suggestions on how to attract the bread-and- butter clients for weddings and family portraits, while still being able to show off my "abstract" art?

I appreciate anything you can think of on this subject. 

Thank you so much!
-Brady Kennedy

Brady Kennedy Photos

Photos by Brady Kennedy

My response boiled down to two pieces of advice:

1. BE BRAVE ABOUT WHO YOU ARE (an anecdote):
When I decided to fashion my hair in dreadlocks my most "conservative" client thought it was rad - I was surprised to not be fired. I also had this irrational fear that we may never get hired again and Tara’s children would starve through the cold winter. But guess what? Braid continues to get hired by people who love us for who we are – funky locs and all. It turns out my hair has become something that sets me apart. It makes our even more seemingly conventional clients proud to say "I work with those weirdos." I just had to be brave and put it out there. It turns out I wasn't giving my clients enough credit. 

But this isn’t limited to who you are... this also applies to the work you do.

Passion and Paying Venn

2. FIND THE OVERLAP BETWEEN YOUR PASSION PROJECTS AND YOUR PAYING CLIENTS:
Stop compartmentalizing your side projects and start getting paid for them. Start by thinking of ways you could incorporate more of what you love into what you’re already getting paid for. For example, Brady Kennedy could ask a bride to humor her by putting a disco ball on her head or she could ask to take her bridal portraits submerged in a lake. If the bride is game, which photo do you think she's going to share with her Facebook friends? Probably the fun disco ball head image or the super editorial, high-fashion lake shot. 

So this is the question to ask yourself: can you be brave enough to give your “meh” clients more credit and turn them into a dream customer? Perhaps you're putting yourself in a box more than they are. 

Dream Customer Catching, Personal Branding
Are You A Hot Spark or A Slow Burn?
October 25, 2012 Tara

When it comes to making an impression in people’s hearts and minds, are you a hot spark or a slow burn? This is a topic Kathleen and I have talked about lots of times in the past. We’ve actually called it “fast burn” versus “slow burn” in our conversations – and I suppose it’s a type of people-chemistry. It applies to your relationships with friends, acquaintances, and in the case of being in business for yourself, it applies to your personal brand.

I have always considered Kathleen’s style as a hot spark (rather than a fast burn, which implies something that dies out.) A hot spark makes a quick brilliant flash of an impression with the potential to turn into something more.  The point is, that the flash is what gets your attention, burns into your retinas, and makes you memorable.

Hot Spark vs Slow Burn

I’m going to go out on a limb and make an assumption here. I think Kathleen and I will discover next week, when our Braid ECourse: Personal Branding begins, that most of the enrollees are cultivating their personal brand because of a specific interest in blogging, and a desire to convey their personal + professional selves in the most memorable way.  I would venture even further to guess that many of them (and you) are already “hot sparks.”

I, on the other hand, am a slow burn. Yes, being aware that I’m portraying a consistent personal brand is partly about my online persona since I am actively writing to you here, blogging on Braid Creative, and sharing a lot of myself and my experience with an online audience.  But where I feel like my personal brand comes the most into play, as it does with so many slow burns, is in the way I work with others, how they remember me over time, and then become “loyal fans” based on that experience.

“But anyone can make an impression over time, based on back-and-forth experience!” you say (okay, I say). “That doesn’t apply when making a first impression!” (you and I both conclude). And that’s what the crux of this letter is about. How are you making yourself memorable in a short time span – like in a prospective client chat or in the first blog post someone reads by you – if you’re a slow burn?  For that matter, if you’re of the bright-and-instantaneous hot spark persuasion, how do you avoid being just a flash in the pan?

How to Sustain The Spark & Speed Up The Slow Burn
Okay, this subhead cracks me up and gives me the creeps at the same time, because up until just this week, as a matter of fact, we’ve been listening to the free version of Spotify in our office. Which means our music is interrupted by an ad every ten minutes or so. And this one advertisement comes up at least twice an hour, for some enhancement cream or some such product, in this Guy Smiley radio-announcer voice – to “speed her up... and slow him down.” Needless to say, after hearing this ad for the fiftieth time we finally just took the time to subscribe to the ten dollar a month no-ad version of Spotify.  

But obviously it crept into my subconscious. Sorry. Here’s what I actually mean:

Spark Sustain

Hot Sparks Tend To:
• Create Bold Statements (visual & verbal)
• Make Quick Decisions (perhaps results are varying, but the act of taking charge in itself is awesome and appreciated)

Making The Spark Last Over Time By Being Consistent:
Keep doing what you’re doing. Keep making bold statements with your style of clothes and your say-what-you-mean statements. Just do it consistently. From clothes to copy, the statements will change along with the opinion and styles, but keep making them loud, clear and in your voice. Be known for being a decision-maker! Everyone knows that not every decision is always going to end up just-right. Your results might not always be reliable, but people will still rely on you to be the person gutsy enough to make the call.

Slow Burn

Slow Burns Typically:
• Create Sense Out of Chaos (methodically build stories & connect the dots)
• Take Rational Steps (perhaps waters down the instant impact, but decisions are always thoughtful and well-rounded)

Speed Up The Burn By Embracing Your Character
Who is going to be “wowed” by process and methodology? Well, you’d be surprised. If you can present your rational, logical approach in a lively, colorful way either in conversation or through writing or images it will be memorable. It may not be a “wow-pow” like with the hot sparks, but you will draw them in all the same. As long as you inject personality. For me, that’s storytelling and humor paired with a “here-are-the-steps” approach. I can actually say to someone “I’m a process-oriented person, but I also tell really amazing stories.”  I have also worked with some uber-geeks who have seriously won over the hearts and minds of others in just a five minute presentation, or first-meet, or blog post, just by embracing their geekiness and speaking in earnest about what they really know.

Which are you, a hot spark or a slow burn? Tell us on Facebook.  

And, if you haven’t checked out our Braid ECourse: Personal Branding Blending Who You Are With What You Do, starting October 29th, there are still a just few more days to enroll. (Okay, let me rephrase, if you are hot-sparky you probably clicked on it the moment you saw the words “personal brand.” But you slow-burners might weigh the rational pro’s and con’s of taking this ECourse and learning more.)

Braid ECourses, Braid How-To's, Personal Branding