This is probably the most dressed up Frank and I have ever been. The occasion: our wedding day, 2015. But on normal days, we’re just not the type to get all fancy looking.
When we started working together, we kept saying to each other “we’re not suit and tie people, and that’s okay.”
Back when we could meet clients in person, we discussed booking professional meeting rooms in the city, but in the end we decided the place we felt most at ease was sitting at our kitchen table, serving our clients a cup of coffee from a freshly made pour over. (We caught on fast that we should grind the coffee ahead of time. Sorry to anyone who had to endure 5 minutes of awkwardly loud conversation as one of us noisily worked the hand grinder.)
Somewhere along the way, Frank and I started talking about how we wanted our work to be fun—fun for us, and fun for our clients. Then “how to make the process fun” became a big consideration in our approach.
Although we didn’t think of it this way at the time, I now realize that all along we were defining and establishing our personal brand.
I think there’s a tendency to think that the term “personal brand” automatically means polished, professional, and expensive-looking. But that’s only if that’s how you’re most comfortable showing up. As you can tell from our content, those words don’t apply to us.
But it wasn’t until we put structure on our personal brand, and clearly defined it as “laid back, creative, and fun” that it became so much easier to show up comfortably and consistently.
So that’s the big secret to getting your personal brand right…
You have to make sure that it fits you, and not the other way around.