SHOULD YOU PROMOTE A PERSONAL LIFESTYLE BRAND?

Should you promote a personal lifestyle brand?

That’s a great question that I believe only you can answer. Although personally speaking, creating a personal brand is something that resognmates closely with me and what I feel business should be [at least small businesses].

I heard a teaching once from Jasmine Star that identified business approach in two categories, and I really loved the way it was separated that way.

1. A BUSINESS BRAND 2. A PERSONALITY BRAND

To sum up the teaching, a business brand is created for the type of business that strictly wants to sell products or their service and have very little face to face interaction. Which is fabulous for the type of person who thrives this way.

I on the other hand am clearly someone who thrives on being a personality brand. Becoming a personal brand has given me some fire in what I do and how I do it. It has advance my business in ways that I being a business brand could not. The interesting thing about our times, the days we are currently living in, is that people want to feel that they are really connecting and working with other REAL people. Creating things that are too perfect or too staged really doesn’t resonate with the everyday human and therefore they are more closed off to receiving the goods you have to offer.

Here are the top three reasons why promoting yourself as a PERSONALITY brand might be the best next step in your business:

1. CONNECTION. We are people running a business selling to other people. It’s so important and vital for people to connect because connection builds trust. Especially when it’s a type of business that requires a personal communication back and forth. They want to know that you’re the right one for them and therefore they need to feel as though they know you and want to be around you a little more.
2. EXPRESSION. Having a personal platform can actually be very freeing as a person, especially if you’re a creative. Giving you a place to share thoughts, ideas, work, interests etc…it’s an expressive act and one that is fully recognized by those on the other side of the platform. It builds a very effortless and exciting way to find others who resonate with you. When you give in this expressive form, you’re being selfless [a little tip I picked up from Seth Godin in his book The Practice]. Pretty cool…right? I mean think of the people you follow or you’ve done business with, it’s likely that there was something about them or the way they expressed life that most interested you…right?
3. PRESSURE. Not what you’d imagine. Not the kind of pressure that leaves you stressed, but the kind of pressure that makes something great out of you. Such as the pressure of converting to a diamond. When you put yourself out there a little more, it will create some pressure and personally, I feel that every business should walk with that kind of “good pressure” that is challenging them to become better. It’s almost as if when you put yourself out there as the face of your brand, there’s more accountability now to take it up a notch and produce.

We are living in different times. People are showing up online more and more and it’s making it harder for people to find you and have the time to build the connection with you in person before they’ve already built the connection with someone who decided to show up online. This is not to add any stress, but maybe a little good pressure. If you’re on the verge of whether or not you want to start creating a better lifestyle business brand, then maybe it’s time to just jump!