Beyond the personal brand hype
“Hey man, I really tried making a personal brand like you are doing, but eventually it costed me way too much energy and time, and I quit”
I have had several of these conversations over the past months.
Indeed it isn’t easy writing something consistently for many months in a row. It takes a theme, patience to go through the sucky articles, and willingness to improve.
Obviously it also helps that I used to write articles in university, worked at the radio and spent a large part of my life working in media, where copywriting was essential.
However for me the main thing that kept me going to keep building a “personal brand” was a deeper desire: the need to separate my role as founder and CEO of a company, from the person that I am next to that.
Why?
In short, personally I found it very hard to prevent myself from blending into the companies identity and the other way around.
Let me explain.
14 years CEO of 1 company
The first 14 years of my working life, I spent them building my previous company.
Funk-e was an extension of my personality. It basically felt like a limb.
This made everything I did very natural and authentic. This helped create a consistent brand for the company and a clear culture.
But it also changed the way I behaved.
⁃ At parties I would introduce myself as the founder of an animation company. I also wasn’t really able to talk about anything else anymore.
⁃ At conferences I would only focus on relevant connections for my business
⁃ The books I read and the things I learned were focussed on my industry and the company mission and needs
This meant I developed a lot as an executive of Funk-e, and created a relevant network for the business I was in.
However when I sold Funk-e, I was back to square 1.
⁃ My network was good, but not relevant for what I wanted to do next.
⁃ I had no clear idea of where there were clear problems to solve
⁃ I had no real clarity of what mattered to me personally
Separating the man from the businessman
With Mister Awesome I have focussed on creating a clear division between whatever company I was running at the time, and the things I personally cared about: creating an infrastructure where positive ideas can go from 0 to 1.
It gives me the freedom to initiate projects, help others, or rant about something even if it has nothing to do with the business I run.
An added benefit of a blog is that it creates a certain habit.
For me it’s a habit of honestly reflecting to myself whether something I did still makes sense, what mistakes I made or if I should do more of something I felt good about.
A personal brand also gives me an excuse to join something that might not be relevant for the business now, but that maybe after a long period of flirting with an idea, might make sense to integrate after all.
The 4 main benefits of a personal brand
So if I had to summarize it all, for me a personal brand is more than just a fun gimmick for LinkedIn.
It has helped me keep focus and enjoy the 4 benefits below.
⁃ Separating myself from my business
⁃ Clarifying what I care about
⁃ Networking around a personal mission
⁃ Low pressure innovation and discovery
What would you gain from more clearly separating yourself from the business you run?
