Tara here, and when we develop a personal brand for a creative entrepreneur we have a pretty strong belief— it’s called the blend. We feel so strongly about it, because we don’t do branding any other way. Kathleen and I believe—no, we know—that the blend of who you are and what you do is like magic.
It’s not like one-shot magic bullet. “Bam! This is how I’m going to be famous, and/or fulfilled, and/or make a million, and/or make just enough. I’ve figured it out, let’s launch this and call it a day!”
Nope, this blend is more like magic beans. “Here’s my personal style bean. Here’s my beliefs bean. My skills are the speckledy one. My offering, oh yeah, it’s the gold one.” I may have started describing eggs, but that metaphor works too, because you’re hatching something, and it’s not just one thing. You’re hatching a collection, a mix, of all these amazing gifts you have going for you. They just need some nurturing, hard work and time to see them come to light.
I know in the story the beanstalk is already sprouted into the sky by morning. Your business and your brand is not going to be everything you hope for overnight (or even a few months from now.) But in a year? In two? Oh man, in three? You could be halfway into the clouds.
You may think I’m kidding, but think of those beans/eggs in the palm of your hand for a second. Write each one on a scrap of paper if it helps. Name them what they are.
My style is ____.
My voice is ____.
My purpose is_____.
My creative expertise is ______.
So I make ________.
To help people ________.
Because I believe ____ matters.
So I’m growing a ______ business.
I want to reach _____ in the sky.
Now, look at what you wrote. Are you in there—Not what you think your clients want to hear, or what your past work experiences have told you to say, but you? Are you using words you actually say? Is your style peeking through? Is the creative expertise you want to claim and the working life you want to create showing up in this mix? This is a blend. So look again, and now ask, is how people can hire you in there? Where is the business part? What do they actually get at the end of the day from this person that is you?
Even if these feel like small, unformed ideas, know that they are the beginning of something big. Because if the fairy tales teach us anything, it’s that we’ll get what we wish for.
Now plant these beans where you stand. Where you stand could be anywhere. It could be a big city or a small town, you could have grown up in the same neighborhood that you still live in today, or be a digital nomad traveling the world.
You can grow a business being exactly who you are and delivering to clients, customers, readers, followers, subscribers (whatever you call the recipients of this gift you have to share).
Because your unique blend is going to help them get what they need too. And aren’t we all just planting dreams of our own but afraid to go after it alone?
We’ve all got magic beans in our pocket, we just have to plant them. We’re all scared of giants—the big “what if’s” and the failures. But there’s a reason we’re dreamers and doers (that’s the best blend of all). Because we? We still climb anyway.