Why I believe everyone should start building a personal brand.
“Why try so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out?” — Author unknown
I literally live by this.
But I, too, have had moments of insecurity.
I’ve compared my work to other creators. I’ve wondered whether what I was building was working. And yes, I’ve created things I believed in and heard…
Crickets. 😂
But after nearly 18 years of creating online, I’ve learned something:
Even when you think nobody is paying attention, somebody may be paying attention.
The numbers on your screen aren’t just numbers.
They’re people.
Whether 50 people see your work or 50,000, the goal isn’t simply to build a big audience. It’s to build an audience of people who actually care about what you have to say.
And that’s one of the reasons I believe so strongly in building your personal brand.
Your personal brand helps position you for what you want to be known for.
Years ago, I was building my personal brand as a blogger.
I had my blog. I had my YouTube channel. I updated my LinkedIn to explicitly position myself as a personal blogger, and I started sharing my blog posts there.
Then something unexpected happened.
A publicist who represented a talk show reached out and invited me to attend the show and share the experience with my blog audience.
I brought my mom and one of my friends with me, and as we were being taken to our seats, I asked the publicist something I had been wondering:
“How did you find me?”
I assumed she was going to say YouTube.
Nope. 😂
She found me through LinkedIn.
I had no idea she was paying attention.
I wasn’t sharing my work on LinkedIn thinking, Maybe a publicist will find me here and invite me to a talk show.
I was simply putting my work into the world and positioning myself for what I wanted to be known for.
And my content was working for me even when I wasn’t working.
That experience stayed with me because it taught me something I’ll never forget:
Your personal brand is introducing you to people you’ve never met.
Your personal brand is your reputation made visible.
A lot of people hear personal brand and immediately think influencer.
I don’t.
Your personal brand helps people understand who you are, what you do, what you care about, what you know, and the value you bring.
It’s what someone can begin to learn about you before they ever have a conversation with you.
Long before someone hires you, collaborates with you, recommends you, purchases from you, or invites you into an opportunity, they may already be getting to know you through your content.
That’s positioning.
And you don’t always know who is finding your work while you’re busy wondering whether anyone is paying attention.
Don’t confuse small numbers with no impact.
This is something I think creators especially need to remember.
When you’re building online, it’s incredibly easy to compare.
Someone else has more followers.
Their video got more views.
Their post got more comments.
Meanwhile, you’re looking at something you spent hours creating and wondering whether anybody cares.
But those numbers represent actual people.
And you don’t necessarily need everybody to find you.
You need the right people to understand who you are and the value you bring.
One of those people could become a client.
One could recommend you for an opportunity.
One could purchase your product.
One could share your work with someone else.
One could simply remember your name when an opportunity comes along six months from now.
You don’t always get to see what your work is doing immediately.
So keep putting in the reps.
Write the article.
Publish the video.
Share your perspective.
Update your profile.
Build the website.
Learn the skill.
Build your personal brand.
You don’t know which seed will grow.
One blog post.
One LinkedIn article.
One YouTube video.
One newsletter.
One resource.
One thoughtful comment.
You have no idea which piece of your work will connect you with the next person or opportunity.
That’s why consistency matters.
Not because every post will change your life.
But because every piece of content gives someone another opportunity to discover you.
My faith has shaped the way I think about this, too.
Ecclesiastes 11:6 says:
“Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.”
I love that Scripture because it reminds me that I don’t have to know which seed will grow before I plant it.
We don’t know which article someone will read.
We don’t know which video they’ll discover.
We don’t know which idea they’ll remember.
We don’t know which connection will eventually lead somewhere we never expected.
Our job isn’t to predict every outcome.
Our job is to keep planting.
God knows which seed will grow.
Don’t be afraid to build something that looks like you.
This is something I’m reminding myself of in my current season, too.
Some of the work I’ve felt most apprehensive about sharing has also been some of the work closest to my heart.
And sometimes that’s exactly what makes sharing it scary.
But I’ve learned that you can’t be so afraid of how people will receive your gifts that you never give them the opportunity to receive them at all.
That doesn’t mean everything about your life belongs online.
It doesn’t.
Use wisdom. Protect your family. Protect what is sacred. Some things are yours to keep.
But don’t hide the work God gave you because you’re afraid it won’t look like everybody else’s.
Refine it.
Position it.
Share it.
Let people discover what God has given you to contribute.
Why I’m talking more about personal branding
Over the next several months, you’ll probably hear me talking a lot more about personal branding.
Not because I think everyone needs to become an influencer.
I believe personal branding can help you become more intentional about how you communicate your value and what you want to be known for.
Whether you’re building a business, changing careers, returning to work after raising children, creating digital products, sharing your expertise, or building something completely new, people can’t appreciate the value you bring if they never have the opportunity to discover it.
Your personal brand helps bridge that gap.
And after nearly 18 years of creating online, I still absolutely love creating content, reaching people, and building a business and brand that matters.
Now I want to help other people do the same.
If you’re ready to build a personal brand that matters—aligned with who God created you to be so you can do more of what you love—follow along.
I’ll be sharing more of what I’ve learned, what I’m building now, and how you can begin building and positioning your own personal brand.
Because you never know who is finding your work while you’re wondering if anyone is paying attention.
Keep building.
Keep planting.
Keep becoming. 🍄
From the Archives: The Original Blog Post
Want to see the original post? ❤️
You can read the blog post I wrote after I was invited to attend the talk show, including additional photos from the experience. It’s fun to look back at that moment now and see how something I was simply building online eventually created an opportunity I never expected.