Welcome to 15 Minute Freelancer, your snack-sized guide to being your own boss and building a business and life you love. I'm your host, Louise Shanahan. My LinkedIn bio says I'm a freelance health copywriter. But for the next 15 minutes, I'll be tickling your ears with practical strategies, behind the scenes stories, and nuggets o' wisdom so you can create a freelance business that works for you. Whether you're just starting out or you've been self-employed for a while, I'll be right here with you to help me navigate the ups and downs of freelancing life. So, grab a coffee relax and join me for 15 minutes of freelancing fun. Don't forget to hit subscribe!
Hello, freelance friends, how are you? Or rather, who are you? Today we are talking about personal branding for freelancers. So what is a personal brand? Do you need one? How do you create one? Is it even something you can or should create? Is it an essential part of your freelance business or a total cringefest that’s best left to Instagram influencers who want to sell weight loss lollipops and tea bags? That's what we're going to dig into today.
Before I started freelancing, the concept of personal branding seemed so alien. As some of you know, I'd come from the civil service where any semblance of individuality was basically outlawed. “Must be on message at all times!” So starting my business and suddenly realising that I was the face of a business, whether I liked it or not, was kind of weird, to be honest.
What would Louise Shanahan the brand be like? Would I need a fancy logo, a clever business name, and professional photos of me wearing a fedora and gazing wistfully into the middle distance or laughing over a salad or something like? The answer is kind of yes, and kind of no. Definitely no to the fedora and salads. But yes to being intentional and consistent in how I market myself.
So let's start with what a personal brand isn't. Personal branding isn't really about your logo and brand colours and photos, although these are definitely part of what makes you recognizable. It’s not about creating a fake persona or character to sell your services on LinkedIn or Twitter. And it's definitely not pretending to be something you're not. A personal brand is basically your reputation. It’s what you're known for. It's how you establish yourself as a designer, or a videographer or a coach, or a copywriter. It’s how you stand out from the crowd and make sure your ideal audience sees you in the way you want to be seen.
So it's a pretty important part of marketing your business and finding the right clients. Now, you might cringe at the idea of having or creating a personal brand. But here's the thing, you have one, whether you want one or not. Like I say, it's your reputation. It’s what people say about you when they're referring you to a potential client. It's how those potential clients remember you from what they've seen you post on LinkedIn or Twitter. If the idea of personal branding feels a bit weird or icky to you, maybe just think of it as cultivating and sharing your reputation. It's not about being something you're not, it's about being yourself, but being intentional about which bits you want to emphasise publicly, so you attract the right clients.
And this helps, because when you start putting yourself out there, the people you really want to work with will find things in common with you, they'll see your work, they'll connect with your personality. And it will be easier to differentiate yourself from people doing similar work, you'll find your ideal client, stand out from the competition and create real relationships with people, and marketing yourself will be so much easier.
All that said, your next question might be, “does this really need to have a strategy? Can’t I just be myself and not think about it?” And you can and should. But if you think about it, we're always presenting a curated version of ourselves, depending on who we're talking to. Like you probably tell your granny different stories about what you did at the weekend compared to what you tell your best mate. You know, the way you talk about your work to your freelance pals on slack is probably a little bit different to the way you talk about your work when you're on a call with a new client. or I would hope so!
It's all you. You're not being a different person, you just have different sides to your personality that you share in slightly different ways at different times. So a personal brand is really just playing up the side of yourself you want your clients to see. I don't think this needs a strategy as such, but if you're trying to promote your business and attract new clients, it does help to have some pointers to show up consistently. Or at least that's been my experience. And if you're an introvert like me, or if you struggle to put yourself out there, thinking of it as a personal brand can be a way to give yourself some rough guidelines when it comes to marketing your services. So you're not thinking, “Oh, I better post something on LinkedIn. What should I say? I don't know.” It gives you a bit of a guideline.
Like I say, it's not really about creating a brand is about being yourself, but in an intentional way. As Dolly Parton says, “find out who you are and do it on purpose.” I really like that.
So we can make this quite simple, really. Step one might be to ask which parts of your story and personality do you think are most relevant to your clients and business? And step two is to ask how can you share that consistently in a way that feels good to you? Here are a few ways of thinking about this that have helped me.
Number one is be yourself. People want to know who you are. As a freelancer, people are hiring you. So your personality, values, experience, aesthetic, history, and interests are all relevant if you want them to be. The little things that make you you do make a difference. Because clients want to hire professionals, that's true. But that doesn't mean you need to be all stuffy and perfectly polished and suited and booted at all times. Because we buy from people we like, and we like people who like the same things as us. And I'm sure you want to work with clients that you can be yourself with too.
That said, if you're sharing what you do in your spare time, it can be helpful to be a little bit considered in how you frame it. For example, like many folk right now, I'm watching a lot of Netflix. But I don't necessarily want potential clients to think that I lie around all day watching reality TV, that's not really true. And it's definitely not the reputation that I want to create or curate. But I might talk about film or a documentary that I've watched recently that I really loved in a more thoughtful way that says a little bit about what I'm interested in. Similarly, I love that more people are sharing the ups and downs of life and business and freelancing, and just generally be more transparent about the challenges that we're all facing right now. Because as they say, being too polished isn't really authentic either. But I would say it's helpful to be mindful of how the downs appear. Saying you're struggling to get clients might be honest, but it doesn't exactly paint a picture of success. So don't be afraid to be yourself. But do be conscious about what you're saying and how you frame it. You don't need to share every thought in your head. You can and you should keep some things private.
Number two is to be consistent. When you're being yourself, showing up consistently is a lot easier, and it helps you stick in people's minds. I think marketing yourself is easier if you have a few themes that you talk about often. Like, telling the same story about how you ended up doing what you do helps people remember and relate to you. For example, I talk about how my experience of having cancer when I was younger led me to becoming interested in health. And then how working in public health led me to becoming a health copywriter. So by repeating that story, I hope that people will remember a) I am a health copywriter and, b) I have a story that many of their audience members will relate to.
That consistency is also part of being authentic too. It's weird if someone's website shows them laughing at a salad or wearing a hashtag live, laugh, love Fedora. And then you meet them in person and they're wearing I don't know, an Alice in Chains t shirt or something. You know, it jars when someone shows up online differently to how they are in person. So that authenticity ties in with being consistent as well. It's probably exhausting to pretend to be something you're not as well. So yeah, be consistent.
Number three is be helpful. When we think about our reputation, what do we want to be known for? How do we want people to feel after we've spoken to them, or finished working with them, or after they've read something that we've written? The easiest way to build a strong reputation that will have people queuing up to work with you is to be helpful. The easiest way to build a network of new friends in the freelance community who will not only be there to support you, but also trust you enough to refer their clients to you when they're too busy or you know, doing something else, whatever, is to be helpful and create a positive impact wherever you go.
Number four, is find your USP. When people think about standing out from the crowd, they usually start with the crowd, don't they? They look at what everyone else is doing. And either think, “how do I fit in with what's expected of me? What's everyone else doing?
How do I do something different?” In fact, I think when you're just starting out, and even as your business grows it’s easier and probably more effective to keep your eyes on your own page. Don't think about standing out, think about being outstanding. Create the best work that you can, tell people about it, and tell people why you're doing it. Like I said, Be yourself. And then you can look at what people are saying and engaging with. You know, do listen to the feedback and do more of that.
Your USP might be your niche, your love of Alice in Chains, your disdain for sleazy sales tactics, you know, it can be anything really. What feels right to you. What skills do you want to show off? What are people responding to? But it should start with you. And then you can kind of build out from there based on what is resonating with your clients. And finally, don't overthink it. I know I've done a whole podcast talking about personal branding, but there's no need to get hung up on being strategic about this like, “Oh, it's Friday. I better remind people that I'm a Lady Gaga fan again.” Like, no, that's not what personal branding is about.
I really like the idea of the unplanned personal brand. You don't need to have a rigid strategy, you don't need to plan out what your business is going to look like five years from now, and therefore what you need to be talking about tomorrow. I certainly don't know where I'm going to be in five years. But like I said, maybe having a few underlying principles or themes or prompts to help you stay on track and connect with the right people can be helpful and just make this whole thing easier, which is really what I'm all about.
There you have it, building a personal brand in 15 minutes. So to recap, be yourself. Be consistent. Be helpful. Find your USP and don't overthink it. Remember, as a freelancer, you are the face of your business. So you can't really get away from the fact that you need to market yourself and you have a personal brand. But like I always say it's your business, so you get to decide how you do that. And like Dolly says, be yourself but on purpose.
Okay, folks, thanks for listening. Let me know how you feel about having a personal brand. And if you agree or disagree with anything that I've said today, I would love to know. And if you have any questions you want me to chat about next time, come find me on Twitter or LinkedIn or Instagram, and I will do my best to answer them. Thank you see you next week.
You've been listening to 15 Minute Freelancer with me, Louise Shanahan, freelance health copywriter and content marketer at thecopyprescription.com. If you enjoyed this, please hit subscribe, leave a review or share it with a freelance friend. And if you've got a freelancing question you want answered on the podcast find me and say hi on Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram. Thanks, and until next time, happy freelancing!