I’m a solopreneur: should I have a personal brand or business brand?
When I started freelancing in 2019 I branded myself as a business, “Red Dot Design”.
I consider this one of the (many) mistakes I have made since going self-employed.
I had no plans to expand and I was essentially representing myself as “bigger” than I really was. I referred to myself as “we” when it was in fact just me sitting alone behind the keyboard. I had placed an imaginary army of staff between me and my clients, and it was a bit weird.
Now I trade as myself – and not only do I feel better for it, but my business it doing better too. As Zig Ziglar said, “If people like you, they’ll listen to you, but if they trust you, they’ll do business with you”.
So how do you decide if you should move forward with personal branding or business branding?
Here are a few key points to consider:
1) I hit on it already above, but do you plan on expanding in the future? If it’s just going to be you trading initially for at least a few years, I’d start with a personal brand as this will super-charge your ability to connect with your desired audience. If you’re looking to quickly expand (within the first year), brand as a company as this will serve you better in the long-term.
2) While a personal brand has the power to connect with audiences more, a company brand suggests a level of scale and professionalism. Consider what is most beneficial to forward your particular business.
3) A business provides the opportunity to choose a name that fully expresses what you do, whereas with a self-brand it can take longer to become associated with doing one particular thing well.
4) If the idea of putting yourself out there consistently makes you feel cringier than watching a terrible X-Factor audition, then you may feel more confident trading under a company name than your own. Although my personal opinion on this matter is that you’ve got to work through that cringe either way, as it will serve as a block to growth further down the line (you can’t escape your fear of being seen forever).
5) Creating a brand that is separate from yourself will keep the focus solely on your service offering, instead of it becoming muddled with the idea of “you”. This hones your proposition, making it clearer exactly what people are signing up for.
Final note – why choose? Some of the worlds most successful businesses employ both branding methods. Think KFC: a global chain with a welcoming colonel on the front lines. The colonel appeals to the everyman in us all. He just wants to eat chicken and have a good time. Now that I can get on-board with.