128 | From service-provider to ‘personal brand / founder’
The power of shifting from ‘service provider / freelancer’ to building a magnetic personal brand
There's a world of difference between offering services as a freelancer and building a real personal brand as a founder. In this episode I'm diving into the huge benefits of letting people connect with the human behind the brand, why it makes you incomparable in a world of AI and bots, and how to get over the cringe factor of being more visible…
Building a ‘personal brand’ as a service provider
If you're a service-based business owner and your whole online presence revolves around your portfolio and your testimonials, your potential clients are going to compare you to everyone else who offers what you do in a similar style.
You end up in a race to the bottom on two things: price, and design style. And that's a game you never want to play.
If someone is comparing you to 5 other website designers, and all they can see is your work, what are they judging you on? How expensive you are, and whether you make "feminine pastel" sites or "minimal black and white" ones. That's it. That's all they have to go on.
Your portfolio doesn't capture the full experience of working with you, how much clarity and confidence you give them, or how you approach the work completely differently. That’s why building a personal brand is so important.
LINKS MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:
The In Demand Identity Kit (nail your personal brand foundations in less than 2 hours): https://www.byrosanna.co.uk/in-demand-identity-kit
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/238226942-yesteryear
Grace Beverley (example of a strong personal brand): https://www.instagram.com/gracebeverley/
Sign up to my weekly ‘Re:Fresh’ emails: https://www.byrosanna.co.uk/newsletter
Say hi on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/by.rosanna/
More about byRosanna (website design & business resources): https://www.byrosanna.co.uk/
The incomparable power of a personal brand
When you let people see the human behind the brand, and really connect with you as a person, you become incomparable. People follow you for you, your approach, your opinions, your way of working. They build real trust in you as an individual, so by the time they actually get in touch to work together, they've basically already decided they want to hire you!
Proposals don't get met with radio silence. Sales calls aren't an uphill battle. Enquiries become a "hell yes" instead of a "maybe." Because your audience didn't just stumble on your portfolio and think "this looks alright" - they've been watching you, listening to you, hearing your unique perspective, and slowly falling in love with the idea of working with you.
I've been banging this drum for years, honestly. But in a world that's becoming more and more AI-driven and bot-powered, it's never been more important to show that you're a real human who can relate to your clients on a real human level.
People don't just want a faceless company that churns out content. They want to work with people who share their values, understand them, and take a human-first approach. And the only way they know that's you is if you actually show up as a human.
Personal brand vs influencer (an important difference)
Now, I know what you're thinking: "I don't want to be an influencer. I don't want to monetise my whole life." And I get it, but there's a crucial difference between a personal brand and an influencer.
An influencer's entire life is the product. Their job is to document their day-to-day and build an audience around it, so brands will pay them to promote things to that audience. Their income depends on sharing their life, which is why so much of it ends up online, and promoting other peoples’ products.
A personal brand gets to choose. Yes, you can absolutely share your life and get sponsorships and affiliate deals. But you can also sell your own services, products, courses, or anything else you want to create. You can do paid speaking, write a book, collaborate with other brands.
The point is, you're building an audience around you as a person, not just the single service you offer, so you have complete flexibility in how you monetise that audience and what you create for them. They're ready to buy whatever you put out, because they're bought into you.
BUT you still get to have whatever privacy, boundaries, and niches to work in that you choose.
It's the difference between Grace Beverley (a personal brand) and any lifestyle influencer.
Grace has multiple businesses: Tala, her activewear company; Shreddy, her fitness and nutrition brand; a productivity journal etc. People follow her for her, so whenever she launches something new, her audience pounce on it, because they trust her and want to support what she's building.
An influencer's product is their life. A personal brand's life is what connects their products.
Can you build a personal brand if your business isn’t named after you?
“What if I've built my brand around a word that isn't my name? What if I'm Starlight Studio instead of Jane Smith? Do I have to change it to have a "proper" personal brand?”
Definitely not!
Some of my favourite personal brands aren't named after the person at all. Sarah from BTL Copy (her whole business is called Between the Lines Copy). Shannon from The Social Bungalow. Having a business name doesn't make them any less memorable, because they're always showing their faces and personalities. We all know exactly who they are, because of how they show up.
So please, do not let the fact that you're Starlight Studio hold you back. You can 100% build a personal brand around any business name. It's about how much of you comes through, not what's on the logo.
What if showing up more as me online feels cringey?
The other reason I know people hold back on the whole personal brand thing is the cringe factor. The "who am I to show my face on Instagram, I'm not an influencer" voice. Believe me, I've been there.
When Instagram Stories launched (yes, I am that long in this game), the idea of filming myself talking to my phone sounded horrendous. I was happy sharing portfolio shots and testimonials, thank you very much! But now my face is all over YouTube and TikTok and Reels etc. The only way I got over that cringe was to feel it, and do it anyway.
You're always going to cringe at your first attempts. I look back at my early YouTubes and want to hide under a pillow. But you have to start somewhere, and the more you do it, the more you realise no one cares nearly as much as you do. It gets easier.
So feel the cringe. Do it anyway. Your business will thank you.
How can I starting becoming more of a personal brand?
If you're nodding your head at all of this, but you're not sure where to start building your own personal brand, my In Demand Identity Kit was made for you.
It's a 2-hour business kit that walks you through uncovering your personal brand positioning, getting crystal clear on exactly who your audience is, and pulling out the trust-building, personality-led brand stories you can use across your content = the perfect way to start uncovering your personal brand!
