The pros and cons of building a personal brand

We've been talking about personal brands for the last couple of blogs, because it's especially relevant to those of you who are launching digital products, and the decision that you have to make, whether you want to do it under a business name or your personal brand name.

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Weighing up the pros and cons of building a personal brand

 

Con: Can be tough to get a domain name

One of the cons, if you have a common name (like – Steph Taylor) it can be really hard to get the domain name for your personal brand. That is why I'm stephtaylor.co and not stephtaylor.com and the number of people who are like, “Oh, I've tried to go to your website and it doesn't work,” and then I find out they've been trying to go to stephtaylor.com or they've been emailing @stephtaylor.com. That happens quite a lot. I don't even want to think about how much it would cost me to try and buy stephtaylor.com, so for now it's stephtaylor.co. But that is a really real consideration if you have quite a common name.

 

Con: Your name could potentially change

Another one actually that just occurred to me as I was talking this through is remembering that like could your personal name change? Perhaps you could get married. I mean, for me, I've thought about this. When and if I get married, I will still operate my business under Steph Taylor even if I personally changed my last name. Additionally, if you were to get divorced, would you keep the same last name? Because that provides a little bit of uncertainty around your personal brand name. Having said all that, you can always change it. Anything that you are doing, you can change in your business, and there's nothing wrong with changing things and changing your mind about things.

 

Con: Big responsibility to be a leader

Another con about building a personal brand is the responsibility, the responsibility of being a leader, and especially as your brand grows, there's more responsibility to say the right thing, to do the right thing, to show up and set a good example for other people and that's really hard.

 

Con: It can be scary making yourself very visible

The other big con is visibility. It's scary putting yourself out there on the internet for people to attack. It's one thing for people to say something negative about a business brand when it's not your name. It's a totally different thing when it's your name and your face that somebody is saying something nasty about. I mean, I always use the skid mark example. There was a guy on the internet who commented on one of my Facebook ads with my name and my face on it and said, “Oh, look, just another skid mark trying to make a buck.” That really stung because that felt so personal whereas that had been under a business brand name, I think I would have brushed it off a lot quicker. Now, it doesn't hurt. Now, I'm like, “Whatever.” It says more about that guy than it does about me.

But when it's under your personal brand, there is a certain amount of skin thickening that happens when you're showing up. But by and large, personally, I've found that the negativity is actually a lot less than I expected it to be. I imagine for most of you, unless you're talking about something quite controversial or you're quite a polarizing person, you will probably find there's not actually as much negativity as you think. But when it does happen, it's a little bit more stingy. It hurts a little bit more. It also opens you up to trolls, being called out, being canceled if you say something that people don't agree with, all of that. But I mean, it's the same, I guess, with business brands as well. It just feels more personal.

 

Con: Negatives can feel much more personal

Another con is when people don't buy from you, that feels more personal. Same with if people have negative feedback, if any customers have negative feedback, it feels a lot more personal. It feels like it's almost like they're criticizing you rather than choosing not to buy from your business or rather than giving your business advice on how to improve.

 

Con: Can be tough to let go of control and to delegate

Then the last con that I could think of, which has been a really big one for me is it can be really hard letting go of control to delegate and grow. Because when everything that you're putting out there on the internet is coming from your personal brand, it's really hard to then let go and be like, “Okay, I want to hire somebody to write my social media posts for me and speak for me.” That little bit of control feels really hard to let go of. Same with even customer support, delegating that to my wonderful VA. That was really hard to give up control of that because everything that she says is representing my personal brand. So I mean, while there is also still that difficulty letting go of control when you're building a business brand or building it under a business name, I think it's a little bit harder when it's coming from you as the personal brand.

 

Pro: Easier to show up authentically

Let's move on to the pros on a more positive note. These are some of the pros that I have noticed. There will probably be others. Personally, I've noticed that it's so much easier to just show up as my authentic self. Sometimes, I show up when I'm having a bad hair day. I think I've showed up in pajamas once actually. I mean, you couldn't really tell that they were pajamas, but I was definitely still in bed. So it's very easy to be on social media and show up as your authentic self rather than having to be the face of the brand.

 

Pro: Can pivot your business with ease

It also becomes a lot easier to pivot your personal brand because your personal brand can almost be like an umbrella that houses all of the different projects you do throughout your entire business career.

 

Pro: People buy from people

I personally find it easier to market and sell things under my personal brand because people buy from people. It feels a lot more friendly. It feels like I'm just having one-on-one conversations with people when I'm talking. I don't feel like I'm having to talk and represent a big brand.

 

Pro: Less worry about others ripping off your business name

I also don't have to worry about people ripping off my brand name. Unless somebody goes and legally changes their name to my name, which would be really weird, but unless that were to happen, I don't really have to worry about people ripping off my business name.

 

Pro: Speaking in the first person

The last one is I can write and I can talk as I instead of we. So I'm like, “Well, this happened to me today and this is how I feel about it,” rather than, “We as a brand believe this.” It flows so much easier and it's much easier to write and talk as “I” in that first person than as “we”.

 

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