You Should Humanize Your Brand!
That’s what I tell people to do. Ironically, I tell them this while neglecting to do it for my own business.
I am starting a business.
The first step is saying it out loud. I am not an imposter. I have this little nest of flammable things in my hands that I managed to strike a spark into, and now I blow gentle puffs of air into it. I’m trying to practice what I preach. Here is my human:
I have scraped a couple of clients together through family referrals and so far they’re happy. They say things like “you really know what you’re doing!” or “I don’t know where to start” and I’m just starting to feel like I’m not lying when I say “I do!”
I think I’m going to call myself a “Full Service Media Presence Consultant”. That sounds like I know what I’m talking about, right? It’s kind of what I’m doing; collecting a client’s stories to sift out mission statements and core values and long term goals so I can advise them about website layout and hashtags and color pallets and blog content and social media strategies.
Sometimes I even write the copy and the content and the captions because under all of these twigs of business skills I’ve picked up, I am just a writer. An English student who is maybe not going to get their degree on time because they didn’t take enough years of Spanish in high school. Who works in a limbo: I don’t have the degree, but I’m already doing the thing I supposedly had to have one to do. If I weren’t so stubborn I probably wouldn’t feel the need to finish.
I bet they don’t have these problems in Europe.
Here’s a little more human for you: I have bipolar disorder. I feel like an imposter about that too. I don’t look like the person people think of when they think bipolar person. More than one receiver of this news has told me that maybe I don’t need those little blue ovals tidy behind SMTWTFS because I act so normal. Yeah dude, what do you think the little blue ovals are for?
And another human thing: I got up and showered today after going too long without showering. I cried because I don’t know why. A lot. I sat down at this laptop three hours ago and all I’ve squeaked out is a poem for my ENG 315 about a man I felt like an imposter to grieve. I cried again, for everyone who had to loose him. I cried some more because I don’t know why. I never, ever, ever feel like I am doing enough.
I’ve gotten pierced 29 times. I have 5 tattoos. I’ve been to 8 countries. I love salt and vinegar chips. I hate the texture of tomatoes. I have an unhealthy relationship with coffee and I used to smoke cigarettes sometimes. I like my hair best when it’s dyed pink and cut with fringe bangs.
This is not what I mean when I tell clients to humanize their brands. I mean support a local charity! I mean show some personality through your social media accounts! I mean write a good “about us” blurb on your website homepage so people know you have a real-life, I-worked-for-this story!
But my clients aren’t writers.
I am.
I’ve never felt like an imposter in that.
