Will my friends judge my 'personal brand'?
A guest column from Viktoriia Vasileva.
Viktoriia Vasileva works in marketing and communications and writes the newsletter where she people watches, trend spots, and thinks critically in the crowded creative space.
But first, here’s what else people are talking about on Diem:
Is it bad that you start collecting apple seeds just to throw them in a hex…Asking for a friend.
My husband and I had a secret elopement and i’m not sure how to tell my family.
Ugh, I feel this in my bones! It’s tough to even say “personal brand” out loud sometimes, let alone find the courage to put yourself out there in front of your friends, family, and coworkers.
When I left my full-time marketing job at a tech startup last year, I forced myself to take a hard look at my career and be really intentional about what I wanted to do next. After hours of journaling, hot yoga, and other classic Eat, Pray, Love activities, I decided I wanted to work my way up into a creative director or a brand marketing role and transition into a more fun industry, like beauty or fashion. The problem was, up until that point, my whole network and professional identity revolved around tech. So, making the transition meant I’d have to basically start over. To attract new friends, connections, and employers, I’d have to do lots of research, learn new skills, and perhaps most intimidatingly: rebrand myself as a creative.
For the first six months, I felt like the biggest fraud. I closed my eyes and held my breath when clicking “Send” on Substack posts about Balenciaga’s talent strategy and the Prada AW 2024 show because, even after hours of research, I still felt out of my depth. I shushed my friends when they complimented the short videos I shot and edited for IG in an attempt to learn visual storytelling, because I was convinced that they were only doing so because they felt bad for me.
But despite all of this, I kept going! And even though it’s been only a couple of months since I’ve found my rhythm and started seeing real results, what I can say with full confidence is that I don’t feel insecure about putting time and effort into my “personal rebrand” anymore.
Here are a couple of things that helped me feel more comfortable:
People in your life will likely be more receptive and supportive than you think.
Put yourself in your friends’ shoes for a second. What if one of them decided they wanted to pursue interior design and started sharing the artists and styles that inspire them on their personal IG? You’d probably be the first to like their posts in show of support and encourage them to keep going! Odds are, this is exactly how your friends will feel when they see you post about your work too.
Plus, believe it or not, putting your professional interests out there may even be a way to reconnect with some of your old friends. Whenever I post anything about fashion, beauty and brand projects, I have people I haven’t spoken to in years reach out to me with comments about it. They aren’t as comfortable or interested in posting about it as me, but they follow all the same bloggers, designers, and creatives, and now we send each other things to read and watch and regularly chat about it!
And even if your friends don’t share the same interests with you, putting yourself and your interests out there is a great way to connect with other people in your field. I met so many cool people through Substack and IG by just engaging with and supporting their work.
Pick the platform and the medium you are most comfortable with.
When I started my rebrand journey, TikTok was (and obviously, still is) the go-to platform for personal brand building. But no matter how hard I tried to make it work, it wasn’t a fit for me. I felt like making short videos with a clickbaity hook suppressed my creativity and didn’t put me in front of the right people. I ended up picking Substack as my top focus, at least for now, because it lets me stay authentic, dive deep into my interests, and find people who enjoy long-form high-quality content as opposed to a quick dopamine hit. Plus, I have a lot more experience in writing than shooting and editing videos.
Start small.
It’s good to have big ambitions! Eventually, I want to work with big clients and turn my Substack into a resource and community for creatives everywhere. But today, it means setting aside enough time to write a post every week and make it marginally better than the one I wrote last week. Pushing yourself way too far out of your comfort zone is terrifying. Something as small as rewriting your LinkedIn profile or rearranging your IG to better represent you can be a great first step at building a personal brand.
Be yourself.
Look, I know how cheesy this sounds, but one of the reasons why I felt uncomfortable putting myself out there is because for a while, it felt like putting on a mask that didn’t fit. I would watch people I admire act and present themselves a certain way and try to copy them rather than look inwards for inspiration. What I ended up posting felt a little off because I felt off putting out stuff that didn’t quite represent me, and as a result attracted the wrong people. Learning from others is helpful and important but so is figuring out what you like and want to do.
Stay consistent.
There were times when I felt so stupid, spending hours on research and writing long posts just for a few people to see them. Looking back though, it wasn’t stupid at all, because I got to develop my writing and marketing skills and created a whole portfolio of work that I can use as a showcase for clients and employers. In general, I feel like we equate success and popularity way too much. I’d pick becoming friends with ten cool, smart people in my industry over 100k random followers on social media any day. Obviously, one leads to the other, but when I post anything online now, I don’t try to appeal to the masses, I just make stuff that I am proud of and would be excited to show to those ten cool people I want to be friends with.
In general, any time my insecurities are acting up, I ground myself in all the reasons why what I do is important to me. My goal isn’t validation from my friends and family, racking up followers or business deals. At the end of the day, it’s about pursuing my passions, making stuff I am proud of, and connecting with smart people doing cool things. And as long as I do that, the voices in my head can’t get to me.
ICYMI
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I loved this post so much - thank you for sharing this advice. I'm in the midst of my own "personal rebrand" and am constantly cringing at the self promotion I've signed myself up for. But, along with the cringe, I'm feeling much closer to the person I know that I am and it's nice to show that person to the world. Posts like these make me motivated to keep going!