Branding Myself Is Painful

For almost 20 years I have worked with companies (big, medium and tiny), artists, individuals, and organizations to create a system and process of messaging and visual iconography to connect with consumers and communities. I think I have done a pretty darn good job of this over the last two decades. All this experience and I haven't EVER had the pleasure of "branding" myself. Well...until now.

On my quest to tell my unique brand story, create and memorable visual icon and efficiently distribute it to my communities I have realized 3 things:

1. I am a terrible client 2. I cannot do this alone in a vacuum 3. This process takes a lot of time (and pieces of paper)

From the start of this personal project, I hit barrier after barrier following the blueprint that I have used when working with others. Have I lost my mojo? Has the branding world had a massive shift? Am I just not good at this stuff anymore? After I picked my ego and confidence up off the floor, I decided to re-learn the process of brand creation. To ensure I stick to this commitment I needed to create some accountability. Immediately I made a Facebook Event announcing a 6 part branding seminar (at Container Yard Co-Working) hoping to get some fellow "DIY Branders" to journey with me on this personal branding quest. Teaching others while also being a student seemed very interesting to me. The idea of teaching this process by showing my successes and failures of my own personal discoveries and brand creations is a great way to share knowledge but also for me to get honest and useful feedback on my work.

I want to thank all of my fellow "DIY branders" that have been with me through this ongoing project. I am not where I want to be, yet. The amount of self-discovery and writing exercises is exhausting, but I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully, soon I will be able to launch my new brand in the next couple of weeks.

Well...thanks for listening and I gotta go because I have a branding class coming in a few minutes.