Your personal brand is a fictional character. So make it a good one.
As a freelancer or other type of solo professional, you doubtless worry about how you can stand out among so many competitors.
You write articles. You send Tweets. You keep in touch on Facebook and LinkedIn.
But so does everyone else.
So how can you separate yourself from the crowd?
One way is to present yourself as being a little larger than life. A little out of the ordinary.
Think about fictional characters. Captain Ahab. Sherlock Holmes. Captain Kirk.
Great characters jump off the page, or the screen. They stand out from everyone else. They are different in ways, or to degrees, that seem almost impossible in real life.
How does this apply to you as a freelancer?
Well, brands are fiction. All brands are fiction. Personal brands in particular are fiction.
Do you think Steve Job’s family experiences him the same way we do? There is the real Steve Jobs, and then there is the personal brand of Steve Jobs. His personal brand is a fiction.
About fifteen years ago, when I was a direct mail copywriter, I also lived on a hobby farm. One day a client called me and said he had tried phoning a few minutes before, but I hadn’t answered. I explained that I had just come in from feeding my pigs.
This particular client was well connected in the industry and, within a few weeks, I became known as Nick the Pig Farmer.
It wasn’t true, and it wasn’t the fictional character I would have chosen for myself. But it worked gangbusters. I got calls from prospects I had never heard of before. They all wanted to work with Nick the Pig Farmer.
I have a coaching client who flies light aircraft. She could do something with that.
I have another client who lives in a chateau in France. She could do something with that too.
How about you?
What is it about your life that makes you a little different from other people?
Find something, and use it as your starting point. Build a character around it.
Make that fictional character central to your personal brand.
Just keep in mind that it won’t just be you who defines your character. I owned two pigs and suddenly became a “pig farmer”.
But that’s OK. A copywriting pig farmer makes for a much more compelling story than a copywriter who happens to own two pigs.
Your job is to catch the attention and imagination of your audience.
Then hold your breath and let them run with it.
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