Most personal brands aren’t confusing because they lack skills.
They’re confusing because they’re too close to their work and want to express what they feel and not how they help.
When you spend years getting better at your craft, learning the business side of your industry, takes marketing courses. You lost sight of why you’re doing what you’re doing. As a result, your message and your why isn’t clear anymore. You lost your northern star. When you learn to much, what do you becomes unclear. Which is why you have a hard time communicating what you do because you can now do a lot with your acquired skills.
At least that’s what I tell myself. I learned about photography, graphic design, copywriting, marketing, sales and I enjoy them all, now I have a bit of an identity crisis.
“What do you do for work?” I’ve been getting this question for the past 3 years. The answer eludes me. I never know what to say. So I pick the one I feel like that day.
There has been a pattern I wasn’t able to see. There’s one that’s got a grip on me. And it’s what I’m doing and starting now… Writing.
I was a photographer for 13 years that will never leave me and I will always be a photographer first and foremost. But that’s MY passion. Writing is my passion that includes others.
This is where clarity is important and how I know what it feels like to be good at a lot of things and not know how to explain what I do.
I’m a writer who doest consider himself a writer, a graphic designer with a bachelor’s degree in design, and 13 year photography expert and an emerging cinematographer. So when someone asks what do I do… I don’t know what to say…
At least I didn’t know. I stopped trying to pick one thing and started focusing on the result and not the what I do. For example, “You are good at what you do. You just struggle to explain it clearly online.” I’m here for you to get clear and get more clients. Now the how doesn’t matter to much meaning the photography, design, writing, etc. It’s about helping you explain your business clearly and my primary way of doing that for you is with writing. I’ll write your post, blog, newsletter, about me, etc. To help you tell your story because when you tell your story you convert more because your clients feel like they actually know you.
The shift happened when I stopped asking “What am I?” and started asking “What problem do I solve?”
I don’t need to pick one identity. Photographer, designer, writer, marketer… these aren’t competing identities. They’re tools in my kit. And they all serve the same purpose: helping people like you communicate clearly.
Because here’s what I’ve learned: your potential clients don’t care about your resume. They care about whether you understand their problem. And their problem isn’t that they need a photographer or a copywriter. Their problem is that they’re talented, experienced, and completely stuck when it comes to explaining what they do.
I get it because I lived it.
So if you’re reading this and thinking, “This is me. I’m good at what I do but I can’t seem to put it into words”… that’s exactly who I write for. Let’s get you clear. Let’s tell your story in a way that makes people say, “Finally, someone who gets it.”
Because when you’re clear about what you do, everything else gets easier.
