Ep 61. Personal Branding for Introverts: Why ‘being visible’ doesn’t mean performing

I think some people have confused building a personal brand with having to perform. Because when people hear the words “personal brand”, I think they picture a very specific type of person, someone who’s loud, always on, always posting, always networking, always somehow the centre of attention wherever they go, whether they’re online or in person.

If that’s not you, and let’s be honest, if you’re listening to this podcast, it’s probably not you, it’s really easy to look at that type of person and think, “Right, that’s not for me then. I’m not going to succeed if I build my own personal brand.”

And to be honest, I was the same when I first started in the online world. But I’ve realised since that the most magnetic people are the ones who are being themselves and aren’t performing a version they think they need to be, because they’re so comfortable in who they are, what they stand for, who they’re for and who they’re not for, and how they want to help you.

If you’re new here and listening for the very first time, a very warm welcome to the Quiet Confidence podcast. I hope you enjoy listening.

What a personal brand actually is

So let’s talk about what a personal brand is. There are loads of definitions depending on who you talk to, but what I really want to get across is that it’s not a persona. It’s not some sort of character that you have to play. A personal brand, to me, is what people are saying about you when you’re not in the room. And yes, we can use content and branding and our overall vibe to influence that.

But ultimately all of that comes from you. So when we work together, we spend a lot of time on your identity, who you are now, because your personal brand is built around your values, what you stand for and the heart of who you are, and then we amplify that with content.

Why introverts are actually well suited to this

So when you look at it like that, introverts aren’t really at a disadvantage here at all. If anything, we’re much better suited to it, because we’re thoughtful, we observe, and we actually listen properly instead of trying to get a word in wherever we can.

And because of that, we tend to have really strong, considered opinions, because we’ve spent the time thinking about who we’re talking to, or who we want to talk to, rather than just talking out loud or at people in the moment. We’ve actually put some thought into it.

So to me, when you’re building a personal brand as an introvert, the goal is never to be the loudest person in the room. The goal is to be the clearest about who you are, what you stand for and what you do.

When showing up starts to feel like a performance

The thing that worries me is that when we buy into the definition that you have to be loud, or an out-there version of yourself, to get clients, of course you’re going to feel like you have to perform some kind of version of yourself just to be seen as, quote unquote, “successful”.

And when showing up feels like a performance, you’re going to hate it. It’s going to suck the energy out of you, and eventually you’re just going to stop, go quiet and hide. And I know this because a lot of my clients come to me because they’re drained from creating content that’s not them at all, because who’s got the energy to keep up a performance indefinitely?

And this is genuinely why I care so much about helping people get visible in a way that suits them, because in a nutshell, personal branding isn’t a persona at all. It’s simply what you want to be known for, how you want people to feel when they come across your stuff, and what you want people to say about you when you’re not in the room. And that’s it.

How to tell if you’ve crossed into performing

So how do you know when you’ve crossed the line from personal branding into performing? Well, for me, it’s a feeling more than anything else. It’s when showing up starts to feel like a chore, like you’re trying to manage an online version of yourself rather than just being yourself.

So that might be forcing energy that you don’t have on that day, because you think that’s what your audience expects from you. It might be saying something or creating a type of content because it fits the persona you’ve built, rather than because it feels true to who you are right now. Think trends. A lot of people hop onto trends, but I’m a bit like, mm, if it doesn’t fit your personality, it doesn’t feel right.

Or it might simply be that feeling of, it’s not that I don’t know what to say, but I don’t know if I can keep this up. And even just saying all those things out loud makes me feel like, “Oh my God, this sounds draining.” And that right there is telling you something.

Because personal branding done well should just feel like a relief. So many clients go through Silent Storm and say, “I’m just being myself and it’s working.” And it does, because you finally get to be you, out loud, in front of everyone.

And I think this is where a lot of introverts get caught out, because we’ve been sold this idea that visibility means big energy, big personality, being on all the time. So when it doesn’t come naturally, we assume that the problem is us. We think, “Oh, I might just not be cut out for this whole visibility thing.” But the problem is never you being introverted. The problem is that maybe you’re looking at the wrong version of what a personal brand actually is.

The real question to ask yourself

So if you’ve been telling yourself that personal branding isn’t for you because you’re not loud enough, or you don’t feel like you’ve got the energy for it, I want you to just sit with that for a second, because I don’t think that’s the real problem.

I think the real question is, are you being clear in your content? Do people actually know what you think, what you stand for, and why it matters to them? If they do, that’s brilliant. You’ve already got a personal brand.

So this week, when you go to create a piece of content, I want you to have a think about where you’re performing rather than being your true self. Is there a version of you that you’ve built for online that doesn’t quite match how you show up in real life? If there is, what would it look like to drop that, even just a little bit, and let the real you take over instead? Because I promise you, that’s the version people will connect with and remember anyway.

I hope this episode gave you something to think about. It’s a bit different to the ones I normally do, but I have this conversation a lot, so I wanted to share my thoughts on it with you.

As always, thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed it, I would love it if you could rate, review and share with another introvert. Until next time, keep building your quiet confidence so you can make that loud impact, and I shall speak to you soon.