So you’ve got a personal brand but you still can’t figure out when or if you should talk about Jesus or share your kid’s pictures or what you ate for lunch? And um, should you be running your personal brand like “hers” because she seems super successful?? Nope. So let’s talk about the art of personal branding and a few guidelines to help ensure brand authenticity.

Personal branding is one of the most liberating forms of branding and types of businesses to run as an entrepeneur. You probably chose a personal brand because of all the crazy benefits like:

• People trusting you more…
• Being seen as a thought leader in your niche…
• Setting yourself apart from “everyone else”…
• Sharing your story and offerings more authentically…
• Creating a deeper connection with your ideal audience…
• Having permission to be more vulnerable…

And who wouldn’t choose a personal brand after reading all of the above?? 

It sounds super sexy, but it’s far from easy isn’t it?

If you’re like me or the other 99% of entrepreneurs in the She Is Bold community running a personal brand, you probably struggle with questions like: 

• But can I talk about Jesus or share my faith…or should I??
• But is it cool if I share pics of my kids or vent about my motherhood struggles?
• But do I *have* to post to Instagram every day like all the other successful personal brands??
• But if I share something vulnerable, does that make me less professional? Will people still want to work with me??

We let comparison and FOMO creep in and the enemy wins by pumping us full of discouragement, discontentment, and fear and doubt that prevents us from running an authentic-to-us (and God-honoring) brand. 

Our personal brand starts to  “feel off” or “inauthentic” to us when we think we should talk about or run our business like “everyone else”. 

 There’s an internal discontentment or “misalignment” if you will, that we long to resolve because of that but we have no clue how to get back on track and headed down the road of “authenticity”…

Cue the art of personal branding: Guidelines for ensuring an authentic brand.

One: Know your brand story and stick to it.

I preach brand story A LOT around these parts and I can’t emphasize the importance of it enough. Know what you’re personal brand is all about, know exactly who you’re talking to (aka your ideal client), and promote the heck out of what you want to be known for.

Should you share about your faith? If spreading the Gospel is part of your mission, then duh. If faithful people are your ideal client, then yes. If faith or whatever other topic is part of your business’s mission then you definitely should.

Whatever your question is about what you should be talking about on your personal brand, ask yourself: “Is this in line with my mission and brand story?”

If yes, then by all means, proceed. If “no” or “maybe”…pump the breaks and ask yourself if there’s a better use of your time or why you want to pursue that particular topic before pumping out that content.

Tip: Try to keep your overall message to 1 topic and a few key subtopics. This will allow you to be seen as an authority figure in your niche and the go-to for your topic and type of offering.

Not sure what your brand story is? I gotchu’. Discover your’s today with the She Is Bold Brand Story Strategy.

Two: Live out your core brand values… AKA  Quit doing stuff that doesn’t feel authentic to you

Sometimes we start feeling inauthentic simply because we are not living out the personal brand values we believe in and we don’t run our business like we believe we should be or want to.

For example, If quality is a value for you but you’re plowing through work for sake of making an extra buck at the expense of the quality of your work– you’re going to feel that inauthenticity because it’s important to you and it’s a core brand value.

Or maybe family is a core value to you but they aren’t your priority right now? Sometimes HOW you’re running your brand interferes with the lifestyle and bigger picture of what you’re hoping to achieve because of it. 

List out your values and set boundaries for yourself to help you LIVE.THEM.OUT in both business AND life. I promise YOU won’t just notice a difference…your audience and loved ones will too. 

Three: Take action towards your vision

You can’t live out an authentic brand if you’re not taking steps towards your calling.

Your calling can be as grand as a team of 1,000 people working for you or to be on stage one day or as simple as “to be a better a steward of my time”. 

Whatever it is, honor it and take action towards it so you don’t feel the constant tension of misalignment by not being obedient to what you’re called to do (or WHO you were called to be). 

Which brings us to guideline #4.

Four: Be Obedient to who you were created to be AND what you were called to do.

At the end of the day whether you get hung up on topics to discuss or how much personal vs professional you should include in your personal brand, obedience to your calling and who you were created to be day by day will ooze more authenticity than anything else ever will.

Steward those unique gifts and honor those things that light you up that you were knitted so perfectly with.

Flaunt those one-of-a kind personalities.

And do it all in a way that glorifies and obeys Him.

Because true authenticity is freedom from the illusion of fear and obedience to be all that we were created to be, Amen??

But let me be clear: as much as we crave the permission to take the “mask” off and be our most authentic self on these internet streets, choosing to run an authentic brand is by no means a license to live wreckless in sin or an excuse to never change a way that we weren’t meant to live.

Authenticity as Christians isn’t just about being the “real” us. It’s about the very real Jesus living inside of us.

@sheisboldco // Samantha Royer

In other words, brand authenticity isn’t just about living out “your” truth, it’s about living out THE Truth and it’s that same Truth sister that will set you free and give you the authenticity you’ve been craving.

For hands-on worksheets and additional business trainings, make sure you access the freebies inside the SIB library.