Have you searched for information on building a personal brand?

Let me guess, here’s a bit of what you found:

• BE AUTHENTIC
• BE YOU
• AUTHENTICITY!
• HOW TO GROW YOUR FOLLOWERS IN 5 DAYS!
• and more things along those lines

And every time you read all those blog posts, download those freebies on “how to” create a brand quickly and get money, join Facebook groups, and more – you’ve still got “authenticity” shoved down your throat. IT’S LIKE THE CYCLE NEVER STOPS. I feel ya.

Building a personal brand

When I first started my personal branding journey, I had no idea what I was doing nor did I even realize I was creating a “personal brand”. All I wanted was to make a blog, write about traveling and my life, and *fingers crossed* I became a full-time blogger!

Fast-forward almost 5 years later, my travel blog transitioned into a lifestyle & travel blog, which later rebranded into a copywriting and content strategy studio. I’ve got a business brand AND a personal brand all mixed into one! On the journey to “branding” myself (and continue doing so), I’ve invested in mentors, coaches, courses, conferences, workshops, and more – all to learn more about myself, my business, and what I want to put out there. The one thing that I never expected was to find a business partner through all of it, thanks to a Facebook group and a random coffee chat!

Molly, from Molly Ho Studio, and I met through the Facebook group, Fueled with Heart. She reached out to have a virtual coffee chat and we IMMEDIATELY clicked. We are around the same age, both have/wanted to have online businesses, and shared so many of the same ideas to grow, have an impact, and work with people. At the time, I found out she was a Pinterest strategist that also had an eye for graphic design and visual branding, meanwhile, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my lifestyle & travel blog, with the premature idea of rebranding into a copywriting and content strategy studio.

We kept in touch, chatting with each other here and there to catch-up and see how the other was doing. Y’all – WE’VE NEVER EVEN MET IN REAL LIFE! Molly is based in Las Vegas and San Jose, while I was in Washington, DC, preparing to move to Madrid. Then, during one of our random catch-up sessions, Molly asked if I wanted to co-host a mastermind with her about personal branding, where we could use our talents in visual branding and copywriting to help women entrepreneurs and creatives, build a brand that they’re completely proud of and taps into their soul and intuition.

This conversation happened somewhere between 2 AM PST and 11 AM CEST. We sat there for another few hours brainstorming mastermind names, coming up with our main community building tool, how we could help people, what we could give them, the brand aesthetic, the brand personality, and a whole lot more. It ended up being a LONG conversation that left the both of us SO excited about the idea of our “mastermind” group!

Your Soulful Branding

During the following months, we worked and scheduled coffee dates at odd hours of the day (working with a 9 hour time difference is no joke, y’all). Molly designed graphics and the visual brand for us, while I worked on our branded copy and social media captions. What was supposed to be a short 3-month mastermind resulted in a Facebook group with over 100 women who want accountability and help with personal branding, a 100+ page digital workbook all about personal branding, and more projects that I just can’t reveal yet.

Your Soulful Branding is a community for women creatives and entrepreneurs, who are looking for accountability, guidance, and a sisterhood in personal growth for building a personal brand. We want to create a safe space for women to turn to one another, lift each other up, and work together to create a strong network – all in a way that rings true to your soul and your intuition.

Molly and I sat and talked for hours about what we’ve seen in the industry, how we want to stand out, and the legacy we want to leave behind, and creating a brand that feels good is so important to us. The Your Soulful Branding community doesn’t JUST focus on personal branding, but also personal growth! We saw so many other courses, groups, and industry leaders talk about what is important in a personal brand like:

• Brand personality
• Aesthetics
• Content
• Cohesiveness
• Consistency
• Authenticity (that word always creeps itself back!)
• and all the “surface level” things

But, we never saw people talk about all the hard and scary things that personal branding and putting yourself out there on the Internet, entails. Things like:

• Fear
• Jealousy
• Comparison
• Imposter Syndrome
• Shiny Object Syndrome
• Vulnerability
• and all the ugly crying and self-doubt you go through…

In both of our personal and business brands, we wanted to be honest and talk about the business AND personal side of things – which is why we built Your Soulful Branding to encompass ALL of those emotions and the branding and marketing tips. We don’t want surface level connections, nor brands that didn’t feel good to people, or promised quick results in a short amount of time. Your Soulful Branding focuses on all of the good and bad that happens when you decide to put yourself out there and get vulnerable with people. It also includes the honest truth that building a personal brand takes TIME and PERSEVERANCE. We never promise you quick results because we believe in building foundations and setting a base first.

JOIN: Your Soulful Branding FREE Facebook Community!

GET YOUR WORKBOOK:Your 100+ page workbook with tips, strategiest, and best practices written by 2 branding experts on copywriting and visual branding!

What’s coming up for Your Soulful Branding?

What we’ve accomplished so far with Your Soulful Branding, working with a 9 hour time difference, in-between travel, and vacation plans, and balancing client work:

• Your Soulful Branding Facebook group
• 100+ page workbook about personal branding and growth
• 1 Zoom party with attendants based all over the world!
• Facebook and Instagram Lives
• Planning a 4-day content creation challenge

Some things to look forward to:

• Branding and marketing work as a TEAM!
• Future courses
• Future eBooks
• MAYBE a podcast (!!)
• And whatever else Molly and I come up with at 2 AM (but, actually)

Here are me and Molly’s thoughts about what it means to us to create a soulful brand and our number 1 tip for building a personal brand:

Cassandra –> “Creating a soulful brand means being vulnerable, taking the lead, and working with intention and inspiration. It’s more than just the pretty stuff and the “personality”, it’s about creating a movement and leading with honesty to create opportunities for your community to connect, learn, and grow from what you have to offer – to inspire and motivate them to live out their best lives through your brand.

My number 1 tip for starting a brand or rebranding your own: Sit down and free write ALL of your ideas. Legitimately ALL of them. Then, go back and read through everything you wrote and highlight any ideas, thoughts, or sentences that feel good to you. Also, another big tip is NOT to follow what your favorite brands are doing because that’s how you lose your voice and personality trying to copy what works for someone else.”

Molly –> “Creating a soulful brand means having depth, emotion, and intention. Going beyond just what’s on the surface. It’s about creating opportunities and experiences for your community to really get to know you and your brand.

My number 1 tip for starting a brand or rebranding your own: Have a process. Before you do anything, write down everything you need to do to launch your brand or rebrand your business. And if you don’t know what to do, you are a Google search or a FB group away! Organization and setting priorities will go such a long way in preventing headaches and wanting to pull your hair out.”

What does it mean to you to create your own soulful brand? Drop it in the comments below!

*Looking for a sisterhood to lean on and learn from on your personal branding and growth journey? Join the Your Soulful Branding FB group!

* Want a resource to start creating your soulful brand? Get your copy of the Your Soulful Branding workbook now!

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