What PERSONAL BRAND really is & why it matters for Small Businesses with Christine Gritmon | 109

What is personal branding?

In this episode, we are talking about personal branding.

You'll learn what a personal brand really is, why it matters, especially

for small business owners, plus five key things you should consider

as part of your personal brand.

And stick around to the end for a top tip on starting to develop

your personal brands today.

Welcome to Architecture Business Club, the show that helps you build a

better business in architecture so you can enjoy more freedom, flexibility,

and fulfillment in what you do.

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We're joined by Christine Gritman, Christine Reconnects, solopreneurs,

freelancers, and small business owners with their purpose and passions for a

more aligned personal brand that's joyful, authentic, and impossible to ignore.

She's spoken on stages worldwide and is a frequent expert guest on podcasts,

live streams, chats, blog posts, as well as hosting her own podcast.

Let's talk about brand.

To learn more about Christine, head to gritmon.com or click

the link in the show notes.

We are going to talk about your inside out approach to personal branding

so that you can connect with your audience in a way that's authentic,

aligned, and impossible to ignore.

I think probably the best place to start though is to start with the basics.

So what in your opinion is a personal brand?

I think everybody hears this terminology mentioned a lot these days.

People talk about personal brand and personal branding, but.

What the heck actually is it?

Well, one way I like to think of it is it's the version of

you that lives in other people's heads.

And of course, we want to live in the right people's heads,

in the right quadrant of their head and for the right reasons.

And, and one of the things that I really think is very important when we talk

about personal branding is that that term personal brand gives a lot of people

the ick nowadays 'cause they think of, of someone like the Kardashians or just

someone where it's very sort of slick and packaged and trying to sell you something

and very fake, very image driven.

That really inspired the inside out.

Personal branding framework that we're gonna talk about in a little

bit, because the thing is people.

The fake personal brands, the ones that give personal branding

a bad reputation are the ones that really start from the outside in.

They really think about, what am I trying to do here?

What am I trying to sell?

What do I want people to think?

What do people want from me?

And then they try to mold themselves to that instead of what I recommend

and what I do with my clients, which is to really start from

the inside and work your way out.

So that it is aligned, it is authentic, and it's ultimately

gonna do you a lot more good.

Oh, I love the way that you've explained that and, um,

I mean, you're absolutely right.

I think there's a lot of people that when they hear, they hear those words

and they might think, oh, like, this kind of makes me feel like I want

to be, want to be sick in my mouth.

It's just like not great.

And as you say, it can conjure those thoughts of people like

the Kardashians and, and that is.

Well that that's not what we are talking about

Not at all.

Yeah.

Okay.

So, you know, re be reassured that that, you know, we're not

saying that you, you need to be like the Kardashians or anything.

If you are already, then that's okay.

That's fine.

'cause

Is it

well, uh, maybe if it's,

you're the

saying that they'd be

of architecture.

I'm not saying they're gonna be like, you know, people that

I'm gonna pal around with Christine, but if that's authentically who they are

on the inside, then maybe that's okay.

I am not sure that's authentically who

anyone is on the inside, sorry.

And of Kardashian bashing.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We are digressing here.

That's probably a conversation for another episode.

Um, okay, so why, why does personal branding matter so much these days?

Particularly for solopreneurs and small business owners?

Well, there's a few different ways to look at that.

One of them is we've all heard the age old thing about how it takes x many.

Brand exposures before people are interested in buying, and there's

no real statistic behind this.

I've looked into it.

There's no actual study, but people have said it takes seven touches.

People have said nowadays with, you know, social media and so

many messages coming our way all the time, it takes 300 touches.

There's no actual answer.

Sometimes it takes one if you're the right person at the

right time, but the point is.

You're a lot more likely to get someone's business or to

wanna do business with someone.

Um, the more comfortable you feel with them and the more of a sense

of them you feel like you've gotten, which requires multiple brand touches

to compile, it requires them to add on to each other and to snowball and

to create a bigger, fuller picture.

And if you are not memorable.

Then the second time that you meet someone, might as well be the first,

because those brand touches have not compounded, will not compound.

If you're unmemorable each time, it's like the first time, and

that's not to your advantage.

You're, you're forgettable, you're not building anything.

You're not building an impression, but more importantly,

you're not building trust.

And you're certainly not building interest.

So it really is about, um, making sure that you are memorable, which

doesn't have to mean being loud.

It doesn't have to mean being flashy.

It doesn't have to mean being weird.

Plenty of mild mannered people.

Create the right impression at the right time with the right person, so you don't

have to be anything that you're not.

In order to make an impression.

In fact, the more genuine you are, the more people really do feel that, and

it is more likely to stick with them because you've given them a feeling.

You've given them a feeling that you just can't fake.

Mm. That's.

That's interesting you mentioned there about giving people a feeling that,

um, I, I can't remember who said this, but it, it was something along the

lines of like, you know, people won't remember what, they, won't remember

what you said or what, you know, but they'll remember how you made them feel.

That's Maya Angelou.

Yeah.

Well there you go.

There you go.

Um, and yeah, that was interesting as well that you said that it's like a

compound effect that you described.

So,

It is.

And another thing about a personal brand is that it can go where you cannot.

So rooms that you're not in, how do you get those opportunities?

How does your name come into those rooms and come up for those opportunities?

Well, that's your personal brand at work.

And a lot of that is hopefully if you're occupying space in the right

people's heads for the right reasons.

Your name will come out of their mouths when they're in that room.

Or, um, if you are doing a really good job of getting stuff out there

online or you're speaking on stages, you're developing your reputation,

hopefully people will come across you without having to actually meet you.

It goes where you cannot.

And that's really the power of the personal brand.

It's the fact that, um.

One person can only do so much and only be in so many places at a

time and only meet so many people.

And a personal brand can really carry that impression to additional places.

Enabling you, first of all, to get additional brand touches because

if you don't have to be there for someone to experience your brand.

They can experience it a lot, uh, but also people who you may not be able

to reach otherwise can be reached by your reputation, by your content,

by other people talking about you.

And that's really the power of it, that it can go where you can

and it can multiply your impact.

that sounds like some kind of magic when you,

you, the way you've described it.

Like, and, and it completely makes sense because I've, I've had that happen to

me where there's been opportunities that have come up because I have been in

somebody's minds that they've, they've, they've thought of me, they've gone to

an event, they've met somebody else.

Then they've thought of me, ah, I should introduce.

This person to John, you know?

And, and it, it does work.

It does work for sure.

So, yeah.

Very, very powerful.

What's one thing you wish more people knew about personal branding?

The things that you feel like you need to do in

order to be a more put together brand or to seem more professional,

or you know, to fit in in general to any sort of preconceived notion.

Those are the things you need to leave to the side if you're

really gonna have a strong, authentic, memorable personal brand.

Because they're the things that make you average.

Those are the things that make you blend in and the things that you've maybe

felt the need to hide before in the name of, you know, fitting a certain image.

Those are the things you need to not hide.

Those are the things you need to embrace.

Because that's what's gonna connect with someone.

First of all, it's gonna make you memorable, but more importantly,

it's gonna make you human.

'cause people can tell if you're hiding something, people can tell

if your energy isn't really there.

And if you've got the kind of nervous energy that we tend to

have when we're focused on the impression we wanna make more than

feeling comfortable in ourselves.

So the thing I really want people to understand is.

The more authentically yourself you are and the less you worry about trying to

be something and the more you just are.

People feel that that resonates with people.

People don't feel comfortable.

Around perfect people, first of all, but they certainly don't feel

comfortable around fake people.

We can sniff that out a mile away, even if we don't know

it, something just feels off.

So the more yourself, the more human.

And yes, that can include being a flawed human, um, that builds trust

because people are like, you know what, this person's being straight with me.

I can trust them.

It really goes such a long way.

I'm not saying be a hot mess.

But the fact is there is a, there are miles there, there's so much more distance

than we think there is between, you know, being messy, um, and being real.

And, and so I'd say being real is, is so much more powerful of a position

and people will respect and admire it and it will resonate with the right

people and it will turn some people off.

But those are the wrong people.

We wanna turn them off.

Well, I, I think that's reassuring, that sounds reassuring to

me because, um, as you say that if, if people can tell if something's off.

You know, if you're trying to kind of project yourself in a certain

way, um, you're not being, being, I'm not sure how much I like that, like

the authenticity word, but that's essentially what it is, isn't it?

That kind of thing about being authentic and all of that.

It's overused, but you know there's a reason for it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I can't think of a better way, a better word to use right now.

So let's talk about the framework that you have.

So there are five parts to your Inside Out personal branding methodology.

Can you briefly share, just give us a quick overview of what those five

parts are before we dig into each one of them in a little bit more detail.

Absolutely.

So the innermost layer is what I'm calling purpose, and that's really

that inner light inside that guiding light that why you're here, um, when

things really resonate with you.

And you feel like I'm in the right place doing the right thing at the right

time, and I'm using my gifts especially.

That's really because you're in touch with your purpose and the

level out from that and very closely connected to that is passion.

Passion is what lights you up and fills you up.

And passion is purpose in action.

So they're very closely linked.

A lot of times you can get in touch with your inner purpose by observing.

What you do when you're acting, you know, in passion and, um, you

are using your gifts, you're doing things that feel good to do, you

feel like you're, you know, right.

And the things where you feel proud of yourself, you feel like,

oh, I'm really good at this.

Those are the moments when all of that internal stuff is aligned.

Um, the level that sort of connects the internal and the external

is what I'm calling person.

And that is really how you show up.

And that can be, you know, do you show up online?

Do you show up at networking events?

What does that person look and feel like when they're showing up in that way?

And are you showing up with that aligned energy of feeling good about yourself

because you're aligned with your.

Passion and purpose, or are you showing up feeling kind of weird?

Are you not showing up?

You know, so that's the person level.

A notch out from that to go to the Maya Angelou bit about

how you make people feel.

That's what I've been calling personality, and that's what comes off of you.

That's the energy you emit that others pick up on.

That is the impressions that you are making when you are in front of them

or when they are encountering you.

That's very direct, but that's really the, the how you make them feel.

Bit personality.

And then what I'm calling personal brand, which should really be that last

bit, is that that part that goes where you cannot, if someone has heard of

you, but you haven't actually met them, that's your personal brand at work.

Again, if your name is coming up in certain rooms that you're not

in, that's your personal brand at work, and that's the thing that

really can exponentially multiply.

The impressions that you're able to make, the opportunities

you're able to get for yourself.

But again, that works the strongest when you really do build it from the inside out

and you're aligned on all of those levels versus when you try to build it from the

outside in and you're overthinking it and you're sort of creating this false

something because you think it's what will do you good, when in actuality it's,

it's gonna be so much more powerful.

If it really is aligned with who you are and what you want, and awareness

of your gifts, quite frankly,

Hmm.

Okay, so to quickly recap, we've got purpose, passion, personality,

person, and then personal brand.

two of those were swapped as person, men,

personality, then personal

Beg your pardon?

Beg your pardon.

Um, could we, could we dig into each one of those one at a time

in a little bit more detail?

Um, could you tell us a little bit more?

Maybe just spend a couple of minutes on each of those?

Absolutely I can.

So I am gonna sort of deal with purpose and passion together because as I

said, passion is purpose in action.

So what I do with my clients and what I recommend that anyone listening to this

maybe give a try to doing themselves at home, is literally spend some

time writing out on a piece of paper, kind of divide it into two sections.

And go back through past experiences.

It can be past jobs, it can even go back to when you were, you

know, working at a pizza place when you were in school or whatever.

Um, and on one side, think about moments in that experience where

you felt really good, where you felt aligned, where you felt kind of lit

up, where you felt that glow of, you know, I'm in flow, is the way us Woo.

People would say it, but some people would say, you know, I felt.

Good at my job, or I felt proud of myself, or I felt like I knew what I was doing.

I felt like it was in the right place at the right time.

Doing the right things with the right people.

Look at those moments, look into them.

What were you doing in those moments?

What tasks were you performing were more importantly, what skills were

you using to perform those tasks in a way that only you could, because.

Tasks are external.

They're given to us by people.

They're what we have the opportunity to do.

Our gifts are the bits that are ours.

So that's really what, um.

What can help reveal those bits of purpose, which is when we feel good,

when we feel aligned, when we feel awesome about what we're doing, what

gifts are we having the opportunity to use in those moments, and as you look

through the different experiences, you'll see the tasks may differ because

our job was different or we were in a different position, whatever it was.

The tasks may be different, but when we dig down into the skills we were using.

To perform those tasks and the skills we were using in those

moments where we felt really good.

That's where you really see commonalities and you can draw connections

that you might not have otherwise been able to draw because you are

performing very different tasks, but the same gift was underneath them.

The same skill that you have yourself was underneath both how

you performed both of those tasks.

So it can be really eye-opening.

We all feel like we know our own story, but when you really like examine it.

Through a framework like that, you can really draw connections that

you might not otherwise have drawn.

And then the other side of the, the other column, think in each

of those experiences, those, those workplaces, those you know,

activities, whatever they were.

Think about the times when you felt stuck, the times you wanted to quit or maybe even

did quit the times when you said, you know what, this just doesn't feel right for me.

Those also.

Tend to, when we look at them one after another like that.

Those also tend to have pretty recurring issues, even in

very different circumstances.

And those are often the times when we're blocked from using particular gifts.

Um, and so that can also be very eye-opening.

There's, there's two different types of discomfort really.

There's discomfort that.

Just means you're bumping up against, um, the next level of breaking through.

And so that's discomfort to work through to grow, but then there's

discomfort when something is just not right for you and you're wasting

energy banging your head against that same brick wall over and over again.

And this exercise can be very revealing as to what brick walls you keep.

Banging your head against, uh, those are not the things

that you need to grow through.

Those are the things you need to try to avoid.

Quite frankly, not every challenge is an opportunity to overcome.

Some challenges are, you know what?

My energy is better used else, used elsewhere.

My energy is better used.

You know, putting my gifts out there into the world and doing things I'm amazing

at rather than trying to do this thing that is not really what I'm here to do.

So I, I really encourage going back and looking at past experiences through that

lens of the gifts you felt amazing using, and the gifts that you felt were blocked

Mm, I think I need to do this exercise, Christine.

really incredibly helpful.

Um, and I, I go back to it myself sometimes too, and I discover new

things, you know, just because of what comes up in those moments.

So what that does is that.

Passion is the stuff that you have the opportunity to do and the stuff

that you want the opportunity to do.

But then purpose is really the gifts you're using to do them, and

the gifts that feel stifled when you're not getting to use them.

So I hope that the, the line between the two is clear, but the relationship

between the two is certainly clear.

As, as I said before, passion is your purpose in action.

That's really valuable.

What, what comes next, Christine?

Next is person, and person is how you show up.

And that's, that's kind of in the moment how you show up.

And I don't mean literally, you know, are you wearing red lipstick?

Not

glasses?

You know, it's not that sort of thing.

It's really what's the immediate impression when you're just

right in front of somebody.

Um, and also where, where are you putting yourself?

How are you showing?

How can people encounter you?

Is really what person is.

How can people have the opportunity to encounter you and what you do?

Are you showing up to networking events?

Are you showing up to conferences?

Are you guesting on podcasts?

Are you hosting a podcast?

Are you writing blogs?

Are you writing books?

Is it entirely word of mouth?

And when it is word of mouth, um, how can people, you know.

Get backup information on you.

How are you showing up to be visible?

How can people encounter you?

That's really, um, a lot of what person is.

It's about showing up.

It's about being able to be found pretty directly, and that is different from

the next stage, which is personality.

'cause personality is more the feeling, the impression.

So person is how you're able to give that feeling and that impression,

personality is the ultimate thing that sticks with the other person.

So person is still with you.

Personality is what's inside of them.

What comes through the vibes that you give off?

And again, if we look back at the first two, if we look back at being in touch

with our purpose and our passion and really leading with our gifts, rather

than leading with, oh, here's, you know, a task I can perform leading instead with

here's who I am, here's what I'm here to do, here's, you know, the, the gifts

that I have, if we're leading with that.

That person we show up as we're gonna feel a lot better showing up.

First of all, we're gonna feel a lot less awkward because we're

gonna realize that we're here to bring something to the table.

And then that personality element is also gonna be a lot stronger and a lot

more positive because people who feel confident in their gifts and in what they

bring to the table, they are magnetic.

If you show up feeling like you're only showing up 'cause you're supposed to.

Yeah, and you feel super awkward and not confident about, you know, why you're even

there or what you can even do for people.

And you feel weird, even, you know, opening your mouth.

You're not gonna have a magnetic energy, you're not gonna be memorable,

at least not for good things, and you're not gonna really be able to

make that impression that's going to be able to launch you to the next level,

which is that personal brand level.

Of, of having impact and reach that goes beyond how, how you personally show up.

You can show up, um, in places where you're not even showing up.

You can

well, you described this, didn't you?

As like, what, what goes beyond you?

what goes

how you're showing up in, in other people's minds

in rooms that you're not even in.

Exactly.

And, and how they are kind of carrying your message for you.

It's, it's sort of like if you, if you blow a fluffy dandelion on

the breeze, you know those little bits of fluff going everywhere.

That's makes it the fluff.

you've explained that really, really clearly.

And, um.

Yeah, you've given me some food for thought as well actually,

Christine, which is always good.

I like it when we, we do these, uh, interviews, have these conversations

and, and often, like I, I come away with so much from it personally as well.

And this

I'm curious, John, what do you think some of your gifts are

that you're here to bring to the world?

Ooh,

Mm-hmm.

Turning the table on you.

This is what

the tables.

is what happens when you have a podcast host on your podcast.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's very true.

Um, well, I think that I'm, I'm somebody that historically has, um, struggled

to feel comfortable showing up and, and being seen like online, you know,

doing things like this, talking on podcasts or putting myself out there

on social media or going to networking events, like all of that stuff is quite.

Outside of my comfort zone, um, I do feel that I am in a, I'm in a, a very

good place to be able to help other people that perhaps feel that way.

That I've, I feel like I have, um, I've had a, a lot of feedback from guests that

have been on this particular podcast who have never been on a podcast before, and

it was their first time experience of that, and I was able to make them feel.

Really comfortable and to be able to open up and to actually enjoy the

experience, maybe something they were a little bit nervous about before.

So I, you know, thinking about it, I think that is a gift that I have to be able to

do that, to be able to make somebody feel.

Comfortable enough to talk on like a podcast to share their stories sometimes

these can be personal stories as well, which we are sort of a business

podcast that inevitably we, you know, we talk about life as well, and I,

I think that's something that not, not everybody has the ability to do

that, to draw that out from people.

Um, so I think that is definitely a gift that I should probably use.

More and more.

It absolutely is, and that connects to really being able

to make people feel seen and heard.

Yeah.

them feel comfortable.

Yeah, yeah.

Um, I think developing those, um, my listening skills.

That's been something that I've worked on a lot to be able to kind of really

listen to what people are saying.

Um, so people do feel heard and seen and understood.

Um, and I think that when you're coming from a place of maybe, you know, I've

felt in the past that maybe I've.

Been overlooked in some ways and, and maybe not felt, seen myself, and then

found some ways to, to work around that, that that's something that I'd like

to be able to share with other people.

So I do well, you know, whilst, um, often we have guests on the show like

yourself, that you've, you've been on many, many podcasts and stages around

the world, but then equally it's.

That's, that's special to get the opportunity for those conversations,

but it's equally as special for me to be able to shine the spotlight on

somebody that isn't used to putting themselves out there to be able

to help them find their voice too.

Yep.

That's hugely important and I'd like to point out that that's a gift that you

could apply to so many different things.

Being a podcast host, but also just talking to a human in real life or working

with a client or any of those things, the ability to make people feel seen and heard

can really be such an advantage in so many situations for all parties involved.

For you and for them.

thanks for asking the question, Christine.

You've got me, you've got me thinking there.

I like that.

Um, what would you say is one simple thing that we could all do today to

just start being a bit more intentional?

Developing our, our personal brand.

Again, it's about leading with your gifts,

not with how you apply them.

Because yes, people do need to know what you do for a living.

Yes, people do need to know the product or service that they can buy from you, but

I, I think the personal brand bit really needs to be built more around the gifts

that you bring to it because not only is that your true point of difference,

'cause other people do what you do, no matter what it is, the thing that

makes you, you and the thing that makes you right for somebody is that unique.

Gift that you bring to it, that youness that you bring to it.

So leading with your personal gifts a bit more than just

leading with the bare bones.

You know, here's what I do, and it also makes for more flexible.

Personal brand because you, you can, if you change careers, if you change

tactics, any of that, if you've built your personal brand and your reputation

on your gifts, which are transferable, um, those are things that you can bring

to anything that you do that's gonna put you in a really strong position.

I first built my personal brand as a journalist.

I then applied it to being a social media manager for small local businesses.

That's not at all what I do now.

What I do is I'm a personal branding coach and actually I'm, I'm about to

be, you know, doing other things with it that are really based around bringing

the solopreneur community together.

But all of these things you can look back at when I was a journalist, the

things that people knew me for is that I really loved genuinely listening to and

shining a light on other people's stories.

And I generally cared.

I genuinely cared about small local businesses and the people behind them.

I cared about people and their dreams and their stories, and so that has

been something I've been able to bring to all sorts of things, and that's

a really powerful position to be in.

That's very cool.

And I, I love that, that fact that.

It, it, it is transferrable that it's not like if you, you build it in the

way that you've described, that if you then, uh, change direction with your

business or if you get another job or whatever, that it, it goes with you.

So it's not something that you having to kind of rebuild from scratch

it's a very powerful position to be in and very flexible

and in a very, again, a very authentic.

Because instead of leading with the external, which is what you had the

opportunity to do, what you're choosing to do now, what you're trying to get

people to pay you to do instead, it's leading with the value that you bring,

and that feels good too, quite frankly.

That gives you confidence that's genuine.

What would be the main thing you'd like everyone to

take away from this conversation?

You have superpowers, quite frankly, like everybody has

something that is special, and it's not one of those things like, oh, if

everybody's special, nobody's special.

No, that's not true because we can be special in different ways.

But the fact is understanding that you have a gift.

It makes you feel better, but it also makes you a more useful member of society.

You can change other people's lives with that gift 'cause other people

need what you bring to the table and you need what they bring to the table.

I mean, no, no man is an island.

So just understanding.

You do have gifts.

You do have something special and unique, and you are kind of here to help the

world with it, to help yourself, but also to help others with that gift.

Just understand that you do have that.

'cause a lot of people feel like, oh, I'm nothing special, and oh, I'm just

here to, you know, f perform a role.

No, you're bigger than that.

And the sooner you realize that the bigger things you're gonna be able

to do, the better you're gonna feel.

The more magnetic your energy is gonna be, the stronger your

personal brand is gonna be.

Such a great takeaway.

Um, was there anything else you wanted to add?

We've covered quite a lot here.

Was there anything else you wanted to add about personal branding?

I guess just, you know, own it.

The things that you feel the need to hide in order to fit in are the very things

that you need to embrace and in fact, lead with in order to stand out in a good way.

Christine, thank you so much.

Um, this has been super valuable.

I've really, really enjoyed the conversation.

If people would like to connect with you online, where's the best place to do that?

You can find everything at gritmon.com.

That's GRIT, like when something's gritty like sand, MON, like Monday.

So gritmon.com.

That's me.

You can find out about my coaching work.

My speaking work.

Um, anything else I'm up to, and you can, you can find my social links there.

I'm very active.

I'm most active on LinkedIn and Instagram.

I would say.