You Are Not A Brand, So Get Over Yourself!

AND....Don't Flatter Yourself!

Unless you are a captain of multiple prominent industries, where hundreds or thousands of people make their living off your persona, you are not The Rock. You are not a walking, talking brand!

Why Normal People Are Not Brands: The Damaging Thought Process in 4 Ways

In an age where social media reigns supreme, the line between personal identity, professional branding, and fantasy has blurred. We’ve been bombarded with the idea that everyone should market themselves as a brand. The truth is…99% of us workers are wage slaves…and the other 1% are delusional.

Typically, One Person Can’t Be A Brand

Yes, the following celebrities are walking, one-person corporations: * The Rock * Rihanna * Kim Kardashian * Oprah Winfrey * Lebron James

They each have multiple AMAZINGLY successful businesses in more than 1 industry, where hundreds (if not thousands) of workers are paid a living wage based on their cult of personality.

The Rock: A Quick Case Study

Dwayne The Rock Johnson might just be the most famous person in the world. Not only has The Rock found success in WWE, college football, acting, and producing, but he is also a successful entrepreneur. Johnson has founded Teremana Tequila, a popular tequila brand; the UFL, a springtime, b-level football league; ZOA Energy, an energy drink company; Project Rock, an Under Armor brand of fitness apparel; Papatui, an exclusive men’s care brand for Target; and Seven Bucks Productions, a film and TV studio that creates content for multiple distribution platforms. Not to mention, whenever Johnson signs onto a new film project, thousands of workers become gainfully employed. Thus, The Rock is a one-person corporation - and very much a walking brand!

Thus, The Rock is a one-person corporation — and very much a walking brand!                       But I Heard On A Ted Talk Everybody Is Their Own Brand!!!

Even non-sports fans or non-”sneakerheads” know which global brand the world-famous swoosh logo represents. Can your own mother pick your company logo of out of lineup?

Contrast The Rock to you…and your “brand”…which consists of: * Your Sorry LinkedIn Page — Full of embellished, yet inconsequential “accomplishments”, complete with professional pictures of you 5 years younger and 15 pounds lighter, with your former colleagues lying about the scope of your business acumen in exchange for backing up their exaggerations on their pages.

* Your Ignored Company Website — Yay, you have a digital storefront with a cute logo, great color scheme, flash media, and an eye-catching layout. Too bad you get no traffic, are on the 6th page of Google’s search engine rankings, and display fake testimonials from your BFF touting your products that nobody buys.

* Your Negligible Social Media Presence — Wow, you have 2,000 followers across 5 social media platforms! Unfortunately, half of those 2,000 are your same friends from other platforms, with another quarter being bots you bought, and another quarter of anonymous people you acquired by accepting every friend request and befriending everyone you ever went to school with — even your past bullies!

4 Reality Checks that explain why YOU are not a brand.

Here Are 4 REALITY CHECKS to Illuminate Why You Are Not A Brand… 1. Brands Don’t Take Sick Days Coca Cola, NBC, and Netflix never take a day off for illness, a sick spouse, or a child’s recital. These are 24/7, global conglomerate businesses that weather global WARS! Can you promise that you will always deliver for your followers during your next depression, job loss, or health scare?

2. Brands Have Hired Help Rihanna is not on social media all day promoting her Fenty beauty line; her well-funded marketing team is! On the other hand, you can’t even hire a part-time social media assistant to pepper your anemic and indifferent following with content, lest they forget you exist.

Rihanna is a walking, talking brand un-to-herself. She gets earned media for just showing up somewhere! How about you? If you are a brand — that is a viable multi-million dollar business — do you get this type of attention?

3. Brands Are Impersonal Brands craft polished images, complete with carefully curated aesthetics, and marketing strategies designed and tested to sell products. Normal people are messy, complex, and real. Trying to fit yourself into a brand mold can lead to inauthenticity, where you prioritize image over genuine expression and connection.

4. Brands Rarely Change. You Do. Once a brand stumbles on a problem they can solve for their target customer, they rarely deviate, lest they lose their revenue stream from their devotees. While the NFL will always be an American football league, will you remain the same as you age, experience new things, or if you find God?

Cracker Barrel endured an immediate backlash from longtime customers when they tried to modernize their logo and restaurant décor. Luckily, as a real person, you have the luxury of change and evolution with your products and services, that many Fortune 500 companies don’t enjoy.

Conclusion — Don’t Neuter Your Biggest Competitive Advantage! Why do some people intentionally decide to connect with small businesses, niche products, or internet influencers over established, more convenient, cheaper, and often better crafted products from catchy Fortune 500 marketing campaigns? Some people are early adopters, who are always looking for the next fad and love discovering the next trend first.

Others are tired of doing business with impersonal multinational corporations that look down on their values.

Many consumers want to connect with a real, live person they can identify with and trust! Sadly, despite the omnipresent online and telecommunications activities readily available, many people are lonelier than ever.

Thus, if you can create a community based on a product or service that derives from your authentic self — you can not only be profitable and self-sustaining — but you can genuinely help people who are walking in the shoes of your former self!

Forget industry trends. By the time your lame ass discovers them, the market is saturated, and is already looking for the next hot commodity. Create trends instead!

Ignore narcissistic think pieces that play on your egotistical fantasies that put your “brand” on the same level of a world famous celebrity or corporation.

Stop comparing yourself to brands that take hundreds or thousands of people to run — and which thousands of livelihoods depend on. Sure, the idea of you being a brand is fun and makes you feel important for a brief moment, but such delusion is not good for your mental health or for maintaining authenticity with your audience. 

It’s simply not good for your mental health, as you are setting yourself up for a big fall by believing false hype.

The world doesn’t need another Coca Cola, NFL, or Kim Kardashian brand. It needs you…in all your eccentric, imperfect, and evolving ways…to solve the problems for the forgotten people (or niche) that only someone who walked in their shoes…can relate to and help!

You can do what brands can’t do…find a unique, niche audience that is underserved AND which resonates with your values. Also, you can pivot to try something different whenever you like. Don’t needlessly pigeonhole yourself as a brand and negate all the benefits of being a solopreneur!