#343 - Building a Personal Brand in 2023 with Kathleen Shannon

February 28, 2023·1 hr 6 min·5 clips

Kathleen Shannon returns to discuss why personal branding is both empowering and risky for creative business owners in 2023.

Personal branding gets a warmer definition here. Emily sets up the conversation with Kathleen Shannon by asking how the idea has changed, where it helps, and where it can get messy for creative business owners. The useful version is personal, but not random. Your interests, hobbies, values, and actual personality can shape your offers, niche, and decisions. That turn matters because it stops treating the self like a generic marketing object. Instead, identity becomes part of how the business makes choices. Reputation still matters. The hard part is making those personal pieces create a first impression that feels true, intentional, and tied to what you want to be known for. Emily keeps the idea from floating away. She asks how personal branding can work in a positive light and what it can do for the person behind the business. Kathleen picks up that thread and points back to Tom Peters, plus the older employee-centered idea of branding yourself with distinction, commitment, and passion. The title gets a laugh, which keeps the conversation loose while showing how far the concept has moved from its corporate roots. This version belongs more to entrepreneurs who want to do it on their own terms, instead of performing a polished professional identity. Confidence is part of it. So are creative fulfillment, connection to the business, and a clearer path to dream clients or customers. If your business has your face on it, the work is deciding what people should feel, understand, and remember when they meet you.

As heard by us

A grounded take on personal branding that makes the idea feel useful instead of vague.

Kathleen Shannon and Emily Thompson treat personal branding as something concrete rather than decorative. The episode starts with where the term came from, then settles into the part that matters: how a person's interests, values, and public face help shape the business, the…

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Why you'd press play

Figure out what personal branding is doing for your business, and what it can mean on your own terms.

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