How to Build a Personal Brand Aligned with Your Values and Mission - Holding Space for Your Next Business Chapter.
- megagence
- Jun 16
- 7 min read
A past client I haven’t been in contact with for some time recently reached out to me and said:
“Marine, I’m still using that brochure you crafted for me many years ago when I just started out. Although my program has evolved, it’s still “me”.”
It had been about 6 years since she started her consulting business. 6 years since she launched her online program. 6 years since I dived into her story, what made her unique, what value she was bringing, and supported her in putting it all together into a compelling offer.
Working with her since the beginning, I knew she was carrying such a big mission and that her program had the potential to support many clients. But I wasn’t sure if she could yet handle the magnificence of that story.
In this article :
Branding as a tool to help business owners expand in the next version of themselves and their business.
In building her brand, I needed to be careful. I wanted to show her the big picture and where she was heading, but this is a delicate process not many talk about.
Seeing ourselves in the context of a brand has such a big impact on how we think of ourselves in general and can shift our inner world. This can either inspire us or scare us when we think we’re fully ready to embrace that next level but are unconsciously not there yet.
Branding is not to be taken lightly and needs to meet the person and business where they are at the moment, in a respectful way. If not, whatever visual is presented can feel scary, the person might contract, and never align with that bigger vision.
Branding is more subtle than a logo, colors, and fonts.
The first step we did wasn’t around picking the mood, colors, and fonts of her brand. We revisited the foundations of her business.
We dove into her story, to understand where she came from and what really shaped her to bring this program into the world. We also did a thorough work on understanding the types of clients she was serving, and restructured her program in a way that specifically addressed her clients issues, and we wanted to make sure her offer was sustainable for her.
I know what you may be thinking: this isn’t branding. These topics are business, brand strategy, and marketing-related. But it’s the only way I know to be building a long-term, relevant, brand. To me, it’s important to grasp the fullness of my clients’ work before diving into the “details” of the brand. The visual elements are coming together as an orchestration of it all more naturally after doing the ground work.
Navigating personal brand between the “image” and the reality. A thoughtful bridge between you and your clients.
The branding I created around her brand wasn’t anything trendy, too fancy or glamorous. Instead, it was reflecting her vaalues and who she was: joyful, open-minded and connected. This personal approach was crucial to meet her audience and create a seamless bridge with her clients from the time they first see her online to the time they start working with her. This helps create a bond and reflect who you are authentically.
The most common mistakes we make in designing a personal brand
1. Wanting it all NOW.
Building a personal brand can be scary, especially if it’s the first time. You’ll need to think how much you want to be exposed, what to share, what is personal, and what is on-brand. And it can be overwhelming and especially frustrating to want and have all of the answers to your questions immediately. It’s key to remember that the brands we admire or enjoy have been built in stages. A brand is here to evolve. Make sure to keep it simple at the start and focus on what matters in your business.
2. Following trends instead of our own wisdom
It’s tempting to follow what branding “trends” are saying. The fanciest beige color palette, the deep green Pantone of the moment. But does it resonate with your industry and audience? Does it actually help differentiate your brand from other ones offering similar services? Meaningful work is timeless. Such is lasting branding. The idea is to tune into our own wisdom before jumping into what’s being said to work, as it isn’t necessarily relevant to every business.
3. ChatGPT-ing the most foundational assets
AI is a fantastic tool when it comes to assisting with anything business-related but nothing will replace your ground work and depth of soul. As a service provider in the healing space, your work is not replacable. Your clients will want to work with you, not with a bot. Use AI to help structure and optimise your brand strategy and content, to refine some ideas, but not create it from scratch. Your offerings are unique for a reason, what your clients truly need is your human approach - not something artificial.
4. Comparing your brand to world class experts
Every expert has had a starting journey and most have started as solopreneurs with evolving phases of their brand. Remembering that success is not an overnight thing, the same applies to branding. To be successful, personal brands should first reflect authenticity and trust. When hiring a professional photographer for instance, make sure you get from them (or create) a mood board ahead of the shooting day to align on the type of settings, styling, make-up, and body poses that reflect who you are.
5. Integrating too many different designs or visual concepts
The more complexity we bring into branding, the more easily we lose the notion of concept, and the more challenging it is for an audience to recognise and remember our brand. Simplicity is key. “The rule of One” as I like to call it is to keep one strong visual element easily repeatable throughout your brand, alongside the logo. If using a strong color palette, let it be the use of that predominant color or gradient, if you’re using a unique font, let it make the stage of your content, if you’re using special filters or ways to crop your photos, let it be the visual red line of your branding.
Brand Elevate: A guide to aligning your branding with your values
1. Setting up a basic brand strategy
Even a minimal brand strategy with a few sentences will help you see clearly where you’re heading and the type of brand that reflects that.
Here is what you can include:
your story,
mission,
vision,
values,
what differentiates you from the market,
customer avatar,
positioning,
what you want your brand to convey,
how you’re going to attract clients,
and your short-term, mid-term, and ultimate goals.
Just like building a house from its foundations up to secure the walls and roof, a brand strategy is crucial before entering any branding stage or marketing activity or you’ll be faced with constant challenges and the itchy need to change over and over.
2. Getting inspired, not overwhelmed
A simple, helpful process to envision your own brand is to see concrete examples of other personal brands and notice the feeling in your body when you associate it with your own brand. To do so, you can create a Pinterest board and save examples in it. This phase should stay purely creative, connecting to your gut feeling, and it’s not the time to give it too much thought or restrictions for the moment. It’s about welcoming fresh ideas.
3. Defining & refining your visual concept
Based on your brand strategy, what you want to convey, and the examples you found, adjust your inspiration list and define the elements you want to include in your brand.
Here are some prompts to get you started:
How could you best visually convey the transformation you are offering?
Small visuals for intimacy, or large ones to create an immersive experience?
Type of photos: black and white or color? Photos of your real work environment? Any relevant additional photos? Any filters to make the brand unique?
Serif or sans serif types of fonts
Color palette: pastels, neutral, vivid or flashy colors? Maybe a mix of neutrals with a vivid spark, gradients of flat colors?
Types of illustrations or graphics: with or without? Hand drawn or not?
4. Fine-tuning your branding with your people
If personal branding should feel like home to you, it mainly needs to speak to the heart of your people. After selecting two to three visual concepts at the start of your branding process, make sure you ask your audience for feedback by asking what they resonate with and be sure to ask why they appreciate which element. First-hand insights are helpful for designers to deepen their creative process.
5. Partnering with a designer, agency, or a branding expert you trust
Partnering with the right designer, agency, or branding expert is about feeling seen, understood, and supported. The right partner will ask thoughtful questions, challenge you when needed, and bring ideas that elevate your vision. Look for someone whose process feels clear and collaborative, whose values align with yours, and who communicates with both honesty and care. Trust your gut! If you feel energized, respected, and inspired after your first conversations, you're likely in good hands.
🌿 Holding space : a gentle invitation
Personal branding is complex but doesn’t have to be overwhelming. It should be simple, feel authentic, and resonate with your audience. But most and foremost, it needs to sit within your brand ecosystem or constellation. Your brand is the visual identity that holds space for your business.
The brochure I created for that client wasn’t about picking a fancy layout, a beautiful color palette or trendy fonts. It was born out of strategy. It was deep and filled with meaning. Oftentimes, we think design is all about aeshetics, when it’s just the cherry on a cake of a process blending strategy and intuition.
Over the past two decades working with clients, we’ve been receiving many similar messages from past clients for whom we’ve been holding the vision and it’s been a privilege to see their brand evolve as they did in the process.
Trust the process, you never know who your clients are becoming but they surely will remember the way you’ve supported their transformation.
Marine Lavaupot
Founder & Creative Director, Brand Elevate
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