When I first started freelancing I was SO excited about doing brand stuff for my business.
Honestly, it seemed like the BEST EVER JUST 17 QUIZ: “find your biz personality in 8(ish) (kind of) easy questions”. Super fun! 🔮
Yeah, not that simple. Turns out that when you’re starting out – especially when you’re working in a crowded field – you don’t have much to distinguish you from everyone else out there.
“I’m CREATIVE!” I shouted. “I’m a good COMMUNICATOR!” I am very “ENGAGING!”
Newsflash: these things made me different from the other people in my life, but they didn’t make me different from other copywriters. They’re a required minimum. Who wants to shout about having a required minimum?
“Frog available! Hops!”
Discovering what your unique magic is and using it to position your brand is hard at ANY stage of your business. But, if you’re a freelance service provider, it can be almost impossible at the very start.
You need to walk around in those shoes for a bit to get the feel. Work with a bunch of clients. Evolve. Figure out what you’re doing that’s making people grin from ear to ear.
Some people find an industry niche.
Others find a bit of the process that they’re especially good at.
Eventually I found I bring max value at that Just-17-quiz stage of the journey. I am a USP diviner. I live for the moment on a call when a client says “YES OMG that’s ME”. That’s why I get so many of those “Penny just gets it/just gets us” comments. Took me a few years to figure it out, naturally.
“You can’t read the label from inside the bottle” – as they say.
When did you figure out the extra magical bit you bring?