Professional Branding

As a modelmaker who does not intend to start a company, it is therefore important to invest heavily in personal branding. As a freelancer in an industry where the majority of people know each other or have mutual friends you can almost guarantee that your reputation as an individual will proceed you. Not your brand. Unless, I choose to establish myself as a small business. After which point you become a competitor, making it less likely for people to want to hire you if they think you are going to join their business, learn their secrets, how its run and then go off and develop a competing business that draws that take clients and income away. This would be counter intuitive, and unless the owner of said business intends to become a mentor they would be damaging their own livelihood. This reasoning I feel demonstrates the necessity of branding yourself as an individual and keeping any side hustles or future business plans separate from profile as a freelance maker.

If the opportunity for a good mentor arises then it would be excellent for developing personal and professional character. The wealth of knowledge and experience available could seriously develop any brand. To achieve this, networking is a priority for strategically positioning myself to maximise opportunity.

I intend to brand myself as Lewis Bond, Modelmaker specialising in hard-edge models, architecture, product and design process. This is a profile that remains consistent across social medial platforms which is highly important for developing a memorable brand.

Except my website, which I have developed as a community / forum for makers to come together to discuss ideas and network. However, as the founder, the website contains a profile specifically about me, which is also consistent with my social media platforms. So although the website is mine. It maintains a solid boundary between being my brand, and a separate entity / platform / outlet to promote myself from.