Ep. 329 Building Your Personal Brand Without Burning Out

In this week’s episode, Anna shares insights and strategies to help you build a strong personal brand without succumbing to burnout. Are you stuck on the relentless hamster wheel of content creation, trying to stand out but feeling overwhelmed and burnt out? Tune in for practical advice on choosing the right channels, creating authentic content, and striking a balance that works for you.

Key moments:

[00:00] Introduction

[00:56] The Hamster Wheel of Content Creation

[02:13] Finding the Right Channels and Formats

[04:01] Strategy and Systems for Content Creation

[10:40] Technology and AI in Content Management

[07:18] Batching and Repurposing Explained

[14:44] Embracing Authenticity and Balance

[16:39] Invitation to Business Accelerator Programme

Resources mentioned:

• Personal Branding Workshop Series Registration: Sign up here to watch on demand 
• The Business Accelerator: Join the waiting list
• Tools: Asana, Trello, Canva CapCut, ChatGPT

Personal brand burnout

Reimagining Success, episode 329. This one is for you. If you are feeling that you’re stuck in that hamster content wheel of creating, creating, trying to get in front of more people, be more visible, feeling uncomfortable with it, not really getting the results you want, not really knowing what’s working, and you really understand why it’s important to build your personal brand. But you’re worried that you’re going to burn out if you keep going as you are. So have a listen and I hope you find this useful. Welcome to Reimagining Success, the podcast that helps you build a profitable business as an independent expert, one that works for you and your lifestyle. I’m your host, Anna Lundberg, former corporate insider turned business mentor, executive coach and mum of two. Whether you’re a solopreneur, a coach, speaker, consultant, I’m here to guide you in creating a business that gives you freedom, flexibility and the fulfilment you’re looking for, ready to redefine success and build a business that you love. Let’s get started.

Standing out in all the noise online, keeping up with the changes to the different social channels, following all the viral hooks and hacks and best practises that the experts are telling us to use, it’s surprising that more of us haven’t already burnt out. Certainly, I hear again and again about the content overwhelm that so many of us feel from trying to keep up, from trying to post every day, multiple times a day, on different platforms, keeping up with the changes, the algorithms, following all the expert advice and so on. Right? It’s so exhausting and yet we feel we need to do it, because if we’re not, then we won’t stand out against our competitors, people won’t find us, we won’t be able to grow our business, we won’t build that personal brand that is so crucial. And so we’re stuck in this hamster wheel of creating more and more and more, and yet we’re not really seeing results. So how can we avoid this? Well, first of all, why are. Why has this happened, right? What’s the issue? And it seems so obvious, but we’re trying to do it all. And I always hold my hand up here.

I fall for this as well. We think, perhaps, and quite arrogantly, that I can. I can keep up with this, I can do all this. You know, I’m just a solopreneur, but of course I can do all this. So I can do long and short, short, short form. I can’t say it Long and short form videos. I’ve got my podcast. I want to write books, obviously, all the social channels.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. TikTok and Instagram and LinkedIn, because I need to be on there. Oh, maybe I should do Pinterest as well. And oh, gosh, YouTube might as well put it there. But that means putting this type of caption on there and it means this 69 format here, et cetera, et cetera. All the formats, all the channels. Things are changing all the time. We’re supposed to be doing images.

No, not images anymore, it’s reels. No, it’s not really re. Its carousels. Oh, and we should also be doing stories and we should be posting this many times and then we get the viral hooks that we should be using that will give us millions of views and the hacks. And this is how you should write your posts on LinkedIn. It should be short sentences like this and they need to fit like this and you need to use these words and ugh. And to some extent we want to or need to play that game in order to have the visibility. But I think it’s a recipe for burnout for all of our content.

And I mean all of our as in me as an individual, but also all of our as a collective of experts and thought leaders and so on. All of our content becoming really generic and vanilla. And mine wasn’t super provocative and extreme to begin with because we’re just trying to copy. We’re supposed to be sharing what other people are doing that’s working, following all these best practises and we lose sight of why we’re doing it, what we stand for and so on. Not good. So if that resonates, if you feel there must be another way, then. Then bear with. Stick with me here and let’s chat about it.

So last week I ran the the free workshop series. I really can’t say the sh sound today, can I? Apologies if this is annoying to your ears. And so last week I ran the workshop series on building a personal brand without burning out. So if you’ve missed that, you can now catch up on demand. It’s a onestepoutside.com/yourpersonal brand.And we looked at why it’s important to build a personal brand. Getting clear in your message, what do you want to be known for? And then setting up simple systems.

And it sounds so obvious and we know these things, but it really starts with, number one being intentional. Why is it you want to do this? What are you trying to Achieve what’s your vision, what’s your message, what’s your target audience? Because then of course you can create everything else, your strategy, your systems, etc. Based on that vision to help you get there, to get in front of the right people with the right message in the right way. One big piece though, I think a lot of people, and coaches as well, Ms. Business Coaches is that you need to choose the channels and media that feel good to you. I always say there’s a difference between I don’t feel super comfortable on camera but hey, I can work with a video coach or I can just practise and I’ll get better. And you know what, it’s good enough because people like imperfection these days anyway. Or oh my gosh, I’m going to throw up.

I can’t possibly, I would never do that. That’s just not something that I can do. Right. There’s a difference between it being a little bit uncomfortable and hey, I can get over myself. Or no, that’s a no go if you’re. It’s always an overly simplistic comparison. But if you’re super introverted and you hate going to networking events, then you can find in person events where perhaps you have a clear strategy and that it’s a nice kind of event where you enjoy it and so on. But probably that won’t be the best place to go.

If you hate standing up on stage and speaking, that’s not going to be your best way. Etc, Etc. Right? So yes, video is important but lots of people write only text and they’re very effective. Yes, speaking can be a really effective strategy but lots of people don’t do it. I know lots of people who do lots of networking. I haven’t done it because of my own preferences and hang ups as well as having young children and Covid and all the excuses. But I’ve seen people follow that strategy really successfully, you know. So one of the cool things, once you have your clear vision and message and so on is to make sure you’re being really discerning about the channels and media that will feel good to you and then you can come up with systems and again we’ll, as experts, people are going to tell you, you know, you should be batching, you should be repurposing, should be doing all this.

There are reasons why we’re recommending those things but again you need to be discerning and a bit sort of critical, challenging and think okay, does this work for me or not for me? And I’m going To reveal all my secrets here. This is my third podcast episode that I’ve just recorded. So, yes, I’ve recorded the whole month of February’s podcast in one go because that means I can then upload them, we can get them transcribed and edited, do the social content around it, boom, done. I know what I’m talking about. If I instead did one episode here, one episode there, I wouldn’t remember what I’ve been talking about. You know, you’re kind of. It’s. Is it called context switching when you go from one thing to another? It just is very inefficient.

If you’re doing something that involves a video and you want to, you know, brush your hair, perhaps put a bit of lippy on, put some nice clothes on, then obviously doing a few videos on one day when you’ve got your camera and your lighting ready is really good. I will put the other side of the batching argument, I suppose, in the sense that shooting, for example, B roll videos, if you’re familiar with that on Instagram, that’s the kind of thing that is much better if you do a little bit and often, right, so when I go down and have a cup of tea, I’ll do a bit of a B roll, which is just me making tea maybe, and then I’ll do a face to camera of me talking to the camera. That way I’ll get a range. Not every day, but I get a range of different jumpers, different hair, lighting, whatever, different messages. And I have those that I can then at another point, batch or perhaps just daily pull one out from my draughts and turn into a reel, right? I can go and put the captions on them, then I can post them daily. It just means I have a bit of a library, bit of an archive, rather than, you know, oh my gosh, I’ve got the flu and I’ve got no content going out and you’re just in a position where you have nothing prepared. So batching in the sense of recording a few podcasts together and planning out your strategy in one session and then the next time actually fleshing out the points and then the next session recording, you know, that’s a really great approach, repurposing. Again, lots of experts I’m sure you will have heard talking about this.

But if I, and there’s no right answer here, but let’s say one possibility is I write a long article, really well researched, really in depth, I can then break that into posts, I can record some into little videos, I can do a workshop on this topic, you know, it can become lots of different things in my case. Here I have the podcast. I actually these days record the first minute on my phone just as I’m talking and that becomes like a little reel that goes out. It’s not best practises, I’m sure I’m not looking at the camera and so on, but it’s a minute of me saying the sort of intro and then you can read the caption and hopefully listen to the full episode that goes on Instagram and tick tock. So repurposing in different formats on different channels and so on. And then, yes, use the tech to help you. I’ve again evolved over the years. We used to schedule everything.

I came from a digital content strategy background, so I used to have really complex strategy documents and calendars and things. Really simplified it. Now I like to post things organically or have my assistant post things. But then when I had a bit of, a bit of a crisis when my Instagram got hacked and I hear about people’s LinkedIn getting hacked and so on, I didn’t love sharing passwords for things. So then I’ve gone back to sharing some things, most things, in fact. Myself, I also like it being organic because then I post, I’ll connect with other people, I can respond to comments and so on, but I at the moment schedule weekend posts on LinkedIn so that I keep that visibility going, a specific message of consistency without actually having to be on the channel. And you know, what if I then scroll, maybe when I’m on the toilet, when I’m on the bus somewhere, whatever, waiting for something and I see someone’s commenting, I reply, but it just takes the pressure off a bit. So I hope you’re hearing that there’s an element of, yes, planning and systems and structure and so on, but there’s also an element of, oh my goodness, just do what works for you and really think about what are the things that are getting in your way, what are the things that would work with you rather than against you when it comes to tools.

Okay, I mentioned scheduling, obviously. AI, chat, GPT, that kind of stuff can be really helpful. I’ve shared before, if you’ve been part of my community, I don’t find it helpful, obviously to just pump out generic content. And I’ve had a someone I’m subscribing to who has very obviously just scheduled lots of newsletters that are fully chat GPT. Even if you agree with the message, it’s just so generic. I could go into ChatGPT and ask that, right? So please bring your own personality and make sure it’s using your specific messaging and so on. But it’s a great starting point if you’re not sure where to go. And it also is a great cheque, like, is this, you know, does this make sense? Have I missed anything? And so on.

By all means, use it. I use Canva for graphics. You know, I have the paid version, which means I’ve got a brand kit, I’ve got templates and things. You know, if you’re a bit more organised than me, you can have folders with sort of Instagram posts with the right format and stuff and you literally just plug and play right on cap cut that I use for videos as well. I’ve now got the brand logos and colours and things. So again, there, the batching really helps because I forget how to use things in between otherwise. So if I do three or four in one go, I’m like, okay, I’ve got to change this, I’ve got to add this and so on. So, you know, again, starts with strategy.

What are you trying to achieve? Why? What’s your message, what’s your target? And so on. Then really thinking about, yes, understanding what the best channels are. By the way, for most of us, LinkedIn is going to be there, right? Maybe Instagram. LinkedIn, I would say, is the easier of them and the most powerful for us as experts and founders and coaches, consultants and so on. But by all means, add in, in person things, networking, speaking, email, whatever else it is in terms of developing those conversations and so on, you know, webinars, all sorts of things. Every touch point builds your brand. But don’t, don’t try to do it all. It seems so simple to say it, but make sure that you’re clear on why you’re doing it and not just going, oh, I might as well do it there because it’s not going to go well.

The videos on YouTube, I constantly get people in India telling me they could make my channel better and I’m sure they can, but it’s not a strategic platform for me. It’s basically a depository of stuff, right? Sometimes people find things there, fine, it’s just kind of embedding them there and they’re there. It’s just a low hanging fruit, easy for my assistant to upload it there. Doesn’t mean I’m trying to be a YouTuber, right? So find the channels, choose the channels immediately feel good to you and then develop the systems you don’t need complex templates and things. You know, I use Asana for project management. Trello is a similar one. You can plan content and posts. There certainly recurring things that say hey now it’s just, you know, it’s time to record more whatever or post something.

Use those tools to help you. Don’t let them make things over complicated. And then, you know, you want to be constant constantly sounds stressful and you want to continue to aim to be consistent while protecting your energy. And of course that means having boundaries. It means, you know, you don’t check at these times. It means also by the way, these are the things I want to share about. I never share pictures of my kids unless it’s from behind. I don’t share intimate arguments that I have with family or partner, whatever.

And totally up to you how much you share. And by the way, if you’re building this strategically, you know, it is a curated image. A personal brand is a curated image of you. It’s not going to be 100% as much as I’m authentic and this is, I’m afraid to say me, you know that you don’t have to share 100% of everything and you don’t need to be online 24 7. In fact, you can’t, you shouldn’t be. Final thing I would say is it is okay if you miss a day or a week or whatever. And I had a period when I just kind of lost my will. Partly it was, I think before Christmas was one of the many moments this has happened, but I just suddenly went, oh, deflated.

You know, you need a bit of a break. Oh, I’ve got to write on LinkedIn. Actually. No, nobody’s going to notice. And you know, January, now get back into it. February, I’m on a roll. You know, it’s all good. And so above all be compassionate with yourself.

Don’t worry, don’t necessarily let yourself think, oh my gosh, people are going to notice them, haven’t they won’t. Of course you can’t drop the ball forever because then you’ll lose all your visibility and so on. But really we, we get far too caught up in how important we are and how much people are expecting and waiting for these things. And please keep things simple, be kind to yourself, compassionate, and it is fine to miss it now and again, right? So again, if you do want to watch the recordings of Last week’s session, onestepoutside.com your personal brand is a three 30 minute sessions on building your personal brand without burning out. There’s worksheets and it’s much more in depth than I’ve been able to cover here on the podcast. I’d love to hear from you what’s resonated if you have any more questions as well around this personal brand topic. And overall, of course we’re looking at how to build a business, how to grow a profitable business in a way that feels good to you, that works for your life, for your life, stuff your family situation and so on. And of course without burning out or feeling bleh about it, which is a low bar, but really it’s about that freedom, flexibility, fulfilment that we always talk about.

If you are tempted or curious about the idea of joining me in the Business Accelerator, which is my main mentoring programme, we have the doors open as we speak. If you’re listening to this live, we will be closing for February 2025 and then opening in the summer and again in the next autumn. But it’s a great moment to join us now. We’ve got lots of fun things planned to help you with the overall goal of growing profitably without burning out. So do have a look at onestepoutside.com/accelerate. You can register your interest or join the waiting list, depending on when you’re listening in the year, and I’d love to chat with you about your goals and if it would be a good fit. Thanks so much and we’ll be back next week, hopefully with another interview for you. See you then.

Anna Lundberg:All right, so if any of this resonates and you’re ready to build a business that truly works for you without the overwhelm, without the hustle, all that constant second guessing, then I’d love for you to join us in the Business Accelerator. Bringing together a small group of like minded experts, coaches, consultants, solopreneurs who want that personalised support, clear action steps and above all, real accountability. If you want to get in early, then head on over to onestepoutside.com/accelerate to register your interest or join the waiting list. Let’s create the business and the life that you have always wanted. Can’t wait to see you inside.

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