How to Build a Personal Brand Even When You’re (NOT) Ready to Go All In
When Allison first came to me, she was standing at a crossroads.
She wasn’t fully ready to dive headfirst into building a personal brand, but she knew something in her career needed to shift. After years of running a successful executive search firm (which she still co-owns), there was a new part of her work quietly tugging at her: coaching. Not in the traditional sense, but in a deeper, more integrated way, one that helped people see the whole picture of who they are and where they’re trying to go.
Through all the work Allison had done with her clients, she had begun to notice something in her clients. Many of them were viewing their work challenges in isolation from their personal lives, almost as if they lived in entirely separate compartments. But as she listened, coached, and supported them, she realized: the same patterns that showed up at work were showing up at home, too. The same stories, the same self-doubt, the same stuck-ness. And Allison had a gift for spotting those patterns and helping people name them, understand them, and begin to shift them.
What I admired most about Allison was that she was living that same process herself.
As we worked together, it became clear she was in a holding space of her own. She knew it was time to leap, but the more success you’ve built, the more you stand to lose when you pivot. And that’s what made her work so powerful. She wasn’t speaking from a mountaintop. She was in the trenches with her clients, doing the work alongside them.
The Process of Building Allison’s Personal Brand
Over the course of several months, we clarified what this next chapter of her career could look like. We pulled apart her vision piece by piece: what she wanted to be known for, who she wanted to serve, and what made her approach different.
I helped her:
Articulate her message
Define her coaching philosophy
Build the foundation for a brand that felt like her
We worked through messaging and offer structure, guided the creative direction for a photoshoot, and partnered with a photographer to capture her essence.
The Outcome of Our Personal Branding Work
Allison walked away with a personal brand that embodied the multi-dimensional work she was doing both internally and with her clients. She gained the language, clarity, and confidence to begin sharing this part of her journey publicly, and on her own terms. Her personal brand became the platform she needed to step into this new version, or chapter, of herself.
What We Accomplished Together
Personal brand positioning
Story + messaging architecture
Tagline + web copy
Website design
Visual identity + moodboard
Photography consultation + direction
Offer structure + early-stage coaching business planning
Her story is a reminder that reinvention doesn’t always look loud. Sometimes, it’s quiet and slow. And sometimes, it’s the smallest steps that end up shifting everything.
Is it time to write the next chapter of your story?
If you’re standing at a similar edge, if you’re in the middle of a reinvention, if you’re circling the next version of your work but not sure how to articulate it, I’d love to help. This is what I do. I help people turn their ideas into brands that feel like a true reflection of who they are.
