Personal Branding in the Slow Lane

 

I love the snow coming down.  I woke this morning before 7 to it's soft first flutterings and I have been watching it ever since.  How grateful I am to be here, to be able to take the time to watch the snow come down.

The Sheepie Girls huddle together in their shelter.  They don't need much.  No big barn and million dollar facilities.  They need the air flowing around them.  As I do.  I stand out on the porch in my jammies, feeling the cold air on my skin and marvel at the beauty of it all.  And I am at peace here in my simple house with it's worn furniture and peely paint.

 

I am reminded that I want nothing more than to live here and wash my dishes by hand in a sink that is too small with no counters then go sit at my spinning wheel or blend some fibers that I dyed the day before. Or not.

I've been reading a lot about the 'new'  marketing and  'growing' a business in the age of the internet and social media. Personal branding is the thing right now.  Underlying it though, I sense the same hectic selling and self promotion that I knew 23 years ago when I worked in NYC as a Sales Promotion Manager for a huge textile company.  I left there when my son Will was born knowing that I wanted a different way of life. It took awhile, but here it is.  And I know that I don't want to go back to that same sense of pushing and shoving to come out on top of the heap.  My personal brand is that I like taking it slow and easy.  I don't want to push.  I don't want to shout out.  I prefer to invite you in to my world, to share a bit of it with me.  Laugh and tell stories. Make things together. Enjoy the moment here...while also keeping an eye toward the rest of the world.  There is a lot of good going on out there, too.  So much creativity and innovation.

So that's my personal brand. I make things and sell things and teach things, too. There is a lot going on but it will come out to the surface slowly. My passions are quiet.  You might even have to dig it out of me a bit. Or look around a bit on your own.  Or ask me a question. It probably won't get me to the top of the heap and I'll miss some stuff that is moving by quickly, but that's ok.  There's plenty to go around. Meanwhile, I'll be watching the snow today.