In learning how to create a well-developed personal brand from “scratch,” after about thirteen weeks of blogging, tweeting and creating, the biggest lesson I have learned is your personal brand is going to evolve as both you AND the world evolve.
Over the last three months I have changed; I’m not the exact same person I was in January, when I began this journey.
I have never really analyzed the way I change over as short a period of time as a couple of months. Of course, when you look back to a trip you took two years ago you can easily recognize ways in which you have changed and evolved as a human. However, I never really reflected upon just a few short weeks, as I am now, thanks to COVID-19.
Just a few weeks into this journey the world began to face a global crisis that we, as a group of humans, have never faced previously. I strongly believe when we get to the other side of this thing, so to speak, the world will never be the same. Human beings will never be the same; I will never be the same. That said, just like I have changed and evolved, my brand has changed and evolved.
Previous to the global pandemic my value was surface level. Today, nine weeks into quarantine, I am finding the core of my brand to be joy. Travel just so happens to be my vehicle to joy.
When a travel ban was put in place several weeks ago, I suddenly found myself searching for joy. I immediately began to see the transformation in my brand. Travel isn’t about the places you go, the people you meet or the food you eat, it’s about the joy you feel as you land in a foreign country, meet a family that becomes your own or taste a foreign delicacy.
As a result of this evolution in my brand, I sought out the things I loved about traveling and discovered different ways to recreate them at home. Thinking of the joy I feel when I land on foreign turf for the very first time, I discovered watching House Hunters International could mimic this feeling. Of course, these things are hardly comparable, however, I found myself smiling as I explored Bali for the first time “virtually.”
Likewise, thinking of the joy I feel devouring delicious food abroad, I found another one of my passions, cooking and baking, to be a major source of joy during this time. Last week we had an Italian and Chinese Night. It’s fun to search for a little travel adventure for the taste buds of myself and my family.
I now have a new understanding and appreciation for “blogging.” I know that whatever idealized image I have of my travel blog will cease to exist in a week, a month, a year, five years or even ten years. Accepting this and evolving with my brand seems like one of the most valuable lessons one could learn.
I encourage you to use this time as a period of reflection too.
Hannah Rene Brown 