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7 Personal Branding Examples of Successful Entrepreneurs

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Creative Personal Branding

Are building your own brand? If so, it’s helpful to study personal branding examples of creators you admire. A common dilemma for many creators is whether to blend personal and business. Another is whether to combine multiple businesses or endeavors under one brand umbrella.

Another consideration is how to identify your brand’s slogan and purpose. To help with all of that, you may enjoy these varied approaches to personal and professional branding.

Table of Contents

Audio Article – Personal Brand Examples

Artify Your Branding

Branding is fun when you approach it as just another of your creative expressions Your brand is your blank canvas for portraying what you stand for to the world… a piece of art or slogan that conveys your story or message. 

If you’re coming up blank, don’t worry. You don’t have to have it all figured out before you start. In fact, very few people do. Best to get started in the direction you think you want to go. As with many things in life, the answers are discovered in the journey.

Crafting your brand is a work-in-progress, that begins where you are and evolves as you do.
~Devani Alderson, iCreateDaily.com®

To inspire your ideation and contemplation, we’ve created a diverse collection of some of our favorite personal branding examples. These talented creators are artists, writers, and entrepreneurs, each with their own style and approach.

Your brand is a story. Your story.

“Every great brand is like a great story.”
~Kevin Plank, CEO of Under Armour

Discovering Your Brand’s Purpose

Your “brand” is so much more than just a logo or name.  Your brand is also your persona in the world; it’s an extension of you. If that sounds intimidating, don’t worry! This isn’t something you have to get right all in one try! You can even start without it.

In fact, it took us several months to hone in on the iCreateDaily brand, slogan, and core message. There are still tweaks we make as we grow personally and as a company.

The beauty of the journey is that your brand grows with you!

While iCreateDaily isn’t exactly a personal brand, because it’s not named after us—the mother/daughter team of LeAura and Devani—as founders, the process of refinement is the same. And for us, it is still very personal to our life purpose: who we are and what we stand for.

The small business involves the presence, purpose and persona of the founders.

What is your brand’s purpose?

To identify your brand’s purpose, start with your own. If you’re not clear on that yet, don’t worry. That will become apparent over time. In the meanwhile, head in the direction you’re drawn to and start there. This article may also help.

“Your brand is free to express the purpose you conceive and perceive.”
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®

Personal Branding Examples

As you’re going through these personal branding examples from some of our favorites, you might consider writing notes about what you’re drawn to—or repelled by—in the examples shared. You could also explore blogs, brands, and influencers you resonate with.

Sometimes knowing what styles you don’t like can help you hone in on your own. Remember that your brand style can evolve as you do.

“The good news is that you do not have to have it all figured out before you start.”

Marie Forleo – Business Expert & Prolific Content Creator

Image from MarieForleo.com

One of the creative entrepreneurs we admire and follow is Marie Forleo.

Marie is a brilliant, beautiful, highly successful businesswoman, coach and creative. Marie hosts both Marie TV and B School. These are two different things, yet they work cohesively together by design, cleverly crafted with flare.

Marie began her journey on YouTube creating a video a week. Her diligence and consistency in that, combined with her engaging and charismatic personality, served to steadily grow her online following. Her efforts eventually led to financial success and opportunities, such as paid speaking engagements, advertising and affiliate revenue.

Marie Forleo’s YouTube Channel

You can tell at a glance Marie’s videos all have similar layouts. She uses a screen capture of a moment from the video, and a short text overlay. The text is either a quote from her interview or the topic she will cover in a video.  The bright, artsy home-like studio setting, smiling faces and intriguing captions and headlines all invite the viewer to click and stay awhile.

Time spent with Marie’s videos feels like fun and good conversation over coffee with friends.

Screen Shot of Marie Forleo’s YouTube Channel.

Marie Forleo is an exceptional personal brand of heart, soul, passion and presence presented with creativity, authenticity and humor.
~LeAura Alderson, iCreateDaily.com

Brand Expansion

The diligent weekly videos grew her following such that it eventually led to Marie Forleo’s B-School. B-School is a highly successful online coaching program which Marie promotes and sells memberships to just once a year. This year, 2019, is the 10th anniversary of B-School and they’ve helped over 40k people.  One of Marie’s most common taglines is:

“Helping people discover the business and life they love.”

Marie is her brand and vice versa. All that she is is a part of her conversations in her interviews and solo episodes and articles. Her primary website is her personal branded business site, MarieForleo.com. Marie sells her products from there, but her B School also has its own website, though it’s still branded to her: MarieForleoBschool.com and accessible from her primary personal brand website.

Marie’s Trademark Brand Style: Elegance, enthusiasm, humor, beauty

Her studio setup, wardrobe choices, and graphic elements are all bright, fun, and cheery.  While her messages about personal development, business growth, and mindset are simple and easy to digest, like the quote below.

“Everything is figuroutable.”
~Marie Forleo, speaker, author & host of Marie TV

Eeva Nikunen – Fantasy Artist & World Builder

image by Eeva Nikunen

Eeva Nikunen is a fabulous multi talented fantasy artists.

Eeva loves developing her fantasy world of elves, enchanted forests, as well as beautifully detailed oil paintings of Victorian era characters. Professionally trained in Graphic Design, Eeva worked at a design firm before branching off almost six years ago to work full time as an artist.

Eeva’s inspiration comes from the stunning scenery of her home country, Finland, iconically eclectic artists such as Guillermo del Toro, romance novels of the Victorian era, and detailed Russian architecture.  Of course, all those breathtaking works blended with Eeva’s endless creativity have helped her bring her brand to life with original visuals and stories.

Eeva Nikunen’s Fantasy Art

Eeva’s paintings are vibrant, deep and intricate.  From the little gold star above the owl’s head to the constellation design on the book cover the girl is holding, the exquisite details and ephemeral colors captivate and set your imagination to roam new realms.

Sampling of Eeva Nikiun’s Fantasy art:

Screen Shot of Eeva Nikunen’s portfolio section on her website.

All of Eeva’s work is done under her own name, Eeva Nikunen, with the added moniker of ‘Fantasy Art’. That’s a simple but important addition for two reasons:

  1. It identifies the kind of art to expect
  2. It adds SEO benefit toward helping Google know what kind of traffic to send her way

Maker of Magical Worlds

Eeva’s intricately designed fantasy realms are brought to life through watercolors, oils, graphite pencil sketches, and rich acrylic paints.

Multi-talented and multi-faceted, Eeva’s artistic mastery is a blend of signature fantasy creations.  Diverse and flexible Eeva’s portfolio includes business logos, game art, commissioned works, an adult coloring book crowdfunded through IndieGoGo, and most recently, a creativity journal.

Visit Eeva’s Enchanted Realm

You can find Eeva’s body of work on EevaNikunen.com where she shares blog articles about her creative process. She regularly shares her work on Instagram, her Facebook page, and exclusive newsletter content, all of which can be found on her website.  You can also learn more about her story and work in her interview with us for the iCreateDaily Podcast.

Eeva Nikunen’s art is a mastery of exquisite ethereal creations with mystery and story luring you into mystical, magical realms.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com

Eeva’s Trademark Brand Style: Masterfully intricate, fantasy, ethereal, elegant

Eeva delights her audience through captivating social shares, timelapse videos, works-in-progress and weekly newsletters.

We’ve written about Eeva as a great example of repurposing content, where the one thing can become many more things. If you follow her on social media and/or her newsletter you can see how Eeva blends her art and stories together in enticing snippets of ideas.

“You have to be your first customer. Think: ‘Would I want that work hanging on my wall?’  Be your own #1 fan first.”
~Eeva Nikunen, fantasy, fairy, gothic artist & illustrator

Owen Video – Online Video Expert & Edutainer

image by Owen Video

Dynamic, funny, and entertaining… Owen Video’s personality is perfect for an online video expert.

Owen’s successful career in running a video marketing agency has led him to be a coach, public speaker, award-winning businessman, and online content creator.

Creativity on Demand

Owen shares massive amounts of valuable information for free in his YouTube channel, including filming, scripting, creating, editing, and marketing. In addition, Owen reveals case studies from clients, and deconstructs some of the most viral YouTubers, and trade “secrets” of the video world, all for free through his YouTube channel.

You can watch one of his videos on spicing up old video footage to get a sense of his style.

A masterful teacher, Owen Video helps thousands of creators with his signature blend of straightforward, expert insights often delivered as entertaining comedy.
Devani Alderson, iCreateDaily.com

Owen Video’s YouTube Channel

As you can see from the image of Owen’s YouTube clips, his videos give you a preview of the humor you will find, with clear descriptions on the key topic.  He’s an advocate for not wasting time and getting to the point, for an engaging blend of serious fun that delivers actionably beneficial information.

Entertaining lessons are more memorable and Owen Video delivers teaching without feeling taught.

Stage Name

Okay so, “Video” is not really his last name, but Owen is his actual first name. He used to use his last name but decided to go with his “stage name” for privacy and practicality. “Owen Video” is a very memorable brand name, and is one that people were using to describe him anyway.

If your audience is calling you something memorable, and it’s a good fit, then go with it!

Like most entrepreneurs, Owen has been through some branding transitions.  When he was a full-time agency owner and operator, his business was originally called The Video Spot.  While that is still his website name, his brand name on YouTube is the more personal “Owen Video.

This is a great example of a business name blended with a persona brand name. If in the future, Owen ever decided to sell his company, he’d have The Video Spot capable of being separated from “Owen Video”, or to be merged. #Options!

You can learn more about Owen, his story, and what he’s working on in this interview on the iCreateDaily Podcast.

Owen’s Trademark Brand Style: Humorous, personable & straight forward, engaging.

Owen Video entertains you with bright colors and funny anecdotes that make even the most tedious marketing tips, easy to breeze through. Owen is a relatable family guy, with humor and value that hooks you into his world and keeps you coming back.

“Think about the mark you want to make on mankind instead of the commas you want in your checking account.”
~Owen Video, YouTube marketer, influencer, & online personality

Ingrid Sanchez – Visual Artist, Online Art Influencer, Art Teacher

Creative Ingrid

Stepping into Ingrid Sanchez’s ~ Creative Ingrid ~ world is like walking through a tropical garden filled with splashes of bright colors, zen visuals, and perpetual spring.
~Devani Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com

Ingrid’s brand moniker is “Creative Ingrid”.

After years of selling her own beautiful watercolor art online, Ingrid branched out into also teaching in-person art workshops.  She loves helping other people connect with their creativity, through her intimate workshops featuring safe serene spaces for exploring creativity to people of any artistic level.

You can learn more about Ingrid’s story, business, and lifestyle of creativity in this iCreateDaily Podcast interview.

Ingrid’s Instagram Style:

Ingrid is on multiple social media channels but her main platform is Instagram.  There, you can feast on the array of color, glimpse into some of her personal life, and almost smell the cheerful flowers as you scroll through. While she does paint other themes, like moons, Egyptian styled art, and galaxies… Ingrid’s trademark style is the blooming watercolor flowers.

The captions on Ingrid’s images offer tips for artists, fun or reflective stories of her life, as well as info on events and classes she’s hosting. What flows through it all is passion for creating beauty and a dedication to her work.

We encourage you to look through Ingrid Sanchez’s website and see how she ties her website branding with her Instagram presence.  Ingrid does a great job creatively balancing multiple personal business.

Ingrid Sanchez’s Trademark Brand Style: Bright, happy, vibrant and serene

Vibrant colors draw you in where Ingrid’s thoughtful sharing and zen-meditative presence keep you connected with her. She attracts people who enjoy being inspired by life and searching for a beautiful inner peace through creativity.

“Sometimes my favorite paintings are the ones that take the longest to find a home.”
~Ingrid Sanchez, visual artist, teacher

Jeff Goins – Bestselling Author & Blogger & Keynote Speaker

image by Ashley Goins (Jeff’s wife)

A prolific author, writer, speaker, mentor and creator, Jeff Goins’, books are compelling reads on deep topics. One of our favorite titles in Jeff’s collection is, The Art of Work.

One of our favorite books by Jeff is titled Real Artists Don’t Starve, which tackles the myth and mentality about artists being poor and “starving.”

Personable and politely probing, Jeff’s trademark approach asks deep questions that nudge assumptions off center. Through his courses and books, Jeff coaches writers on the daily habits that take you from amateur hobbyist, to pro.

The Portfolio Life is Jeff’s podcast where he interviews other artists and entrepreneurs about their lives, routines, and advice about life and business.

Books by Jeff Goins:

Jeff Goins’s books are recognizable with clean, elegantly simple designs. Each title is a clear and powerful statement, which—along with carefully chosen cover images—captures the essence of the stories and discoveries between the pages.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com

Visit GoinsWriter.com and enjoy thoughtful blog posts on relevant topics for creators and be sure to check out his award-winning books and courses for writers.

We were delighted to interview Jeff for the iCreateDaily podcast, where he shares his story, daily habits, and current projects.

Jeff Goins Trademark Brand Style: Story, simplicity, probing and clarity

In true writer style, Jeff leaves the story to his words. The clean design of his website and book covers offer just enough visuals to grab your attention for more and are excellent visual representations of passages to come.

Jeff lures the reader to ponder and wonder, while weaving insight that invokes reflection.

“I just think that activity follows identity. I don’t think you fake it till you make it, but you do believe it till you become it.” 
~Jeff Goins, writer, author, founder-TribeWriters, b.3/31/1983

Bruna Mebs – Visual Artist, Interior Designer, and Online Influencer

Expressing multiple passions under one roof can seem daunting, yet Bruna Mebs has accomplished this with elegance and sophistication. You can clearly pick up her passion for nature, design, fashion, art and beauty through her reflective blog posts and photos.

Bruna’s creativity started with her wonderful ink artwork, and expanded into more of a lifestyle brand as she began to listen to her fans. Her customers didn’t just want her art, they also wanted her art in context and complement. That was the encouragement Bruna needed to incorporate her love of architecture and home design into her brand and offerings.

So over the years as Bruna incorporated her passions for nature, cooking, and home design into her home decor collections.

If you’re a creator, you might enjoy this conversation with Bruna sharing her story on the iCreateDaily Podcast.

Bruna Mebs creates artful spaces, places and pieces that soothe the soul and set creativity free to be.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®

Bruna’s Instagram Account:

Like many visual artists, Bruna uses Instagram as her primary social media hub. Her IG account showcases an eye for design, fashion flair, cozy but bright spaces all blended with her art. Underneath the crisp and inviting photos, you can sense Bruna’s appreciation for creating special places as she takes you on a journey of her creative life.

Bruna Meb’s Trademark Brand Style: Bright, simple elegance, crisp visuals, and space

As a multi-passionate artist Bruna melds many of her passions together with an elegant eye for style. She’s skilled at making you feel like you’re part of her world.  It’s fun scrolling through her photos, blog posts, and art. Her videos are engaging and leave you wanting to linger in the beauty she’s created. Make sure to visit her website for more!

“I can’t just sit around and wait for people to find my stuff, so you have to put yourself in a go-getter mindset.”
~Bruna Mebs, Freelance artist, lifestyle designer, artist-entrepreneur

Gary Vaynerchuk – Entrepreneur Mogul & Prolific Content Producer

image from Gary Vaynerchuk

Gary Vaynerchuk is a mega influencer for entrepreneurs, businesses, creators and social influencers.

In the beginning, it was just Gary doing everything. Now, Gary’s cameras follow him around all day every day now. In fact, Gary now has a team of 22 people working full time on growing his brand through content proliferation, distribution, and repurposing on all social channels. And that’s not even his companies. Yes, multiple companies. That’s just him… his personal brand.

Gary Vaynerchuk, aka, GaryVee’s personal brand feeds his businesses and vice versa. So, while they’re separate, they’re also integrated.

Brash

Gary is known for his fondness for “Jersey boy” expletives and his liberal use of them, no matter if on camera or on stage. That wins him some fans and loses some. Either way, Gary doesn’t care because he’s building his brand in his way around who he is, not around a facade of expectations and societal “shoulds”. And more importantly, it’s working for him big time, and that’s his message for you: You do you.

That said, just this year, early 2019, GaryVee has finally initiated a “Curse Free Gary Vee channel.” Yay!! For those who love Gary but not his potty mouth, and/or those who tune in while driving with kids in the car, this is for you.

Gary Vee’s YouTube Channel

While there are not many social platforms that Gary isn’t on, we love his YouTube channel and podcast channels the most.  His style has evolved over the years as he’s catapulted from being an unknown business man, to a big name in the wine world.

From Russian immigrant to business tycoon and media mogul, Gary started by taking his father’s liquor store business into the decamillions in the early days of the Internet and YouTube.

Now, with multiple businesses in which he shares partnership with his brother and now others, Gary is a highly sought speaker, influencer and brilliant marketing strategist.  The fonts and colors change a lot since he and his team are always innovating his brand look, but it’s always snappy eye-catching captions or zinger quotes. Gary follows his own advice of test-measure-respond-evolve.

The Gary Vee brand anchor is honesty and consistency in content and message.

screen shot of Gary Vee’s youtube

Sharing Everything, Yet not Personal

When it comes to personal sharing, Gary talks about—and names—his wife Lizzie and kids, Misha and Zander, and his immigrant parents, Sasha and Tamara. However, Gary never features or covers his family.

He and Lizzie made the decision to keep their personal lives private and off camera, and as such, you won’t see photos of his kids or him with his family. We can find only one online photo of Gary with his wife Lizzie from 2009.

So Gary Vaynerchuk covers everything but family and the private business meetings for his clients that can’t be shared, however, all that he can share, he does. Some would argue that it’s too much… that there’s inconsequential content that’s a waste of time. The good news is that you tune into what you want and leave the rest. You can also typically increase the speed of podcasts and YouTube videos to skim-listen for the highlights of interest to you.

Symbiotic Businesses

Gary is building his social following in a mammoth way, under his personal name, and his businesses under their respective business names and sites. He features his businesses in the bio on his personal website’s homepage, yet the huge marketing agency, that bears his name, VaynerMedia, along with his businesses, are not on his menu. Similarly, Gary is not featured as either a personal brand or founder on the VaynerMedia website.

Perhaps Gary’s building Vayner Media as its own entity as a wise business strategy. All that Gary is doing is complementary, each feeding and supporting the other. VaynerMedia serves the marketing needs of the many Vayner companies, and Gary’s personal brand funnels massive amounts of business to his companies.

Gary Vaynerchuk and VaynerMedia are exceptional examples of personal and professional branding… each standing on its own, yet also fully supportive.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com

Gary Vee’s Trademark Brand Style: Brash, real, shrewd and caring

Gary’s core values include an intense work ethic, honesty, self-awareness, and gratitude. His advice comes 100% from being a practitioner. Gary’s story is the classic “immigrant becomes massively successful” through hard work consistently over time.

While the millennials quickly love him for his swearing and rebel demeanor and attire, they deeply resonate to his authenticity, positivity, and no-nonsense approach.

Gary Vee knows how to establish an avid social following: He gives tons of actionable advice all the time, for free.

Gary also strikes hope in the hearts of boomers and seniors. He gives them hope in his fervent appeal to them to make the best use of the incredible resources available today. To build something on the foundation of the wisdom of their years.

Gary implores all ages to take advantage of this unprecedented time in history, a time like no other. These are the times in which anyone can put in the hard work, perseverance, and patience necessary to change their fate and do work that matters to them.

“Your legacy is being written by yourself. Make the right decisions.”
~Gary Vaynerchuk, Belarusian-American entrepreneur, author, & speaker

Build Both

Overall, our usual recommendation for creators—especially in today’s crowded marketplace—is to build both, your personal brand simultaneous with your business brand. These days, the artist that creates beautiful art, and grows a following to her name, or the fiction author who does the same, are more likely to grow more quickly.

Remember, you are a creator first and foremost. Most creators expand and change their field of focus over time. So create your namesake brand and the work you do can expand, unfettered. In other words, if you are a writer, then you’re a writer, first and the author of xyz fantasy fiction books second.

Your personal brand brings attention to your business brand and vice versa, so consider each as the right foot in step with the left foot. In order to move forward faster, you need both to be in step with the other. When people fall in love with who you are, they will also likely follow most of what you do.

You may enjoy a visit to this personal branding article toward clarifying your ‘brand of you’. Or this one on integrating personal and business brands. If all of this puts you in overwhelm, then start with the basics.

While every artist longs to create their own art, commissioned work stretches and strengthens diverse skills… and it pays the bills… Until.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com

Create the life you want to live, one day at a time.

The Day is the Way.

iCreateDaily!Ⓡ

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