Kristy Robinson  00:00

Hello boss and welcome back to the run your business like a boss podcast. Thank you so much for joining us for today's conversation. Today I'm joined by Darby Lyndon, who is a brand strategist and content marketer. Darby is passionate about turning great businesses into irresistible brands now tell me who doesn't want that.

Throughout her career, Darby has worked on marketing and brand strategies for some of Australia's leading travel property and retail brands. She's now turned her hand at helping small business owners just like you to get crystal clear on your brand strategy so that you can create effective marketing campaigns connect with your audience on a deeper level, and have fun doing it. Now in today's conversation, we are diving into having a personal brand within your business brand should you shouldn't you what does it look like? How would you do it? All the things? So if you're keen to know how you can create a personal brand within your business, then I know you are going to love this conversation.

Hi, Darby, welcome to the run your business like a boss Podcast. I'm so excited for today's conversation.

Darby Lyndon  01:52

Hi, Kristy, thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited to be here. Yes, yes.

Kristy Robinson  01:56

Yes, this conversation that is something that I think has been a long time coming. And I think the reason why this is so valuable is I'm not really hearing that many people talking about where does the personal brand fit within the business brand umbrella. But I know today we're also going to chat about what it might look like to step into a personal brand as well. So this conversation, I think a lot of people are going to be curious about what you have to say on the topic.

Darby Lyndon  02:26

Thank you. Yes, I think personal branding is such a hot topic. People are talking about it a lot. But you're right. There's a lot of confusion in how to implement it. So I'm very excited to get stuck into it.

Kristy Robinson  02:35

Yes. And with all things that I like to do here on the show is having that really strategic lens on it as well, because you can, you know, start doing things but how do you do it? So you're setting yourself up from the get-go. And speaking of strategy, I'd love to begin with. When we say brand strategy, what is it that we're actually talking about here, Darby?

Darby Lyndon  02:57

Yes, I think before we talk about brand strategy, it's important to talk about what a brand actually is. Because I think a lot of people use the word brand and business so interchangeably, but don't really understand what it means. So I guess the word brand evolved. I mean, it started during the cattle farming days and as a mark of differentiation, so farmers would mark their cows with a certain mark or logo to differentiate it. And then as we moved into the consumer economy, brands like Heinz and coke would use logos to differentiate themselves. And then it became more about packaging and advertising, and all of that. 

And you know, when there aren't many plays in the market, it's really easy to just stamp a logo on something to differentiate yourself. But as you know, for obvious reasons, these days, it's so hard for a brand to stand out with a simple mark, there's so much more that goes into attracting your ideal client, and really standing out stopping the scroll. I mean, consumers are overwhelmed with so much information at the moment with social media, the media, podcasting, just scrolling on the internet, there's so much going on.

But now with so many brands out there, consumers have the power to really choose brands that are aligned to their vision and their values and who they want to be known for as well as tapping into what they believe a brand should be representing. So with consumers having the power, it's really important for brands to be strategic about what their brand means and how they want to be perceived in the market. Because as I said, there are so many brands out there, it's so easy to get lost without a strategy on how you want to be represented. You'll just get lost. 

So in terms of what a brand strategy actually involves, there's a lot of work that goes into it. And I like to use you know, a ground up approach. It's like building a house for example, you can't create the logo and start painting it before you've built the house. It needs to start from the layers and I know you do this with your clients to Kristy it's looking at the foundations of: First of all, what's your vision for your business? And where's it going?

Why do you do what you do outside of making money? So your vision, your mission, your values? What are the guiding principles that you live by with your brand? Is it sustainability? Is it community, there are so many different, unique values that brands live by. And then looking at other elements, such as your ideal customer who you're talking to, it's not just, you know, people between the ages of 25 and 55, it's looking specifically about how you helping your customers achieve their dreams, looking at where your brand sits in the market against your competitors, what makes you unique, and what's your brand personality and how you're going to communicate with your customer.

So there are so many different layers that go into a brand strategy, which we'll we'll go into, but it's all about creating that perception that consumers can then buy into. And at the end of the day, it's all about relationship building. It's not about buying, it's about building relationships that go into the long term.

Kristy Robinson  05:56

Yeah, I love that you're definitely speaking my language when it comes to starting from the ground up. And I think it's very similar, as you mentioned, to business strategy, brand strategy, there's definitely a synergy between the two. And I think the thing is, is that so often, until you really immerse yourself into the business world, a lot of people do associate branding, as you say to that logo. And I see it all the time on those large Facebook groups. Here's my logo, logo a or logo B. And I'm like looking at it going, Well, how could you possibly be putting this out to the world, this is not, you know, but I guess it all comes back to that age old, you don't know what you don't know. And that's why I think it's so important that there are people out there like yourself Darby who are educating business owners to help them to see that it's so much more than the aesthetic of the brand.

And I feel like even for myself going, you know, and I've spoken about this on the podcast before is about my own brand refresh, it's that was almost the end point is the branding and the aesthetic of the brand, it was all of the pieces that go in that lock into place ahead of that, which is that ground up aspect that you're talking about. And it's so important. But I'd love to know, what you see is the difference between, say brands, brand, business brand strategy, and a personal brand strategy.

Darby Lyndon  07:14

The foundations are the same in terms of what we talked about with having a vision, having a mission, having values, knowing who your target audience is, but with a slightly different lens. So for example, business owners like you and I, we operate under our own business name. So our business, our brand strategy, and our personal brand show is gonna be very closely linked because we are our brand. But then there are businesses who operate under a different brand name, maybe they're an agency or they just they don't put their name within their brand name.

And those businesses need to be strategic about what their brand strategy represents, and how the leaders behind the brand, which is the service provider can help elevate that brand through their personal brand. And it's just coming up with those unique perspectives on on the leader of the brand, or the service provider and what they want to be known for, what their unique personality is, what their values are, and how they that personal brand strategy elevates the overall business brand strategy. So one example that I love is the digital picnic. I don't know if you know the digital picnic.

Kristy Robinson  08:16

Yeah, yeah, he was coming to mind actually, as you were talking. 

Darby Lyndon  08:21

I mean, it's just a great example, if you don't know if anyone listening doesn't know, go check them out on LinkedIn, for example, because the digital picnic is a digital agency who, you know, visually, they're colourful, they're bright, they're beautiful. And their values come back to, you know, being a caring agency, but also giving back to others. They have charitable causes that they support. They're all about diversity and team inclusion and everything like that. So their brand strategy is amazing. But then they have Cherie, who is the founder, and she has a personal brand strategy that elevates that brand, really, really nicely.

So she talks about all the things that are important to her, which is also important to the brand in terms of diversity giving back. But she also talks about being a CEO as an introvert and also, you know, having autism and how that affects her leadership style, as well as how that affects the way she builds her team and what she does, and her personal brand strategy links so well into her business strategy that you can just tell that you know why she does what she does and what she's good at and how that flows through to her business and why she's chosen the team that she's chosen to build and why she's built the brand the way she has. So I think that's a good example for people to have a reference to.

Kristy Robinson  09:32

I think it's an excellent example actually. And I think that I see, one of the questions that I have inside my business audit is I do see the digital picnic and in particular Cherie come up so as a business that is respected and admired. So they clearly have a strong rage and the fact that I think that she not only elevates the brand, but I also think she bolsters it. I think that's also really important is that she really enforces it, she supports it. And she elevates it. And I think that for anyone who's even contemplating whether or not they should start to explore what a personal brand looks like, within a business, as you say, should definitely go and check out the digital picnic and in particular Cherie, but also, even just reflecting on that for yourself, who wouldn't want that for their brand, their business brand to be seen as the leader to be seen as direct synergy between the business brand and who you are as a person? Yeah, exactly.

Darby Lyndon  10:30

And that comes back to how hard it is to build a faceless brand, especially as a service provider. When people are buying into your skills and expertise. If you don't have your face out there, it's really hard for people to understand that vision and that mission and the values that are sitting behind everything, because they can't say who you are.

Kristy Robinson  10:47

Yeah, and I think you know, a very digital fast-paced world, in order to intercept someone who's just scrolling. You need to put your ideas across. And the best way to put your ideas across is not just from a brand perspective, but also as a as an individual. And that then supports, you know, where the brand is going as well. So, yeah, I really like that. So do you think that having a brand strategy is important for those in the messy middle? Like, where does it fit in, in your eyes in terms of this stage of business in particular, which is where my listeners come in?

Darby Lyndon  11:23

Yeah, well, I guess when a business owner first starts out, as you know, it's a lot of dry hang with the business strategy, with the brand strategy. But I think a lot of people don't know about brand strategy when they first start, and they might just put a logo together, put a website together and not put much strategic thought into what they're doing. But when business owners get to the messy middle, they've kind of figured out the nuts and bolts of the business, but they're in this chaotic phase, where they don't know what's going on, and how to sort their life out. But in that phase, I think they've learned what they need to know. And now it's just a matter of building a brand that really reflects all the things that they want to be known for, and how they're going to take that business to the next level.

And it's all about clarity as well, like they have all these ideas, but it's about actually being strategic about how they want to move forward and being clear on the vision for the business and the business vision for the brand and what that means for the future. So yeah, when that two to three year mark hits for me, I think people think they might be looking their website and think Oh, my God, this doesn't represent my brand. And what I believe in, the words aren't really doing it for me, the visuals aren't doing it for me, for example, the photos don't really reflect who I am as a person.

So it's all these kind of static feeling that they get, when it's like, you know what, I'm ready to just do the groundwork and make sure that I'm building a brand that truly represents, what would I want to achieve with my business and my brand and what I want to be known for. So that's kind of the trend that I see. And then it's amazing when you do a brand strategy, and you overhaul it, and you can see it shining through the business owner when they're so proud of what they're doing. And they know that what how they say things and how they explain to people what they do. It really shines through and that's where the magic happens, I think,

Kristy Robinson  13:05

Yeah, I would 100% agree with that. I think that, you know, I often use the analogy that when you're starting a business, it's it's a series of educated guesses, you're almost like, I know that I've done this. And I think that this is what I like. And I think this is the person who I'm going to enjoy working with. You can't possibly know the answer to those things until you're actually in, in the business doing the work, feeling it out for yourself.

And, and I think that to your point, if you if you even started with the brand strategy, even in the beginning, it would, you would have to redo it at this point in your business, regardless of whether you've DIY it, or you've done it in the first place. Because you've got so much lessons under your belt, you've got so much more confidence, and you have a better grasp of not only what you've achieved, but also the direction in your business. When you're starting out. You're sort of like, you're gonna feeling your way through it, it's really hard to see beyond the six to 12 months, let alone that big vision that we keep talking about.

Darby Lyndon  14:02

Yeah, absolutely. I definitely don't recommend doing a brand strategy from day one. Because you're right, there's so much learning that goes into the first few years. And a lot of people look back and they're embarrassed about that time. But it's so unique thinking back and that learning phase is just, it's gold because it teaches you so much. And then when you get to that messy middle phase, and you're in that stage where you're ready to figure it out. And then you just see that transformation. It's amazing.

Kristy Robinson  14:27

It’s so funny, I often think about and look back on old videos. And just like you know, you don't feel like a rookie when you start because you start with, you know, so much experience in your professional career and in your life and all of those things when you're starting out. But the truth is, you get a few years down the track and you look back and you're like, Well, that was quite the transformation.

Darby Lyndon  14:46

Oh 100% But it comes back to that perfectionism element and everyone wants to be perfect, but you don't know what you don't know as you say and until you get there you can't really reflect that.

Kristy Robinson  14:56

Yeah, and I think that really, you get to know so much. We're in such a privileged place as business owners, because I feel like there's no better playground for personal growth than business ownership. And so you've undergone an enormous transformation in these past few years in your business. And so why not leverage all of that experience and work with, you know, an expert like yourself to uncover? Okay, well, you've got this far, you know, what does this look like moving forward? So, in your opinion, I mean, I was very fortunate to be on your podcast brand chats. And one of the things we discussed on your podcast was what comes first brand strategy or business strategy? And I thought we could bring that same topic to this conversation. So for you, what are your thoughts on that?

Darby Lyndon  15:42

Yes, I think I mean, as we talked about, they go side by side a lot. Because when you're building a business strategy and a brand strategy, you have to be talking about your vision and your values, what you want to be known for, and what you want to build and what the future actually looks like. But I think you do need to figure out what your services are going to be, and how you're going to serve your clients before you can actually brand that and put that into words and put that into visuals and put that into a representation. But I think they should be built at a similar time.

But I think you do have to be clear on the business strategy side of things from your end, before someone starts to work on their brand strategy side of things. I know we talked about how important it is to level up in your business and your brand strategy. And I think once you are able to nail that business strategy and the brand strategy, it just opens up so many opportunities for you to attract people, and clients that are really aligned with you and who understand you on a personal level, as well as you know what you do for your work. But also understand why you do what you do and how your expertise can help them achieve their goals in business and in life.

Kristy Robinson  16:47

Yeah, it's so true, because coming back to what you're saying before about back in the day, you know, you could have brands like Naik, McDonald's, coke, all of those things, so iconic with their actual logo. But in today's day and age, really, we're not showing our logo, like I was thinking about it when I was going even through my process. It's like I love my actual logo, but it's just like the Playfair-type font all in lowercase with a dot, right? It's nothing fancy. But we don't I don't actually show that it's all of the other pieces of the puzzle that come into it.

And that's why I think it's so important that we have that brand strategy, so that our tone of voice is coming through that we're actually speaking to that ideal client that you're speaking about. And this is the work that we do inside the business strategy, as well as going deep into who that ideal client is forget the psychographics and geographics of who that ideal client is, it's so much deeper than that. And when you have such a strong grasp of that you have a much clearer a way of being able to communicate it. And then the brand strategy underpins that with you know, almost like as a guideline or a set of rules. If you don't even know how to do that yourself to support you to be able to go, Well, I'm here, I need to speak to this person about this thing, and then move them through the relationship to overhear.

Darby Lyndon  18:02

Absolutely, I love what you're saying about the logo. And you're right, people think less about a logo and you think of a brand. And it's more about a feeling. And it's a feeling that you can't really describe. It's just, you know, when you think of someone you think of like, it's how you feel about them. It's not oh, what's their logo, because I'm the same my logo, just my name with the dots. And obviously, a lot of decisions go into the font that you choose and how that represents your personality style and everything like that. But it is more so about shifting your perception in terms of your how you want people to feel about you, how do you want them to think about you and everything like that?

Kristy Robinson  18:33

Yeah. And coming back to if you think about as you're listening to this episode today, people that are strong personal brands, what attracts you to them? You know, what are the things that make you think, Oh, I trust that person, I, you know, feel aligned to their messaging, there's so much that goes into it that builds that trust. And that's where I think the strategic piece gets locked into place. Because those things are not accidental. And yes, as a personal brand, like you and I Dobby. Yes, our own personality comes into that. But you know, if you're operating under a business umbrella and really wanting to integrate that personal piece, then having that nice strategy underneath that will give you that confidence to go. Yep, those are the things that I'm going to talk about. I'm really clear on what that means.

And I guess in some ways take out the overwhelm, which is what a lot of business owners are always looking to achieve. So what are the key things that you think about when building a personal brand? What are some of the things that we'd need to consider, apart from say, the bigger picture of the business of the vision, the mission, the values? What are some of those other key components?

Darby Lyndon  19:36

Yeah, so there are a couple of things that you know, people can take away, which I think I think the first thing is that thought leadership piece and thinking about what are your key ideas or opinions related to your industry and area of expertise. So say you're a personal trainer, you might strongly believe that people can eat chocolate and still be healthy. That's an opinion that you know, if you're an advertising expert, you might say, you don't need to advertise in your first year of business, or whatever it is, you have these opinions and ideas that you've formed over time through your experience in your work that you want to establish as your own. And that you can build content around and that people can know that they can connect with you on those areas of thought leadership.

So that's the first thing.

The second thing is the personality element, which I think slips under the radar, a lot of the time people get so carried away in their area of expertise from an educational point of view. But there's so much gold in sharing your personality in a strategic way as well. I mean, you don't want to share everything and everything about you, but having little bits of information that people can connect with you on. So for example, on my website, I have that I love pastor Pilates and Pinot Noir. That's like on my homepage, and on my About section. And they're kind of the three things that I went through my content sometimes as well. And I had a call last week, and someone said, You know what, I saw that you love pasta, pilates, and piano, and I knew we had to talk.

So, you know, yes, people want to work with you because of your areas of expertise. But they also want to connect with you on a personal level and have fun at the same time. So thinking about your thought leadership and your personality traits, and how you can choose a couple that you might want to weave through your content. And often it's those personality elements that you connect with, with your current clients. So you know, if you're a mom, and you often work with moms, a lot of people connect over that, for example, or if it is a certain exercise or hobby or anything like that. So just having a think about what personality elements you might want to share through your personal branding. And then thinking about your target audience, who they are and where they're hanging out, and how you can meet them where they are.

So where's the audience hanging out, maybe they're listening to your podcast, Christie, maybe they're hanging out at business checks, events, maybe they're on certain Instagram accounts, wherever they're kind of consuming media, thinking about where they are, and how you can show up there with your area of expertise and those personality elements as well and starting to just build relationships online. And over time, really reassuring yourself as the leader in that space and creating that unique brand for yourself with that personality side of things, too.

Kristy Robinson  22:13

Yeah, I love everything that you shared there. I think that that thought leadership piece is so essential. And often when we think about thought leadership, what might springs to mind are people like Simon Sinek, Brene Brown, the big players, but we all have thought leadership, every single business owner, every single human being has an element of thought leadership. It's about how you articulate that, and bring that to the world in a way that only you can.

And I think that if there's anything I mean, there's going to be so many takeaways I'm sure for you boss who's listening to this episode. 

But even knowing that thought leadership is something that is available to you. And it's something that you should definitely be galvanising especially that sits underneath that personal brand element is essential. And I think that what you said again, Darby is around how do you then link that back to your personality to your unique set of gifts and experiences that you have gleaned from, you know, however, many years of life experience you have, that is something that, again, is completely unique to you, and I think is so underestimated.

This is one of the topics that I talk about in the run your business like a boss podcast, sorry, the academy is understanding why you're unique, how you're unique, and diving deep into those aspects that I think we just so quickly overlook, oh, that's not important. I'm just good at that thing. Or just, you know, like those things like we just are so good at dismissing things that we're just got out or that we have this unique lens on.

I look back on my own experience Darby of having experienced burnout twice, ahead of even starting my business, I started talking about this from the get-go, this was always a big pillar of my personal story. And it's something that I've really built my business around. I think when people think often when my clients come to me, they're like, I just want to have that sustainable business that you talk about Kristy, for me, it's come from that place of I have experienced those things. And it's so authentic to my personal journey, as well as my business philosophy. And that has been such a huge part of my own journey when it comes to my thought leadership. And I think that anybody who's listening today, I bet that if you actually sat down and thought about it, you could easily you know, pull out what are the things that I really, truly believe in or stand against, you know, that would really set me apart. 

And again, back to Cherie from the digital picnic. The topics that she speaks on are things that is so authentic to her. It's not about going well, I love that person over there and they're doing a really great job or this is a trending topic or this is because believe me, the hustle culture was not going against that when I started was not a trending topic. It was something that people were like you have to work hard and I was standing against that and I think that when you can have that strong voice against or for whatever thing you truly believe in. It's so powerful for your business.

Darby Lyndon  24:55

Yeah, and that's where becoming a memorable brand comes in because there are so many brands that How many do you actually remember, and a lot of people remember Cherie because she's so unique. And what she has to say, really stands out. And it's unique to her. It's unique to the brand that she's built. And that's how you become memorable by really uncovering that. But it does take time. It's not just, I'm just gonna write it down. Now you got to take a step back, and really think strategically about and yeah, it does take time. It's not an overnight project.

Kristy Robinson  25:24

And I think this is the same with anything to do with your business. Repetition is essential, because you think, Oh, that one thing that landed but there are so many different nuances that comes into it that I think is, you have to keep coming back to to reinforce your message. So what do you see the future of brands and personal brands? Will everyone need a personal brand strategy? In your opinion?

Darby Lyndon  25:45

Well, I think we all currently have a personal brand. If you're on the internet, if you have social media, then you have a personal brand. And the thing is that people are curious, and they're going to stalk if they want to work with you, they're going to listen to your podcasts, they're going to look you up on the internet, they're going to look at what you're posting. So if you want to have a say in how you're perceived, then you're going to need a personal brand strategy. And the thing is that even if you're not on podcasts, or writing, blogs, or anything like that, even whatever you do online, if you if you like a post on LinkedIn, for example, everyone sees that, and that is still a reflection of you as a person on how you behave online. And it's different back in the day.

On Facebook, for example, you just upload an album of your weekend, whatever you're doing doesn't matter what was going on, you're just upload an album. But now people need to be strategic about what they're putting out there. Because people are making decisions about that person and who they want to work with, based on what they put online. So I think everyone will Yes, in the future have a personal brand strategy, some more detail than others. Even if you're an employee at a firm having a strategy on what you actually post on LinkedIn, for example, what you post on Instagram and making sure that it's in line with the type of people that you want to work with in the future. And at the end of the day, it always comes back to the target audience, if you're looking for clients, target audience, who are they? And how do you want to show up for them? So yes, I do think everyone will have a personal brand strategy in the future. It's only ramping up.

Darby Lyndon  27:13

Yeah, this is not something that's going to go away. And regardless of whether you have a business or whether you're, you know, an intrapreneur, as I think that is the term these days, having that ability to know, well, what does that look like for the future? It's almost like that little roadmap. It's like, I want to be here. So what are the little steps? Or what are the key steps that I need to take in order to get there? And it just, again, when you have a strategy, be it the brand, the business or what have you, when you have a clear understanding of the framework in which you're operating in, it actually takes away that overwhelm? That's one less thing you actually need to worry about as a business owner, why wouldn't you want that?

Kristy Robinson:

Exactly. Okay, so my last question to you today is that this is something that I personally encountered the process of transitioning from a business brand to a personal brand, what are some of the key things that you'd need to start to consider if that's on your on the cards for you, as a business owner, the transition from having that business brand, to fully stepping into a personal brand like yourself?

Darby Lyndon  28:10

Yeah, I think it's a big one and something that a lot of people are starting to do, because they realise the value of having a personal brand. And even when I first started, I went straight into having a personal brand, but I did think about having a brand name. But then you think what is your point of difference. And as we said, your point of difference is the service that you provide, and it's you as a person, so why not name yourself as a personal brand? And, yeah, as I said, I think a lot of people are understanding the benefits of it. And it's just a matter of making that shift. And it can be gradual, because it's hard to all of a sudden be like, Oh, I'm now a personal brand. But as we talked about, it's thinking it's mapping out the strategy on how you're going to get from A to B and how what that timeline looks like. But at the end of the day, it comes back to mapping out, as we said, thought leadership, what do you want to be known for? And how does that align to your service offering?

So whatever the service is that you provide your customers, what do they learn along the journey of working with you? And how can you amplify that and own that as your thought leadership areas expertise that you share with your content. And again, as we talked about using that personality element, so say you have a brand at the moment, we all think brands need to be humanised in terms of understanding their personality traits. But now it comes back to you. It's your personality. It's how people want to engage with your brand.

Do you want to be known for being funny or cool or bold and all of those different things that you could put out there into the world? So thinking about those things that we've discussed, and then it's just a matter of actually putting content out there because I think strategy is one thing but actually putting it out there into the world is the next thing. So start building relationships online with your target audience in all the right places, figuring out what channels suit your personal brand in terms of engaging with that target audience, maybe it is podcasting, maybe it's on LinkedIn, maybe it's Instagram. Who knows, I think it's just a lot of exploring, and testing and learning, like we talked about when you first start up a business, it is that testing and learning as you go.

But always again, coming back to the vision of your business is still the same, the values that you have are still the same. It's just about owning that, from your personal perspective and being able to amplify that in your own unique way.

Kristy Robinson  30:31

Yeah, even just at the very, very beginning, the first thing that you mentioned really stuck out stuck out to me was that it can be gradual, you don't need to turn the tap off overnight. And I think as your drip feeding it, it feels like a natural progression, I certainly can relate to that, from my own experience of it felt like I was becoming more and more of a personal brand, and then the business brand no longer aligned. It doesn't mean that it's not going to be scary, because I think that there's a level of vulnerability that comes with stepping into on 100% a personal brand if you've been operating under a business umbrella before.

But I do think that, you know, when it's time, you know, you know that you're stepping more into that place. But equally, if you decide that it's okay, that you want to continue the business brand, I think we've given a really solid example of how that can translate. So there's no rules. And I think that that's what we're so fortunate about in you know, in today's era that we were kind of making things up were like the business owner generation that you can do what feels right, there's not a roll around.

Darby Lyndon  31:34

Oh, yeah, for sure. It's, it's your business, it's your brand, and you can do what you like. And that's, that's the beautiful thing about business as well, like you're creating a brand that represents who you are. And you get to decide what that means. And of course, it is gradual, you can do it in your own time. But there's so much magic when you can start to really own who you are, and be really confident and proud. And what that means.

And I'm not saying it's not going to be scary because it is putting yourself out there your opinions, your personality, it's, as we said, in business, it's a roller coaster, and it's one of the biggest, you know, personal growth journeys you'll ever go on, especially with a personal brand because you're putting your whole self out there, you're not hiding behind a brand name. You are living true to who you are, and you're putting your stamp in the world but it can be so rewarding when you do so as well because you're attracting clients who want to work with you because it's you it's not just your brand and your services but it's it's you

Kristy Robinson  32:26

I think that it's a really beautiful place to wrap this conversation up it is you and as I always say you are the expert of your life and you are the expert of your business. And so that is exactly what you're saying here. Darby. You know, it's you. So we'd love to know if our listener is keen to learn more about you. Where would we find you?

Darby Lyndon  32:44

Yeah, so you can head to my website darbylyndon.com. My Instagram is @darbylyndon as well. And I have a podcast Brand Chats. So you can go check that out and I interviewed Kristy episode eight so go check that one out too.

Kristy Robinson  32:58

Amazing. Lots of opportunities to deep dive in learn more about Darby and explore the world of branding and personal branding. Darby thank you so much for sharing your expertise, your wisdom, your insight. I really appreciate you being here with us today.

Darby Lyndon  33:11

Thanks so much, Kristy.

Kristy Robinson  33:12

And to you, boss, thank you so much for joining us for today's conversation. I hope that there were some real aha moments in this chat. And it's given you some food for thought on what this might look like for you and your business. I'm sure there is plenty to action. And if you took away a lot from this conversation, I encourage you to go back, replay it, but this time with a pen and paper in hand.

Thank you so much for joining us for today's conversation. And as always, I look forward to chatting with you next week.