How to Build a Brand That Actually Resonates

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Your brand is so much more than a logo and some colors—it’s your personality, your values, and the story you tell the world. In this episode of The Aspiring Solopreneur, Carly and Joe dive into what it really means to build a brand as a one-person business.

From defining who you are (and who you aren’t) to crafting messaging that resonates, they’ll show you how storytelling becomes the foundation for every marketing move you make. If you’ve ever wondered how to stand out authentically without feeling “salesy,” this one’s for you.

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EpisodeTranscript

Carly Ries: Building a brand isn't just about picking colors and designing a logo. It's about deciding who you are, how you show up, and what you stand for. In this bite sized episode of the solopreneur success cycle series, Joe and I break down why your messaging and brand go far deeper than visuals. From defining your brand's personality and values, to using storytelling that resonates with your audience, we share practical insights every solopreneur needs before diving into marketing. So tune in to learn how to craft a brand that feels authentic, connects with your audience, and sets the stage for a lasting success.

You're listening to The Aspiring Solopreneur, the podcast for anyone on the solo business journey, whether you're just toying with the idea, taking your first bold step, or have been running your own show for years and want to keep growing, refining, and thriving. I'm Carly Ries, and along with my cohost, Joe Rando, we're your guides through the crazy but awesome world of being a company of one. As part of LifeStarr, a digital hub dedicated to all things solopreneurship, we help people design businesses that align with their life's ambitions so they can work to live, not live to work. If you're looking for a get rich quick scheme, this is not the place for you. But if you want real world insights from industry experts, lessons from the successes and stumbles of fellow solopreneurs, and practical strategies for building and sustaining a business you love, you're in the right spot.

Because flying solo in business doesn't mean you're alone. No matter where you are in your journey, we've got your back. Joe, we are back with another episode in the series that we are covering on the solopreneur success cycle. The reason why we are covering this is because our book, solopreneur business for dummies, is basically about the solopreneur success cycle. We came up with this in 2022.

I cannot believe we've been preaching this message for years now. How wild is that?

Joe Rando: It's very wild. But the whole thing about time passing is wild. So, I don't wanna talk about that.

Carly Ries: Yeah. Exactly. That's a whole other episode. That's a whole other podcast, actually.

Joe Rando: That's a whole other topic.

Carly Ries: That is not our spiel. But this is, another episode in this series, another part of the planning phase of the solopreneur success cycle. So if you haven't gone back and listened to the past seven episodes or so where we cover all this, be sure to listen. These are our sound bite episodes. They're only like ten minutes tops.

And we just give little tidbits on each phase of the success cycle. But each episode itself is a standalone, so if you just wanna listen to this part, that's fine. But if you want the big picture, listen to the full solopreneur success cycle series. Anyway, on that note, today we're talking about creating your messaging and your brand. In the last episode, we were talking about market positioning and the importance of hitting pinpoints and all of that.

We'll get to that in a second as it relates to your messaging. But first, let's talk about your brand. I think when people come up with their brand or think about their brand, they're like, what will my logo look like? What are my fonts? What is my website? Like the design and everything. And they really think visually.

But as a solopreneur, you are your brand. So your brand has a personality. Your brand has values. Your brand has beliefs.

You need to think so much more about just the visuals that people see because your brand is how you are represented in the world. You need to think about your tone. Are you lively and funny? Are you helpful? Are you serious and educational? Not that you can't be lively and educational. I think that's the one that we try to be. But you really need to think through this. I recommend a solid week, like a week's worth of work to put into like, once you've done all the other phases and everything, of course, and understand your pain points and whatnot that you're trying to address, spend a solid week thinking, who are you? how do you want to portray yourself out in the world? And what do you stand for? those are big things when it comes to your messaging. And once you know who you are and how you want to represent yourself, you need to get that out into the world. And the best way to do that is through storytelling. We talk about Donald Miller. His story brand framework, which if you haven't followed that, I highly recommend you check that out. it's just a great way to get into the frame of mind of how to get into the mind of your customer, of your audience, and tell a story that would resonate with them.

Because once you know what you value and what you represent, you need to resonate with them. And you need to do that before you even get to your marketing efforts. You need to understand how to hit them. And then once you do, then you can incorporate the storytelling and everything into your marketing. So storytelling is key.

And it'll separate you from so many people because so many people rely on AI these days. AI is super helpful And it can certainly help tell a story, but it doesn't take the personal tone quite like you would.

Joe. You look like you're gonna say something.

Joe Rando: No. go ahead, but I just wanna go back because I have a question about something you said a little earlier. But finish on Jay Acunzo.

Carly Ries: Yeah. He's I mean, we love his methodologies. He's a respected marketer and writer, and he always talks about resonance. And that's kind of where I was going that. But sorry. What were you gonna say?

Joe Rando: Well, just going back to what you said initially about, who do you wanna be. I'm just curious, you know, that seems like a great idea, but potentially dangerous if you do it wrong. I just wonder, when you think about who you wanna be, who you wanna present as, does it need to be like a subset of who you really are? Or can it be invented? I think it depends on your business. I think authenticity and transparency are key. When you're working with one person business, I mean, for me, you know, I'm chitchatting. I'm very social and everything. And if I have a business where I try to hide who I am, sometimes it comes off as inauthentic. but I'm in marketing. So I want my voice to come through.

Carly Ries: But on the flip side, if you're a marketing consultant, consulting for another business, but you're a solopreneur, you're just hired out as a contractor, You need to take on the tone of that business, obviously.

Joe Rando: Right. But I mean, you're also marketing yourself to get that work, and that's what I'm talking about. I think it would be really dangerous, at least for me, to try to pretend to be somebody I'm not.

But I also think that I don't wanna be me soup to nuts. I mean, it's just you don't wanna see me at 10:00 at night.

Carly Ries: Well, same. But I mean, it's your brand's personality. Because you are your brand, but you're still thinking through it as your brand's personality.

Joe Rando: Right. So you're taking a subset that you feel ties back to the business, makes sense, and is congruent with the business and presenting that. Okay.

Carly Ries: That's a good clarification. Thank you. But once you get the storytelling down, then that is when you can craft your audience messaging. And that's when it kinda starts to lead into your marketing efforts. And that is when we're circling back on the market positioning and really hone in on the pain points.

So once you know how to tell a story, once you know what you represent, that's when you can tie everything together and really speak to your audience to get your product out there, which is messaging and your brand are your business. I mean, that's how you're represented. So these are just really important things to think through as you lead into your marketing efforts. In this point of the planning process, the next phase is to plan out your marketing, and these are the building blocks to get you to putting all of this together.

Joe Rando: But once you figure all that out, then you get to pick out your colors and your logo and all that.

Carly Ries: Yeah. I mean, I feel like you should figure out your brand first and who you are.

Joe Rando: Absolutely. Because, you know, you think about creating a logo before you come up with this butterfly logo, then you decide that you're, you know, you're greedy, get it done. It's like, well, the logo goes out the window. Right?

Carly Ries: In the process, you should already know who your customers are. You should already know who your competition is. You should already know all of this. So when it comes to branding, at this point in the success cycle, you should be well equipped to develop your brand and your brand standards and everything before you get into the market. I mean, you're set up for success at this point.

So this is when you do develop your brand, and you can hear your storytelling and all that.

Joe Rando: Can I tell a quick story? So when we were doing LifeStarr, I had a very clear idea of what I wanted the logo to be like, but I was smart enough to hire a professional to help me put together the brand. I basically gave her very clear ideas about what this logo should be like. And she came back with, I think she came up with five options.

And so four of those options were basically based off of my instructions. And the fifth one was this. it was the logo that we used. So she understood what we were trying to do, who we were trying to help, and then listened to me explain what I thought it should be like and gave it one shot of what she thought it should be like, and she won because she was a professional, and I am not.

So just all my point is that, if you can afford to get a professional, a good professional to help you with some of that visual stuff that most of us aren't necessarily masters at. It's not a bad investment, but get the other stuff done first.

Carly Ries: Yep. Love it. Well, again, we're just scratching the surface today. Be sure to check out our book, Solopreneur Business for Dummies. And for now, please share this episode with a friend.

Leave a five star review for real. We so appreciate it. And subscribe to this podcast on your favorite platform, and we'll see you next time on The Aspiring Solopreneur. You may be going solo in business, but that doesn't mean you're alone. In fact, millions of people are in your shoes, running a one person business and figuring it out as they go.

So why not connect with them and learn from each other's successes and failures? At LifeStarr, we're creating a one person business community where you can go to meet and get advice from other solopreneurs. Be sure to join in on the conversations at community.lifestarr.com.