Did you know that YOU have a brand as a person? Of course you do. You can’t fire up Linkedin without seeing something about it. It’s very en vogue to focus on one’s personal brand. But have you ever seen brand guidelines for a person?

As a freelancer, I’m the whole face of my business. It would be easy to think that—of course—I know my own voice and design style. Moreso because I AM a brand person, right?

But knowing isn’t enough. You need to get it down on the page. I took myself through the same branding adventure I take my clients on and it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. Even though I—myself—am the product.

My process is like therapy for brands. This was a self-help journey and investing this time into my own brand was an act of self-care.

This document took me a few weeks to pull together. I focused on each page for a couple of hours a day. I had to dig deep to pull these truths out and organize them into my…

• Golden Circle
  • Why
  • How
  • What
• Brand Pillars
  • Promise
  • Purpose
  • Position
  • Perspective
  • Proposal
  • Pursuit
• Values
• Brand Story
• Persona
• Tone of Voice
• Vocabulary
• Beliefs

People buy brands. The product is a souvenir. This is why my personal brand guidelines are 9 pages of THE WHY behind Elizabeth Halford. And then there’s one page to sum up the visuals.

Get the document here

I hope it inspires you to go on a self-branding adventure of your own!