077: Lex Fleming – How to Create a Unique Personal Brand & Work With Couples That Make Your Heart Sing

I think the industry is so big, it’s ever expanding. There is also so many incredible suppliers. When I joined the industry, you really didn’t know how to be a wedding photographer. There is so much education out there now for young photographers, young suppliers that you really can be top of your game within six months. So what’s going to be different about you to other people ultimately is your brand. You could shoot the same wedding and the same venue and the same everything as someone else, but it’s going to be your brands that make you both different. So, building a strong brand, and nine times out of 10, just the nature of the industry, it can also overlap into personal brands. A personal brand is, I’ve used the word alter ego, that’s probably how I view my personal brand. It’s how I decide to present myself on my social media and my website and things like that.

To me, a brand is a character that is your business. If your business was a person or a movie or a band, what immediately comes to mind for your business? The best example that I’ve ever used when working on this for myself, because I regularly check in with what my brand is, because it changes in eight years. The best one I’ve always used is, if your brand was a party, what sort of party would your brand be? So it’s this character, it’s this sort of alter ego that isn’t a human, is this sort of entity is the best way I can describe it I think.

I think we’ve talked about sharing our personalities. I actually feel like any advice I would give anyone right now is, decide what parts of your life you want to share. So if you’re not comfortable sharing your children or your relationship or there’s parts of your life that you feel that you don’t want to share, you shouldn’t have to. This is still business. But I think having a clear idea of the parts of your personality and your life that you do want to share and capitalize on that.