It sounds so self indulgent doesn’t it?

But it is so important that you invest in yourself because ultimately there’s just one of you and you are the only one responsible for your happiness.

So here are 5 reasons why investing is a necessity (in business and in life):

1. 100% of the investment goes towards achieving your goals. When you invest in yourself, (your brand or your life) that investment is solely being put into you and helping you reach the desired outcomes you need or want. All that time, money and energy isn’t going elsewhere. It’s focussed on helping you achieve your goals.

2. Frees up your time. Investing in yourself is another way of saying you’re outsourcing and that frees up your time and causes less stress. When it comes to work this could come in the form of getting a website developer or investing in yearly photographs that you can access easily for all your content needs- those jobs you don’t want to do can be done by someone else and instead you can use your time in an area of your business where you excel or enjoy some down time- down time when you’re a business owner is just as important as working consistently. In life you might get your nails done, or use a personal trainer… although you can paint your own nails or exercise at home the likelihood is you wouldn’t see the same results in the time it takes to use a professional service.

3. Avoids burnout. If you’re not outsourcing or you’re taking on too much and not giving yourself time to enjoy life and experience moments of happiness you can guarantee burn out will happen. When you choose to invest in yourself you can limit burnout because you’re doing things that you want to do, for your well-being and happiness.

4. Your productivity increases. When you invest in yourself ultimately you become happier and your relationships benefit from that too whether that’s at work or at home. You’ll often find you have more energy and your productivity increases because of that. Happy life = happy all around.

5. More confidence. Investing in yourself is telling yourself that you're worth it. Acknowledging what you need and desire is such an important first step to giving you more confidence.

Money spent on you isn’t self indulgence. It’s investment. It goes towards your mental wellbeing. Whether you’re using that money to excel in life or business it’s an important investment to make.

Remember, you are worth investing in.

A personal branding session here is a fully customised process, so getting to know you is the most important part of a branding session for me. Mainly because you are the key ingredient to your business. You are the unique selling point. Clients are specifically buying from you.

Whether the images you need are for your website, social media, your LinkedIn profile, branding materials, your email signature and so on… a personal branding session will help your prospective clients connect to you and therefore your business.

So what kind of information am I looking for?

Well firstly I need to know what the images will be used for, that way we can make sure you have images to suit the various marketing materials. For example in blog posts you may want your images to be more down to earth and friendly. Whereas your website home page you may want to appear more professional and experienced within your field. Knowing how you will use your photos allows us the scope to really build your personality into various areas of your marketing.

I also need to know what your brand colours are so we can keep within your brand palette and make sure we aren’t creating images that’ll look completely out of context on your website or socials. It allows us to choose clothes and backdrops more appropriately or if you haven’t built your brand or know what brand colours you want to use, this may be the time we build that concept together.

Building a brand is all about understanding how your client will connect emotionally with that brand, so that is an important part to building your personal branding photoshoot. We want to make sure we communicate your brands personality. After all a picture is worth a thousand words. So finding out how you want people to feel when they interact with your brand is essential.

When you first start out as an entrepreneur it can be really overwhelming. There’s so much you need to do to be able to successfully launch. And being able to start on the right footing will enable you make and build decisions around your brand that keep your brand message clear and prevent you from overspending in areas that don’t require it.

There are 3 key investment areas that I believe all entrepreneurs should make when it comes to their personal brand, whether that’s starting up a brand or rebranding. These are the areas that should be focussed on.

Website

A good, clear website speaks volumes for your personal brand. If you aren’t tech savvy this is an area you may want to outsource. But with programmes such as Wix or Squarespace, it’s never been easier to create and develop a website on your own. This website is a Squarespace website and having used a variety of platforms over the years I have to say Squarespace is particularly user friendly. It’s just a matter of selecting a website template and then putting in your own images and copy to make it personal.

Logo

Your logo needs to help you stand out. It’s design is symbolic of what your provide and aesthetically it gives out a clear, concise message. There are cheap logo designers online, or logo programmes that churn out affordable logos. But this is an area you’ll want to invest in I believe, I’ve done it both ways and from experience hiring a designer is going to provide you with a bespoke logo.

Personal brand photography

The photos you show of your brand will be what brings your brand to life. It shows what you do, how you do it and the expertise and professionalism you have. You want your clients to meet the best version of you. A great brand photographer will help to create pictures that speak to your clients and build that trust with them. Your photographs will be used in all areas of your marketing, so you have to love the images of yourself so you can confidently put yourself out there in the various ways- on blog posts, in social media, on your website, on your business cards, on your LinkedIn profile etc.

There 3 areas will help to bring your brand message to your clients and achieve higher sales in your business. Investing in a great website, a bespoke logo and brand photography will always be worth it.