They (whoever “they” are) say that you should “lean into your weirdness” – show up as yourself on social media and online, so that you can connect with the type of people you would enjoy working with.
And I believe in that, I do.
So why then is my website fairly ordinary?
It’s nice. It has new photos of me. It’s got nice colours. A web designer complimented me on it a while ago and said it was nice and clean. (I created it myself in case you hadn’t noticed.)
But does it show any hints of personality? (And does that matter?)
I have a calm personality, which is what my clients with creative brains find helpful. That I can step back and look logically and calmly at their challenges and array of ideas. And listen.
So my website looks calm and professional. But will that bring me the right kind of clients?
Should I be putting more of my “weirdness” on it?
In fact what is “weirdness” anyway?!
I’m not sure what I could add that wouldn’t look contrived and like I was trying to be deliberately different.
Or actually, is that the role of social media – to add that layer?
When I appear on LinkedIn and Instagram, you do see more of my personality.
And if you’re in one of the freelance groups I belong to, you may be one of those people who encouraged me to draw and share my penguin doodles, and/or you may have encouraged me to talk more about “creative weirdos”.
(Thank you, if you are one of those people!)
And also on this blog – this is where I write about my freelance and coaching journey, and more recently I have also added transcripts from videos I make and share. So my weirdness does pop up here too. You just have to know where to find it.
What are the benefits of “leaning into my weirdness” more?
It will (I hope) find me like-minded people to work with – whether they are clients, collaborators or people I want around me in my working life as my community.
Talking about creative weirdos and drawing weird penguins has already made me memorable and allowed me to chat to and help some lovely people.
So I wonder what’s next with it?
Maybe I just do more with those things.
Perhaps I just keep adding more of me into my social media in the way that I already am. And videos will help me show a different side to me as well.
I don’t need to be silly about it and add more stuff – I just need to make sure that if I’m talking about authenticity and not being afraid to be yourself, I need to be demonstrating that and not just talking about it in theory.
A vision for 2025
I would love to be able to stand up in a year’s time and talk about how leaning into my weirdness made a massive difference to my business – leading to me having a mix of activities I truly love and working with lovely clients and amazing like-minded collaborators.
I have a vision in my head of what that might involve. So let’s see where my weirdness takes me next… and whether I do get to stand up and celebrate and share my learnings next year.
And if you’re a “creative weirdo” (multi-passionate, creative brain, lots of ideas, do several things in your business or even have more than one business!) and fancy a chat, get in touch here. 🙂
