The Main Character

Thoughts on personal branding and owning it once and for all

Yes, I’m still here!

And yes, I’m still rebranding. 

And no, I’m not quite ready to share yet, but I promise I will be soon, and I’ll keep sharing updates here until that time…  

Over the last few months, my Substack has become something of a behind-the-scenes journal of the whole process of deepening my brand.. It makes sense, I guess, because it’s not entirely unintentional that I write freely here about the stuff I can’t really fit into the other places I post (mainly Instagram and TikTok). 

So here are my latest rebranding musings… 

I’ve been brainstorming the ways in which I can share the new brand, the new name, the new feel of my business that I’ve been teasing for almost six months now. And I’m wondering if I am not so much re-branding, I am de-branding or un-branding. 

You’ll see when I do get around to unveiling the details that the new brand is still definitely replete with a colour palette, a font scheme, and of course a multi-layered brand vision and pillars. 

But also… the new brand is kind of just … me. Me in all my contradictions and imperfections. A version of me that while I can’t say I’m always confident in, I can say I’m happy to place front and centre once and for all.

A while back, I booked a coaching call with a mentor I respect and look up to immensely (you can read her Substack here). In our chat, I told her how terrified I was of my business being seen by those who know me in real life and who  might judge me in a negative light. I admitted that one of my greatest worries included being seen as fake or “cringe.”  She gently told me that if that was my greatest worry, that I myself must on some level believe my business to be cringe-y or inauthentic.

And to an extent, that was the truth at the time.

Though every iteration of this business has been more and more me,  in all its forms there has been a level of hiding myself away. Behind a name, a shop title, a double-barreled aesthetically pleasing moniker and logo. 

The next iteration is different. It’s more-so an unmasking of all the flair that goes along with a professional brand, and a revelation of me as the person, the founder, and the imperfect human behind the pieces and stories I love to share.

All the feelings about why I host this space came back to me the other day asI flipped through an old notebook where I’d jotted down ideas and write about the business. I found a page where I had journaled about why I wanted to rebrand in the first place. 

Here are the words I had written: 

I am worthy of reclaiming my story and reclaiming lost versions of myself through this business. I believe that I deserve to put myself front and centre and being the main character of my own story…

Take a look at a couple of the little moments where I’ve let myself and my life show up lately…

@by___sarahOk but ignore the chaos in the background please! 😅 #thriftedootd #teacheroutfits #thriftedfashion

Tiktok failed to load.

Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser

@by___sarahA perfect Vancouver day: Wicked Cafe, @ValueVillage boutique, Aesop, Sellution, then dinner & drinks at Il Posto Ladner #thrifttiktok #thriftyfinds #thriftedfashion #springinvancouver

Tiktok failed to load.

Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser

So, this is all to say that I’m embracing what the internet calls “main character energy” these days. Learning to step in front of the camera and care first what I think. And letting my business and the ways I show up for her reflect this.

Have you thought embracing your own main character energy in the ways you show up online and in your life?

x Sarah