As a developer/maker, how much weight you put on online personal brand ?
I read an article yesterday related to benefits of personal brand for devs in future hiring etc. I was wondering if makers can also benefit from same as well. If you do and can share some tips, that would be great.
A personal brand helps you build an audience making launching/validating a product or service a lot faster.
I regretted not doing it any earlier. Spent too much time building in silence without having actual market feedback, and without an audience to promote to, it's like running up a hill with rollerblade.
I did same thing. I was building projects thinking that if I build them, users will follow but I was wrong. When I contacted potential users after completing the whole thing, they were not convinced by the idea. So yeah, if you have an audience which can validate and give feedback early, that is great thing to have in your arsenal.
I've wanted to build a personal brand around my maker journey for the last 2 years or so but as someone coming from a very career orientated background, I felt like I had a long way to go before I could provide value and share experiences that others would consider valuable as a maker or entrepreneur.
It's taken a long time, one successful product making £30,000 over two years, a lot of other failures to be comfortable sharing my experiences but I actually launched my personal brand yesterday afternoon and my god does it feel good to finally be comfortable sharing my experiences with others.
I don't think it is essential by any means, I've built products that make profit without any personal brand assistance but I think having an audience of engaged followers could definitely help with motivation during the tough times at least.
I focus on building my personal brand, but lately I haven't really been able to put much weight into it.
Nowadays, I focus on building my startup -- I feel it's the best brand one can build: success.
My honest thoughts? We can chase clout all we want, but brand can only get you so far (if you're an indie hacker). Just ship (or have a balance).
While I think having a brand is important as it gives you an identity and something to tie your things to, it's almost pointless without something having something which validates it.
I would much rather people love what I build rather than love what I build because it's me that made it.
Please sign in to leave a comment.