Your Personal Brand Isn't About Aesthetics - It's About How You Make People Feel

There’s a lot of noise out there about what a “personal brand” should look like — the perfect reels, curated aesthetics, polished photoshoots. But here’s the truth: your personal brand isn’t how you look — it’s how you make people feel.

In this episode, I’m stripping it all back and diving deep into what real branding is all about. We’re talking human connection, energetic presence, messy action, and showing up as your full, raw, magnetic self — not just some polished version you think you “should” be.

You’ll hear:
 ✨ Why your energy is more powerful than your graphics
 ✨ The story that brought a past client back to me, years later
 ✨ How to stop “masking” and start magnetising through your truth
 ✨ Why even your partner’s small acts of kindness are personal branding in action
 ✨ The shift from curated perfection to deep authenticity

Whether you're building a business or simply trying to live more fully in your truth — this episode is for you.

💫 Ready to bring your brand into alignment with your soul?

 Book your Energetic Business Blueprint Session here: https://janellebridge.com.au/businessblueprint/

Transcript

 Hello, my loves and welcome back to my podcast. I'm so excited to be sitting back here in the recording thing. It's been a little while between podcasts because I've had a lot of kind of workshops and your offerings dropping and all these other things, but today I am going to talk to you about your personal brand, right?

So there's so much fucking noise on social media about our personal brand. Now, let me come closer to you.

There's so much noise on social media about our personal brand and a lot of it is like, oh, how can I pose? Or how can I have the perfect reel? Or how can I have the right fonts and all that? And that can be like really fun stuff. And that can be things that make us feel really kind of, um, I. I guess more confident with what we're presenting and what we're putting out there and, and you know, there's no right or wrong way to do it.

Right. But for me, when I look at these perfectly poised reels and this beautiful, luxurious background and you know, the outfits and all that kind of stuff, I'm just like. It's not me, right? Which is why I'm sitting here in a jumper today. It's not me. It's not the way that I operate. Do I love to put in some effort into my appearance?

Of course. Do I love to show up as my best self? Of course. Do I also love being fucking comfy? Yes. Am I creative when I'm comfy? Yes. You know, and is the potency of what I deliver to you diminished whether I'm wearing a power suit or a jumper? Absolutely not. Because the essence of my work is that soul nourishment kind and, and and compassionate kick up the ass that you need.

Right? So something that I find, and I'm not making this about me, I promise, but something that I find with my clients is they see me. As this beautiful, nourishing friend, right when we catch up, it's like, oh, thank you. I feel like you've known me forever. There's none of this. You have to be on your best behavior.

You have to say all the right things. It's like, I'm here to see all of you and hold the whole human. Right? So our personal brand is not, oh, look at her on the internet and see how perfectly put together she is. That's not our personal brand. That is a very, um, outdated and non, uh, outdated and non-personal.

Um. Side and of, of branding, right? It's, it's, it's how it used to be. What people are looking for more than ever right now is connection. They want to connect with the human behind the business. I posted about this recently and it's so fucking important, right? The person. Behind the business is who we are buying.

We're not buying them as a person, but we are buying a piece of their energy. Okay. So, you know, we've been renovating our house and the people, the tradies that we utilize, that we select, I'm looking at their photos. Yeah. One, I read energy, I'm an energy reader, so I'm gonna be like, Hmm, looks, George, whatever kind eyes.

But I like to know who the person is behind whatever they're offering. I was invited to an event recently, and this is actually what I posted about. It was really lined. There was a few events by this company that I was invited to. One was a night spirit, the other was like a sacred healing circle. Then there was like a, like a witch practitioners, um, networking space.

And I was like, this all sounds really cool. It was local, it's beautiful space, beautiful branding, great price point. And I'm like, but who is this? Like, who actually fucking runs this business? Like, who is hosting these events? I couldn't find it. I declined. Okay. I'm not going to go if I don't know who I'm working with or who I'm showing up to work with.

Be seen by, uh, we are purchasing energy. Okay. We are really living in a time where. We're becoming, and rightly so, more and more reluctant to purchase from the big brands. And we love the feeling that comes with purchasing from a heart led business or a small business, a local business, a handmade business, whatever.

And so, you know, you think about how it feels to go into Woolworths and be served versus how it feels to go into a local fruit store, you know, or the butcher, you know, um, there's a difference. There's a warmth, there's a connection. And I, you know. We're certainly guilty of not doing it as often as possible, which is convenience, right?

Anyway, this isn't a big brand versus small brand, small brand, um, debate here, because I want you to grow to your fullest potential, right? We are heart led businesses, this is what we want, but you also do not have to be showing up in a perfectly curated way. In fact, I wanna say that you showing up in a perfectly curated way is actually fucking with the energy of your brand.

Okay? So, whew. Our brand. What I believe and what I know to be true about our personal brand is it, it is who we are as a human being, right? And if you are watching this and you don't run a business and you have no desire to run a business, that's totally fine. If you are an employee, you also have a personal brand, okay?

If you work with the public, you have a personal brand, okay? We all have a personal brand, whether it's. You know, fucking trademarked or not, whether you have an A, b, N or you don't, um, whether you register, register for GSD or you're not. We all have a personal brand, okay? And our personal brand is who we are as a human being.

It's different to reputation, okay? We can't manage reputation. You could meet, you could line up 20 people in a room and say to them, what can you tell me about Janelle Bridge? And maybe 10 of them would be like, yeah, legend. And 10 of them might be like, oh, she's so cringe. I really don't like her. That's okay.

Right. Or, you know, she's this, she's that, she's whatever. Um, that's okay. I can't manage their perceptions of me, but what I can do is manage who I am and the energy that I'm showing up with every single day. That's my personal brand. Okay. And. It's not just about how we show up in business, you know? I'm sure.

Um, I was sent a reel about this today actually. Like, we call them the pla, it was a teal swan reel. The plastic spiritual people, and it's the people who claim to be a priestess, but they're an actual fucking bitch or, you know, whatever it is. There's so much, you know, that, um, there's a lot of parading around online.

Yeah. And so there's a few reasons why I want you to consider your personal brands. Being a really kind of just elevated. Elevated version of you. Okay. When I say elevated, because I feel that like every day we can kind of go, Hey, I could be a little bit better at this. It doesn't mean I'm not worthy if I'm not, but it's like, Hey, what would the next version of meat do?

What would the highest version of meat do? Would she do her hair to jump on a reel? Maybe, you know, would she get to the gym? Maybe would she have a great smoothie for breakfast? Maybe would she fucking indulgence in Macca's hotcakes when she feels like it? Maybe like there's no right or wrong way, but I do always think that we should be upleveling and and just going to be that like 10% better.

But also what I also believed and know to be true is that we should also take messy fucking action. Okay? I know so many people who don't show up because everything is not perfect now. If you're a mom and if you're a mom of children especially who are neurodivergent, and if you're neurodivergent yourself, there will be no perfect showing up.

Ever happening. Like ever. Like I could just see the angle that my computer on is right now is highlighting my chin. I am ovulating. So isn't it fun that we retain water when we're ovulating, when we wanna be seen, right? I could go, oh no, God, I can't post that video. 'cause you can see that I have a little bit of a chin, or I could just go, fuck it.

Who cares? Who cares? Doesn't matter, right? I'm still getting my message out there. So imperfect action is so important because when we wait for the perfect moment, it doesn't arrive. It doesn't arrive. Cool. Um, so imperfect action is powerful and it gets results. That's something that I want you to know.

The other reason that having an authentic personal brand is gonna be really powerful for you is people who see me on my Instagram, on my potty, whatever, they're like, she's a real person. She's down to earth. I relate to her, okay? I've made a goal this year to not dull my magic in order to be relatable, but I'm also not going to, um.

I am not going to sharpen up all my edges, you know, that make me relatable, if that makes sense. So I don't need to be projecting perfection. Okay? So there's a number of reasons. So there's authenticity. Big one. You don't have to pretend. Do you know how freeing it is when we don't have to fucking pretend anymore?

When we get to just show up as we are, right? I'm me. I have a bogan tinge. I love a swear word. My hair is generally messy. Yeah, I love that. I can just be me. This is who I am. If I pretend to be this perfect little put together woman that's masking and that is fucking exhausting. And our unique essence, our authentic essence is what people are attracted to.

Some people will be repelled. See you later, motherfucker. I don't care. Okay, so. Number of reasons why we need to be showing up in an authentic and real personal brand. One, we get to stop fucking trying so hard, and we get to just be more of who we are, which is where our unique magic comes from. Two, your clients are going to connect with you.

Um, you know, your staff, your bosses, your, your customers that are coming in your store, whatever, they're going to start to connect with you more as a real person. I literally fucking hate when someone has a mask of professionalism on, I'm like. Drunk the bullshit we humans, let's vibe. You know, I really, when someone is just open and authentic, it's like a magnet for me.

It's like a magnet, and they're the people that I wanna work with. So for me, presenting that open front, I'm calling in people who are also wanting to be open and seen. The other reason is, well, it's not so much a reason, but. Okay. Maybe it is if you news the podcast. Hi, I, I often have Spirit speak to me through the podcast as well, so I'll often pop like stop and be like, okay, okay.

Which is why you'll see me lose my train of thought sometimes. I, um, had a photo shoot on the weekend. It was really fun. A group of women having a photo shoot and um, as I was leaving, the lady who was doing the photos said, oh, blah, blah, blah, follows you. And I was like, oh, cool. Awesome. And, um, I, I didn't have this moment of like, am I being who I am in real life?

Like, am I, am I the same as my Instagram? 'cause I was like, fuck me. I show up on my Instagram exactly as I am so I don't have to be like, shit does that version of me and that version of me like. Do they mesh? You know? And there was this tiny little thought in my mind of like, oh gosh, how embarrassing. I didn't know she followed me.

But it doesn't fucking matter. It doesn't fucking matter because it's the same version of me on both. Um, story about a personal brand. Okay? So you might be new in business. Or you might think, I don't really have a personal brand. I many, many, many moons ago. So my son is nearly 14. And, um, I decided before we decided to have babies that I wanted to become a marriage celebrant.

Uh, one of the reasons that I wanted to become a marriage celebrant was so that I could. Be with my kids. Yeah. I was like, I am not putting them in daycare. I wanna be with them. I wanna raise them. I wanna make money. Um, I wanna be, you know, fulfilling my cup as well and, and living a bit of my dream. And I wasn't sure what that was.

And marriage celebrate sounded like a really great idea. So I lent in and I did that. And anyway, I, I did that professionally for about 10 years and then I decided, nope. Um, I did it full time professionally, is what I mean, like full time. And now I just do it with family and friends. So very, very rarely.

And it was a beautiful, beautiful role. Anyway, in my inbox last night on my Instagram, I had a message and it was in the message request folder, and it was from a woman who said, Hey, Janelle, I'm not sure if you remember me, but you came and saw me for a wedding appointment, um, many, many, many, many years ago.

We ended up not getting married. Um, and my life has had some pretty. Pretty big ups and downs since that point. And she said, but I've never forgotten how you treated me at our appointment. You treated me like a human. You treated me with respect. You genuinely connected with me. And no one else in my life had done that before, other than my parents.

She said, I never forgot it, and I'd like to book in and buy some coaching from you. And I'm like, it makes me a little emotional because I don't remember that experience. Um, it wasn't anything. Out of the ordinary for me, because that's how I treat people. Yeah. I'm not perfect human, and if you're an asshole to me, I'll be an asshole back to you, but you never know how powerful it is to be you.

Okay. You never know how powerful and impactful it is to be you. So in that case, I was just, during an wedding appointment, she was a bride. She's important. I treated her as important. Yeah. Where women were fucking important as are our men. It wasn't an out and out of the ordinary thing for me, but it was for her.

And that's what we don't realize, and that is our fucking personal brand. Okay. How you make people feel is your personal brand. Let that sink in. How you make people feel is your personal brand. So sometimes we think, oh, I need to have a personal brand that makes me look better than everyone else. Right.

How do you think that's making people feel? Do you think that's making people feel that they're less than you? Is that what you want your personal brand to be? It's not what I want. I want people to be like, she's doing it. I wanna do it. If Janelle can do it, maybe I can do it too. Maybe she can help me. Hi Alex.

You can walk through. It's fine. Um, you know, that's how I want people to feel on my personal brand. I want people to be like, oh, Janelle's up and out of bed walking around. No shoes on, no makeup on. Cool. Maybe I'll give that a go. Oh, wow. Janelle's always got her hair and makeup done. She's always dressed well and one, it's not me.

Two, it's not how I want you to feel. Your personal brand is how people feel when they consume your, when they consume your content or when they meet you, when they're in your presence, when they purchase your services. That is your personal brand, right? Um, and you can't really fake that other than by being a better human or choosing better choices, right?

Again, I'm not saying be like me, I'm saying be like you. I. Be like the best version of you, you know, my husband, um, he's really gonna burst through the door in any minute. He is outside taking a phone call. Um, he went thrift shopping the other day. He was out with sebi and they went to Bunnings and there's like a really pretty cool thrift shop and he loves like vintage t-shirts and stuff.

So he went and had a look and um, he's like, oh fuck. I went to Vinny Vinny's babe. And there was an old lady and she was trying to buy something and she was a dollar short and. They, the, the guy was like, oh, I can't give it to you for dollar short. And he goes, so I just paid for it when she wasn't looking.

And I said, don't tell her, just, just give it to her. And I was like, you're a sweetheart. And he goes, no, but you know what else happened? He said there was an aboriginal woman there and she was there with a baby on her hip and like a 2-year-old holding her hand. And she went to pay for something that was $3 and she only had 200, uh, $2 50 with her 250 cents.

She only had $2 50 with her. And she said, can I have this for $2 50? That's all I've got. And the man who was serving her was going out the back to ask a manager to ask someone else, you know, could they give it to her for $2 50 baby on a hip, you know, little 2-year-old by her side. This is the indigenous people of Australia who we should be treating with so much fucking respect and reverence.

Regardless. It's a woman with a baby and a toddler. She's buying a fucking secondhand scooter. Give it to her for two 50. And so, you know, um, the reason I share that with you is my husband doesn't think twice about doing those things. And I'm not surprised, but I'm so proud. That's his personal brand, right?

Everyone that meets him loves him. Every, every venue that works with his band loves him. Every photo booth job that he goes out and does with our photo booth business, they love him, right? Every time he does a job rather than an employee, I'm always like. Can you please send us a review because I know that it's gonna be fucking 10 stars out of five because he chances everyone, because of who he is and how he shows up in his integrity.

Okay?

What if we spent more time being kinder, connecting and being fucking real? That's what a personal brand is, babe. It's not your colors. It's not the way you look. It's not even the way you speak, it's the way the passion flows through your eyeballs. Yeah. It's the way you speak in from your heart. It's the way you care about your clients.

It's the way you walk through your community. Okay? It's the way you smile at someone when they fucking smile at you. It's the way you take a second to connect and say thank you to the person serving you at the supermarket. It's the way you show up every single. Day is your personal brand. So if you are new and starting out in business, or if you are kind of like pivoting, 'cause you know that I'm the pivot queen, if you're pivoting from one business to another.

You're taking your personal brand with you. Okay. Your personal brand follows you wherever you go. And my business journey, if you haven't listened in if you're new here, is I started off my career in business, I guess my business journey, my entrepreneurship journey as a marriage celebrant. Yeah. And that was great.

Alongside my husband who was starting a band at the same time. And, um, they're still operating to this day. They still gig most weekends and they were kind of like, we're kind of starting out these little business ideas together. From there, we added on a wedding day decor business, which went absolutely through the roof.

And then we added on a photo booth company, which went absolutely through the roof. And then in Covid, we sold the photo booth company and I lent into my psychic gifts. Which are now transferring over to coaching and business coaching. Um, we also run a relationship coaching business, which is going really well as well.

And we sat at another little photo booth company on the side because it's such an epic cash cow, and it's such a sought after service and it's very, very easy to run. The reason that we've been able to do that is because we have a really great business brand, personal brand, right. Dan and I together create this beautiful, reliable, personal brand.

Our separate brands are also beautiful, but especially together, there's this potency of our personal brand, our story, our family, all of it. Our personal brand is so fucking important no matter where we take it and what we do. Okay? So again, if you're new, if you're starting in a new field, if you're maybe stepping into running a business and you think, oh, I don't really have a personal brand.

No one really knows me. Yes, they fucking do. You've been dealing with people forever, okay? Even if you're fresh out of high school, you have a personal brand. There are people that you have made impact on by just being you. So instead of getting caught up in like, what does my personal brand look like?

What I want you to lean into, it's what does my personal brand feel like? And that is how do you make people feel? How do you make people feel? Okay, I'm gonna leave it there my love. I hope you have a beautiful day. If you need some help with your personal branding, if you need some help with where your offerings are, taking, where they're going, what you want your business to amalgamate into, hit me up for a business blueprint session.

They're incredible. It's 90 minutes together. Um, it is a creative and strategic whirlwind, and at the end of it, you actually receive a PDF, which has. Your essence, your magic, your brand colors, your personal brand kind of, um, vibration, your plan, your next steps, your 12 months vision, all of it. All of it in this one document that you can constantly refer back to.

It is a literally life-changing appointment. And I love to chat business with that psychic insight coming through and that clear vision that I can see of your higher self. So if you'd like one of those, I'm gonna drop. The link in the episode description and we shall talk soon. I love, have a beautiful day.

Bye.