This is a topic pretty near and dear to my heart.

When you own your own business, you are your brand. Yes, you can be part of larger brands as well, but how you convey yourself will ultimately be what draws a client to you. The first reaction of a new real estate agent is typically the same: How do I look like I know what I’m doing? The old adage of fake it til you make it holds a lot of weight. No one wants to hire the awkward duckling, so they dress nice, get some fancy looking headshots, and start trying to look like the industry professional you’d expect. I’m 100% guilty of this too:

Let’s face it, I look like a 40 year old soulless porcelain doll.

I felt there was a certain image that was required. Every question I had now had a new angle to it: “How does it look professionally?”. My plan for my next car had always been a Subaru Impreza WRX, because I am a sucker for the sound of a turbo blow off. Now I felt my next car has to portray success, adding an extra “Wow” factor to my image. While my gearhead clients could appreciate my choice in a WRX, it doesn’t scream “look at my success!” like a BMW or a Mercedes would to the average person. The majority of my hobbies are of the geeky variety, which when you’re in an industry where the average age is 57 years old means you don’t come across a lot of coworkers with similar interests. They’ve been in the business a long time and when I mention my hobbies and they back away slowly like they might catch the crazy, I stopped mentioning them.

So when you are your brand, how do you balance your work self and your real self? If Facebook is any indication, the work self eats your personal self until there is nothing left. Or at least that’s the impression I get from the people I add on facebook who’s only posts are “Look at my listing!” and “Here are the most recent mortgage rates!”. (Seriously, stop it). Is it unprofessional to be yourself? Do you really need to hide who you are from your clients? If you feel like you do, I think we might need to spend some time working on your self esteem. Letting your clients know not only how amazing you are at your job, but who you are as a person, makes you more human.

I decided to make a change. I started adding my clients on Facebook, and posted a mix of business, and personal. I blogged about not just my industry, but about things important to me. I switched up my marketing to be more in line with my personality. No more creepy soulless doll photos, but marketing that I knew appealed to me, and in turn appeals to similarly minded people.

That’s right. I made myself a Magic card.

When I made the change, something amazing happened. People started talking about me, sharing my stories, telling people about my geeky business cards, or even about how they met this “cool real estate person”. That conversation led to people referring me as an agent. Best of all, my client base became not only like minded people, but many of them become friends. Are there some people who might think I’m not their kind of agent because of my personality? Maybe. But my clients are the kind of people I like to be around on a personal level, not just a professional one, and it’s made my life and my career that much more enjoyable.

So unless you’re some kind of unlovable monster, why not let your clients know you? Be more than just a facebook wall full of listings, more than just a suit, and this business gets pretty amazing. And for the love of all that is holy, don’t let your business self take over your real self. You’re more than your career.