Personal Brand or Business Brand Body Check
Compare how each brand identity feels before choosing your direction
- Difficulty
- Starter
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 90%
This decision framework compares two possible brand identities by observing the founder's emotional and physical response to each. First, imagine placing your own name at the center of the account and notice whether the idea creates energy, resistance, pride, or discomfort. Then repeat the exercise with a separate business name. The method treats those reactions as useful evidence because follower counts and engagement cannot determine how personally visible the founder is willing to become. After choosing the more aligned option, publish and test it rather than treating the decision as irreversible. The output is a provisional but actionable brand direction that reflects both creative identity and personal boundaries.
Origin
Jasmine Star applies an exercise attributed to writer and author Anne Lamott to the choice between naming a business after yourself and adopting a separate company identity.
Core principles
- 01Choose the brand structure that matches your comfort level
- 02Use physical reactions as decision data
- 03Accept that either model can succeed
- 04Treat the decision as adjustable rather than permanent
How to run it
- 1
Define the two identities
Write down the personal-brand option and the separate business-brand option as concrete account or company names.
Pro tip Make both options realistic enough that you could use either one today.
- 2
Imagine the personal brand
Picture your own name leading the account and notice your immediate emotional and physical response.
Pro tip Record the first reaction before rationalizing it.
Watch out Do not confuse temporary fear of visibility with genuine misalignment.
- 3
Imagine the business brand
Picture the account operating under a distinct company name and observe how that alternative feels.
- 4
Compare the reactions
Identify which option feels more aligned with your creativity, privacy preferences, and intended relationship with customers.
Pro tip Look for energy and relief as well as discomfort.
Watch out Do not expect engagement data to answer a question about your personal comfort.
- 5
Choose and test
Commit to one direction, publish within it, and evaluate the experience through real use.
Pro tip Set a future review point so the choice feels actionable rather than permanent.
Watch out Do not remain stuck waiting for certainty.
In the wild
Jasmine Star considered using her own name for her photography business or inventing a separate company name. She recognized that either could succeed, but her intuition connected her own name with the work as an expression of her creativity, so she chose the personal-brand route.
→ She made an aligned decision without requiring proof that one naming model was objectively superior.
Common mistakes
Letting metrics make an identity decision
Follower counts and engagement may describe audience behavior, but they cannot determine how visible or personally attached to the company you want to be.
Treating the choice as permanent
A brand decision can be tested and changed as the founder or business evolves.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for founders, creators, and small-business owners deciding how closely their identity should be tied to their company.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal when legal, acquisition, privacy, or organizational constraints already dictate the brand structure.
From the transcript
“The only way that you can make a decision to build the personal or business brand is really based on what you're comfortable with.”
“if I were to name my account, my name, how do I feel?”
“You do it. You post, you test and if it doesn't work, you can change it.”
From the episode
Getting TOO Personal on Social Media: How Much is Too Much?