What my Solopreneur Awards shortlists taught me about personal branding and authority

I entered the Solopreneur Awards because, technically, I am one, and at the time Hi This Is Bry was still incredibly new as a properly positioned business. I had already spent time freelancing in marketing and design after leaving office and agency roles, but something changed when I stopped presenting myself mainly as somebody available for freelance creative work and started positioning myself as a service provider with specific expertise.

That shift sounds small, but it changed how I talked about what I did, because instead of focusing mainly on the individual tasks I could deliver, I started talking much more about the problems I could solve and the knowledge behind the work. Branding, marketing, websites and content became connected parts of a wider business strategy, rather than a menu of things somebody could hire me to make.

I entered the awards partly because I was curious, because I wanted to know whether I could strategically put myself forward for something and actually succeed. I was only around a month into properly launching the business in that form, so I thought I might have a chance at one category if I was lucky, then I ended up shortlisted for both Most Innovative Content Creator and Most Magnetic Personal Brand.

That early recognition became useful in ways I did not fully appreciate at the time, because now one of the things I help other businesses with is doing exactly this, identifying where they have credible opportunities to put themselves forward and then making sure they actually use the recognition when they get it.

What made my content different?

I think part of it is that I am willing to be annoyingly honest, because I have never been particularly interested in producing content that sounds polished but says very little.

I also put a lot of effort into long form content, which I think separates my approach from plenty of businesses that focus almost entirely on social media. Social media is useful and I use it constantly, but a post or short video only gives you so much room to explain an idea, whereas a blog gives me space to properly break something down and show how I think.

It probably helps that business, branding and why people buy things are genuine hyperfixations for me, because I can write a lot about them without needing to scrape around for something to say. When I am interested in a subject I want to understand how it works, why somebody made a particular decision and what another business could actually learn from it, which naturally gives me much more material than simply creating a few posts because the content calendar says Tuesday needs something.

That depth matters commercially too, because useful content gives potential customers a chance to experience your expertise before they decide whether to contact you.

Why was authority already such a big part of my content?

Even at that early stage of the business, I was already helping clients grow their social media accounts and teaching them how to use content to build relationships, sell and establish themselves as people worth listening to in their field. Thought leadership was part of that, which simply means publishing useful ideas and opinions that demonstrate how you think about your area of expertise.

I suspect that focus on authority helped the content stand out to the judges, because I was not treating content purely as a way to chase engagement. I was looking at how somebody could use it to become more recognisable for what they know, build trust over time and eventually make it easier for somebody to buy from them.

I still think businesses should be doing far more of this, because posting content around your expertise gives potential customers evidence before they enquire. Somebody can read your explanation of a problem, watch how you approach something or see an opinion they agree with, and all of that helps them decide whether they trust you enough to spend money.

That is why content still runs through my social media marketing services, because I am much more interested in helping businesses become known for something useful than simply producing posts for the sake of keeping an account active.

What does a magnetic personal brand actually mean?

Personal branding can become incredibly vague very quickly, because people sometimes reduce it to having a recognisable colour palette or posting pictures of yourself alongside motivational opinions, but I think it covers far more than that.

Your personal brand includes your authority, your values, what you sell, the people you choose to work with and the standards you have around how you do that work. Your personality plays a part too, because people gradually form an impression of who you are through the way you speak, what you discuss and what you are willing to publicly stand for.

For me, being neurodivergent is part of that, being a woman running a business in areas that can still be male dominated is part of it, and being fairly outspoken when I think something in marketing or business is ridiculous is definitely part of it too. Those things affect how people understand me whether I deliberately call them branding or not, so I would rather lean into the parts that genuinely reflect who I am.

That tends to attract people who relate to those things too, which means personal branding also affects who feels comfortable approaching you.

My brand strategy and marketing services look at this much more broadly than visuals, because a strong brand needs to make sense through what the business believes, how it communicates and why the right customer would choose it.

Has my personal brand changed since 2025?

The core of it has stayed surprisingly consistent, because pink was already very much part of Hi This Is Bry and I already wanted the business to feel recognisable, but I think I have become much more relaxed about letting it have fun.

The visual identity is more playful now, with pixels, stars, cut out images and collage style graphics appearing across blog thumbnails and social content, whereas earlier versions of the brand were probably a little more restrained. I gradually became less concerned with making everything look like my idea of a conventional professional business and more interested in whether it actually felt like mine.

That change happened in the writing too, because the more established I became, the less interested I was in sanding down every opinion until nobody could possibly disagree with it. Being clear about what I think has made the business more recognisable, and it has also helped the right people understand whether they are likely to enjoy working with me.

See also: What rebuilding my business taught me about sustainability as a neurodivergent founder

Why did being shortlisted so early matter?

Getting two shortlists only around a month after launching Hi This Is Bry properly surprised me, because I had gone into the awards wondering whether I could get one.

More importantly, other people seemed to take the business more seriously afterwards, which started a much bigger chain of credibility than I could have predicted from those first entries. One recognition made it easier to demonstrate credibility when applying for something else, further awards gave journalists more reason to pay attention, and over time all of that independent evidence started building around the business.

That does not mean one shortlist magically caused everything that came afterwards, because each award or feature still had its own criteria and needed its own evidence, but the credibility certainly accumulated.

That experience is one of the reasons I now encourage businesses to think strategically about awards and recognition rather than treating them as vanity exercises. If there is a category you genuinely have evidence for, putting yourself forward can create another independent signal that supports what you already say about yourself.

See also: Hi This Is Bry named Top 100 Best Creative Arts Business in the UK by the Small Business Awards

See also: Hi This Is Bry named UK Top 10 for Best Business Branding at the Small Business Awards

Why personal branding matters even if you do not want to become an influencer

I think some business owners resist personal branding because they imagine it means turning themselves into the product, posting every detail of their life or trying to build an influencer following, but none of those things are required.

You can decide what you want to share while still making it clear who is behind the business, what you know and what matters to you. For a service provider in particular, that can be valuable because customers are often buying access to your judgement and expertise as much as they are buying the final deliverable.

I do not need somebody to know everything about me before they hire me, but I do want them to understand how I think, the standards I work to and the areas where I have genuine experience.

That is especially useful for solopreneurs because there is no huge organisation sitting behind the service, the person and the business naturally overlap to some extent, which means trying to pretend your identity has nothing to do with the brand can make the whole thing feel strangely anonymous.

Why long form content still matters to me

Social media gets far more attention because the results are visible immediately, you can see views, likes and comments moving around in front of you, while a blog can look much less exciting when you first publish it.

I still think long form content is one of the most useful things a service business can create, because it gives you room to properly demonstrate what you know. It can answer questions people are searching for, give search engines more context around your expertise and provide material you can later turn into social posts, newsletter topics or conversations with clients.

It also gives you somewhere permanent to build a body of thinking around your work, rather than leaving everything trapped inside social posts that become difficult to find once they disappear down a feed.

That is why I continue writing so much despite having social platforms available, because I want somebody researching Hi This Is Bry to find more than a collection of short promotional posts. I want them to be able to read how I think about branding, marketing and business, then decide for themselves whether they trust me.

What would I tell another new solopreneur now?

I would spend less time worrying about looking established and more time creating evidence that shows why you deserve to become established.

Talk about what you know, explain your opinions and document the work you are doing, while making sure somebody can understand what you actually sell when they eventually reach your website. You can also start looking for legitimate opportunities to put yourself forward, because you do not necessarily need years of trading history before something you have built becomes worth recognising.

Most importantly, I would think about what you want to become known for, because content becomes much easier when you have a clear area of expertise rather than trying to manufacture endless generic business posts.

That is also where positioning matters, because moving from freelancer to recognised expert did not require pretending I had suddenly learned an entirely new profession, it required communicating the experience I already had in a much clearer way.

My Brand Discovery Roadmap helps with that kind of positioning work, particularly for founders who know they have valuable expertise but need to clarify their audience, how they communicate their value and how their brand should be marketed.

FAQs

What is a personal brand for a solopreneur? A personal brand is the impression people build of you through your expertise, values, communication and the work you choose to do, while your personality can also influence how people experience the business. It does not require sharing every part of your personal life, but people should be able to understand who they are trusting when they buy from you.

Can content help a new business build authority? Useful content can help a new business demonstrate knowledge before it has years of trading history behind it, particularly when the content answers real questions and shows how the business approaches problems. Long form articles can be especially useful because they give you enough space to demonstrate depth rather than simply make a short claim about your expertise.

Should a new business enter awards? If there is a legitimate category where you already have evidence to support an application, entering can be worthwhile even when the business is relatively new. Recognition can give customers another reason to trust you and may create further opportunities, although the application still needs genuine results behind it.

Do solopreneurs need personal branding? A solopreneur is naturally closely connected to their business because clients are often buying their individual expertise, judgement or creative work. Being deliberate about how your experience and values are communicated can make that relationship clearer without requiring you to become an influencer.

What those first Solopreneur Awards shortlists taught me

Looking back, I think the timing of those two Solopreneur Awards shortlists is what makes them particularly interesting to me now, because they happened almost immediately after I had made a conscious decision to present Hi This Is Bry as a proper expert led business rather than continuing to look like somebody picking up freelance marketing and design work.

Being recognised for both content and personal branding gave me early evidence that the direction was working, then the credibility built from there as further awards and press features followed. I now help other businesses work out how they can create that same kind of authority intentionally, because the strongest opportunities usually come once you stop hiding the useful things you already know.

See also: What being featured on Greatest Hits Radio meant to me as a neurodivergent business owner

If you want to see how clearly your own business currently communicates its expertise and credibility, my free Business Visibility Playbook helps you assess your branding, website, social media and authority, so you can see where people may still be missing the reasons they should choose you.