Another reason to retire using your personal name as your brand name.

Business Names = Boundaries 

This is a thesis on why you should retire your personal name so you can stop performing intimacy for the internet.

Let's talk about the analog movement. 

God, I love the analog movement. A life beyond performing for the Internet? Hobbies? YES PLEASE. I hate (read: loathe) that it seems like just another cool b-roll opportunity though. Honestly, are these people actually getting hobbies or just buying expensive props for content about having hobbies? 

Anyway, I digress. 

The analog movement and naming go hand-in-hand.

People are picking hobbies back up. They're trying to get off their phones. Or at least, they’re propping them on a tripod across the room for a while. It’s a start.

But the point is, they're trying to reclaim their time, and redefine or rediscover something about their identities.

Naming is identity work housed in the business department…

A good 75% of my clients are solopreneurs rebranding to ditch using their personal name as their business name because that identity has cost them something.

That “something” is different for everyone but in my professional opinion…

Using your personal name as your business name has trained our audience to expect access as part of the value exchange.

It invites a parasocial relationship. Which is profitable. We know that works. “People buy from people” became the “OnLiNe SpAcE’s” mantra, and suddenly the fastest way to build trust was to remove the distance entirely.

So we did.

We collapsed the gap between the person and the business.

And now we’re dealing with the consequences of that decision.

Yes, people do buy things when they know, like and trust you but we’ve gotten to the point where we’re exploiting ourselves  to an audience that feels entitled to our time, energy, and personal life, because we sold them intimacy.

Using a business name gives you separation of self and service.

You can still be the face of your brand. You can still show up and have personality and be a personal brand. But it’s understand you’re operating with boundaries and office hours. 

What does this have to do with the analog thing?

People are paying money to have less access to the thing that’s supposed to make them money. We’re seeing digital detoxes, people buying tools to get off their phones, trying to reclaim privacy.

We are doing the most now to distance ourselves from being chronically online. 

Rebranding and retiring your personal name is just another way to do that.

Why Personal Names as Brand Names Worked Before

Personal names worked before when personal storytelling and oversharing was novel. When it felt like we had attention to spare. When seeing behind the scenes felt like inside access.

But now we know it’s probably performative. It feels obligatory. Like, “I have to get on stories today so people know I’m alive.”

Consumers are tired. Everyone’s working in public. Everyone’s sharing everything. We’re all consumers too, so we’re wise to it.

The “personal name as your brand name” era is capitalizing on intimacy. 

Personal brand names say: “Watch me LIVE!”

Business names say: “Let me live.”