Hipster – Beyond Style: Personal Branding
This summer we’ve launched our Wulterkens’ Hipster Party Collection, which consists of fashionable t-shirts, crop- and low cut tops with funky, unique personas, we call the Hipsters. What I personally love about the collection is that they’re all different in their details, and I believe most of us can find ourselves, or our alter ego’s within atleast one of the designs.
Next to the Hipster’s, I wanted to create a female superhero line, with powerful words, in a playful, comicbook style that just makes an awesome statement. By now, lots of lovely people are walking around in the collection, which is amazing!
If you haven’t checked it out yet, visit: www.wulterkensclothing.com.
We named it the Hipster Collection, because it simply fits the definition of being a trendsetter; to lead when others follow.
Apart from our awesome collection, I do believe in setting a trend beyond fashion.
Personal Branding, is one of the things I’ve been exploring recently, which is basically, profiling yourself to stand out from the mass. It’s about stating who you are, why you are different and it’s all about influencing the way others perceive you as a person.
In today’s ”social media” generation, I believe we all (mostly unintentional) are exerting some form of personal branding, yet there are only few who master it.
I’m not a personal branding coach, so I will not be able to give you all the insights. But a good start would be to start asking yourself these questions:
1. Who am I? / How would I describe myself?
2. What drives me in life (mission)?
3. What gets me out of bed every morning (passion)?
4. What am I good at? (skills)
5. What are my most important values?
6. How do I think others see me?
7. How would I like others to see me? / What would I like to be known for (Vision)?
Take these questions as a guideline, and with the answers you can start with a plan.
As a (almost master) marketeer, I would also like to share with you the 6 P’s of Personal Branding (Source: Business 2 Community):
1. Probe – Determine what exactly your personal brand is. See it as a life-changing exploration of your passion, mission and skills. By doing this, you can discover your personal brand and with this you know exactly how to position yourself.
2. Present – Figure out how you will present yourself. Create a marketing plan.
3. Produce – Original Content. Establish your expertise through content marketing.
4. Promote – Your content, through social media, speaking at events, traditional marketing and so on.
5. Personalize – Make sure to continuously add authenticity to your content and marketing efforts.
6. Perfect – The last, but continuous step of Personal branding. Constantly assess your work, and make adjustments. Learn and grow, make sure that’s visible through your content. Sometimes you will have to take a step back to perfect even more. Be thorough with refining whatever it is that you portray.
There you go, personal branding in a nutshell. If you would like to know more, feel free to comment or contact me through email.
Good Luck & Lead When Others Follow!
Love,
Nadira
As you guys know by now, I love to go on adventures when shooting. We always come across the craziest places. This time we literally broke into the ruins of an old theatre. It was extremely dangerous, because there were sharp things flying around, it was cold and extremely windy, which lead to zero control over my hair, which is pretty clear in all the pictures. However, those who know me, know that I occasionally crave a little bit of danger in life. A little adrenaline rush never hurt anybody right?
As for the look, I wanted something matching with the statement of the Wulterkens’ Hipster collection, so I went with a mixture of funky, sporty and edgy.
I hope you guys enjoy these pictures, for which we’ve risked our lives for taking!
Outfitdetails: Wulterkens Badass Crop Top & Wulterkens Venice Low Cut Top.
Wulterkens Varsity Jacket (Sold out); High Waisted Striped Shorts: Ebay (old), Leather Look Leggings: Zara (Old); Shoes: All Star Sneakers & ZARA Heels. Leather Jacket: Mango (old)
”Life isn’t about finding yourself, but about creating yourself” – George Bernhard Shaw
‘‘Be yourself, everybody else is taken” – Oscar Wilde
“Personal branding is about managing your name — even if you don’t own a business — in a world of misinformation, disinformation, and semi-permanent Google records. Going on a date? Chances are that your “blind” date has Googled your name. Going to a job interview? Ditto.” – Tim Ferriss
It Ain’t Over Until I Win
Courage and Persistence. When I think of these 2 words, I think of my dad, my role model and inspiration. A long time ago, he had the courage to leave his job with the government to start up his own consultancy company (Proplan Consultancy, located in Paramaribo, Suriname), because at that time he knew he wouldn’t be able to give his family what he wanted to give them on the salary he was earning.
Because of his decision, I had a careless youth with everything I needed and wanted, but at the same time I wasn’t a spoiled brat. My dad always taught me and my brother to earn what we wanted, whether that was with performing well in school or work (washing the cars, helping around the house or ironing his shirts for 50 cts per shirt hahaha). Things weren’t given to us ‘’just because’’ and I remember finding it frustrating sometimes when a lot of my girlfriends really just got everything they wanted without having to do anything for it.
Today, I am so thankful, because it made me value whatever I got so much more and looking back, I think it was the basis that I needed to go the extra mile today with my business.
The lesson is simple, if you want something, you have to go and get it. In most cases it means that you have to work your ass off to get what you want and most importantly never give up. Success takes time, it has to grow, in the mean time you will probably go through a rollercoaster of ups and downs, but the key is to stay focused on that goal.
To all the young entrepreneurs out there I want to say:
1. It’s not going to be easy, you will fall/fail many/some times, but as Mr. Les Brown says ‘’if you can look up, you can get up’’ and if you get back up again you can learn from it, and give it another go (even if it’s another 1000 go’s). Eventually you will succeed. People might tell you your product is not good enough, especially with clothing, it really depends on taste. But never doubt your product, just take it all in as feedback (there is always some room for improvement).
2. You will meet a lot of people, some of them are genuine, they actually care and want to help you grow. These few are precious, hold on to them and don’t let go.
On the contrary, most of the people you meet will be what we call ‘’Cowboys’’. They shoot a lot of bullets recklessly around them, but none of them are aimed at a specific target. Meaning: they talk a lot, know a little and will not add any value to you or your business. A waste of precious time. Try to develop the skills and intuition to recognize these cowboys to avoid time (and money) wasting.
3. Unfortunately a lot of people, for some reason will want to see you fail and some will even make an effort to make you fail. Why? Well, it still baffles me and I don’t think I will ever completely understand it. In some cases these people might even be close to you (friends/family, which makes it even more disappointing). ‘’People wish you all the success in the world, until you get it’’. The only thing that seems logical is that when you start growing and becoming more and more successful, they want what you have, but at the same time they are not willing to work for it or they might not even realize what you have sacrificed to earn it. “Haters are a leading indicator of Success’’. Don’t let them distract you, it’s not worth the energy, keep your energy focused on your goal.
4. You probably will not have much of a social life, the way to the top is lonely. You will most likely grow apart from the friends you thought were your friends for life. Mainly because you have other priorities and your way of living eventually differs way to much from theirs. Only surround yourself with ‘’quality’’ people, people that support and understand you, and people that can help you get where you want. No need for negative people that don’t understand your journey and don’t make any effort to change their own lives. Let go, or be dragged down.
So yes, there is a lot of sacrifice, a lot of roughness to get through. You have to be strong as a rock. You have to be willing to do the things, others won’t, so you can live a life that others only dream about. You have to be willing to go that extra mile. It’s never crowded going that extra mile, because there are only few who keep it up. But reaching your goals, making those dreams come true…it’s all worth it. Keep your eyes on the prize, work your passion and the people who truly love you will stand by you and cheer for you.
If you want it, fight for it, with all your mind, body & soul. Nothing can keep you from it. It’s not over until you win.
Love,
Nadira
Outfit details: Wulterkens Zee Me T-Shirt (Release the Beast series)
Pants & Blazer: ZARA. Shoes: Colin Stuart.
‘’How you do anything, is how you do everything; Always go full out’’ – Les Brown
‘’It always seems impossible, until it’s done’’ – Nelson Mandela
‘’Most people fail in life because they aim to LOW and hit, instead of aiming to HIGH and lift’’ – Les Brown
‘’It doesn’t matter if it’s a right or wrong decision; It’s about making the decision RIGHT’’ – Richard Tan
‘’There is no passion to be found in playing small – In settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living’’ – Nelson Mandela