Personality is the key to being memorable.

At the start of the last post, we talked about leaning into your personality as the best tool you have for standing out. Then we talked about the biggest piece of that equation, your purpose.

Having a clear, compelling purpose is invaluable. But it's not the whole picture either.

Think about it. An amazing purpose can pull at the heartstrings, maybe even spur action. But it's not necessarily why you stick around — why you open emails, look forward to checking in, or even share it with someone else.

It's all the other little things that work in concert with your purpose that really bring it to life. You are a completely unique individual. You have this clear purpose, which I love. But you also bring all these little interest, talents, and tastes to the table.

Purpose is important, but to make it powerful it needs the complementary pieces. Otherwise it just isn't as compelling. And it's interesting to note that the inverse is also true. Lots of tidbits of personality without the coalescing force of purpose is also going to fall short.

Let's give some examples here. Examples tend to both illustrate the point more clearly and spark some ideas. Let's say you're running a non-profit but you're also interested in a photography. Perhaps it's a hobby of yours. A way to bring some genuine personality to the table would be to include polaroids. Maybe polaroids from an event or from a community service project — you could use them in a thank you email or place them on your website.

And voilà, not just purpose but personality.

A real life example that I love is Yogi teas. The purpose of the company is to provide high quality, organic teas that aid your wellness journey and support communities where the tea is grown. But they add personality by putting a little bit of wisdom on every tea bag.

That has nothing to do with the quality of the tea, but it's something unique and genuine that they bring to the table that adds just a little bit of depth. It endears me to their brand.

These extra little facets of personality are powerful when it comes to building a one-of-a-kind brand, a brand that keeps people coming back to you.

Which is why we're going to come back to this in lessons three and four. So be on the lookout for little things that sound fun to incorporate into the brand you're building.