MENTAL MODELS are your monthly pocket-sized blueprints for structured intelligence. Synthesised frameworks derived from current data, research, and cultural trends, and precisely curated to be easily applicable tools as you work and create.
Personal brand enables you to be a lighthouse: a guiding structure for your creative light be seen far and wide. Think of it as turning your artistic identity into an asset. It will multiply your wealth, opportunities, and resources at large — as long as it’s a good asset. Invest wisely, maintain it consistently, and allow it to grow.
The way to think about personal brand instead:
Personal brand = magnet for the right opportunities
The market needs guidance on who you are and what you professionally offer. Brand is the vessel by which your Artistic Core — your engine of integrity, style, and values — is translated into a signal the world can recognise and respond to. Without it, even excellent work struggles to cut through.
Emerging artists sometimes see ‘personal brand’ as a superficial tactic for constructing an artificial persona. In reality, it is the vessel that enables your true persona to shine. Ignoring it as an artist leaves you invisible in the market, or perpetually “emerging”. That is, harder to hire, harder to collaborate with, and harder to be noticed.
This month’s Mental Model: The Identity Asset
Key idea: Your reputation, style, and presence are assets to your work, not just byproducts. For artists, personal brand is about cultivating an asset that makes your work recognisable, valued, and easier to connect with opportunities. It can be invested in, neglected, or allowed to depreciate.
Use it for:
Access: More opportunities that come your way because people understand what you do.
Agency: You control your narrative rather than letting others define it.
Longevity:Your personal brand compounds over time, creating career resilience.
Core components:
1. Artistic Core (foundation)
What it is: Your non-negotiable artistic style, values, themes, and principles.
Why it matters: This is what differentiates you. Everything either amplifies or dilutes it.
Ask yourself:
What am I trying to express conceptually, emotionally, or abstractly? Distil it into a clear statement (e.g., “my music is about hedonism and freedom”).
How does my work feel, look, sound, smell, and taste?
What four values or themes define my work?
2. Signal (expression and storytelling)
What it is: How your Core is communicated externally; in portfolios, social media, bios, websites, interviews, media kits, emails, invoices, and any touchpoint between you and others.
Why it matters: Even a strong Core is invisible without a clear and consistent Signal.
Ask yourself:
Does my online presence (website, socials, press) reflect my Artistic Core, written, visually, experientially?
What about my communications (emails, invoices, pitches)?
3. Network Activation (recognition and relationships)
What it is: How audiences, peers, collaborators, and mentors perceive and talk about you.
Why it matters: Reputation multiplies through others. Credibility is not just what you say but how others echo your identity.
Ask yourself:
How would people describe my work, and do their perceptions align with my Core? (If no, your Signal is still weak. This is fine, as you can work with it. Consider reframing how and how much you communicate your work.)
Who amplifies my Signal? Consider trusted voices, peers, publications, or industry authorities.
4. Opportunity (career leverage)
What it is: Translating your identity into tangible work opportunities (commissions, gigs, collaborations, residencies, partnerships).
Why it matters: The Identity Asset only has value when it connects to real-world outcomes.
Ask yourself:
How might I use my Identity Asset to attract the work I want?
If ever unsure about where to begin, come back to this Mental Model for reference. The Identity Asset:
Artistic Core
Signal
Network Activation
Opportunity
Remember: Brands exist because people connect with other people, not companies. Your personal brand is your edge: a living, growing asset that amplifies your work and your reach. Managing it well gives you the leverage to elevate your artistic integrity into professional influence.
Learn more about how I help people and organisations navigate their brand strategy: https://rachelobrien.work/brand.