MidLifeBloggers: Defining the Brand

Do not expect coherence from this post.  Bear with me throughout and then maybe at the end, you’ll tell me what I was talking about and where I was going.  I started this one day after reading the umpteenth piece of advice about how to advance my brand:

Before I was a brand, I was a blogger.  And before that, I was just a person. I liked being a blogger; I’m not sure I like being a brand. And if I’m a brand, what am I?

I know who I was as a person: a woman, American, Jewish (yes, these are ordered as I feel them).

I know who I was as a blogger: sharing whatever in my life seemed relevant at the time whether it was big or small, earthshattering or quotidian.

But as a brand? Who or what am I? What do I look like? What do I sound like?

Don’t think for a moment that I go from this to a kneejerk resentment of the way blogging has evolved over the seven (!) years I’ve been doing it.  All along I’ve worked, and sometimes struggled, to find my place and feel at home in the blogosphere.  This is no different.

If I were actively parenting, I could make a soft landing into that Mommyblogger niche, with the ever-growing myriad of ways that being a mom is being expressed on-line.  But I’m not, and thus that niche, which has come to be almost the only one that offers ready access to women, is closed to me.  For a while, I tried to read “woman” for “mom,” just so I wouldn’t feel so excluded.  But that works less these days, because the issues of parenting seem to have become the cause celebre and raison d’etre of the Web.

So if I’m a brand and parenting is not a part of my brand, then what and who and why am I?  Below, in no particular order, some of my answers to that:

• I’m a woman of a certain age–just put me in the Baby Boomer cohort–who remembers the Good Old Days, but has no desire to return to them.  They’re a fond memory that she likes to visit occasionally, to laugh at, cry at and say, thank God, that’s over!
• I believe that my best days, my most fun, my greatest success is still in front of me.  My daily life and my future plans all center on realizing my ever-growing potential.
• I’m not thrilled with all that time has wrought on my face and body, but I don’t resent it either.  Aging is what it is.  Rather, aging is what each of us makes of it–and I refuse to waste a moment lamenting the ageism or the youth bias of my culture.
• That said, I am a ready and willing target for any and all skin care preparations.  Even though I know nothing is going to magically erase the wrinkles, the marionettes lines and the age spots that I’ve accumulated through living, I’m still loving rubbing this or that on my face and peering into the mirror to see–hmmm! maybe this one does actually make a difference.
• My interests are not defined by my chronological age. I love fashion and pop culture and still read most of the women’s fashion magazines, even if I’m not exactly outfitting myself in the latest Mark Jacobs.  Actually, Stella McCartney would probably be my choice, but that may be because I’m still just the tiniest bit in love with her father.  I still have the same issues with dressing that I had ten, twenty, thirty, forty years ago:  does this make me look fat?  do I look stupid?  how can I express my personal style in a way that is flattering and affordable?
• When it comes to running my household, I am always on the lookout for what is new and different.  I may not have the cleanest house of all my friends, but I have more cleaning products and accoutrements than they do. It’s like a treasure hunt to find new things that promise instant and easy results, even though, as with face care, I do know that the results are always a product of my efforts.  I think, perhaps, that I amuse myself with trying new mops and soaps and sponges; it takes the tedium out of actually cleaning.
• I am educated (some would say over-) and smart (some would say too) and articulate (some would say mouthy).  I’ve spent a fortune in therapy which has given me the ability to think before I speak, but when I do, to say what I believe to be true.  This is a problem for some who are not similarly direct; others love it.  I’m befuddled by both responses.
• With all apologies to Family Circle et al, I am no longer looking for expert advice on any of the subjects I care about.  That’s why you will never find a How To or service-type post on MidLifeBloggers.  What I am looking for is what you did and how you worked it out and why you chose whatever.  Our tagline is Making The Best of MidLife Together.  Collectively, we’ve got all the wisdom we need, which means that this is a brand that’s all about sharing.

Photo credit: plrinternetmarketing.com

Tagged as: baby boomers, blogging, branding, choices, defining yourself, midlife, midlife issues, midlifebloggers, reinvention