I’ve been on quite the authenticity trip lately, and here’s why – it’s imperative to your brand. Whether it be a personal brand or professional brand, people will see through your BS.

My wife, and I started Ever Rose with the mindset of being as transparent as possible. The same holds true for my ‘Guy with the Bow Tie’ brand, and the community magazines I publish. Be authentic, and you’ll start to see amazing results.

Breaking down your brand

How real are you? I want you to stop and ask yourself this. When you wake up in the morning are you excited about doing what you’re doing? Maybe you are, maybe you aren’t, and I’m not going to preach about ‘doing what you love’ and all that. I want you to get real, because if you aren’t real you’re robbing this world of your natural talents. And if you aren’t being real when you step into work whether it’s your business or not you’re only hurting your bottom line.

With Ever Rose – we’re proud to be 100% Canadian owned & operated. We even go so far as to run on a Canadian web platform (Shopify is based out of Ottawa) as well as use Canada Post exclusively as our shipping partner. We’re also committed to working with as many Canadian clothing partners as possible (although this has been quite the challenge as not too many Canadian clothing companies have clothing MADE in Canada). We may even get to the point where we design, and manufacture our own line in Canada.

Anyway, this comes to mind as I’m working with an inspiring entrepreneur who’s going to be launching an online platform shortly where you can use Bitcoin to book hotels online. You can check out a tiny glimpse here: BookwithBit

He lives in the Southern US, and is originally from India. He runs a couple hotels, and as such he started getting fed up with OTA sites (Expedia, Trivago, Travelocity, etc…) eating into his margins, and taking away from his LOCAL business, and the LOCAL economy. So, he does what any entrepreneur or savvy business owner would do – he’s fighting back. He’s so passionate about creating a fair, online portal for hotel seekers that he decided to build his own platform, and it’s going to be launching soon. His company is a reflection of his personal beliefs, and feelings. He’s REAL.

Your Personal Brand

Whether you like it or not, you’re being judged everyday. People are Googling you and colleagues interact with you at work as they try to figure you out. On this note – have you Googled yourself lately? What comes up? Anything?

If who you are in the office, doesn’t reflect who you are outside of it, people are going to find out, and call you out on your BS. That’s just the world we live in. So, instead of trying to have ‘work’ self, and ‘home’ self. Try being you. When I made the change from the corporate world to the life of being self-employed, I was going back to my original self. The guy who I am at home, and on weekends. The guy who I knew I wanted to be when I was growing up. I dropped the act, stopped caring about what others thought, and started being REAL. It’s not easy – it took me 10-years to figure out who I REALLY was, but it all started with my gut. How I felt in the morning was a HUGE indicator of who I was and what I wanted to do. I went from wanting to hit the snooze button repeatedly to bouncing out of bed, and ready for the day ahead. I no longer had visions of me quitting my job while I brushed my teeth in the morning. I’m doing what I want, and what I’m supposed to be doing…at this point in my life anyway.

Anything is possible, if you believe, and follow your gut instinct. Start being REAL and the rest will come.

Love you,

Jordan ‘The Guy with the Bow Tie’ Rycroft

Ps. If you’re wondering about the bow tie – it’s REAL. I’ve been wearing one off-and-on since I was 4-years-old. However, most of you probably haven’t seen it until recently because I probably wasn’t being REAL around you. I was being my fake, less fulfilled self.