Where did the OpalTurtle come from?
When I graduated high school my parents left to go be missionaries in Mexico. They were in Guadalajara for the first few years and I was lucky enough to be able to go visit them once when they were there and once when they were in Puebla a few years later. When I visited them in Guadalajara we traveled down to Tequila and then a little further down the road to a little opal mining town called Magdalena. There were all sorts of amazing and beautiful opal creations in shops throughout the town. Rocks that had been carved into sculptures with giant opals gleaming out of them, beautiful jewelry, raw opals left in tanks of water with lights over them to shimmer the colors in the opals more brightly.
In one of these shops I found a small pendant made of hand carved obsidian with a shell beautifully inlaid with a mosaic shell of fire opal pieces. I wore that pendant every day for the next umpteen years until one day when I was walking into my bedroom and the shell disintegrated. All the opal pieces came unglued and fell off. I was heartbroken. That turtle had been with me through some of the best and worst times of my life. I’d drawn a poor imitation of it that I used everywhere. I’d even written a poem about the turtle and how it was like me. Happily, a few years later I found a new one online. The shell isn’t a mosaic, it’s only two pieces of Mexican fire opal, but they’re beautiful and they’re under a protective bubble of some clear stuff that I can’t remember the name of right now. The point is, it shouldn’t fall apart!
When I started my Posh business (and in direct sales in general) I didn’t really know anything about branding, personal or otherwise. When I found Brenda Star at the Socialite Suite and saw her posts about personal branding I was a tad confused for a long time about what my brand was. It needed to be something that was ME and that people would associate with me, not just my direct sales business. So after a couple of misdirections and a LOT of overthinking (I overthink pretty much everything) it finally came to me – my little opal turtle WAS my branding and had been for years and years. I’ve had my little turtle redesigned so she looks a lot prettier now. The one I drew back in college was ok, but it seriously looked less than professional. (I can’t draw).
When trying to figure out your branding, remember that your branding is YOU, not your direct sales business. Think of what you love, what people think of when they think of you. People are always sending me turtle things on Facebook and Pinterest. Why? They associate turtles with me. It has to resonate with you and feel right. You are your brand.
If you’d like to hang out more in the world of The OpalTurtle you’re welcome to come visit my little virtual tavern on Facebook. If you’re interested in how I’ve worked my branding in to my direct sales businesses you can find those VIP groups here.