Personal Branding Portrait Series || Staying true to yourself with Lindsay

What’s one crazy thing you have done this year? Lindsay Dent probably outdid us all with her latest purchase: one of the crazy colorful Wicked Campers. When I saw her post on Instagram about her camper, I reached out to her and asked for an interview for my personal branding series. I had to know more about this van and we ended up having a wonderful conversation about following your dreams, making things happen and finding your brand.

Lindsay and her Wicked Camper

How Lindsay built her own Personal Brand

Lindsay is running her own Creative Marketing Agency, Pink Crown Creative. It all started with Lindsay opening an Instagram account and posting pictures of inspiring quotes, reflections and learnings from a woman in a corporate organization. At that time, Lindsay was working for a consulting firm. Eventually, she realized that she was building a very genuine audience.

One of my favourite things to do is scroll back to the first post I have on my account to see how it started and where I came from. Lindsay Dent

A lot of her content came from her personality and the things that she loved. “When I started my Instagram account, I truly didn’t know what it would be (…) but a lot of it was just for me to feel better.” A big question for her was about perception, how did she want to be perceived? “Do I want to be seen as someone who is overly feminin or do I want to be more of a cookie cutter box professional?” She kept on going back to professional, successful women who had brands that she admired and loved and she realized that they weren’t hiding their true identity and showed their true personality. And she kept thinking that there must be a reason why these women are so successful. Lindsay stayed true to herself and over the years, she created a brand that she feels connected to.

A lot of people I talk to don’t post anything at all and never do anything with their brand or their business idea because they think it has to be perfect, expert level. But that’s not the reality when you are starting something. Lindsay Dent

The Beginnings of Pink Crown Creative

Running her own business at some point wasn’t really planned. When she moved from Toronto to Vancouver, and after a few changes in her professional life, she started attending different women’s events in Vancouver and eventually she began working with a Vancouver Magazine, I Like Her Style Vancouver, and that’s how she got into creative entrepreneurship. She met women, who had their own businesses, heard these incredible stories of people following their dreams and working with the brands they loved. Being part of this community really made her believe that she could do it too. So more than 3.5 years ago, she launched her own business with the knowledge and expertise from previous positions and the belief that she could do it. Last year, she launched her podcast “Have you met her yet” and the podcast gives her the opportunity to connect with women from all walks of life. Lindsay gets really passionate when she talks about her podcast.

Comparison is the thief of joy

We talked a bit about the fine line of being inspired by others and comparing yourself to others. Even after all these years in the business, Lindsay admits that she still compares herself to others. You can create the most amazing thing, but when you see someone else doing it better (in your eyes), it can be a real bummer. There is one thing that has helped her: Unfollowing, unsubscribing and distancing herself from any content that made her feel bad or doubt herself.

It is important to know that what a person does is not the same as what you do and that is why someone wants to work with you. Yes, you may be offering the exact same thing, but at the end of the day, it’s YOU they want to work with. Lindsay Dent

Lindsay Dent

The story of the Wicked Camper

Lindsay and her husband have been working from home for the past 12 months and they spent a lot of time on the road, visiting their families in Ontario and taking road trips to discover local places. This year, they decided to take the leap: they bought their very own van. When Lindsay saw an ad online saying that Wicked Campers was selling half of its campers, she knew it was the right thing to do. Renting an RV is incredibly expensive, but buying one is not cheap either, especially if you have to customize it for your needs. So buying a Wicked Campers was exactly what they needed – affordable, ready to go and spacious.

I asked her if she would like to combine the van with her work at some point. It’s definitely something she has been thinking about and she’s not ruling it out. It would be a great way to bring her travel blog back to life. “I write a travel blog, but I haven’t contributed to it in a very long time. It has been something I have been thinking about, and it would be a fabulous way to get partners and showcase what we are doing,” Lindsay says, adding that along the way, they want to support local business as much as possible to get a true Canadian experience in her own backyard.

Just a day after our interview, Lindsay announced that she was closing Pink Crown Creative for a while to take the time to focus on what direction she wants to take with the company. What are the things she loves to do, and what are the things she no longer enjoys doing? While Lindsay is taking this break, perhaps it would be a good exercise for all of us to ask ourselves the same questions.

What do we like to do and where do we want to focus our energy?

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For my new Personal Branding Portraits Series, I’m talking to female entrepreneurs and business owners about their journey, their goals and challenges, and how they built their personal brand.

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