A few days short of a month into staring up my solo career as an “X” I am finally faced with a dilemma worthy of some serious thought. Im hoping my two readers, yes two - it’s gone up, can be of some assistance.

There is a crossroads that every solo career comes to at one point or another. Some folks know it’s coming and make a decision from the outset, some folks never even knew it existed because they unknowingly made the turn and some folks, like me, get to a certain point in their solo career and then out of nowhere it hits them…

Am I going to market myself as an “I” or a “We”? 

This is a very tough question because clearly only one or the other will suffice if you plan on building a solid brand message. Am I right?

Choosing on or the other will also place you in a position where some potential clients coud be lost, but then again the inverse could be true as well.

Now I have already set out on a course to market myself as a “We” even though I’m only a “Me” and I don’t think thats wrong because I have a network of people that I work with and definitely dont do everything myself. The chance for potential customers, who contact me through a referral or my website, to be blindsided by the fact that I’m only one person is something that scares me. How do people perceive my “company”? That’s an important factor for me because I need there to be trust between me and my clients.

FACT: Potential clients that send in a quote request to Acme Web Designs will definitely be skeptical of the fact that the company is run by one dude?

On the flip side of this argument I can just market myself as a solo person. But I dont want to do that. I dont think it’s a sustainable model for future growth and all the ventures I dream up all day long are going to look better marketed under the umbrella of Acme Web Designs than Paul Weingartz - Web Dude.

At the end of the day it’s all about public perception and it comes down to one question: Am I a Freelancer or Business Entity?

Well, I say neither, I’m a businessman and an entrepreneur!