AI replaced Emily at her translation job. Instead of looking for another one, she went all in on her own brand design business.
In this episode, I sit down with Emily, a brand identity and web designer for personal brands, originally from Estonia and now living in Mexico. I've been following her on Threads for a few years and watched her grow from a few hundred followers to over 2,000, so I had to have her on.
We talk about:
- How she went from translator to brand designer
- Her first client and figuring out what to charge
- Branding vs marketing (and why they need each other)
- Why she chose to work with personal brands
- How she built a community and got clients from Threads
- What she'd tell her past self if she were starting over
- Why your taste is what separates you from AI
When I asked her how she'd start a personal brand from scratch, she didn't give the usual advice. That part alone convinced me to finally build my website.
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Connect with Emily:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/em.design._/
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@em.design._
Website: https://emilyruven.com
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/mikegthecreative
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@mikegthecreative
Website: https://www.mikegthecreative.com
CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
1:16 Meet Emily
1:56 From Estonia to Mexico (learning Spanish from telenovelas)
5:56 How she went from translator to brand designer
10:06 How AI replaced her translation job
11:11 Her first client and figuring out what to charge
14:22 Pricing in Mexico vs the US and working with clients anywhere
16:48 Branding vs marketing
19:05 Branding vs marketing as a dating analogy
21:30 Why she chose personal brands over restaurants
24:01 Personal brands vs big company budgets
28:35 What came first: identity, strategy, or web design
30:15 Accidentally doing brand strategy for free
32:37 Advice to her past self
37:20 How to build a community (Threads and coffee chats)
40:24 Why behind the scenes content works (How It's Made)
41:34 Where to start if you're building a personal brand
46:51 Trust in a world where everyone's skeptical
48:15 Creatives, AI, and remixing ideas
53:48 Taste is what separates you from AI
54:38 Where to find Emily
55:18 Outro
