Person or Product?

Visited my Merriweather Council Facebook page today to see this little announcement up top about re-categorizing my page. This is kind of a big deal because once you pick something you can’t really change it… and I remember picking “artist” originally and wondering if that was the right thing to do.

Now, I don’t know if Facebook will allow for change to this now, maybe it’s something new… I don’t believe I had to pick more than one category originally, like it is asking for now.

It is clear to me that most of the options do not fit me. Books- no, Movies- no, Sports- absolutely not (like, never ever not even once) but some of them do fit – and you can only pick one!

Brands and Products  – Possibly
People – Well, yes… I am a person

I was struggling with this for a while, but after taking another look I realized that switching to “Brands and Products” would force me to pick a sub category – none of which felt cozy and wonderful…

I settled on “People” and sub cat “Artist” because at the heart of it – I am an artist, an artist with a brand, sure… but it’s part of my objective to be approachable, human and personable. I would prefer people understand that I am the person behind the product rather than just see a product and… nothing else.

Facebook asking me if I am a Person or a Product reminded me of the constant struggle to strike some sort of balance between being me and being Merriweather Council… because I am both. I am a person who sells a product and I use my personality and sensibility to support that.

You will never have to go searching for my name…

I’ve worked hard to link my name to my brand. All of my business cards say “The Merriweather Council By Danielle Spurge” and if I feature you in a Treasury you will probably get a little message from me that says “Enjoy! -Danielle” at the end, and on twitter my username is MerriweatherC but my name is Danielle Spurge… because I want people to know it’s me, Danielle, behind The Merriweather Council!

This is the part where I ramble a little bit…

Of course I still want to have my personal Facebook page be a place where I can be separate from my brand…

And while I am the only person behind Merriweather, the brand is not Danielle it’s Merriweather with a giant helping of Danielle….

And you know I like to share stuff here about regular life – and that supports my Merriweather-ings!

I don’t know how else to explain it, but it makes sense to me! I don’t have enough time to develop a new online or business persona, so I’m just going with the one I already know and have lived with for 22 years…

After all there is both an I and Me in Merriweather

Merriweather

Get what I mean?