{"id":10062,"title":"A picture of yourself? It makes all the difference","description":"We caught up with Paul Harfleet to talk about how his story has grown from planting pansies to printing products that help make the World a more positive place. A camera, a small budget and a whole load of energy is all it takes to tell an authentic brand story that reaches fans across the World.","content":"<p>One of the best things about our day is meeting the incredible people using their brands to start positive conversations. Paul Harfleet is one such good egg. We caught up with him to talk about how his story has grown from planting pansies to printing products that help make the World a more positive place. He also shared some useful recipes if you are looking to turn some lemons into lemonade: You will get some interesting tips about how to turn a camera, a small budget and a whole load of energy into a brand that is reaching fans from San Fran to getting worn by the famouses off of Springwatch.<\/p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NTzecxXnhyA\/?modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;controls=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;vq=highres\" height=\"350\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><p><em>-- Subscribe to our YouTube channel so you never miss out on the latest content to help you grow your brand.<\/em><\/p><blockquote><p>Art, for me, has always been about conversation.<\/p><\/blockquote><p>Art is a bit of an intimidating subject for the newbie, especially if you feel a bit uncomfortable standing in a silent gallery with strangers. But there is art and artists all around us - if you've ever designed a t-shirt or taken a photo, that includes you. Art is more than just the paint on the canvas or the pixels on the screen. In the same way that a book is more than just black ink on white paper, it's about what happens next: The ideas, messages, lessons, feelings and even actions.<\/p><p>This space where the idea and the values meet the design and the product is what makes great brands great. It's how wearing Nike makes you feel like a winner. And it's how Paul uses his brand to share his story and values. People buy his products because they believe in and buy into what the brand stands for, and what it says.<\/p><blockquote><p>See if you can think about your brand this way. What is your mission, your vision and your values? Writing them down can really help lock in what you stand for and make all your content consistent and align behind one single purpose.<\/p><\/blockquote><p>It's not Paul's first rodeo. His first majorly successful body of art was The Pansy Project where he went round to sites where homophobic abuse happened and planted a Pansy in the ground. Kind of like a more colourful, horticultural Banksy. It's both positive, defiant, sympathetic, sad, fun, and shocking all in one. But what happened next is that it got people talking. As he had experienced abuse like this himself, he shared his story - The Why. And because people could put a story to a name, and a name to a face, news travelled. He even had a film made about him and business opportunities followed.<\/p><p>The thing to take from all this is about how the art here is more than just something made to be sold. The sales and interest come after - and from - the quality of the creative content. You don't have to be a great painter to be a great artist. Paul himself might agree that he is perhaps not the best flower arranger in the world. But it's what he did with the flowers he had that made this big. And he took the same recipe into his T-shirt brand.<\/p><p><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/inwz0cimg4j7oqwruluyjsdchwn2v3bff1ncpn3ncqrhi1l6.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"72336060\"><br>--<em>People have become fans of Paul's work and gone on to buy his products because they empathise with the Pansy Project and want to support it's message.<\/em><\/p><p>Birds Can Fly is a celebration of nature. As lockdown projects go, this combines his love of birds and love of dressing up. We often say a lot at Teemill that the stores that do the best are the ones that try the hardest to get their original <a href=\"\/blog\/?search=photography\">photography<\/a> sorted. For our brands, we have a whole team of photographers. But for those on a budget even one photo is enough to start learning and growing. It's about quality, not quantity. And for Birds Can Fly, Paul went all in (full makeup, hair, outfit) photographing himself as a \u2018gentle reference\u2019 to the birds he was drawing.<\/p><p>This selfie-marketing vibe is <strong><em>social media dynamite.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><p><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/ajelsqqqkcbxkktpnujkwgi8l5lmiwi3izmfejsvnezb3llf.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"72336112\"><br>-- <em>Paul's 'Gentle References' which he designed during lockdown, and awesome selfie marketing. Adding these images to his site made the whole experience come to life.<\/em><\/p><p>This is a familiar story to us. Sometimes the brands that are immensely successful look like they are lucky. But while we only see these amazing designs and great photos, we should remember the hundreds (thousands?) of shots that were taken and deleted. The hours upon hours of practise perfecting the design. And the commitment to keep posting, keep designing, keep tweaking the pictures and the website even when there may be only a trickle of traffic.<\/p><blockquote><p>That relentless optimism and hard work behind the scenes is what led Paul eventually to seeing his product photographed by his fans in San Fran, or getting a massive shout out from Chris Packham.<\/p><\/blockquote><p>We hear Mozart's music, but we don\u2019t hear his 10,000 hours of practise. We see Da Vinci's masterpieces, but not his failures. And the best thing about the internet is that you can share and learn faster than ever before. We shared Teemill so that you can do what took us 10 years in 10 minutes. A great tip from Paul? Share your story as you go. When you share your personal progress and your struggle with your audience, they are right there with you. They get invested in you and your journey. Sharing that with his audience has helped him to create strong connections, and priceless engagement. Recently he has been asking his audience which birds they want to see in his next collection.<\/p><p><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/mt1oqdnhvcegwwfkwafgcnvojjwxmevthxfmplvfhlmxzvrg.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"72336412\"><br>-- <em>Paul wears his own products and his support of them makes it easier for customers to trust in his brand. If he loves to wear it himself, it must be great. You can order <a href=\"https:\/\/teemill.com\/wholesale-shop\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">samples <\/a>of your own products and follow the same strategy.<\/em><\/p><p>Another benefit of sharing your story, and your image, is the trust that your fans build up in your brand and products. When people know there is a real human behind the business, conversion rates are higher. And by wearing his own product, Paul found an important lesson in fashion design: To design for yourself.<\/p><blockquote><p>\u2018I want to make sure that the t-shirts, and the things I\u2019ve designed, I like, and in order to make that work I have to wear it and feel like I wanna wear it, otherwise it\u2019s not going to work.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote><p>This is something lots of the most successful brands we speak to have learned. At some point on the journey, they can differentiate between the products they designed for themselves and that they genuinely want to own, and the products they designed because they think they will sell. And when you start doing that, it's a crossroads. Because the best designers use that as a test.<\/p><blockquote><p>If I wouldn't buy it, why should I expect my customer to?<\/p><\/blockquote><p>So Paul just went full immersive and only designs stuff he wants to wear and own himself. And then sales really started to build.<\/p><p><br><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/c3ikxfig4dnpdxgnygm7cj3ooi4rdvc0pt3w5umzmr5ebsoj.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"72336581\"><br><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/z3hzgxlfevuzogzk2w5pj62ypw4bf6fjxfv4cjyvldvmjqwr.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"72336594\"><br><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/tinln34zhsru7bch88rde1bgz0fwlnp0zltnmwx08zmbed3k.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"72336595\"><br><em>- Paul's gentle references. Fun, creative, and people on social media love it.<\/em><\/p><p>Fun, natural, positive, inspiring, sensitive, confident, badass. Let this blog and these images give you the confidence to try designing something you truly love, then owning it fully with a picture of you, in your happy place, looking real and awesome. Makeup optional.<\/p><p>For extra inspiration, check out our other <a href=\"https:\/\/teemill.com\/blog\/?search=podcast\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">podcast blogs<\/a> and please get involved in the conversation and share your comments below.<\/p>","urlTitle":"selfie-marketing-picture-self","url":"\/blog\/selfie-marketing-picture-self\/","editListUrl":"\/my-blogs","editUrl":"\/my-blogs\/edit\/selfie-marketing-picture-self\/","fullUrl":"https:\/\/teemill.com\/blog\/selfie-marketing-picture-self\/","featured":false,"published":true,"showOnSitemap":true,"hidden":false,"visibility":null,"createdAt":1613651094,"updatedAt":1680620440,"publishedAt":1638292741,"lastReadAt":null,"division":{"id":12,"name":"Teemill"},"tags":[{"id":29,"code":"photography","name":"photography","url":"\/blog\/tagged\/photography\/"},{"id":40,"code":"inspiration","name":"inspiration","url":"\/blog\/tagged\/inspiration\/"},{"id":44,"code":"socialmedia","name":"socialmedia","url":"\/blog\/tagged\/socialmedia\/"},{"id":457,"code":"video","name":"video","url":"\/blog\/tagged\/video\/"},{"id":673,"code":"podcast","name":"podcast","url":"\/blog\/tagged\/podcast\/"}],"metaImage":{"original":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/lsbob5smfxorkfxafkzhpy4jpjdybaxhh026z9u3mkpqzqmk.jpeg","thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/lsbob5smfxorkfxafkzhpy4jpjdybaxhh026z9u3mkpqzqmk.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/lsbob5smfxorkfxafkzhpy4jpjdybaxhh026z9u3mkpqzqmk.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"metaTitle":"Building A Brand Story With Paul Harfleet | Birds Can Fly","metaDescription":"Meet Paul Harfleet, artist and entrepreneur. In this podcast we explore his creative expression and brand-building story in the age of social media.","keyPhraseCampaignId":4137,"series":[],"similarReads":[{"id":35,"title":"The 12 Best Movies For Business Startups 2025 - Netflix, Disney, Prime","url":"\/blog\/netflix-startups-business\/","urlTitle":"netflix-startups-business","division":12,"description":"Instead of scrolling through an Instagram feed or studying your mate's dinner on Facebook, we like the idea that as a store owner you can flip the relationship and use tech to make time on the sofa productive and profitable for you.","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/5c9dcaa0289175.83327431.jpg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/5c9dcaa0289175.83327431.jpg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0},{"id":40,"title":"Streetwear photography inspiration from Nocturnal Creature","url":"\/blog\/streetwear-photography-inspiration\/","urlTitle":"streetwear-photography-inspiration","division":12,"description":"Instantly recognisable by their unique and edgy style, Nocturnal Creature's photography is fresh, fun and real. In this dose of Teemill inspo, we catch up with their founder to get his advice on how to create original photography for your brand.","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/5c8dfcbad57ee4.57720394.jpg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/5c8dfcbad57ee4.57720394.jpg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0},{"id":43,"title":"The 7 best business books everyone should read","url":"\/blog\/best-business-books\/","urlTitle":"best-business-books","division":12,"description":"In The Matrix, Neo just sits in a chair, and Morpheus uploads Kung Fu, how to fly helicopters and loads of other languages into his brain. Neo can do anything. That's basically what books are, although they do take a little longer. So we've pre-sorted some of the best business books that we've read and found useful for people building a brand online. Learn from successful entrepreneurs, read their journey to success and build an entrepreneurial mindset so you can make your brand a success.","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/5c8e29ea58d3b2.79971756.jpg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/5c8e29ea58d3b2.79971756.jpg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0}],"labels":[]}