I Rebranded (why + how I’m rebranding)

This website started under the moniker Jake You. This was pen name (the phonetic spelling of my initials, JQ). But I rebranded to jef quin, which is my real name (almost).

Over the years, I realized Jake You didn’t fully reflect who I am. It confused people more than solidified my brand mission and it didn’t suit my current identity. So I needed a new suit.

I’m rebranding.

I’m changing my domain name, updating my accounts and pivoting my design. And I’m totally stoked on it!

This post simply shares my reasons for rebranding and what you can expect from me moving forward.

I’ve also included some tips on how to do a rebrand, since this rebranding announcement will eventually morph into a helpful blog post after the move is complete.

So with that, let’s do this!

Table of Contents Show

Why I’m “Rebranding” (reasons to rebrand)

Truth be told, it’s strange being called “Jake”. It has no meaning for me and, obviously, it’s not my name.

And I don’t believe “You” is serving me well either, given its pronoun nature.

So it’s just altogether a bit awkward.

While I always struggled with embracing my true self (maybe it’s an artist thing — or just a human thing), it ironically felt even more awkward adopting a fictitious name.

Perhaps if this fictitious identity was more intentional, it would work. But instead, it’s led to confusion and a worsening identity crisis.

So this “rebrand” thing is me simply owning myself, fully and authentically.

While I do like the original intention of sounding out my initials, the name “Jake You” never quite felt like home and proved to be a bit confusing for people.

I think this highlights the importance of choosing a name that makes sense for you and has some deeper intent or meaning to it.

Your personal brand and authenticity depend on it!

In a world that rewards raw, authentic content and brands, choosing a name that’s aligned with your goals, identity and self is more important than ever.

But then again…

It’s also the artist and the brand that matters most — not the name. So if you’re the type of person who can choose some random word for your brand identity and totally own it, then hats off to you!

For me, I struggled with a persona-mismatch.

Luckily though, if you do choose the “wrong” name like I did, you can always do a rebrand.

So let’s look at my new brand name.

Meet My New Brand Name

My new site and brand name is jef quin.

This is actually just my real name.

(although, I did drop the extra f and n due to redundancies)

But how, you may be asking, did I come up with such a wild idea to just use my actual name for my personal brand?

Well, I had three main boxes I wanted to check off for this rebrand. Let’s look at them.

Box 1

First, I wanted my brand to actually represent me. I was tired of hiding behind a digital mask.

I used to struggle with confidence and self identity, so I leaned on alter egos and clever attempts at clever names.

But my name is jef quin and this is who I am. I travel, love Japan, write, make music and more.

I’m ready to own that.

Box one checked. ✓

Box 2

Next, I needed something I could use for every part of my brand.

This includes my blog, my travels, my YouTube, my art and my music.

I needed to combine these departments of my life. But it’s something I struggled with for years. My passions always felt like separate islands, only connected through obscure bridges. And the idea of choosing just one niche was stressful.

Plus, generic travel blog names like JQtravels or Quinnomadic didn’t really reflect who I am totally (and wouldn’t translate well into my music persona anyways).

But, as Occam's razor would have it, my actual real name does reflect all of me. Go figure. It was the bridge I’d been looking for (hiding in plain sight).

So let’s consider this box checked too. ✓

Box 3

Finally, I wanted my brand name to stand out.

This would help me differentiate and make it easier to actually be found in search. And what better way to differentiate than to own your authentic, true identity.

So I thought maybe I’d just use Quin/Quinn. But, as you may know, there are already many artists using this moniker.

The same was true for JQ.

But to my surprise, I didn’t find any other artists under the name jef quin. Plus, that domain name was totally available (surprisingly).

So that’s where I landed.

Last box checked. ✓

What’s Next for My Brand?

Nothing crazy is changing, as far as content topics and themes go.

The biggest changes are:

• Brand consistency (i.e., all aspects of me will now live under one roof)

• I’m creating more videos on YouTube (you can follow me here)

Rather than trying to separate things into multiple social media accounts, different websites and separate brand personas, I’m bringing everything together.

Chaos, be gone. This is, after all, my true personal brand.

I’ll still be creating blogs on the same topics I’ve been covering. But here are some other things in the pipeline:

• I’ll be launching a store

• I’m creating some amazing freebies (ebooks, templates and more — so stay tuned!)

• I plan to turn on ads (don’t worry though, I’ll keep them low-key)

• I’ll also be sharing my music releases here

How to Rebrand (4 takeaways I learned)

These are my biggest takeaways from my recent rebrand (and all my prior identity crises that led me to this point).

1. Don’t Rush Into It

It’s best to not rush into a rebrand all willy-nilly (or after a night on the town).

I mean, I spent a long time contemplating this one. I’ve been feeling like a rebrand for almost a year! I just never knew what direction to take.

So I stayed patient.

I took my time and I “tried out” many different names to see how they felt (for example, by renaming my documents I use to organize this site).

It’s helpful to stay open and consider your options slowly.

Try things out and visualize them. I would even update the logo on my site for a few minutes, just to see how it looked and felt (without saving or publishing it live, that is).

And after you’ve shortlisted your favorites, step away and forget about things. This creates objectivity.

I do this a lot with making music actually — it’s a great hack!

Then, when you come back, you’ll have a fresh mind and the answer that resonates most with you is often more obvious.

2. Have A Clear Purpose + Goal

It’s important to have some purpose and intention for your rebrand.

After all, a lack of purpose or intention may be one reason for having to do a rebrand in the first place.

So that’s why I made a checklist of specific things I wanted to accomplish with my new brand identity. They were my rebranding guardrails.

My checklist was finding a brand name that 1.) used my real name somewhere, 2.) worked for all the different pillars of my identity, and 3.) stood out.

So consider your own brand goals, pillars and values. Then, make your own checklist.

This will add some important direction and clarity to your rebrand.

3. Communicate Your Rebrand Clearly

You don’t want to confuse your followers and readers. So it’s important to clearly communicate with your audience about your rebrand and what they can expect.

This means having a solid rebranding announcement plan.

For me, I put up a banner announcement here on my website, published this blog post and sent out an email to my newsletter subscribers letting them know about the change.

I also included details like why I was changing names and what they can expect from me moving forward.

Depending on the size of your audience and your current brand’s reputation, this step may be more or less important.

But either way, in my view, over communicating is better than under communicating.

(It’s also important to update your links across your social accounts and let Google know about any domain changes, so you can maintain SEO rankings and data analytics)

4. Prioritize Authenticity

Creating a separate persona for your brand sometimes makes sense, especially for artists.

And I’m all for this approach.

So many musicians and creative brands do it and do it well. But it requires intention (as I said above) and attention as to not forget your true authenticity in the process.

For me, I found my authenticity by simply using my real name. For others, it may require something else.

For example, Halsey is actually just an anagram for Ashley. She’s also stated that she didn’t believe “Ashley” deserved to be famous.

Creating an alter ego is a great strategy to embody a different persona. It makes it easier to step into a different life or a new role with more confidence.

So if a persona makes sense for you, go for it! Just don’t forget to bring your authenticity with you.

Explore more:
➤ How to Be Authentic

Later ✌️

After about two years of pretending to be someone else, I decided to rebrand myself.

My website, social accounts and brand persona have changed from Jake You to Jef Quin, which is simply my real name (minus a couple extra letters).

Having a persona can make a lot of sense, especially for artists. It’s a solid strategy and one I’m all for. But given my context, it made more sense for me to simply lean into my actual name.

Rebranding isn’t something to rush into. It requires a clear purpose, intention, communication and maintaining your authenticity.

But it’s common and easy enough to do. Just make sure it makes sense for you.

For me, I’m still JQ. But now it means Jef Quin, which is simply my truth.

So cheers and I can’t wait to build out this new brand with you!

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