The Subtle Art of Showing Off: Lessons in Mastering Your Personal Brand from Patrice Poltzer

In today’s hyperconnected world, the boundaries between you and your company’s brand are few and far between — gone are the days when founders could remain comfortably behind the scenes while your product did the talking. Now, getting ahead of the game means **getting in front of the lens. But embracing your brand isn’t about showing up flawless — it’s just about showing up.

Welcome to Unfinished Business, the podcast where we dig into the whys, hows, and WTFs of building and thriving in business — hosted by longtime founder friends Alex Schinasi and Lee Rotenberg. Every week, we’ll invite industry leaders and fellow entrepreneurs to candidly share their wins, truths, and lessons (and laugh while doing it).

This week, Patrice Poltzer helps us unpack the art of self-promotion — how to connect with your audience, ease the self-pressure, and get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Whether you’re building your first company or scaling your next, keep reading for your five-step guide to mastering your personal brand.

Step One: Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

So you’ve committed to going on-camera. It’s daunting, uncomfortable, and sometimes plain awkward — and that’s when the imposter syndrome strikes. But as Patrice points out, imposter syndrome is actually a sign of growth. “It means you're stretching yourself. If you're not uncomfortable, you're not growing.”

Beating imposter syndrome begins with reframing what seems like a setback into the opportunity it is, and embracing the cringe. Filming a talking video? Approach it like a new Pilates circuit you’re dying to get right — easier the more you do it. Every time you feel uncomfortable, you’re on the right track. Take Patrice as living proof it gets better: “It’s embarrassing at first, but I’ve just been doing it longer. It’s all muscle memory.”

Step Two: Relieve the pressure.

In its simplest form, social media is nothing more than a tool to document the story of your business — and all the best documentaries value truth over perfection. On camera, rather than aiming for “Always Sunny,” go for always real.

Even still, there’s no need to spill your heart out on day one. Start by sharing quick looks at your daily workflow, lunch breaks, task lists, or how you like to unwind. These casual, simple posts lower the stakes and help build your confidence. The more you practice, the less discomfort you’ll feel. In time, you’ll feel more settled in your public persona.

Step Three: Let us in on the “messy middle.”

Despite the headlines, we know firsthand that building a business is almost never glamorous. So why hide it? Patrice reminds us of the power in revealing the “messy middle” — the space between starting and success where you’re figuring things out, making mistakes, and pivoting just under a million times.

Production run gone awry? Tanked a meeting? Stuck on an impossible decision? Letting your viewers see the parts of your story that don’t go according to plan helps you connect on a more vulnerable level. We call this “building in public” — and we’ve found that it only makes people root for you more.

Step Four: Navigate crisis with transparency.

We’ll say it: Cancel culture is intimidating, and something in the back of every founder’s mind these days. Sharing our stories on social media also means exposing ourselves to a variety of criticism — especially when we make mistakes.

Back when Patrice worked with female-focused co-working space The Wing, the company faced massive backlash during a controversy that needed immediate PR. Her client’s initial reaction was to avoid the issue — until she realized that owning her mistakes and being transparent about her growth was the only way forward.

For us, it’s a reminder that transparency isn’t just crisis management — it’s leadership. In matters of brand, transparency builds trust and creates room for forgiveness. Take control of the narrative, own your mistakes, and speak from the soul.

Step Five: Lean fearlessly into community.

It was only right for our inaugural episode to feature a female guest — and we’re so lucky it was Patrice. As we were reminded over and over again throughout our conversation, we need good friends to build good businesses.

Building together has only strengthened our bond through the ever-complicated, always entwined journeys of motherhood, business, and self. We’re living proof that it’s possible to grow all of the above at the same time — and that ultimately, your business will thank you. Against industry naysayers and online haters, we’ll always stand for founder solidarity.

So yes, we’ll **also be taking Patrice’s advice and sharing more, more, more out loud in hopes of inspiring you to do the same. Stay tuned while we air more Unfinished Business.

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