Untitled

When you create a page on Facebook you have to categorise it, tell which sort of an entity your page represents. You will choose from categories such as Companies & Organizations, Websites & Blogs, People and Music. Things get really confusing if your page represents a business. Besides the Companies & Organizations category, your business could fall under Brands & Businesses or Local Businesses (if it is such), or then again it could fit into any other category too, in case those categories are the business of your business. For a freelancer or self employed People could be equally as fitting category as any of the others. And of course all these categories have their own subcategories, so that things won't be too easy for anyone. Well, at least you can switch the category and subcategories, there doesn't seem to be restriction over that.

I had to start a new Facebook page as I rebranded recently. This was because Facebook is an ass and didn't let me change the url of my old page. I decided, as my blog and everything now goes under my given names, to put it under the People category. Choosing the subcategory gave me a headache. I could have branded myself as an Artist, Writer, Business Person or Blogger. I decided to go with Designer, as it felt like an easy choice.

This decision made me think about branding yourself, giving the titles and headlines. I have had the same issue all the time I've been freelancing with web design, development and marketing. How should I describe what I do? What would my title be? I have changed my headline way too many times over at LinkedIn and I try to rewrite my bio on different platforms as well as on this website. I kind of want to tell the world I'm an artist, but something inside me keeps asking if that's really what and who I am. Maybe I'm even afraid people would laugh at me. "Artist? Hardly!"

It seems easier when you have a set title, something that comes with your regular kind of a job. You work in a advertising company as a copywriter, so that's what you are. You are a nurse, you are a teacher, you are a CEO. All well established and understandable. The self employed, freelancing, undefined, uncategorised ones are in trouble. Others may try to label us as this and that, but those labels never quite fit. In the rise of web entrepreneurs, life and business coaches, those who do multiple different things and other not so typical jobs, you see people giving themselves obscure tiles such as "non-conformist" and "web generalist". All these people are being described as "entrepreneur, author, blogger, artist, public speaker, musician", the whole litany. You are undefined, untitled, uncategorised.

I know, there's that whole thing about making sure you have a good pitch. In Finnish it's known as hissipuhe, which tranlates as lift talk, meaning it must fit in between getting inside a lift with the person you wish to pitch and the point they leave the lift. You must be able to describe yourself, your brand, your business in a couple of sentences, preferably a couple of words. And that's the deal. Especially doing several different things, not having one clear and predefined "this is what I do and the only thing I do", things get complicated. You might want to say that I SHOULD find that one thing, but I would tell you to go and put your head back in your arse and quit pestering me. For my kind there's that wait, hoping for someone to come up with the perfect definition, the title that will describe you and what you do. That is, without caging you and making you drop off any part of yourself and of the things you do.

Titles and categories are difficult. There are those who appear to be more at ease with giving themselves titles. They aren't afraid to call themselves an artist or other things they are or sort of aren't, but want to be. Would this be one of those things like dressing for the job you want? Title yourself as what you want to be, rather than what you are.

• Creative processes
• Repeat, repeat, repeat