3 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO BUILD A PERSONAL BRAND THAT PROMOTES AWESOME CHANGE IN YOUR LIFE - STARTING NOW

There was a time when personal branding meant nothing more than a little card with your name, contact info, and job title -- your business card...

Branding in business has historically been monopolized by companies. You see this with the company man of yesteryear or the government service (GS) and active duty military population - who wholeheartedly go all in on the notion of affixing one's identity to the organization.

While there is an understandable level of honor in this act - building your personal brand is just as important as building your company's brand in the vastly changing job market of today. With career and life-balance lines merging more and more with technology advances, the time to promote awesome change in your life is now my friend.

1. Get Out of the Witness Protection Program

Are you subconsciously hiding in plain sight? What I mean is - have you stepped out of who you truly love to be career wise and concealed that part of YOU? Stop Hiding

Embrace the roles, skills, and opportunities you love - and delegate (within reason - you still have to own responsibility) what you don't.

If you get animated and uplifted when you talk about work that is inspiring, but when you talk about what you do at the moment, you don't - that's a pretty good sign you know what you truly want to do, but haven't put in the time and work to get there. Bottom Line: Personal Branding Will Take Time & Work

I dive into this deeper in my Free Personal Branding Course

2. Practice Doing Your Future Work

You need to spend time on the future even when there are more important things to do in the present and even when there is no immediate apparent return to your efforts. - Peter Bregman, Harvard Business Review

In short, to build a personal brand that promotes awesome change in your life - you need to practice being your future self. Change will never happen overnight - you need to focus on consistent progress by actually scheduling bite-size work sessions toward your next mission in life.

No matter how busy you get in your current role - schedule one hour a day to go all in on your future self. If you can't commit to one hour, 7 days a week, I hate to break it to you - do not expect this article or any human being on this planet to help you promote awesome change in your life.

• Want to become an NBA referee? Sign up for online referee courses and start reffing your local intramural and high school games. Even look at reffing other sports just to get your skills up.
• Want to become a paid international public speaker? Sign up for your local Toast Masters. Start speaking for free about the topics you love at schools, meet-ups, jails, and retirement homes. You've got to start somewhere - remember, progress not perfection.
• What to do work you have zero experience in? Reach out on LinkedIn to 50 people doing that work in your current city and message everyone of them that you would like to come and shadow them at their work or meet-up for coffee to learn about what they do. 45 might say NO, but what about the 5 who say YES?!? Learn how they got started, ask them their advice for you getting started, ask to be their part-time personal assistant for free. Be humble - it will go a long way.

3. Develop a Strong Value Proposition

All of the leading companies of today have a strong value proposition (SVP) and so should you. You've stopped hiding. You are doing your future work. Now it is time to develop what uniquely makes you as an individual - attractive to future employers, clients, or customers.

• Set a Clear Target. What exactly do you want to be known for in this new work? What kind of opportunities do you want to attract? Effective targeting is key to developing your SVP.
• Go All In on Your Strengths. My mentor Garyvee says, "You have to double-down on your strengths and punt your weaknesses. You need to figure out who you are and go all in". In short - pay attention to and seek out the situations and environments you THRIVE in.
• Provide Value. You can't have a value proposition without providing value - that just doesn't make sense. YOU HAVE TO PROVIDE VALUE. What solutions do or will you consistently deliver? Start now. Focus on delivering tangible and measurable return on investment to those who you serve.

During a visit to NASA space center in 1962, President John F. Kennedy noticed a janitor carrying a broom and introduced himself and asked the man what he was doing. The janitor's reply was brilliant, "Well, Mr. President, I'm helping put a man on the moon."

No matter how big or small your current role is, you are contributing each day to the larger story unfolding within your life, your organization, and those around you. You must break free from what has become outdated for you in your life. Break free from the chains that devalue your individuality and start to clearly understand and define your strong value proposition and personal brand. Start promoting awesome change in your life today my friend!

What is your current Strong Value Proposition? Would you like it to be something different? I'd love to hear all about it below.

Thanks for reading!

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