The Easiest Way To Personal Branding!

Personal branding is a hot topic these days, but it can be confusing.

The idea behind personal branding is simple: you are the brand and your reputation precedes you.

But, what is a personal brand and why should you care?

It’s not just about getting a job or finding love. It’s all about taking control of your life.

Be yourself.

Ok, so you’ve decided to create a personal brand.

Congratulations!

You’re going to be the next Steve Jobs or Elon Musk (or both).

But wait… there’s one thing that’s often overlooked:?being yourself.

What does it mean to be yourself?

It means having a consistent voice, and being authentic with your audience by sharing things that are relevant to them, not just what you think they want.

Take this article, for example. I’m writing it because it’s something I’d like people who read my newsletter or follow me on social media to know about — and because I think sharing this information is valuable. You see how easy it is?

Being yourself = sharing useful content = making an impact in the world!

Be consistent.

Think of your personal brand as a dinner party guest. You know how you’re on your best behavior when you’re invited over to someone’s house for dinner?

It’s the same way with your personal brand.

You want people to think of you as a fun-loving, knowledgeable person who is always up for meeting new people and trying new things.

That’s why it’s important not only to be consistent in the way that you post about yourself, but also about what kind of person they think you are.

If they see one post where everything seems upbeat and positive, and another post where everything seems dark and depressing, they might wonder what happened between those two posts (i.e., whether or not there was an actual change in mood).

That doesn’t mean every single thing needs to be happy — just make sure it makes sense within the context of your overall message!

Be creative.

• If you want to be successful, you have to be creative.
• Creativity is the key to personal branding.

It’s not enough to know who you are, and what your goals are; if you want to stand out from the crowd, then it’s important that you find ways of communicating this in an original way.

Be flexible.

One of the best ways to personal branding is to be flexible.

Flexibility is a big part of any personal branding campaign, but when you’re first starting out, it will play an even more important role in making sure that your efforts aren’t wasted.

Why?

Because when you start out, there will be many things that need to happen before your brand takes off: getting an email address, setting up social media accounts, deciding what kinds of content and posts are going to be best for your audience (and, how often they should be posted). All these things take time, and if you rush them at all or try too hard without having everything in place first, it can lead not just to wasted effort, but also failure due to unmet expectations on both sides.

Be authentic.

The best personal branding advice I can give you is this; Be yourself, and do it authentically.

• Be honest, you’ll feel more confident in your identity if it’s genuine, rather than something you’re putting on for the sake of appearances or getting ahead.
• Be yourself, and not just on social media or during interviews! This means being vulnerable and transparent in person as well. It also means being open to sharing your opinions, and listening to others’ perspectives (even if those are different from your own).
• Humanize yourself, by showing off some of your quirks; the silly things you do at work, the one outfit that someone always makes fun of you for wearing even though it makes you feel good about yourself…just don’t go overboard with sharing personal details unless they’re relevant to building trust with your audience in some way!

Be engaging.

Being engaging is the first step.

The second? Being a human being.

It’s not enough to be interesting; you have to show that you are, and you can do this with your content. To ensure people will want to follow you, make sure it contains elements like humor, intelligence, relatability, inspiration, and helpfulness.

Be valuable.

Being valuable isn’t just a good idea, it’s also the name of a popular book by Peter Drucker. It’s easy to assume that he means being important, or having high status. But, Drucker says that being valuable is different from these other things; it has to do with what you contribute, and how you influence people around you.

Be valuable and watch your career blossom!

Be concise.

• Be brief.
• Be specific.
• Don’t use too many words, especially if you don’t need them to express your point. (In fact, the shorter you can get away with being, and still get the job done, the better.)
• Don’t make it complicated or difficult to understand by using jargon no one else has heard of before (i.e., a long word that describes something simple).

Be visible and vocal.

This is an excellent time to be alive.

The internet has created a whole new world of opportunity for self-promotion and visibility.

It’s no longer enough to just have great work, you also need to let people know about it.

Don’t shy away from making yourself visible in the right places on social media or other platforms where your audience is hanging out. If you’re nervous about putting yourself out there, here are some thoughts that might help:

• Don’t be afraid of promotion — put yourself out there!
• Ask others for help and advice when you need it. You don’t have all the answers, so don’t try too hard to figure them out on your own!

Take control of your personal brand to have more control over your life

What is your personal brand?

It’s the sum of all the actions you take in life, online and off. Your personal brand is what you choose to be known for. Your personal brand is about authenticity, consistency, visibility and value.

If you’ve ever had a job interview or met someone new who asked what you do (or have spent some time Googling yourself) then, there’s no doubt that defining your personal brand has been on your mind before now. But, even if it hasn’t been at the forefront of your consciousness until now; well, here’s some good news, this isn’t like any other branding exercise!

Forget about creating fancy logos or snappy taglines, you don’t need them to start building an effective personal brand strategy. Instead focus on the above related important elements.

One thing is for sure; personal branding is not a simple endeavor. It’s something that can take years of hard work to really get right.

But the good news is that, once you know what you’re doing, all it takes is consistency and an eye for detail.

And, if you’re willing to put in the time and effort required, personal branding will allow you to take control over your life.

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