How I Discovered My Personal Brand + Let's review LinkedIn Posts

Going through the process of discovering my personal brand was not EASY.?

At first, I was looking in all the wrong places.?

I saw Simon Sinek and spoke to the guy who branded him.?

He wanted 10k to go away with me for a weekend and figure out my reason for existing.?

Seriously, I was considering having this amazing branding consultant help me create a brand.

My business partner talked me out of it. He said, Joe, let's focus on the business and not worry about your personal brand right now.?

Still, it weighed heavy on me because I desired to express myself and I knew something was missing from my message.?

Who am I??

I need to develop an IDEA of who I am so I can be a better speaker, author, and feel more confident expressing myself.?

What is my purpose? How does my business tie into my personal brand?

I was at a Vistage event and my friend JP told me that he had an amazing business coach that helped him find his own brand.?

This is a person I want to meet, I thought.?

When I started my business, I did not believe in coaches but over time, I saw all successful CEOs, athletes, and actors all had coaches so I said, obviously they are onto something.?

Jack Daly told me at an EO event that if you want to perform like an athlete you need to have a coach to help you see your blindspots.?

I hired David Brown to work on my personal brand with me and the first thing we did was figure out my strengths.?

So many of us are so focused on our weaknesses that we overlook our strengths.

Instead of creating a personal brand, the task was to discover who I already was.?

What a novel idea.

I already have a brand?

There is a book that I bought a while back but did not read called Strengthfinder 2.0. It comes with an assessment that allows you to discover with pretty good accuracy what your top 5 strengths are.

Apparently, there are only 34 basic human strengths and we all have 5 that are the strongest.

It helps us establish language around what we are REALLY good at.

Here are 5 words that describe my top strengths:

• Competition
• Activator
• Strategic
• Futuristic
• Ideation

This sounded familiar to me, so I went back to my records and realized that I did this test 5 years before I met David. It turns out that the first 4 were the same back then.?

The 5th was maximizer, but it became ideation. Wow! Let's keep digging in!

Each one of those words helped me identify what I was really good at and also what my weaknesses were.?

Discussing these strengths helped me identify things about myself that I never really thought about.?

For example, I am pretty good at planning and being strategic, but I never knew how much I enjoyed it. No wonder why I had a marketing agency.?

As a CEO, my futuristic strength helped me be a visionary and help paint a picture of the future for my clients and my employees so they can see what I can see in the future.?

During brainstorming sessions, I am able to come up with dozens of ideas - some great and some not so great, but they flow from me.?

If anyone is stuck, I can activate things and get a project started effectively because of my activation strength.?

What does this have to do with my personal brand? I had no idea, but it helped me figure myself out more.?

The next thing we did was define my core values.?

In the first Linkedin newsletter article , I discussed why core values are so important for a company to grow and it is very important for a personal brand too.?

We first discovered that I valued 15 different things but eventually we knocked it down to 8 and over the past few years simplified my values to three words.?

Curiosity, Creativity, and Levity.?

This helped me further hone in on the flavor of my brand.?

Asking questions, creating new twists on old ideas, and having fun and laughing a lot is the key to my full self-expression.?

We explored my childhood wounds and figured out why I care about the things that I care about.?

Finally, we developed my WHY the reason I do what I do.?

This process took two years, but it's never really finished because I keep evolving.?

The more I work on myself, the more defined my brand becomes, and the more complete I feel with the way I express myself.?

Key Message: Instead of trying to create a personal brand, discover who you already are by identifying your strengths, discovering your values, and defining your WHY. If you work on yourself and look at your frustrations you will figure out your purpose.?

Be yourself, Everyone else is already taken

Knowing yourself will also help you get to know your relationships and be able to go deeper with people.?

It's really important for business networking and relationship building to understand your own preferences, interests, and passions.?

I remember filling out my Facebook profile when I opened my account over 10 years ago, and I had no idea what to enter into the sections that asked about myself because I did not really explore myself.?

When I started business networking, I realized that if I wanted to be interesting, I needed to be interested in myself and in other people.?

Learn about yourself. It's not selfish to explore yourself and spend time figuring yourself out.?

The reason it's important to take that journey is that you will be able to share more of yourself with others when you know yourself.?

Being yourself starts with knowing yourself.?

Knowing yourself starts with spending time figuring yourself out.?

We spend so much time in our business that we do not spend enough time on our business.?

Working on your business and working on yourself are very similar.?

It's about strategy versus execution.?

You want to spend most of your time doing, but you need to invest some of your time thinking and analyzing who you are, what you want, where you want to go, and how you will get there.?

The clearer the path, the more complete you will feel.

Do you believe that everything happens for a REASON??

I believe that you get to choose the reason why things happen.?

As human beings, we are meaning-making machines, because we manufacture reasons for everything that happens.?

We create purpose without even thinking about it.?

Oftentimes we will not realize we gave meaning to something from a story we told ourselves, and we just take it as the TRUTH.

Our truth is an objective truth because the real truth is where all the lies live together.?

Here is a marketing tip you might find helpful: Set up a Google Alert for your own company name, for your own first and last name, and for any employees, key relationships, and competitors.?

Google will send you an email each time they find new information about the alert you set up right in your inbox.?

I will often find podcasts that feature me and my business as soon as people publish, way before they even notify me because of the alerts I have set up.?

While you are at it, do some research and Google yourself.?

When was the last time you did a thorough Google search of yourself and your business?

As I was snorkeling the other day, I thought I saw an octopus, but it was really just an amazing squid, and it reminded me of this joke that I told the squid telepathically.?

How many tickles does it take to make an octopus laugh?

10 tickles.

Yes, the squid laughed and swam away.

That was FUN!

Hope you enjoyed this week's LinkedIn newsletter! I had a great time creating it. Let me know if you got value by leaving a comment below. What did you enjoy the most about it? What insights stuck out for you?

Ready to take a look back at this past week's LinkedIn posts?

On Sunday, there were a few special birthdays that I celebrated and I shared a post honoring those people. https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/joeapfelbaum_happy-birthday-to-dr-tami-joy-schlichter-activity-6896240212230385664-GaWF It's really important to recognize people on their birthdays. Especially your employees, clients, partners, and friends.?

If you are not wishing your LinkedIn connections a happy birthday, you are missing out. Did you know that you can see someone's birthday on their LinkedIn profile inside the contact info part of their profile? Here is a post where I gave that tip https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/joeapfelbaum_quick-linkedin-networking-tip-wish-people-activity-6896086288554868736-SuwJ I also created some graphics that I can use when I wish people a happy birthday that include my personal brand colors.?

I am collecting selfies with the people who got my book High Energy Networking. These amazing people sent me their photos, https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/joeapfelbaum_highenergynetworking-networking-book-activity-6895443228720476160-QaV3 Thank you to those that sent me their selfies. I tagged a few in this post.?

When I launched High Energy Networking, I created a series of videos along with the book launch, and this video is about the mindset of getting people who are successful to help you. I explain the importance of contribution for people who are successful. Asking for help from those people who have what you want is really important because they want to support you. Access https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/joeapfelbaum_networking-hentips-activity-6895339851323887616-s_0E to see the video.?

I am presenting at a webinar later this month, and Matthew shared an event that over 100 people registered to join. https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/joeapfelbaum_coaching-referrals-networking-activity-6895150239960154112-med- When I saw the event I was compelled to share it.?

During a recent hike, I saw a big lump of mud on a tree and I wondered what that was. I created a post asking people in my network to help me identify what the mud was about and everyone tried to guess. It was a fun exercise that created some great conversation about the importance of taking a break and going into nature. https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/joeapfelbaum_what-is-that-on-the-tree-does-anyone-know-activity-6895097599406219264-PSgF Turns out it's a termite nest! OH BOY!

I learned so much from Stephen King about writing, and in this short text-only post I shared one of my favorite quotes that he wrote in his book, On Writing. https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/joeapfelbaum_writing-is-human-editing-is-divine-stephen-activity-6894982809673363456-YRrf - I enjoy sharing quotes that I find interesting. I recommend you collect some quotes that inspire you so you can share them.

While reviewing my posts, I realized that I have not shared a GIF recently, so I searched my albums of GIFS and found one of me ice skating in Bryant Park. https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/joeapfelbaum_networking-activity-6894767391822135296-nn2D I wrote about how important it is to share your passions and hobbies with your network because if you want people to like you, sharing your interests will help them see how they are LIKE YOU, allowing them to connect with you on a deeper level.?

This was my deepest post of the week. https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/joeapfelbaum_parenting-curiosity-family-activity-6894631268907040768-LS4_ I shared about how hard it is to be a single dad, and asked my network for some tips. Read the comments and see how this type of post resonated with my network. 50% of your LinkedIn connections are divorced, so people care really connect to this type of content.?

Sharing PDF documents on LinkedIn is a great way to get exposure. I shared the QR code strategy I use at in-person networking events in this post. https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/joeapfelbaum_find-the-linkedin-qr-code-activity-6894459084972589056-rJfx It came after a student asked how to find her LinkedIn QR code. If you are wondering where to find it and how to use it, check out that post.?

In this post, I share a marketing tip about RETARGETING. I explain why it's so important to use this amazing technology, and I also ask people what the weather is in their city. https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/joeapfelbaum_marketing-business-technology-activity-6894319937792356352-yKNI Imagine if you were able to follow your ideal clients around the internet and it did not cost you a dime! Check the post for more details about that strategy.?

Here is the poll of the week. https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/joeapfelbaum_mojopolls-activity-6894224625698443264-Y6fx It's surveying why people use LinkedIn. I compared it to the same poll I did on Instagram, and it turns out that people use LinkedIn to connect and grow, but also to get new clients and find new opportunities. Less than 5% of people use LinkedIn just for FUN. On the other hand, over 80% of people use INSTAGRAM for just fun. SO INTERESTING!?

Finally, I posted a video with my friend Ira who shared a tip he got from his father. https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/joeapfelbaum_marketing-activity-6894063546297057280-2aYo

He explained that when you are sending out emails, always talk to ONE person even if you are sending the email to a million people. Remember the human you are connecting with and speak to them as if they are the ONLY one that you are communicating with.

Wow, that was another great newsletter! Hope you enjoyed it and got value from it. Let me know if you read the whole thing or you are saving it for later.?

Let’s continue the conversation in the comments. Tell me your favorite part of this LinkedIn newsletter and what you got out of it. Would love to hear from you.?

Last week's LinkedIn Newsletter can be found here. It is about why it's BAD to go viral and how to be more strategic when it comes to growing your business.?

About the Author:

Joe Apfelbaum is the CEO of Ajax Union a B2B Digital Marketing Agency in Brooklyn NY. Ajax Union develops marketing funnels for companies that want to be more strategic. Our strategies include lead generation, account-based marketing, awareness campaigns, and prospecting. We leverage search engines, social media, and email marketing to support your goals and get the right traffic into your marketing funnel so you can have a positive ROI. To learn more go to?www.ajaxunion.com ?and watch the marketing funnel presentation!

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