Personal Brand – Why it is Important & how to Start Building Yours

Personal branding has become such an important part of my day to day life and even more so in the last 18 months once I established my business.

Personal branding is important to me as by building my profile I can positively impact people and help my local charity partners.

Before I start I just wanted to let you all know that I don’t feel that I am an expert on personal branding, however it is something that I am really passionate about and I believe having a strong personal brand can have a big influence in your career aspirations. 

So, what is Personal Brand? 

Personal branding is a way of reinforcing who you are and what you stand for in your career and life. How you dress, how you present yourself in social situations, the skills you choose to develop, what you say online, all make up your personal brand.

I want us to all think back to when social media wasn’t around. When no one was using the term personal brand, people DID stand out. Why, what made them stand out? It’s because they had a great reputation. Reputation was everything and it was mainly built on having great values and strong relationships.

I now look back and I am super grateful for the upbringing I had, as I feel it helped create my values and is a large part of what I stand for today. I was brought up in a strict Polish household. My parents came to Australia when my brother and I were little, with a few suitcases, barely being able to speak English, and a dream to build a better future for us.

They taught me to work hard and to always finish a task from A-Z.

I was taught to always be respectful, especially to my elders.

To never give up, always give my best.

And lastly my dad would always say, remember Anna if you scratch someone’s back they will scratch yours.

It was those principles and values that helped me to start building my personal brand, but during my career and personal journey, particularly over the last 3 years, my values and what’s important to me has definitely evolved.

Some of you may know that in 2016 I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, and while that story and journey is probably for another time, there are a couple of things that I do want to share with you.

It is strange for me to say this, but 2016 was the worst year of my life, but also the best year of my life. I got to meet such amazing people through my journey that allowed me to learn that it’s ok to be vulnerable, to show my fear, and to just be me. During my recovery I had an overwhelming feeling that I really needed to have a purpose in my life. So, this horrible event in my life made it so clear to me what I wanted to stand for, why I was unique, and what my values were.

I wouldn’t wish my journey on anyone, but what I want to say is that it is ok to be vulnerable, authentic, and true to who you are. My family, my team and some of my good clients know that I make up strange sayings or new words and we all laugh together, as this is part of who I am. Being authentic and staying true to myself has helped me grow my business, as people want to do business with people not with companies, and trust me being yourself is the best way to build your personal brand.

I 100% believe that personal branding has become a requirement for anyone looking to grow their business, get a better job, who wants to get noticed or take their career to the next level.

So, how to start building your Personal Brand.

Ask yourself, these five questions.

1.    Who are you?

2.    What do you offer?

3.    In what areas are you unique?

4.    What are your goals?

5.    What would someone say about you, if you weren’t in the room? Hopefully something good!!

Do you have a Linkedin Profile? Linkedin is an important platform to start building your personal brand. The exciting news for all of you today and the next generation coming into the industry, is that Social Media gives you a voice and allows you all to be recognised from your first day at work or as early as university.

I would recommend that you perhaps have a look at your LinkedIn profile, and review the following 6 steps regarding your profile to ensure it stands out.

1. How does your photo look? Do you have professional photo? If you don’t have a professional headshot, go with the cleanest, most professional looking photo you can find and ideally you want to be smiling. This photo may be your first impression with a potential employer/client.
2. Make your headline stand out. LinkedIn populates your headline with your job title and current company, but you don’t have to leave it that way, you can add some additional text (I have “Building Happy Partnerships” under my job title)
3. Fill out the “summary” field with around 5 of your biggest achievements. Use bullets to make this easy to read. Fill out as much of the profile as possible and include your skills, education or volunteer associations that you may be part of. It’s the stuff that makes you look like a well rounded person.
4. Keep your work history up to date and more importantly add some key responsibilities against each role or employer.
5. It’s a social network. So be social. Comment on posts, updates and connect with your network. It is important when connecting with someone to try and personalise the message and the reason why you want to connect. I have always found that with a personalised message I get better response. 
6. Lastly If you wanted to take your profile to the next level, you could start to create articles/blog. This may aid you to becoming a thought leader/influencer in your space. 

I have to say my articles/blog is something I still struggle with. I am a little insecure about my English. Recently I had to write an article for Adelady. And there I was, writing I whole heap of words down thinking that it was going to be edited. I sent it through and the next day I saw it posted exactly the same way I sent it to them! I completely freaked out and called through to them straight away. But the feedback was that they loved it just the way it was because it was raw and real. That’s when I realised that no one wants or expects us to be perfect, it’s just in our minds. In the end it is how we relate to people.

Before I finish up I want to quickly touch on networking as this is another important part of building your personal brand.

I am sure some of you only go to networking events for the nibbles and the free beer, as I don’t know too many of us who jump up and down with joy at the thought of networking.

But networking is essential for your growth and personal success. To start networking can be quite confronting as you are still getting to know people, but if it is something you commit to regularly is does become easier.  LinkedIn and Facebook are good resources to connect with people as a follow up to a great conversation, but the best networking is still done face-to-face.

So, join a professional organization, build new relationships, attend lunches and professional workshops, and anything else that might help you meet new people. The more active and involved you are, not only within your organization, but also within your broader industry circles, the larger and more established your network will become.

I want to finish up on saying the road to success and a great personal brand isn’t an easy one, but it’s not impossible. An integral part of making it to the top is building strong relationships so going to relevant networking events is a great start!

Make sure you know what you want, put your mind to it, work hard, be passionate, and the rest—job titles, respect, and compensation—will follow.