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I'm reading an article about personal branding in this month's Harvard Business Review.

At first, I was excited to see what they said about personal branding until...

...I see the article was written by a dating coach, a relationship coach, and a branding thought leader.

I haven't been in the dating game for decades so I have no experience working with a dating coach.

Do people consciously create a personal brand when they are single?

I know personal branding is important if you are a solopreneur.

I never thought about creating a brand for my personal life.

The first step of the seven-step process is to Define Your Purpose.

What do you stand for?

What are your passions?

What are your goals?

Next, you write your personal value proposition.

I did a lot of this internal work when I was in coaching certification.

It's very touchy-feely and not for everyone.

In this article, they give you a template to help you get started.

I like a little help now and then but I'm not a fan of templates.

Templates help you fill in the blanks.

What I don't like about templates is filling in the blanks limits you.

You're thinking is limited to filling in the blanks.

Here's an example of a personal value proposition for an IT professional applying for a job.

"For a prospective employer, I'm the best cybersecurity manager to hire among all applicants because of the multiple industry certifications I've earned and the strong leadership and perseverance I developed as a Division I college athlete"

Huh?

Does thinking from this perspective help you position yourself as a good candidate for a job?

When I was an IT geek, I interviewed countless "certified" candidates.

They proudly shared their Microsoft certifications and my next question always stopped them in their tracks.

"How many servers have you managed?"

They took classes to help them pass the certification but they had zero real-world experience.

I would politely thank them and send them on their way.

I'll spare you from the other six steps.

Yes, creating a strong personal brand is important but templates are not the way to go.

Ted?Prodromou, America’s Leading LinkedIn Coach, is the award-winning, best-selling author of Ultimate Guide to LinkedIn for Business and Ultimate Guide to Twitter for Business (Entrepreneur Press).

Ted?has been featured on?Entrepreneur.com,?Forbes.com, Twitter Revolution on CNBC, The New York Times,?HuffPost.com,?and many other popular websites.

Ted?is a social selling expert and the founder of Search Marketing Simplified, LLC, a full service social media marketing agency. The SMS team creates advanced LinkedIn and social media lead-generation campaigns for small to medium-sized businesses with over $100 million in revenue generated for their clients.

Get your free LinkedIn and social selling training at www.YourLinkedInCoach.com