Building a Brand Around Yourself
The one thing they never teach you in school is how to set yourself up to build value around yourself so that you can pivot in your career when you need to and not have to start over.
This day and age things are always changing with occupational needs, education and experience required, how people receive information, how people buy, etc. In a playing field where change is the norm and evolving is a necessity, its easy to feel unsettled, distracted and vulnerable in our careers or business. The solution I discovered after 10 years of working in many positions and pursuing my career was that I needed to Build a Brand around myself. As cliché as it sounds, it’s actually becoming as important as building your resume nowadays. Employers and customers are scouting your online presence to see who you are and what you are about before they consider what it says about you on paper. In hopes to save you some years of experience, here are some tips of where to start no matter where you are in life.
- Identify your Superpower – Your superpower is the “thing” that you do so well you usually take it for granted because it just comes so naturally to you. If you need to, you can ask people who know you well what this may be and I’m sure you will hear similar answers over and over. Your Superpower is how you connect with people in a way that they best receive the information you have.
- Identify what Fulfills You – This is the result of your hard work that makes you want to come back and give even more. Your fulfillment statement may be generic but the more specific you can be, the easier it is to identify what you should be doing or selling.
- What is your industry and what need can you fulfill – After you combine your Superpower with what Fulfills you, start laying out the pang points of the industry you are in, that you feel the most needed. Often times the gut answer you feel first is the most uncomfortable one, but ends up being the one area you would stand out in. The three follow up answers may still be good ideas and areas you should pursue later, but the first thought is the right one.
- People will only take you as seriously as you take yourself – Now that you have identified how you Best communicate/sell, identified your “Why”, and committed to the need you are going to fulfill as an employee or a entrepreneur, the most important part is next. Write down on paper, very specifically what that “person” looks, sounds and feels like to you Online. After you’ve written every detail you could come up with, write on a new paper, manifesting statements that you ARE that person. You ARE exactly what you envision and you WILL reach your ultimate goals that that vision entails.
Now show up as that person every single day and invest your money, time and risk into being your very best self to fulfill your vision. When you are committed and doing those things daily for months and years to come, that is how you create a brand that is centered around you. People are so attracted to others who exhibit that clarity and pursue what fulfills them. Those attributes are what brings you sales as a business and gets you to the most sought after positions of your career. Don’t waste anymore years… just get started.
