What's Your Personal Brand?

Do you have a personal brand?

If you are the business, and your skill-sets are the products and services you provide (to your employer), then your personal branding is of crucial success.

Quick – go get a piece of paper.

Now imagine if a friend, family or acquaintance were to gossip about you or your name gets mentioned in a casual conversation behind your back. What would they say about you? Write down the first answer that comes to your mind. You can write it in point form or in a sentence.

So what did you write? Was it positive or negative?  Did you write something like:  “I am trustworthy and talented”. Or was it something like: “People say I am indecisive”.

Good for you if it is positive. You have a problem if you wrote something negative.  In the business of life, the impression others have of you is your brand. Your personal brand is one of the key success factors that you should be building equity on.

Picture two similar products on a retail shelf, one with a well-known brand and the other, a house brand. Which one would you choose? The one that has the well-known brand, of course!  You would perceive this product to be of better quality than the other one although it may be more expensive. And so, this is true in any business as it is in the business of life, where your employer will hire the candidate with the better personal brand.


Do You Market or Sell Yourself Consciously?
A new venture that doesn’t market its products and services is doomed to fail. How many new entrepreneurs do you know who do not promote their businesses? Very few. On the contrary, you might know many who are obsessed in promoting their offerings with every slight opportunity they are given whether it is through networking, publicity or advertising.

Interestingly, in the business of life, there are many people who do not bother about marketing themselves despite heavy competition from others who can do the same job for a lower salary. The fact is many of us do not think it is necessary at all. There are those who will tell you that they hate selling or marketing. Here’s the cruel reality: whether you are a doctor, lawyer, accountant, sales manager or a teacher, you are a mere commodity – there will always be others who can do the job just as well. You will be destined to lead ordinary lives unless you recognize the importance of personal marketing to your employers, friends and clients.

Now let's go back to the question I asked at the beginning of this blog: Do you have a personal brand, a positive one? You'd better. If not, start creating one and market yourself if you want to make it big in the business of life!