Personal Branding Matters. Here's How It Changed My Life
Are you ready to make your personal brand work for you? Join my upcoming program, LinkedIn for Personal Branding SUCCESS ACCELERATOR PROGRAM, if you want to accelerate your personal branding success.
Now, more than ever, building your personal brand has become more important.
Whether you’re aware of it or not, you already have a personal brand.
Your personal brand is how others perceive you. And this perception is based on two factors:
So, your personal brand is not just who you say you are; it's largely what others say you are. If you want to leverage your personal brand to grow your career or your business, these two factors have to be aligned. Consistency is key.
Here are two scenarios to illustrate the importance of consistency in making your personal brand work for you:
1 - Who you say you are is not consistent with other people's experience of you
Here's an example: Even if I say that I am a LinkedIn expert, but if you look at my profile and see that it's not optimized, and you see zero engagement and only 10 followers, you would probably not believe I am a LinkedIn expert. It might even scare you and make you question my expertise.
Of course, before you do business with me, you would want to know what I know about LinkedIn marketing. And if you don't see any relevant posts and articles, it will just scare you even more.
In this scenario, if your experience of me is not consistent with who I say I am, you won't think I can help you.
2 - How others experience you is not consistent with who you say you are
Here's an example: If you have just shifted to or planning to shift from the corporate to being self-employed as a coach, freelancer or consultant, people probably still know you as that person in the corporate.
Simply telling people you've shifted to coaching, freelancing or consulting won't be enough to enable you to get clients for your own practice or business.
In this scenario, it's essential that you create an alignment between what you do now and how others experience you — and that's like starting all over again in building your professional reputation.
Personal branding matters more than you think
Simply defined, personal branding is a strategic process of creating a perception of you. It is a process. It doesn’t happen overnight. So the question that many people ask is this: Is it worth it? Does personal branding matter?
Absolutely.
It matters to people who want to get ahead in their careers or business.
It matters to those who have been working hard, but have not been recognized for who they are and what they stand for.
It matters to job seekers, business leaders, career shifters, self-employed professionals and business owners who want to attract opportunities that will help accelerate their success.
Here’s why personal branding matters:
1. Personal branding gives you clarity
Personal branding is a journey. And the journey starts from within you. Having clarity on your values, strengths, skills, passion and purpose requires a deeper conversation with yourself.
Through that conversation, you will also gain clarity on these three important questions that are crucial to your personal branding success:
2. Personal branding builds your self-confidence
In a world where people try to make us who we are not, having the courage to be who you are even when no one cheers for you is your greatest asset. Mindset matters. Self-confidence moves mountains.
And in my experience, one of the biggest benefits of building a powerful personal brand is gaining the self-confidence you need to embrace your authentic self without fear of being judged.
The more clarity you have around who you are, what you stand for and why you do what you do, the more that you will appreciate your unique value. And this leads to gaining more self-confidence.
3. Personal branding gives you visibility
Making yourself visible to the right people that you want to help or influence is key to getting the opportunities that you want.
Think about it — not getting yourself out there is like depriving others of the opportunity to find a solution to their challenges.
For example, I know I can help entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants and freelancers gain the visibility, credibility and strategy they need to grow their practice or business. I feel like it's my job to get them to find me so that I can help them.
We all have solutions to offer. We all have skills that others might need to succeed. And personal branding enables us to articulate our unique value and get found by those who need us the most.
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4. Personal branding makes you stand out by helping others
You can’t build your personal brand in a vacuum. Again, your personal brand isn't just what you say you are; it's also what others say you are.
And because other people's experience of you has a huge impact on your brand, you need to focus on others, not on yourself. Personal branding is not about you. It's about the people that you help and the people who matter to you.
Create that experience that will get them to reach out to you by helping them achieve their goals.
5. Personal branding enables you to inspire and empower others
Telling your story is an effective tool in building your personal brand.
Stories beget stories. When you start telling your stories, you give others the courage to also tell their stories. And that is so powerful in building connection and starting a conversation with the people who matter to you.
6. Personal branding helps you build trust
People do business with those they know, like and trust. By clearly defining and communicating your value and showing up as your authentic self — which are essential parts of building your personal brand — people will begin to trust you.
Build trust by building your personal brand.
7. Personal branding accelerates your success
The more visible you become and the more authentic you are, the more you will attract opportunities that are relevant to what you do and what you want to accomplish.
Here are some of the opportunities that await your personal brand:
Done right, personal branding can accelerate your success!
On a personal note, here's how personal branding changed my life:
I rebranded through LinkedIn a couple of times – from being a college professor to being a freelance writer and editor, then from a freelancer to what I do now as LinkedIn and personal brand strategist.
And when I look at myself now compared to where I was, I can't help but acknowledge how grateful I am for how things have turned out for me.
When I look at my own journey to where I am today...
Today, every morning that I wake up, I am grateful...
I can go on and on to list down everything that I am grateful for. But my journey wasn't easy.
Working in different time zones to serve multiple clients across the world was challenging. Sleepless nights had become so lonely.
And when people didn't believe in me, it was hard to find words to convince myself I should keep going. My health got in the way, but I refused to stop believing the best was yet to come.
So what kept me going?
The clarity I gained early on in my personal branding journey, the self-confidence I have built along the way, my family who never stopped supporting me, and my professional network here on LinkedIn who believed in me have kept me going.
And so my hope is to help more Filipinos understand and experience for themselves how personal branding could also change their lives and enable them to give hope to those around them.
Wrapping Up
Personal branding doesn't have to be a big word. It's really simple.
It's personal because it starts from your authentic self. And it's about branding because it flourishes when people experience you in a positive way.
So think about personal branding as a way to exude that positive experience that only your authentic self can deliver.
Let me end with this quote from Simon Sinek: "It feels good to help people. So get out there and help."
Are you ready to make your personal brand work for you? Join my upcoming program: LinkedIn for Personal Branding SUCCESS ACCELERATOR PROGRAM starting on May 7. If you're ready to accelerate your success, let me help.
Attended Umingan national high school
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