Think about a high-profile individual you admire.What is it about them that most attracts you? Do a little digging. Find out more about what led them to their current success. Did they publish a book? Do they have a strong media profile? What kinds of comments do they attach themselves to in the media? Do they come across as a confident person? Did they struggle to become a confident public speaker? How does their profile contribute to their success?
Set goals. Put realistic timeframes around your goals to keep your motivation high. I would suggest that, in the first instance, you keep your goals achievable within a twelve-month period. For example, you may want to give an industry talk at a particular institution. You may want to build a relationship with a particular journalist who follows your field of endeavour, or you may want to publish and distribute a white paper in a particular area.
Identify and set aside the resources to follow a twelve-month profile-building plan. What do you need to support you? More time to focus on writing? Permission from your superiors or your family? Some media training? More speaking opportunities? Industry body involvement? (This section will be easier to complete after reading following chapters).
There’s no question that having a strong personal brand offers you the opportunity to exert extraordinary influence. How you choose to use that influence is a question only you can answer. I hope you will use it to bring about meaningful, positive change within your area of passion.
Learning how to identify and tap into that passion is essential to developing confidence and an important to growing a powerful personal brand. And that’s covered in the next chapter.
Your weirdness is your brand
Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you. Oprah Winfrey
One of the most compelling identities I have worked with is Coss Marte, a New York City entrepreneur who spent his youth in and out of the prison system. Today, he runs ConBody a successful global enterprise that teaches how to get fit and create a “prison body.” His business success, built from a sheer determination to survive, is just a sidebar to the real story of his brand.
Coss grew up in poverty, and eventually became a leading drug king pin, sacrificing his freedom, integrity, and his health in his quest for money. By the time he entered his final prison term, he was morbidly obese. Doctors gave him a dire prognosis. However, he spent the next year building a healthy body and mind, and that transformation helped him to make the ultimate shift from someone who lived a lawless life to becoming a profound social contributor. Today, Coss employs former prisoners and is deeply focused on working within the social justice system to help prisoners to reform via entrepreneurship. His business and passion come from a deep place and his work is unique.
You can't help but be inspired by the beauty of this quest and the sheer courage it takes for him to stand strong in his vulnerability, allowing others to do the same. Coss is a great example of the power and inspiration that came from having the courage to be seen for who he truly is.
Your personal brand won’t ring true or attract people unless it is built on authenticity. So, it’s important to get under the skin of who (or what) drives you in business and in life. Why did you start? What’s your backstory? Why do you care about what you do?
My work with many hundreds of successful business founders has shown me that entrepreneurs are primarily solving their own problem when they build a successful business. Their personal back story and beliefs are a fundamental part of their success, the business promise, and brand story. This can also be said about many successful career endeavours: there is something in the background of the individual professional that drives them on to great achievement. Finding that X-factor can be extremely valuable, as it is a huge clue about wherein our authenticity and our attracting power lies as an individual.
Is the message you are taking out into the world authentically aligned to what you believe? It takes time to have a message resonate with an audience. Do you care enough about that message to stick with it for a period of time?
There’s an old adage in the marketing world that the moment a customer starts to recognise our brand, or in the case of a company our logo, that’s the moment we often grow tired of that brand ourselves and plan to change it. It takes time and patience to build a brand of any description. Nevertheless, take care to stick with your brand-building efforts, themes, and messages long enough to give your target audience time to recognise your efforts and respond.
A personal brand is never static, and it can never represent the whole version of who you are because you are many things. The version of ourselves that we choose to reveal is often a reflection of the audience that we are in front of.
However, identifying a key topic or theme to focus your brand-building efforts around for a period of time is a good starting point and is important for creating currency.
What's your signature topic?
Many of us have a signature dish we’re famous for amongst our friends and family - it's something we enjoy cooking, have a lot of experience with, and have added our unique twist to. Our choice of dish is often artfully simple, whether it’s our mother’s apple crumble recipe, or an omelette, we’ve found a way to master it, own it, and add an element or two that distinguishes it from everyone else’s and improves it.
Similarly, when it comes to personal profile, one should have a topic they can own: one that they are passionate about and have either mastered, or are on the road to becoming an expert in. Your topic should be aligned with your interests and expertise. In fact, chances are we’re already talking about it, or at least thinking about it.
If you don’t know what your signature topic is, ask your friends or colleagues for ideas about topics that seem a natural fit for you, which you love talking about, and already have a reputation for being an expert in. Your passion for the topic will naturally give it a unique spin.
The biggest clue of all is that your signature topic is likely to be something you are currently engaged with.
When people look to build their profile they often go out in search of a brand-new landscape to play in, thinking that they need to abandon the past and start afresh. The truth is this typically won’t work as effectively as starting with a point of familiarity and expertise, and building from there.
Ask yourself some key questions
If you’re stuck for ideas, here are a few questions you can ask yourself to help identify some life themes or your area of subject matter expertise.
Be deadly honest; there is no should here. When answering, don’t discount your full-life experience. If you are just starting out on your career, these experiences, even when you were a teenager, can offer big clues about your enduring areas of passion and expertise.
Listen for anything unusual that pops up, particularly things you are tempted to dismiss or push back into the background. That’s often the biggest clue about what makes you different, such as:
What business or life skill comes easily to you? And sometimes, it comes so easily that you are tempted to dismiss it. A clue for this is that it is possibly the thing that people often ask you to help them out with as a favour.
Is there a particular message or experience in your life that you have felt driven to share with others?
What are three positively defining moments in your life or career so far, and why?
What are the three greatest contributions you feel you have made to other people?
What is your favourite quote in life, and why?
Who is the celebrity or businessperson you most admire, and why?
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