| Personal Branding
What
is Personal Branding?
Personal
branding is a
revolution in the way we manage our careers or businesses. It's a way
of clarifying and communicating what makes you different and special
and using those qualities to separate from yourself from your peers so
that you can greatly expand your success. Personal branding is the
strategy behind the world's most successful people. People like Oprah,
Madonna, Richard Branson and Bill Gates. It is the difference between
an ordinary career or business and an exceptional one.
It is only a matter of time before your peers or competitors jump on
the 'brandwagon.' So uncovering, building and nurturing your brand now
will ensure that you get out in front of the pack and experience
professional success beyond your dreams.
In order to form a clearer understanding of your Personal Brand, answer
the following questions.
1.How do your close
friends describe you
to their friends?
2. How do your
colleagues describe you
to their friends?
3. How do your clients
describe you to
their colleagues?
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Your Personal Brand lives with you every minute of every day. What you
choose to say and what you choose not to say affects your brand. Who
you choose to associate with and who you choose not to associate with
affects your personal brand.
The following table illustrates some of the main elements which
influence your personal brand
| Experience |
Contact
Network |
Values |
| Skills |
Knowledge |
Goals |
| Motivations |
Health |
Happiness |
In simple terms your personal brand defines who you are in the eyes of
the external world. Your brand is who you REALLY are.
The notion of consciously developing a personal brand has gone
unrecognized by most professionals until recently. However, this has
started to change as the dynamics of work place increasing stresses on
many professionals. Just consider the following realities:
- Technical skills
rapidly become
commoditised
- Many seemingly "safe"
professional
positions are now being outsourced to lower cost employers based
overseas
- Professionals are
overwhelmed with
information on a daily basis
- The criteria used to
measure success in
the workplace is changing
- Management structures
are becoming more
fluid
For these reasons and
many more, simply
letting your career "go with the flow" is becoming unacceptably risky.
The rules of the game have changed and its down to you to decide
whether you makes the changes necessary to play by these new rules.
Any form of change requires a degree of commitment. However, its
important that you understand that building the right support network
around you as you embark on the change will dramatically accelerate
your chances of success.
We all (hopefully) have people around us who can help. However, you
must
distinguish between those that are willing
to help from those that are able
to help. This is a subtle but important difference.
Employing a qualified coach who has the skills and experience to help
you makes these changes is something that you should give serious
consideration to.
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