Personal Branding

 

Who loves to fail?

No one!

But you know what, sometimes you need to fail in order to move on to the next step towards your success.  I don’t like failing but I do enjoy it especially if I’m able to learn something valuable from the experience – and I’ve failed a lot in my life.

One way to avoid failure is to plan for it not to happen in the first place by being proactive.

Personal branding is no rocket science.  It works when you know what you’re doing.  When it doesn’t, it’s very easy to know why.

Most of the time, I believe a personal brand will fail due to these 5 main reasons:

1. Not Answering these 3 Important Questions

I recently shared on my blog 3 questions you must ask yourself before investing in your personal brand.  If you want to avoid failure, please take a moment and answer them.  Trust me, it will clarify things for you.

• Who am I?
• What am I trying to achieve with my personal brand?
• Why am I investing in my personal brand?

I’ve asked this question to many individuals who come to me for personal branding advice.  You’d be surprised so hear how many of them have no clear idea of what they’re trying to achieve.

2. Not Having a Personal Branding Strategy

Most of the time, the first thing I see people do whenever they want to boost their personal brand is they head immediately towards social media.  Although social media is truly a powerful medium for any brand, it’s simply not enough.

With any type of project, you will need a plan. You will also need to develop a strategy that will help you achieve your ultimate goals with your personal brand.  It’s almost like your going fishing.  You won’t catch fish wherever you go.  You need to throw your line in places where fish exist and hungry for some delicious bait at the right time.

The same goes for your personal brand.  If you want to attract specific individuals, you need to know exactly what they value, where they hangout and what you need to do in order to get their attention.

3. You Lack the Required Skills

Another reason why you could potentially fail with your personal branding efforts is because you lack some of the most important skills to help you achieve what you’re trying to do.

Skills related to:

• Technology
• Communication
• Writing
• Speaking
• Leadership
• Management
• Social Media

and much more…

Nowadays, there’s no excuse for not having a general idea of how to do things.  There are lots of websites out there such as Udemy.com or Lynda.com which offers lots of online courses to help you learn any topic you wish get acquainted with.

I even launched my own personal branding course to help individuals learn the required skills in improving their personal brand.

4. You’re Not Seeking Help

One of the easiest ways to avoid failure is to ask for help before you even fail.  It’s as simple as that.

There’s nothing wrong with asking someone for a helping hand.  The challenge is ASKING SOMEONE.

Social media has made it very easy for anyone to seek help.  You even have websites like Kickstarter.com that help you seek financial backing from strangers on the Internet.  You can also get help from mentors or advisers.  I offer help on Clarity.fm.

Remember this…don’t be shy…JUST ASK!  You will be surprised to see who might come to your rescue.

5. You’re Simply Not Taking Action

Finally, this is the ultimate reason why people fail. THEY SIMPLY DO NOT TAKE ACTION.

Lots of talk, lots of planning, lots of wasting time and no real execution.

Does this remind you of someone?

• I need to launch my website
• I need to start blogging
• I really want to speak at events
• I need to improve my resume
• I have to start being more active on social media
• I need to create an account on Instagram (everyone has one)

Stop saying it and Just Do It!

So let me ask you this: what’s your reason for not spending time or money on your personal brand?

Let’s face it. Reality is that you want to have a valuable personal brand and be known within your network.

Great.

But why exactly do you want that?

There are lots of great advantages in having a powerful personal brand, but I want to share with you 3 questions you need to ask yourself before investing time or money in it.  It will help you focus and understand the true meaning of what you’re trying to achieve from your efforts.

Take a moment and ask yourself:

1. Who Am I?

It’s a simple question to ask yourself but you know what, many of us don’t have a clue who we truly are and want to be remembered as. It’s not about your name or where you come from or what degree you have.

It’s about your personal value proposition.

• Who you are?
• What you do?
• What differentiates you from everyone else?

 

2. What Am I Trying to Achieve with my Personal Brand?

Now that you know who you are, ask yourself what exactly are you trying to achieve with investing in your personal brand?

• Do you want to land your dream job?
• Do you want to  get a new client?
• Do you want to boost your salary?
• Do you want to speak at events?
• Do you want to be recognized as an expert in your field?
• Do you want people to buy your product or service?
• Do you simply want to make more money?
• Do you want people to join your movement or tribe?
• Do you have your message to be heard?

Simple questions to ask yourself in order to figure out what is it that you’re trying to achieve from your efforts.

 

3. Why Am I Investing in My Personal Brand?

We all have reasons why we do what we do.  When it comes to your personal brand, you might be trying to get a higher salary or get hired by a large company, whatever it is, you need to know why are you even trying to do that.

For example, simply stating that you’re investing in your brand because “you want more money” is not enough.  Ask yourself “why do you want more money”.

• Are you looking to improve your lifestyle?
• Do you want more freedom?
• Do you want more time to spend with your family?
• Do you want to be able to travel the world?
• Are you trying to buy something (house, car)?

The WHY is what will make you want it even more.  It will push you harder to achieve your goals.

Try it.  Ask yourself these 3 questions even if you’ve already started investing in your personal brand.  You will be surprised by your answers.

I don’t need to tell how you important social media is for your personal brand.  Not only does it help you raise your brand awareness but also helps you expand your network.

The best part of being social is that it doesn’t cost you much other than your time.  I remember the day I decided to join them and created my personal accounts.  It was all new to me and  I had to literally learn everything from scratch.  Now, it’s a habit: login, post something or comment on someones picture.

Whether you’re just starting out or trying to improve you social presence, you must not ignore certain networks if you plan on being effective with your social media efforts. I believe it’s as important as creating a personal website.

Here’s a list of the 5 most important social media networks you should be using which will help represent your personal brand:

1. Linkedin.com

Use your Linkedin profile as your professional social media account.

That’s where you display your experience, education as well as your professional network within your industry.  Most of the time, I bet that your Linkedin profile will show up first on Google when someone searches your name.

Here’s an example of my own well-optimized Linkedin profile.

 

2. Twitter.com

Consider Twitter as your headline channel.

Share a 140 character tweet describing something valuable or share content (image or link).  It’s pretty simple to use but also easily ignored since there are lots of tweets going on every second.  You need to post something multiple times a day if you really want to benefit from this network.

Use Twitter to post:

• A blog post
• An visual image
• A thought or quote
• Respond to other tweets
• Share tweets from people you follow

Here’s an example of my Twitter profile.

 

3. Facebook.com

This is where you display who you are, your skills & knowledge within your industry.

I love Facebook but it has changed over the years.  You see more ads, but relevant ones.  It’s a lot harder to get noticed since Facebook constantly changes its newsfeed algorithm.

Here’s an example of my Facebook profile & Facebook Page

 

4. Instagram.com

Instagram is perfect to display the visual side of your personal brand using images and 15 sec videos.

I use it to share all sorts of things I do in my personal life.  It’s a great way of letting people know how you go about your daily life.  People love it since it’s very visual and instant.  I love Instagram because when you post something, you know for sure your followers will see unlike on Facebook where it’s controlled.

Use Instagram to post:

• A delicious food pic
• Pic of yourself at an event
• Doing something related within your industry
• Your passion (hiking, fashion, sports cars)

Here’s an example of my Instagram profile.

Click here to get create your personal Instagram account.

 

5. Periscope.com

Although it’s the newest network out there, it’s being adopted like crazy.  Think of it as your LIVE video stream social network where you get to share the ultimate experience of being present with you at major events such as a conference or live interviews.

I recently created my account and plan on using it myself within my social media strategy.

You will need to download the iPhone app or Android app to get started on Periscope.

 

What is your favorite social media network?

Great! I see that you’re actually considering investing some of your valuable time in improving your personal brand, but like everyone else, I’m sure you’re asking yourself…

“Where do I start?”

That’s one question I get a lot from people.

Obviously, the first thing I would have to recommend you do is to plan on building your personal branding strategy.  Among the most important tasks within your strategy, you must put some focus on creating a personal website which will serve as your central hub for all your efforts.

Back in the day, creating a site wasn’t so easy but now, you have no idea how many tools out there, some of them free, actually make it easy for you to launch a website within minutes.  I’ve tried many of them over the years.  Keep in mind there’s no perfect tool out there because it really depends on your personal branding goals, budget and marketing strategy.

Here’s a list of 5 tools to help you create a personal website with ease.

1. Branded.me

Start creating your personal brand website using Branded.me

 

2. About.me

Create a simple one page website using About.me

 

3. Strikingly.com

Create a beautiful personal website using Strigingly.com

 

4. Squarespace.com

My Favorite: Use Squarespace.com to create your personal website

 

 

5. Wix.com

Create a personal website using Wix.com

 

Are you using any of those website creation tools? Which one is your favorite?

If you plan on investing time into building your personal brand whether you’re trying to get noticed, land a new job or boost your current salary, you will need to be very organized.

Consistency is key when it comes to personal branding.  Depending on how your strategy is designed, you will certainly have to take on numerous daily tasks to help you boost your brand such as writing blog posts, reaching out to individuals within your network, engaging on social networks, requesting speaking opportunities and much more.

The biggest challenge is how do you organize yourself in making sure everything gets done on time as you had planned for it?

When I started working my own personal brand around 4 years ago, after discovering my true passion, I had a massive to-do list.  I wrote things down on a piece of paper, emailed myself some notes, used post-its all over my desk and utilized many online tools.  But the one thing that truly helped me was using a digital tool to help me better organize myself.

Here’s a list of 5 online tools for improved to-do list management you should really consider using:

 

1. Built-in Reminders in Smartphones

Whether you have an iPhone or an Android device, each one comes with its own reminders or to-do list app.  It’s easy to use and simple to manage and best of all, it’s

free.

 

2. Todoist.com

Manage your to-do lists with Todoist.com

This is one of my favorite tools.  It’s simple yet has everything you need in terms of features such as even sharing your lists with others.  It’s free and comes with an affordable premium account.

 

3. Evernote.com

Manage your to-do lists with Evernote.com

I use Evernote for not only tasks but also to centralize all my notes and bookmarks.  It offers you a great feature of adding checklists and it’s free.  It also has a premium version which I have bought as well.

 

4. Basecamp.com

Manage your to-do lists with Basecamp.com

I use this tool for project tasks or whenever I’m working with a new client.  It’s perfect for more serious work as it connects to many other online tools for improved project management.  There’s a free version as well as paid ones.  I pay around $20/month.

 

5. Wunderlist.com

Manage your to-do lists with Wunderlist.com

I’ve never used this tool but noticed a passionTribe member using it.  I checked it out and it really seems interesting.  Give it a try.

 

There’s no perfect tool out there to manage your personal branding efforts but one thing for sure, you can use a combination of solutions to help you get the job done.

Test them out since most of them offer a free version and see which one is better for you.  Download all their smartphone and tablet apps as well since I can assure you will want to be mobile flexible.

Have fun!