Beckham; Jagger; Trump; Kardashian; Obama; Minogue; Gaga. As soon as you read these names an image, word association or feeling is generated. Whether it’s a positive or negative perception is quite irrelevant because the point I am trying to make is that each one has a personal brand.
In fact, we all have a personal brand whether we are conscious of it or not. In my experience many people don’t realise this and therefore don’t control their personal brand either. And others, who are in the spotlight and should know better, manage to devalue it with each move they make. Yes - I’m talking to you Ms Lohan!!!
Author and blogger Dan Schawbel says that “many people think that personal branding is just for celebrities such as Paris Hilton or Britney Spears, yet each and every one of us is a brand. Personal branding, by definition, is the process by which we market ourselves to others. As a brand, we can leverage the same strategies that make these celebrities or corporate brands appeal to others. We can build brand equity just like them.”
Whilst we may not be able to “bend it like Beckham” or have “moves like Jagger” (though I’m sure some of you do!) and very few of us want to play on a world stage with our personal brand, we all have values, beliefs and expectations that determine how we conduct ourselves and therefore how others see us.
Now I know we can’t control what other people think, but as adults we are responsible for the choices we make and the actions we take, and these go a long way to forming part of our personal brand. Other parts are formed by what we stand for and how we define ourselves. Most importantly though your personal brand is an assessment others make about who you are and what you bring to them, and it’s your consistency in doing so that will define this.
Whether you work, run a family, study - or all three or none – to work out what your personal brand is, ask yourself the following questions based on the principles outlined in businessman Tom Peters’ work:
- what qualities or characteristics make you distinctive?
- what have you done lately to make yourself stand out?
- what would those closest to you say is your greatest and clearest strength?
- what do I do that adds remarkable, measurable, distinguished, distinctive value?
- what do I do that I am most proud of?
The more I teach our courses and conduct the online readings and channelling sessions, the more I become aware that part of what ‘team Julianna’ shares is the ability for people to create some space and time in their life to help them define or redefine pieces of their personal brand. And the beauty of your brand is that whilst some of the core elements will always remain the same, as you learn and grow, you can layer the new elements into your personal brand and share this with the people in your life to make it as rich and deep as you’d like.
I have always believed that a clean, honest perspective enriched with communication with those around you about who you represent and therefore why you make your choices, allows your soul to fly. An intelligent, open mind is an intelligent, open soul.
Know who you are.
Share who you are.
Make no excuse for who you are.
And grow into this every day.
