Every day brings with it tons of new articles and points of view on the importance of personal branding, how to build one and why we shouldn’t care about it. Somehow in the midst of all this noise, we find an area that seems to slip by unnoticed. The actual individual.
See the thing about branding is that it has to stand for something, the original message that a “brand” would leave behind usually had to do with a particular level of quality that a business or individual was known by. In essence, Bill the blacksmith would imprint his brands mark into the finished product to let others know who was behind it, and with this mark those that saw it knew that the product could be trusted. The term later evolved into a blurry misrepresentation by many that a brand was something generated by rearranging pixels on a screen and slapping on a fancy font. While having a professional image is important, the true importance lies within the foundation that the identity represents.
Whatever Bill the blacksmith stood for was accurately represented in each item he shaped and delivered. So should be the same with our own personal brands.
Simply put, we just need to be decent human beings. In the same time it takes for us to focus on something negative, is the same amount of time it would take to build something positive. Instead we’re so focused on what we can’t do that we fail to see all that we can do.
In order for us to build and maintain a successful personal brand that shines and allows us to grow as individuals we must first discover the things needed to build a solid foundation that will allow us to do great things.
We simply need to be decent human beings. Making a difference requires us to be different, and in a world full of average minds who find comfort in gathering possessions that eventually fade, the world needs you, and it needs your creativity.
Now isn’t the time to hide and wait until tomorrow because tomorrow isn’t promised to anyone. Each day is a gift that should be treasured and appreciated.
Your personal brand is simply the sum of your most noticeable characteristics. Don’t let someone else dictate what those are. Deep within us all is a source of good that shouldn’t be ignored, for when it’s shared life begins to show that it isn’t so bad after all.
Many people will tell you that because of where you’re from that you couldn’t possibly achieve anything, to that I say malarkey, for the past only shows what we’ve been through, to move into the future we must use that to make the choices that will take us to where we want to be.
One can either complain about where they are or get up and do the work needed to arrive somewhere better.
So what do you want your personal brand to show?
