Personal branding and re-branding is a hot topic in professional circles these days. Seems a lot of people are thinking of ways to make themselves look better and appear more credible. They want to put on a better face, so to speak, and the best place to start is with a personal branding strategy.
It’s not about a make-over or telling a new story, it’s about rethinking all your options, reevaluating your life and reinventing yourself completely. Start with your heart and work your way out…
An advertising executive goes back to school and becomes a teacher.
A mid-level marketing manager quits and goes back to his true passion of building guitars.
An accomplished consultant rebrands himself as a resort-course caddy and ends up on working for a PGA tour player.
An under-employed mom decides to stay home with her kids and start a mommy blog that produces a six-figure income.
The transitions can be dramatic and very rewarding.
Modern career paths don’t follow the comfortable, upward path of our fathers. They zig and zag all over the place, often rising radically for a period of time, only to plateau, fall, and rise again.
It’s the natural order of things these days. Much more natural than the old, corporate model of life-long employment.
In “Re-Imagine,” Tom Peters says the average career will encompass two or three “occupations” and a half dozen or more employers. It’s a great book to read if you’re working on a personal branding strategy, new career path, or any other branding effort.
A job for life is being replaced by a gig for now.
Instead of working your way up the ladder you have to leap your way across ever-changing terrain. It’s a free-agent nation and Tom Peters is a good role model.
When Peters wrote his first book he was toiling away in a small, west coast office of the world’s largest consulting firm. His peers didn’t think the book project would amount to anything. In fact, they laughed when Peters suggested he keep the royalties on sales over 50,000 copies.
It sold more than six million copies and established Peters as a rock-star among management gurus.
Since then, he’s published a dozen books and transformed himself into a multi-million dollar brand. His fee for a keynote speech: $80,000.
Peters has made millions with his speaking engagements, consulting jobs and publishing contracts. He could retire, or rest on his laurels. Instead, he’s reinventing himself yet again as a blogger.
In a recent interview with Seth Godin, Peters said, “No single thing in the last 15 years has been more important, professionally, than blogging. It has changed my perspective, it has changed my intellectual outlook, it’s changed my emotional outlook, it has changed my life.”
For Peters, blogging is much more than just another tactical marketing tool. It’s a new skill that helps keep him sharp, and his personal brand relevant. It’s a key piece of his personal branding strategy.
For you, blogging might not be helpful.
Maybe Pinterest is more to your liking, or an Instagram account or TicToc. The point is, those social media tools provide an electronic soapbox that allows you to present your work, your views, your skills to a potentially huge audience. Pick one and go for it.
Also, pick a few inspiring people to follow and emulate.
I like Peters because he’s a bit of a rebel. He’s not afraid to call a spade a spade, he loves branding, he’s a great communicator, and he appreciates the power of good design. Our brands are strikingly similar.
I used to think if I just kept reinventing myself I’d get it right someday. Obviously, I was missing the point.
It’s not the outcome that counts, it’s the process of reinvention that bears fruit.
The true secret to happiness, I believe, is the ability to honestly love the reinvention process. You have to embrace change.
If you can’t embrace the process, your personal branding strategy will never take shape. Never bear fruit.
There is no right or wrong in the process of reinvention. As long as you’re learning and growing, it’s all good. Chances are, you’ll go down some rabbit holes that lead you nowhere, but you’ll come out smarter for it.
You’ll begin to understand the hurdles you face, and the ways you sabotage your own success and hurt your personal credibility.
It’s a learning process. A process of elimination… Each blind alley makes you more experienced and probably more focused on what your really do want. The process will provide a better story to tell.
If you’re working on your own, personal branding strategy the chapter on branding in “ReImagine” is a must-read…
“Branding is not about marketing tricks,” Peters said, “it’s about answering a few simple (and impossible) questions…
Who are you?
Why are you here?
How are you unique?
How can you make a dramatic difference?”
Bottom line: “Branding is ultimately about nothing more (and nothing less) than Heart.”
Whether it’s a giant corporation or your own personal brand, if it doesn’t have heart, it’s not going to be a successful brand. That’s what all great brands have in common... heart.
Southwest Airlines has heart, and it’s demonstrated humorously on every flight.
Bono has heart, and it comes through in his music and in his philanthropic adventures.
Patagonia has heart, and it shows up in the company’s political views and its ownership structure.
What is the heart of your personal brand, and how can you demonstrate that in your work?
That’s the crux of your personal branding strategy. If you can define what you’re passionate about and then demonstrate that passion on a regular basis, you’ll have a successful personal brand.
And no matter how many times you reinvent yourself, the heart of your brand will still be true.
If you need help pinpointing your own personal branding strategy, give me a shout. I can help coach you through it. Contact me here, or reach out on LinkedIn.
Bravo! Heart is at the true nature of what should guide us and within it we become greater individuals. Nice post John!
A well written post as always, good job.
I agree with John that personal branding these days is very crucial. But then again with the right kind of PR and effective use of resources I don’t see why one cannot do it well.
Being a freelance designer myself I know how vital to have a good brand name. But I guess I managed pretty well. For instance using a content sharing tool really helped me collaborate well with my clients. And it kind of became my USP, cause in spite of being a freelancer it showed how professional I was at work.
Coming back to this post I must say its very neatly written.
I love this site and I totally agree with what you are saying branding is all about unique promise value. Sometimes less is more; this is a really insightful blog!
Personal branding is very crucial in generating trust among users. Marketers has to understand the pain point of users as deep as possible and try to offer personalize services. This is a way to win the the heart of a user. You can mention digital cards also, it helps in creating a mind blowing first impression among potential customers.
This is a well articulated blog .. can i draw your attention to the social media icons .. I would be happy to follow you on LinkedIn and the i con for me was non responsive !