Tips on how to create your Personal Brand and stand out from the crowd
We all have a personal brand whether we like it or not – it is what people think and say about us when we are not in the room – and its not always what you may think it is!. Your Personal Brand is your reputation and what it is like in the minds of others, what people know you about you, how they experience you, what they expect you to do and to say and how you turn up.
To establish your Personal Brand follow these simple steps to identify your key skills and traits:
Ask for feedback from people you know really well what they really think about you by writing down 5-10 key words, both positive and negative words they think describe you best. Ask them to clarify the words if they say ‘honest’ do they mean you won’t steal from your company?
What do you want your Personal Brand to stand for – answer / describe yourself under the following 6 key areas:
- Values: What’s important to you
- Drivers: What motivates you
- Reputation: What others think about you
- Behaviour: How you act in front of others
- Skills: What you can do that others can’t
- Image: How you look and dress
Create a MindMap with your name in the centre with each branch as one of the key areas from above with sub branch’s that are words that sum up the area i.e. under ‘Values’ you could write ‘loyal’, ‘energetic’; under ‘Drivers’ you could write ‘problem solver’ etc
Think like Oprah – boil your Personal Brand down to the one key word or idea which you want people to know you by – identify that one core thing – in Oprah’s case people trust her and feel connected, her key trait is ‘Empathy’
Use Social Media, what do you engage with and say on line – this is the area you can create your own persona and presence but be careful what you say on line ast could come back and haunt you!
Take action by bringing your brand to life, push yourself to do more around your Personal Brand so others will identify with you. Use your passion and talent to gain recognition and make yourself in demand.
Your Personal Brand cannot be bought, nor made up – it has to be earned – the good news is it is never too late to improve your Personal Brand by focusing on who you are, what you are great at and what value you deliver to others. Remember your Personal Brand is all about your reputation – it is all about you!
If you want help to create your Personal Brand – why dont you give me a call, Howard Kent – I would love to chat with you about your ambitions and brand plans.
Are you struggling to grow your business?
Are you struggling trying to grow your business? Are you having sleepless nights worrying about growth? Do you feel constantly overwhelmed and out of control? Are your employees running your business ‘their’ way, constantly complaining and not delivering the service your customer wants and is paying for?
Does this sound like you, all stressed out, exhausted or worse still thinking of throwing in the towel? I bet you thought none of these problems would ever happen to you when you decided to start your own business, right?
If you would like to get out of the daily grind in your business and be a Business Owner that enjoys your business and life while making the money you would like, there are two simple mindset shifts you need to make to start moving in the right direction:
1) You are now a Business Owner – right! You are one of the elite few who have made the shift and going it alone. But this requires a completely different mind and skill-set than being an employee. You now need to start working “ON” your business rather than “IN” your business! Without this shift, you will probably find yourself in the same place or maybe in a much worse position twelve months from now.
2) Think of your business as a product rather than what you provide or do. What do I mean by this? Everything you do in your business should be all about developing a process and building equity. Have you seen the movie ‘The Founder’? If you haven’t then go see it. It’s all about McDonalds founder Ray Kroc played by Michael Keaton who built the McDonalds brand into what it is today. Let’s face it McDonalds is not only a fast food chain, it it is first and foremost tried, tested and proven process to anyone that wants it and can pay the price to have it. Can you achieve such results in your business?
What you need is a great product or service, well trained employees, a business process, a marketing system that works every time, a proven sales system, a financial system with KPI’s and an operations system. The objective is to leave nothing to chance in your own business, everything must work together like a well oiled machine.
Think of how you can build your business into a turn-key operation that someone else would want that can be duplicated. Now you have a recipe for success. You will be in a position to get your life back, make more money than you ever thought you could and start to sleep like a baby at night with no worries. How sweet does that sound!
To create a business that will work without you takes time with the right mind and skill set. You cannot be expected to do it on your own. You need to employee the right people for the jobs that need to be done and not necessarily like-minded people but people who will bring specific expertise with them and be able to work as part of a team. In a lot of cases it makes economic sense to employ specialists or consultants to oversee certain aspects of the business while it is evolving and growing. All the time you will be learning from their expertise while you focus on growing the business.
Having a business that works which is profitable and sustainable is every Business Owners dream! So, if you are struggling with your business, cash flow, marketing, sales, people, process etc. I would really like to have a chat with you and show you in just a few minutes how you can evolve and turn your business around. Why dont you book a Discovery Call with me – simply click on the link on the site and lets talk.