Your career is so much more than your job title and the company you work for. Take it from me. I was at a multibillion dollar company and a rockstar leader, and I found myself asking, “What do I want from this — why am I doing this — what do I want to feel?” And that was the moment I decided to take back control over my life. I abandoned the cushioned job that I thought was supposed to bring me satisfaction for a life that actually feels right. Making the decision to put myself, my feelings, and my wants first is the reason I am where I am today.
So, how did I take back control over my career and my life? By building my personal brand.
Building your personal brand allows you to step into your true self. Not only can it help you take back control over your career, building your personal brand will help you live your best life.
What is your personal brand?
When you think of your personal brand you might think of your reputation. I’m sure that what others think about you or say about you probably comes to mind. While this is a piece of your personal brand, it’s not the entire puzzle.
Your personal brand is not just how others see you, but also how you see yourself.
“Your personal brand is much more intentional. It is how you want people to see you. Whereas reputation is about credibility, your personal brand is about visibility and the values that you outwardly represent.”
Best Selling New York Times Author, Harrison Monarth
Your personal brand is you, your story, and your legacy. You have the power to curate your personal brand to change the trajectory of your life. You can do this by not only paying attention to how others see you, but most importantly start with your vision, your goals, your strengths and how you see yourself. When we focus on our goals and needs first we can build authentic personal brands that stand out and change this world.
Why does building your personal brand matter?
Your personal brand is the key to building a life you love. Whether you work for a company, work for yourself, or have a side hustle, stepping into your authentic voice and power allows you to create a career that you love, not just a career that pays the bills.
Think about it — building your personal brand gives you the chance to really understand you. It forces you to look deeply into what you want and where you want to be. When what you’re doing is greatly disconnected from your desires and values, you’ll feel disconnected from yourself, your career and go a bit insane. Building and controlling your personal brand also allows you to close the gap between where you are and where you want to be.
Once you understand yourself, your values, your vision, your strengths, you have a better idea of what you bring to the table. Then you can bring your story to life and leverage your unique value to create a path that’s perfectly made for you!
4 Keys to creating your authentic personal brand
Your personal brand is more than your resume and your reputation. It’s about you and your unique story. To start building your personal brand, you need to start looking within yourself and understand your unique skills, differentiators, experiences and values. When I conduct personal branding workshops, 99% of the time, people have no idea what they’re great at and completely undervalue their talent. But to build a career you love and attract the life you want, you’ll need to go deep and recognize your strengths and goals.
Here are 4 questions to ask yourself to help you create an authentic brand:
1. What are your skills?
You have superpowers that are unique to you! What are they? Pay attention to your special skills and use them to create a personal brand that aligns with your unique talent. Think about your hard skills and if you don’t know, ask 10 people what they would come to you for. You want these to be skills you have evidence of and could tell stories about.
2. Who is your audience?
When building your brand, think about who can relate to your background and experience. It’s better to be super specific and niche then to appeal to everyone. The riches are in the niches! So think about this as a bullseye and who’s at the center with your second, third and forth layers.
3. What differentiates you?
What unique perspectives do you have that others don’t? What credibility do you have that others don’t? Think about your education, how you grew up, certifications you may have, languages you speak…all of the things you don’t think are unique about you but you forget! There’s literally only 1 of you on the entire planet so trust me, you have plenty of differentiators. Brag about yourself!
4. What is your passion?
Arguably the most important part of your personal brand is the driving force behind it. What lights your fire? Tap into what gives you energy and gets you excited. These are your passions and will fuel your brand and the actions you take when building your brand. So often we don’t have our passions part of our careers. It’s critical for to you to do things everyday that you love in order to create sustainable careers we love.
Need help with creating your personal brand?
If you’re thinking, wow Rachel, this isn’t so easy, don’t worry I’m here to help. We support our famiLEE in developing their personal brands inside our Standout Authority community. All you have to do is hop into the Discord and check out our roadmap here. We offer virtual group coaching for basically $150 and live training for $300 FOR LIFETIME. It’s kinda cray, but we’re so passionate about YOU standing out and creating the HUMAN REVOLUTION.
See you in the Discord!
