Following on from our post about the importance of developing a personal brand, we now take a look at building one. If you have not read the previous post, we recommend you do so first and then come back.
Who Are You?
The first thing you should ask yourself is who you are? It seems a simple question, but the answer is often more complicated. You are probably many things, but you need to decide what you want others to see you as; what you want your brand to say.
If you work in sales, you want others to take notice of your skills as a salesperson. Moreso you will want people to see you as trustworthy, understanding and personable. These human qualities are often more important than a skillset. Skills can be grown and developed over time, but in the first instance, you want people to want to work with you.
Consider Your Values
Values are crucial in building your personal brand. It is likely no secret to most that those we consider friends are those who align with our values to some extent. The same logic applies in business. A company is significantly more likely to hire someone who shares similar values to those which the company wishes to present. Such people are often quicker to adapt to new roles and more likely to meet the business’s needs.
When you ask yourself who you are, you should draw up a list of the things that mean the most to you and attempt to order them. Perhaps it is family, possibly your sense of adventure, pride in your knowledge and intellect or even your sense of humour? By building a list, you are taking time out to think about how you want to be perceived. Above all, consider what makes you happy because your happiness can have a startling effect on your personal brand. Someone who is enthusiastic about their work is infinitely more desirable than someone who is not.
What Are You Passionate About?
The next thing you want to do is to identify your passions. What goals do you pursue, or is there any hobby or interest you have? Effectively, why do you work? What we are looking at is what triggers your reward centre. Is it taking your kids to the football? Perhaps it is buying the latest tech or gadgets? Maybe it is sightseeing abroad, or perhaps it is something as simple as having the luxury to read a good book in front of the fire?
It may seem odd to be looking so deeply into your private life, but again, it comes back to happiness. If your passion is spending time with your family, how would you feel about a job that limited how much time you could spend with them? Many people feel as though they have to behave in a certain way. They might take a job with a higher salary only to find themselves unhappy because it limits how much time they can invest in their passions. As I mentioned in my article about coping with stress, it is vital that you make time for yourself.
Your Passions Shape You
Furthermore, while our passions do not define who we are, they certainly help to shape us. Often our pursuit of passions may inform our actions. Whenever you write a CV, you are always encouraged to provide some information about your interests outside of work. In part, this is because your activities outside of your job can predict how you will perform in the job. For example, if you work in a creative field, having interests in arts can be representative of that. If you work in a customer-facing role, then enjoying highly sociable pursuits may be beneficial.
Passions may even provide a connection with others. Getting along with people always involves a common ground. Our passion for something can become the basis for a future relationship.
Examine Your Traits
Next, you will want to consider your traits. These are the aspects of your personality that define you. Often, these can be the hardest to pin down as what we think we are may not always align with how others perceive us. One way of finding out can be to ask others what they think our personality traits are. Do people see us as compassionate? Perhaps they think we’re agreeable? Maybe they even think we’re neurotic?
Even personality traits that we might consider negative are important because it gives us something to focus on improving, or in some circumstances using to our advantage. For instance, if we discover that others perceive us as unadventurous or wary of new experiences, we might want to consider trying to overcome this if we feel it will benefit our brand. Conversely, if we wish to work in ‘traditional’ sectors, such traits could be a boon. However our traits fall, it should give us something to consider.
Even personality traits that we might consider negative are important because it gives us something to focus on improving, or in some circumstances using to our advantage. For instance, if we discover that others perceive us as unadventurous or wary of new experiences, we might want to consider trying to overcome this if we feel it will benefit our brand. Conversely, if we wish to work in ‘traditional’ sectors, such traits could be a boon. However our traits fall, it should give us something to consider.
Your Happiness is Paramount
Our traits also inform our happiness. An extrovert is not likely to be happy in a role that favours an introvert and vice versa. Someone who is not fond of new experiences is unlikely to be content in a role that requires high levels of innovation and creativity. If you are a naturally disorganised person, you might not be happy in rigid, structured roles yet may thrive in fluid positions that require you to think on your feet more often than not. However, always remember that we can work on these things if we feel they are holding us back. Self-improvement is never an unobtainable goal when we have the will to change.
Your own happiness is crucial. How content you are in a role shines through in the quality of your work. Building a personal brand is as much about selling to yourself as it is to others. Throughout all of this, we’re asking you to define you and consider things that perhaps you normally ignore. Learning about ourselves helps us plot our future life journey.
At this point, you may be wondering why you’ve been drawing up these lists. How will they help you? For now, we want you to take some time to think about everything you’ve discovered about yourself. In our next post, we’ll be looking at how this newfound self-awareness can be utilised to push us forward to where we want to be.
