7 Indispensable Steps
to Building Your Personal Brand

Building a personal brand is no longer optional because you already have one. Everyone does. The Internet has created 7 billion+ personal brands – one (or more) for each of us.

Photo Credit: TerryJohnston

The pivotal factor is whether or not you will intentionally develop a stellar brand. If you have not yet given it much thought, or you are overwhelmed with where to begin, I will break down the basics right here.

Since You Need One . . .

Here are 7 indispensable steps to building your personal brand:

1. Become Comfortable In Your Own Shoes ::: Life begins within. When you learn to love yourself first, everyone else will see that confidence and beauty. Your ability to help others starts with helping yourself.
2. Perform a Self-Audit ::: Define what you love, what you hate, and what stirs your soul. The more clarity in these areas you have the easier it will be to define where you belong. For example, I love marathons, I hate animal cruelty, and personal growth stirs my soul.
3. Study Other Personal Brands ::: There are billions of brands, but only a handful worth following. Here are a few I love: Michael Hyatt, Dean Karnazes, and Maria Forleo.
4. Think REALLY Long-Term ::: Ideally, your personal brand will be around long after you are not. Think about building a brand that will last centuries – not just a few moments during the next online trend.
5. Focus on 1-2 Skills ::: The best use of your time is to maximize what you are already great at doing. Identify 1-2 key skills where you excel and exploit those traits in every way you can.
6. Tell Your Story ::: This is THE factor which will separate you from the billions of other brands. Your individual story is yours and yours alone. It is unique. Your voice is different and it matters.
7. Don’t Wait – Just Go ::: Plans are great but action is better. Start moving today and plan tomorrow. Action instigates more creativity than brainstorming sessions ever do.

You Don’t Need a Website . . . Yet

You may have noticed that I didn’t mention a website, a blog, a podcast, a platform, or any other traditional branding tactic.

Why?

Because you don’t need one right now. When I started with my personal brand I jumped in head first, blogging and writing books about topics I knew nothing about. Then I tried to live a great life.

I did it backwards.

Go out and live a great life. Live a great story. Do things worth talking about and then come back and share what you learned with the rest of us.

Don’t do what I did.

Live first.

Brand second.

Your Brand is a Promise

My wife Tessa has a master’s degree in Integrated Marketing Communications, in addition to her 2 undergraduate degrees, another master’s, and the doctorate she is working on now. Needless to say, she’s a professional student.

In her marketing classes Tessa was repeatedly told one phrase that she (and I) will never forget: a brand is a promise.

It’s true. The more I think about what my brand is, what Coca Cola’s brand has evolved into, what John Deer, Harley Davidson, or The New York Knicks represent in the marketplace, the more I realize the promise each brand is preaching.

Your brand is also a promise: a declaration that something will or will not be done.

As you build your brand, keep in mind that everything you do, everything you say, and everything you promise communicates a strong message to your audience.

They will love you or hate you based on whether or not you keep your promises. Integrity matters. Communication matters. (I also wrote a post on integrity that you might find very interesting).

4 Pivotal Questions

Who will you help?

What value will you create?

What promises are you willing to keep?

What will your personal brand say about you?