There is so much noise about building your brand. Much of the information is excellent. However, many of us still have the fundamental question, "What the hell is a personal brand anyway, and why do I need one?" And then even if we know this, reading all the steps in creating your brand is very sterile and high-level overviews of what you should be doing to brand yourself.
Today I want to break down the what, why, and how. Building your personal brand is actually simple; it just takes time to get back to who you were before the world started telling you who you should be.
When you know yourself you are empowered. When you accept yourself you are invincible. ~ Tina Lifford
WHAT
Let's go back in time to high school. Remember your favorite pair of jeans, the sayings you were known for, the way you decorated your trapper-keeper (that's right, way back in the time machine), well you didn't realize it at the time, but you built your personal brand. It is your high school persona you created around what you believed, the things you loved, and how you wanted people to see you and remember you.
Your brand is just the grown-up version of your high-school self. It's the persona you create that is an authentic version of yourself, how you dress, what you believe, how you communicate, and your principles and values.
WHY
You are building the business of your dreams, and the foundation is knowing who you are. Once you know this to your core, you can discover your offer, value, and audience. From there, creating conversations will be natural and incredibly valuable.
If you don't actively build your brand, you lose control over your audience's perception of who you are. They will create their own story about who you are and what you offer or just be confused because your messaging is unclear.
HOW
The first thing is to kick all the noise in your head out, evict it and never let it back in. Which means you will have to kick it out every day for a while probably. And then think about what makes you happy. Think about what makes you smile. Think about what makes you angry. Where are you most comfortable? I walk you through all the steps and more in the free worksheet below. The thing to keep in mind is that this won't be an overnight process, but you can start identifying and creating your brand persona today, and you can start writing your story.
Each day you will discover new things, and you will add those to your story. Just be open to the process and know that the universe has so many people out there looking for what you offer! You bring incredible value to your audience, we just want to be sure we have you building relationships with the right audience, and this is the foundation you need to do that!