While Navigating your career, it’s critical each one of us builds our own personal brand. You already have a brand – the question is whether it’s the brand that represents your values and who you really are. Is your brand “by default” or “by design”?
Your brand is built from how the people you work with perceive you. This is from the work that you have done and the way you do it. You have built a reputation not only with your co-workers but also your clients, buyers, associates. They have branded you.
Do you know how you are perceived by others? Are you deliberate about the impression you create at work? Do you own your existing brand? Or do you need to re-brand yourself?
Don’t allow others to define your brand.
Identify your ideal career niche so that you can brand it and communicate it effectively to others. Over time, you need to articulate what you want your name to be synonymous with. Do you want to stand for dependability? Or execution? Or creativity? Or something else?
So, if you are to build your personal brand, it’s important to understand what are the key elements that make up a great personal brand:
- What are you Passionate about?
- What are your skills and talents?
- What is it that your company/ industry needs and values?
It’s the convergence of all these three things (what you absolutely love doing. What you are very good at (or could potentially become very good at) and what others value and need) that your unique brand will thrive. This is your career Niche. A sweet spot; where your skills and talents are in great need, and an area that you absolutely love doing.
If you can manoeuvre into a career path where you get to do that every single day, you will feel incredibly satisfied, and you will build a great brand for yourself.
So go ahead and be deliberate about creating your brand.
