Being an introvert, I never spoke much in public let alone praise my own achievements. But in recent years, I have realized that this habit of mine has costed me some amazing opportunities. Now, I am not suggesting here to become a self-centered person. But, instead develop self awareness and self love, which is a really important aspect of life that most of us ignore. We are often our worst critics and we tend to judge ourselves on things before others do. This habit stops us from sharing things about ourselves in front of others that makes you, well YOU! Only you can create your own brand, if you won’t promote yourself then no one else will.
What Is A Brand?
Do you have to post advertisement to create your brand? Well not exactly, since we are talking about the personal brand. Personal branding is the conscious and intentional effort by a person to create an image of authority, credibility, and differentiating themselves from the competition, to ultimately advance their career, increase their circle of influence, and have a larger impact. It require you to have good knowledge of any topic that you want to represent. For example, one can be a brand for a good Software Developer, Life Coach or Social Influencer. You just have to be good at it.
Brand Can Do Wonders For You
So, how does a brand really help you? Well remember the time when you went to see that doctor on the other part of city. You could have gone to any other doctor nearby, so why did you go to only a specific doctor? Maybe they know your history, maybe they give effective medicine or maybe they are good at diagnosing the type of problem you have. That doctor have created a brand for himself, not by advertisement or paid promotion but by showcasing their expertise to you.
It is the power of your brand that help you grow and get more opportunities in life. When you are going for that interview you are in fact creating a brand in front of the interviewer. Even when asking for help from others your brand plays an important role. If you have a bad brand or reputation people will shy away from help you out. On the other hand with good brand people will come to you and will listen to your advice. Some of people with well known brands that I follow are the CRED founder Kunal Shah and Near.Buy Co-Founder Ankur Warikoo. Both of them have good number of followers and IMO gives some amazing advises in their areas of expertise and experiences.
How Can You Create Your Own Brand?
I believe there is not a single clear path for creating a brand for yourself. Some of the points that I can share with you to help you get started are –
- Find that one thing that is probably unique to you or your area of expertise. Once you have the figured it out you can start building your reputation in your network.
- Share your experiences with others. Good experience build credibility and bad ones create learning. It’s a win-win for you and others either way.
- Be true to yourself and others. You cannot wear a mask your entire life (some people do try), at some point you will have to put down the act. So why not just be yourself? I bet you will go much further by channeling your energy in growing than pretending to be someone you are not.
- Be ready to help other (but not at your own expense) and open to ask for help.
- Be curious and open to learning.
Well these are only some of the ways that I have tried and can say works (I am still working on it). There can be a lot of other ways to do this as well, you just need to start. I would love to hear your thoughts on it in the comments section below.
Now that you know how important it is to create your own brand, you might be interested in reading A Message To 5 Years Younger Me!