Personal Brand or Nah

The best thing you can do from now on is to invest in your personal brand.

What is a personal brand?

In short: your reputation.

No matter what field you work in, your personal brand is how you present yourself to the world and how other people perceive you. With a strong personal brand, you build authority and credibility in your field.

You differentiate yourself from the competition and attract opportunities that align with your values ​​and principles.

In addition, personal branding allows you to control your own narrative. You gain loyalty from your audience, leading to more trust and successful collaborations.

This personal brand follows you in any project you engage in and in any context you end up working.

How is the personal brand different from the business brand?

By and large, they have different goals and focuses, but they can complement each other.

Personal Brand:

• you focus on yourself as an individual
• you build it around the actions you take and the way you are perceived by others
• it can evolve with you
• create genuine connections with people based on who you are

Business brand:

• the focus is on the company, products, services and business values
• it represents an entity separate from the people who run it, although it can be influenced by them
• aims to attract and retain customers, increasing profitability and recognition in the market
• it is more statically structured, built to last, even in the absence of the founder

How do you have a personal brand?

There would be some key points to make…

1. Clearly define your values ​​and mission

See what you represent and what you want to convey. What motivates you? What are your values? They are the basis of your personal brand.

About values ​​I want to mention a few things…

I was in the 1st year of college and I signed up for the “Leaders Explore” project from the Leaders Romania Community.

For several weeks I participated in workshops at the Faculty of Business in Cluj-Napoca, supported by different entrepreneurs and people with experience in their fields.

I learned about DISC behavioral styles and what Leadership, Values ​​and Life Principles mean.

There I started to define my values, through guided exercises, together with the trainer.

The most important aspect I want to highlight here is this:

Once you are clear about your principles and values, you will always know when to say Yes and when to say No, in any context. 

Sometimes in life you will have to make tough decisions. You will have to break up with someone. You will have to decide whether to enter into a long-term collaboration or not. 

You will have to decide whether to give up on a project/client/job or move on.

This decision will be extremely easy for you if you know your values ​​and principles. You will know clearly if it is worth it or not just because you know that other people identify with these values ​​and principles or not.

2. Identify who you are addressing

Who are the people you want to communicate with? Find the audience that best resonates with your messages. Your personal brand must be built with these people in mind.

But the idea is simpler than that: you can best relate to yourself, because that way you will attract people like you.

You can even refer to yourself from the past, 2 – 3 – 5 – 10 years ago. Think about what needs you had then, what problems, what challenges, what aspirations… and you have a great advantage because you already have all the experience to respond to that person.

3. Build a presence in the world, especially online

Improve personal profiles (change profile picture, delete nonsensical pictures or posts, etc.)

Create pages with your name and start growing their followers with daily posts.

Start showing the world what you can do and what you think.

I, for example, use platforms like X, Facebook or Threads to write what’s on my mind. Then based on those ideas I take feedback from comments and reactions and understand what makes sense to do next and what doesn’t.

Create a personal website where you inform your audience through blog posts (see my example).

Creating a personal website is not difficult and it can be a great experience to know that you created it yourself, with your own imagination. 

Use social media to communicate and convey what you have to say, and provide value to those around you, for free.

For example, I write this newsletter that I send to you and the other subscribers, so that you can access them quickly and easily.

At the same time, I also publish the text on my website. Then based on it, I create videos and other posts on the other social networks.

4. Be authentic

Even though in any field some concepts, definitions and methods are repeated and similar… you can rewrite them from your unique perspective. You can add your point of view or come up with examples from your own experiences and experiences.

This will help you to be authentic in your own way.

For example, an idea can be rendered in multiple formats and styles. The same general idea in your industry is played out in thousands of ways, you just have to be a little creative.

5. Be consistent

Consistency isn’t just about publishing content every day non-stop. It also refers to being consistent in ideas and communication.

For example, if you chose real estate, stay there. Don’t start posting about medicine and stuff too.

Of course, with strict exceptions. No one is saying to only relate to your field, but keep in mind that anything you post that is not related to your field can dilute a bit of the reputation you have built up in your area of ​​expertise.

When you’ve been in a field for a long time, you start to get bored of saying the same things over and over, but that’s the secret: a magician repeats the same number hundreds of times, only to different audiences. And sometimes the audiences aren’t even different.

But does that mean you don’t pay to see them anymore?

On the contrary. You go with love every time. It’s human nature to repeat experiences we like.

And by making this analogy, you can understand why it makes sense to keep sticking to the same field you’ve chosen and posting the same concepts or methods over and over and over again.

Over time, this will make you perceived as a leader or authority in your field.

It’s like at school: every year the teacher teaches the same information. And yet, that doesn’t make him any less authoritative.

6. Connect with others

Having a personal brand isn’t just about being like a TV ad that you just see constantly and can’t interact with. It means talking to people, your audience, people in your field…and so on.

7. Analyze, Learn, Adjust, Evolve

Working on developing your personal brand is a privilege that not many can have. Not because they don’t want to, but because they can’t afford to do so. It takes time, energy and effort.

But it’s a journey worth enjoying every moment, and the destination changes as you reach new destinations.

Stay strong!

– Andrei Isip