YES, YOU TOO ARE A BRAND

The word “Branding” isn’t new to us. We have all seen companies spending millions of dollars just on branding their goods, picking and influencing a right target market, preparing day in and day on out on the final D-day of their brand launch.

Well, so much effort and investment go into the branding the products we need to sell, but do we even realise at the end of the day, what we do whole day is selling ourselves. Selling ourselves to the clients, to managers, to peers, to bosses, in relationships etc etc.

So how much do we invest in carving a brand out of ourselves, well in fact do we even really care to invest?

Donald Trump Rightly said, “If you are not a brand, you are just a commodity”, and success does not come easy to commodities, right!

If you are breathing, you have the power to become the Brand in your own field. Its all about knowing your strengths and weaknesses, in other words- ‘Strengthen your Strengths’ and ‘Weaken your weaknesses’ simultaneously.

And Personal Branding is not a destination, it’s a journey, a lifelong journey. Let me give you an example, when we think about Barrack Obama- what are the qualities of his which come to our mind- A great orator, Great leader, Family man, Balanced personality etc. So, did he think that one day when he gets elected as President of United States, then he will embrace these attitudes. No, not really. It would have taken him years or even decades of consistency and perseverance, by being there, sticking to what he really believes in, toiling hard without negotiating on his values, to be what he wanted to be. This would be a similar story of any person whom you think has a strong personal brand- He/she may be a Politician, a TV celebrity, a social worker, a sports person etc.

 Someone rightly said, the harder I work, the luckier I get. This exactly works for your brand too. “The harder you work for your brand, the harder your brand will work for you”.And because this happens for your entire life, I would love to call it “Life Branding”.

Perform as if there is a permanent camera on your head, and every single move is being recorded. Under no circumstances your ethics or integrity should be compromised. After all, we all work towards leaving a positive footprint in this world, isn’t it? So, whatever you choose to do or not choose to do, either builds your brand or destroys it.

So, time to think from now on- What do I want people to talk about me? How do I want to “show up” to them so that I get perceived, as what I am in reality, not what is based on someone else’s predefined biases and notions, how am I going to tell my story, or rather how would I like my story to be?

Embark on your personal branding journey, first to know yourself and then to define where you want to be. Be intentional and cruise your own ship- after all- Its your journey, it’s your Personal Brand!