Personal branding is not about you
āGet the habit of contributing..."
Many people believe that personal branding equals bragging, self-promotion, chest-pounding techniques, a ‘me me me’ communication style,... Well, newsflash, it is none of those things. Personal branding is NOT ABOUT YOU.
Personal branding is about the people that you help. It is about how you ‘use’ yourself to benefit others. It is about delivering value to others. It is about how other people know you.
In my personal definition, personal branding is about me, you and us. It is about the authentic ME, telling my personal story and making a valuable promise to YOU to build together a healthy and meaningful relationship for US.
Kids are always craving for our attention. But the harder they scream, the less attention they will get. But when they do something spontaneously for you to help you, for example I see you are tired, let me set the table, then they will get your attention immediately. So it is an interesting thought that, to get someone’s attention, it is not about you, but about them. Why are certain brands so popular? Because they do something that benefits people… And so it goes for personal branding.
Because of the word ‘personal’ in personal branding, the link is made that it equals talking about yourself. It is a real eyeopener when you realize that the ultimate goal of personal branding is to serve others, to bring meaning and to really add value to the lives of other people, just by being yourself.
So if you want to make your personal brand more meaningful, two things are needed:
- Know how the world sees you.
- Get the habit of contributing.
1. You need to know how the world sees you and not just how you see yourself. Knowing yourself is about your personal identity. But it is equally (or even more) important in personal branding to understand how other people see you. This can correspond to or be contradictory to how you view yourself.
Some people don’t capitalize on their personal brand for lack of knowing how they appear to others. That is why, if you start your personal branding journey with me, it is for me a must-have that you know how the world sees you.
You will take my How to Fascinate® assessment and we will dig deeper to really understand how you fascinate people, how you capture and retain the attention of others and how you can have an impact without changing yourself. Then we summarize all of this in the right words so that you can start spreading your personal story. (If this interests you, have a look HERE at my program Your Personal Brand kickstart with Fascinate®.)
2. A second must-have is to get yourself in the habit of adding value to others. Not bragging not screaming, but contributing is the foundation of a strong personal brand. Let people experience the value you provide. Ask yourself every day or week questions like: Did I make a contribution to that meeting? Did I deliver on my personal promise consistently? Did I make someone more successful?...
And what happens when you help people? Indeed, they start talking about you. Is there something more powerful than you not being obliged to show and tell, because others are doing the talking for you?
So personal branding is not about you. It is about them. To make your personal brand more impactful: firstly understand how the world sees you and secondly get yourself into the habit of contributing and helping others.
When you know what other people think of you and your added value and your personal brand delivers that value in a natural and effortless way over and over again to benefit others, that is when the real magic begins… (And, of course, I would love to help you with that!)
Grab the opportunity to change someone else’s life whenever you can…
Wouldn't it be great if you would know how you bring meaning and really add value to the lives of other people, just by being yourself?
I can show you how the world sees you with my Your Personal Brand kickstart with Fascinate® program (Available in Nederlands and English!). Book a FREE discovery call to connect and see if this program is something for you...
