I read my first article about personal branding a little over a year ago. It was entirely by accident as I found it while searching for a book on corporate branding.
The article was interesting but it was not what I was looking for at the time so I moved on. I really didn't think about it again until recently.
Maybe it’s because lately I've been searching for my personal WHY or maybe it’s just because I have an hour drive to work and my mind wonders. Whatever the reason, I found myself thinking about personal branding again.
PERSONAL BRANDING – HOW IT ALL BEGAN FOR ME
In my quest to learn more I began searching the Internet for information. While the Internet is full of articles and books on the topic, as usual, it turns out sometimes the best sources of information come from unexpected places.
I am was a member of Platform University. As I was reading through the posts in the forum, I came across one by Jen McDonough titled what else, Personal Branding. Intrigued, I clicked and entered the discussion.
Jen, whom I have never met, had recently interviewed Kathleen “Kathy” Crandall from Meaningful Connections, on her latest podcast. Jen’s podcast is called “The Iron Jen Show”. This particular podcast was all about personal branding and Kathy, as it turned out, is an expert on the subject.
Kathy is an executive coach who teaches and trains both businesses and professionals how to identify and leverage their own personal brands.
She specializes in helping bring their brands to life through their image, brand voice and through their brand promise. I know, it sounds a little crazy, but it is becoming more and more relevant. Let me explain.
You see personal branding is not about having a logo. It is so much more than that and encompasses much more than you would initially consider. So much more in fact, that whether you realize it or not, you are building your personal brand each and every day.
WHAT IS PERSONAL BRANDING?
Personal Branding is all about getting to the core of what you are unconsciously building daily. However once your brand is defined, you can then begin to intentionally grow your brand to your benefit.
That is where Kathy comes in. She helps people walk through the process of understanding what their brand is and how with intentional actions it can best be leveraged it to your advantage.
I listened to the podcast during my drive to work. It was only about a half hour, which left me another half hour to think about what I heard before arriving at work.
To be honest, my first thought was that the podcast was directed at me. The entire discussion was centered on people like myself who struggle to answer a question they have never heard asked before. The question, “What happens because of me?” Confused? Let me explain.
At some point in our lives, we will begin to question why we are here. What is our purpose, what are we meant to do? These are great introspective questions to ask. Numerous books have been written to help people answer those exact questions.
Unfortunately, none of them will really help. You see these questions cannot be answered right away because we have not asked the most important question first. We haven’t asked it yet because we do not know what it was.
But the first time you hear it, it immediately resonates because it is a question that we can actually find an answer for, “What happens because of me?” Once answered, if followed with intention, you will eventually be able to answer those other questions.
WHAT HAPPENS BECAUSE OF YOU?
It’s the power behind the answer to that question that got me excited. Just think about what you could do if you knew exactly what happens because you get involved with something.
Believe me, I thought about it after listening to the podcast. I racked my brains trying to put my finger on it, only to discover that it is not as easy a question to answer as I originally thought. And it turns out, you do need a coach to guide you.
So, after spending the entire day thinking about how I impact projects I get involved with and not really coming up with anything concrete, I decided to call Kathy and inquire about the process.
After our discussion and a subsequent chat with my wife, I decided to dive in and attempt to discover what my personal brand is all about, or as Kathy very plainly put it, “What happens because of me”.
This will be the first in a series of posts about my personal branding journey. My plan, with Kathy’s permission, is to blog about the process and my thoughts as we move forward.
I’m excited about what I will learn and, even more, excited about what it could mean for the future. I also hope that you will be able to learn from my experience and, at least, begin to think about “What happens because of you”.
QUESTION:
What do you think about personal branding and more importantly, what do you believe happens because of you?
To see the next post in this series click HERE
