Practice before you preach, practice what you preach, and practice even after you stop preaching! These adages and their extensions could not be more meaningful than in these times of personal branding. I can only try to capture the essence of this hazy or amorphous essence of the word “brand” by saying that a brand emerges when it is associated with a particular image of a person / product / service, over a period of time. and that consistently displays the same qualities that are unique and unique to that person, product, or service regardless of time, place, or situation.
The operating keyword here is “consistency”. And consistency brings credibility, which in turn is inextricably associated with integrity, trust, and trust in a person, a product, or a service.
That is the power of a brand!
I want to emphasize this by quoting Peter Montoya, the author of the book, “The Brand Called You,” who defines personal branding as the process that takes your unique skills, personality, and characteristics and packages them into a powerful identity that elevates you above the crowd. from anonymous competitors.
It’s no wonder, then, that all the worthwhile people are lining up to create their own brand. Given the impact that a brand has on the mind of the consumer, it is imperative that entrepreneurs seek to first create their personal brand before doing so for their product and / or service that they manufacture and sell, or propose to sell.
I’m afraid Shakespeare’s line from Romeo and Juliet, What’s in a name? What we call rose by any other name would smell just as sweet, it would be completely anachronistic in these times, since today, what smells like rose cannot be called anything other than pink!
So why all the fuss about having or building a personal brand?
For entrepreneurs, their own personal brand says a lot about the product / service they choose to create and sell to consumers. And every time consumers buy it or recommend it to others, they unknowingly endorse that same brand as brand ambassadors. Which means that the personal brand equals the company and the value it brings.
But building a personal brand is not a target shot. Rather it is a life-long endeavor, well thought out and planned for the entrepreneur, from the moment his idea is discussed, carefully cultivated and nurtured until it is established. It follows a step-by-step design that ultimately projects the personality of the entrepreneur to the world that includes customers, investors, and employees.
A strong personal brand begins with a personal mission statement that resonates with that of the company. To this end, one needs to do an examination of conscience to make a mission statement that speaks convincingly about the “authentic self”, the real self, as in “yourself”. You need to discover the language and words that best represent your spirit and core values. Your personal mission statement also defines your goals and the pathways to achieve them.