The One Thing Nobody Ever Told You About Personal Branding

Don’t be an idiot.

And while we’re at it, a personal brand is hugely overrated. It suggests that you can advance your career by creating a reputation.

But don’t fool yourself. A reputation, or personal brand, is something you don’t fully control.

A lot of people try to tell you that you have to “enhance” your brand. I’ve heard it since 2004 when I got my first sales job while I was in college. The advice was, “work on your personal brand, and you can make a promotion very quickly.”

And that kind of advice is still given today. Recently I stumbled upon an article on a major publishing outlet where the author talked about how “science” can help you to build a personal brand.

It was one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever read. The author, a so-called branding expert, edited her profile picture in Canva. She simply increased the brightness, contrast, and saturation by 4 points.

AND THE RESULT WAS AMAZING!

Can I get a drum roll, please?

The edited profile picture outperformed the old picture by 412 followers on Twitter!

Who the fuck cares?