My Personal Brand Changed My Life
Personal Branding. Seems pretty simple, right?
Bloggers do it, so do CEO’s, Celebrities do it, too. It seems rather straightforward.
In reality it’s a little more complicated. What you do to further your brand is as important as the brand itself and in my case, it changed my life and allowed me to thrive and become an influencer (I really, REALLY hate that word) in two specific niche markets.
How did I do it? In a word: Networking.
The right kind of networking can establish you as a thought leader in your vertical.
Little Known Fact: I left behind a long-term career, like many others, looking for something that would fulfill me. I was always in the travel industry and wanted a change but what do you do when you know change is inevitable but you have no idea where to go and don’t have a network?
This was 10 years ago, I started seeing travel bloggers flourishing and thought “Who knows more about travel, hotels and destinations, than me?” At the time, the answer was simple: No one (I’ve since met many, MANY travel bloggers and 90% of them have surpassed me in their travels and knowledge of the world.) I was like a bad movie, waking up one night, sitting straight up and saying aloud, “I’m going to be a blogger.”
I had no idea what that meant or if I could even write so, basically clueless. I started to investigate in Facebook groups and on twitter and saw that a group of travel bloggers were meeting up in LA. I registered, made the decision to go and meet this community.
I wasn’t sure if networking with this group of strangers would lead to anything but it was my chosen niche and community so nothing to lose.
This particular group of bloggers were really warm, welcoming, and at once I knew I had made a good decision.
One of the people in the group stood out, I knew that he was one of the most well-known travel writers, in the industry (still is). I gathered up my courage, walked up and introduced myself and asked a question that had been haunting me. A simple question, I needed answered.
“If you had to give a new blogger one piece of advice, what would it be?”
His answer was equally simple. “Build up your personal brand, pick your niche and become an expert and thought leader in everything you do, going forward.”
Not a day has gone by, since that night, that I haven’t remembered his words.
I also listened and decided to do exactly that. From that day (to the present) I have worked on my personal brand, not for celebrity or status but to further my career in two verticals.
HOW DID I DO IT? One Word: NETWORKING
Now I will admit something else. It wasn’t easy. In fact, it was hard.
I started with social media, chose Twitter as my platform and became the TravelingGreek.
Then the decision to become a travel blogger, choosing luxury travel and hotels as my niche. Those are the people I needed to meet, in order to establish myself as an authority in the industry. I focused all of my energy there, engaged, gathered contacts, made good friends but mostly I built up a strong network and most of those early contacts became collaborators and thought leaders in the industry.
Nobody said building up a personal brand would be easy and it wasn’t.
I didn’t know anyone else doing what I was doing, had no one to ask so a lot of my discoveries were ‘trial by error.’
Soon I had 10,000 (niche) followers on Twitter and I still hadn’t written a word (In fact wasn’t even sure I could write a complete sentence.) I started to create secret lists on Twitter to segregate the people who created content I really wanted to see. Then multiple lists and that is how I separated my contacts, Linkedin was in its infancy and the spam was overwhelming on the platform (so bad I almost ditched it.) I plodded along on LI for years never really adding any contacts that I felt were very significant.
Then something happened and at some point, Linkedin worked out the spam issues, not perfectly but well enough for me to start building up my network. I needed to get past the mindset of simply collecting people, something so many of us struggle with on social media, Quantity vs Quality. Today I have amassed 15,000+ niche followers in the travel and technology field.
You may be asking yourself: What does this have to do with me?
This is my response to that question: Changing careers, also means building new networks. I built my brand, my career and ultimately my business via smart networking and my latest venture takes all of what I learned (through trial and error) to the next level.
I am one of the co-founders of the TAP (Tap Your Network) Our team is creating an app (TapPRO) that will give you a new superpower to optimize your networking. Most people don’t understand how important networking and managing your personal network is when you are starting out or even in the throes of a successful career.
Personal branding should be at the forefront of your thought process. Make no mistake, when you apply for a job you are selling skills but you are also selling yourself. Your skills on paper will get you in the door for an interview but without someone to vouch for your skills and motivations (a referral), research shows, the interview will not go as smoothly as you hope. Without a connection to the company, applying to a job online is often yields few (if any) results.
There is also the problem of most jobs not being posted online. Did you know that 70% of available jobs will never be posted on any job boards? This is TRUE! Most jobs are hidden. That means that building and managing your network like a pro is one of the most important activities you can do to build your career. Having a personal network allows individuals to create the networks they need to launch the career they desire and deserve.
Having an easy tool to manage this process is the problem TAP is solving. We are laying down the path for you.
Want to learn more about Tap vs the TapPRO app? Stay Tuned or better yet sign-up for our beta launch HERE the first 100 people to register will receive the app FREE for life!
In a few days we will reveal more details.
BIO: Katherine Banks is a co-founder of TAP (TapYourNetwork.com) Obsessed with blockchain technology (Twitter: blockchaingirl.) A well known marketer in the blockchain and crypto space, an #EdTech higher education ambassador who strongly believes that the #futureofwork is changing and we need the necessary tools to manage our personal networks.
