4 Life-Changing Questions Behind Your Personal Brand
Your personal brand is your unique calling card to the world that builds trust and qualifies your expertise. It’s a way to communicate what you bring to the table in words, actions, images, and skills. Think of it as a resume with a pulse.
Self-awareness is the first step to not only building your personal brand, but truly owning it. The more you understand yourself and what makes you tick, the better you can understand your personal brand and bring it to the forefront to build your business, grow trust, and advance your career.
The best way to define your personal brand (and to become more self-aware) is to reflect on who you are and what drives you. That way you’ll base your personal brand on what really matters to you. The following four questions will guide you through the fundamentals and give you a firm foundation to launch from. Once you have clarity on these four points, you’ll have a starting point to convey your personal brand visually, in words, and in your actions.
1. What Are Your Values?
You operate under a code of beliefs: your values. These beliefs guide the decisions you make and what matters most to you. By sitting down and identifying your top 5–10 values, you’ll see how your character and personality are shaped by those.
Need ideas? Here are a few to get you started: integrity, honesty, advocacy, beauty, luxury, elegance, freedom, individualism, self-determination, community, togetherness, service, education, creativity, artistry, fairness, justice, equality, religion, spirituality, order, neatness, simplicity.
2. What’s Your Big Why?
This is where things get deep. You’ve taken a look under the hood by exploring your values. Now let’s see what’s really driving you. What’s the big reason fueling you in life? What’s your purpose? What’s your mission? Are you here to bring peace, love, and understanding? Are you here to poke holes through paradigms and get people to look at the world differently? Will you be the first to do or be something? What is your dream? Where do you feel called?
What’s liberating about this is you finally understand why sometimes you can work on something until midnight, without eating, without stopping… and not even feel like any time has gone by. Being connected to your Big Why can suspend time and space. And when you recognize what it is and how it works in your life, you can highlight it as part of what makes you unique… ie, your personal brand.
3. What’s Your Genius?
The dictionary defines genius as “exceptional intellectual or creative power or natural ability”. Whether you’re a member of MENSA or not, you have an element of genius in you. Think of the things that come easily and effortlessly to you. These are your natural strengths- the things that make up your genius. You may have a natural gift with people, children, animals, difficult situations, mathematical problems, logistical challenges, spatial relationships, making money, business, selling, marketing, language… the possibilities are endless. Look at your own skills and spot the things that come second nature to you. This is your genius zone.
4. Why Does It All Matter?
Take your values, your Big Why, and your genius and hold them up to the light. Why are these important, especially in the configuration in your life? Who could possibly benefit from this unique stew of skills and talents? What problems could this solve? How can you, equipped with this wondrous combination of genius, make an impact in your industry, job, company, or the world?
This is where you take a deep breath, look in the mirror, and acknowledge yourself for what you bring to the table. Go ahead and tell yourself you’re awesome, you have every right to!
Careful: you’re not here to start an ego trip. You’re here to describe your unique genius and skills as a solution to a problem. That’s what you do. That’s who you are. That’s why you’re vital to your business, job, or industry.
By answering these four questions, you now have the flavor for your personal brand. From this point, you’ll build out by aligning this flavor with your skills, competency, visuals, content, and expertise. Based in your authenticity, your personal brand is now the calling card for your next big steps.
About The Author:
Nancy Marmolejo teaches entrepreneurs, leaders, and teams how to tap into their unique genius and use it to lead, communicate, and create more powerfully. Since 2003, Nancy’s business consulting has helped clients from around the world communicate more clearly, improve productivity, and develop compassionate leadership skills. She’s the host of the top rated podcast, Itenco: Lessons For The Leading Edge and has won numerous awards for her business. Find her at www.TalentAndGenius.com
