The first quarter of the year is over and many people have already forgotten about their resolutions and intentions for 2022. As we transition from winter into spring, revisit the intentions you set for yourself. Check to see if you were purposeful enough. Evaluate them and make a note of how those goals are helping you to improve yourself in your personal life and in the professional sphere.

Believe it or not, those 2022 intentions contribute to your personal brand. You set goals with the intention to achieve them so that you may, at some point, show in action or words that you’ve accomplished certain things in your life. It is the achievement of those goals that ultimately contribute to your personal brand – how you present yourself and the work that you put in to achieve your goals all combine to form the equation of what your brand is.

As stated by Business Insider, “a personal brand is the “I" brand around your personality. It is the strengths, talents, and competencies that make you special.” Business Insider also states that your personal brand is based on the foundation of values and characteristics that you want to convey and embody.

Jamaican personal branding coach and PR consultant Naomi Garrick says it well, “personal branding is being your most authentic self by discovering the things that make you unique, and utilizing your online and offline platforms to communicate this effectively with the rest of the world.”

At the end of it all, your personal brand is a representation of who you are, what you want to portray about yourself, and how people see you. Ever wondered what people say about you when you’re not in the room? Their conversations about you speak to your brand. So, technically, we all have a personal brand. However, some of us tap into it more than others.

It must be said that a personal brand is not solely the image you present in the digital world. It plays a major role but it doesn’t stand alone. So, portray yourself well.  

Still not sold on personal branding? Well, impressions last. First impressions last the longest, but all impressions last. The view that you impress upon the people in your life has the ability to move mountains for you or to drop you in the deepest valleys. Additionally, having a solid personal brand can help you to stand out in a crowded world – the best part is that you have the potential to truly benefit from this.

Reasons to Know and Live By Your Personal Brand

1.       Credibility

A solid personal brand allows you to build a name for yourself. How you go about building and maintaining that brand determines if the name you build is good or bad. Let’s stick with the positive and say that you have a strong, solid professional and personal profile – the people you engage with will trust you at your word and refer to you positively when you’re not in the room. The work you do will hold more water and your audiences will defer to you in situations that require your expertise, for example. Being credible often means that you are also dependable. Who doesn’t want a dependable person to look out for and look up to?

2.       Building connections and growing your network

Having a strong personal brand helps you with your networking. Your repository of colleagues, mentors, and mentees will grow as you will find that you share common interests with certain people and you’ll be able to share your stories, ideas, exchange tricks of your trade, and open a world of opportunities for yourself and others. Growing your network will give you the chance to make a positive impact in the world.

3.       It contributes to your growth

Success is a goal for many, no matter what it looks like. Achieving your goals makes you successful in that regard and it pushes you to raise your own bar. Being able to do that will build your confidence, improve your expertise, improve your credibility, and perhaps even make a significant impact on your network and the connections that you continue to build.

4.       Authenticity

Your brand is your own and no one can claim to be you. David Coslett states that a personal brand “will help you grow from something you believe to something you live out day to day. It isn’t a chance to create something you’re not.”

That said, having your personal brand gives you the opportunity to present your most authentic self as you grow and improve upon who you are. People love authenticity. There is nothing better than that.

According to Forbes, Oprah Winfrey is among the examples of personal branding masters. They support this claim by stating that she has consistently stuck to her core competency, which is to challenge her viewers to live their best lives by understanding and tapping into their potential. Forbes also shares that Oprah continually builds equity in her brand – which in 2019 was an estimated net worth of $2.5 billion.

In summation, this spring consider a clean-up or a spruce-up of your yearly intentions. Make your personal brand a priority and allow it to change your life forever.

Sources:

Personal Branding: How the rand “I” makes you successful in your professional and private life – Business Insider

Personal Branding – Naomi Garrick

5 Reasons Why Personal Branding Is Important – David Coslett on LinkedIn

7 Reasons Why Personal Branding Is Vital for Businesses – Entrepreneur

Why Personal Branding is More Important Than Ever - Forbes

 Candice Stewart is a Jamaican content writer specializing in human interest feature stories. She is a web content writer, blogger, and budding podcaster.

She holds an MA in Communication for Social and Behaviour Change and a BSc. in Psychology from the University of the West Indies (UWI, Mona).

Follow her blog at thesuburbangirlja.com, where she shares stories and life lessons through real-life experiences.



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