THE FIRST STEPS TO BUILDING A BANGING PERSONAL BRAND

Building a personal brand is the best differentiator out there. It shows not only that your dedicated to investing in your best asset - YOU – but it also makes your personality and skill set more memorable.

Whether you’re just starting out, changing paths or opting for a higher rung on the ladder, the way you present yourself matters. And because everyone likes to be painted in a positive light, an essential key to success is managing how you present yourself to the world.  

This is why building your own personal brand, or ‘persona,’ is as essential as that classic white t-shirt hanging in your wardrobe. It’s a clever marketing hack that businesses themselves use all the time to help stand out from the crowd and add ‘realness’ to their brands.

So why not give yourself the advantage?

We’ve put together some tips to get you started on your path towards building a banging personal brand.

KNOW THYSELF, BABE

The first step in any start-up is knowing your purpose and unique identity, the same should go for your personal brand. Why? Because it’s essential to lay down a strong foundation in order to illustrate who you are and why you’re here.

Without setting out your mission, your big-ticket goals will sink like quicksand, nothing will stick, and everything will get sucked down into the ‘unknown’. A touch dramatic? Maybe…but it’s true!

I know, this is sounding very abstract. Right? You’re probably thinking how do I put this into practice? Start small. Take a moment to reflect on your strengths, values, challenges, passion-projects and even pet-peeves.

Now that you’ve identified your strengths and your unique selling point or persona, get to communicating it! Take these points of difference and share them with your audience, through a blog, social media posts, captions, emails…even at the dinner table – get creative!

Also try to invest some time and energy into strengthening your strengths (for lack of a better phrase). Invest in those things that will make you a better writer, artist, digi guru, conversationalist or even just a better person…whatever your point of difference might be.

We know that sitting down and identifying your value can seem more challenging than holding tree pose in morning yoga class. However, with a bit of groundwork and exploration, you’ll soon be armed with a sense of what or who your personal brand is. *applause*

POSITIVE RELIANCE

“Wink at your flaws and turn them into co-conspirators!

A big part of knowing yourself and establishing your personal brand is embracing those things that you consider flaws.

By design we are geared towards the negative, I myself will fully raise my hand to this. I used to worry about things that I don't naturally do well, beginning a cycle of endless self-help blogs and Instagram feeds.

Over time I realised that I'm here to do certain things that I love, and my ‘flaws’ are actually a big part of what makes up my strengths. So, these days focus more on building a positive reliance and embracing the imperfect, natural, normal.  You’ll find the stronger you are in this sense the easier it will be to showcase your work/talent and the more impactful your personal brand will become.

And don’t be afraid to share some of those ‘flaws’ with your audience. Realness speaks volumes in the world of perfectly curated Instagram feeds and will often elevate your personal brand rather than detract from it.

EMBRACE THE GRIND

Let’s be clear “the grind” I speak of is not the daily struggle we hear so much about, nor is it the 5 coffees in one day with a weekly diary so packed it’s barely legible.

Instead it is a mindset. All about focus and will-power, to complete small tasks in a bid to achieve those glorious long-term goals. By nature, we can often get too consumed by our work life, but it’s important to hustle for ourselves as well. Think along the lines of an individual pursuit of greatness. Each is unique and tuned to our interests and abilities.

 When developing a personal brand embrace the obstacles you face and remember your dedication to the cause. Yes it’s going to take time and yes it may be a little bit hard and a little bit scary. But it’ll all be worth it at the end of the day.

BRAVERY

Stretch your courage bit by bit.

Branding yourself for the world can be pretty damn scary – we’re not ignoring this. At the end of day it's a very raw thing to put yourself forward, but we’re here to tell you that the benefits outweigh the fear. So, embrace your inner Sara Bareilles, be brave and "say what you wanna say".  

One of the best ways to do this is to  put yourself out there. It might be cliché but the sentiment is the perfect push to reach outside your shell, break your comfort zone and make new connections. This is key to building a personal brand.

Not to mention, actively engaging in the community you want to work within not only gets your face out there but presents an awesome opportunity to learn and meet like-minded and inspiring individuals/mentors! You’ll be amazed at what opportunities bravery can create.

At the end of the day, there's a lot of noise out there but making the most of the tools available to you by showing others who you really are and embracing this era of the personal brand, will reap massive rewards for both your career path and individual growth.

This post was written by Inka Intern Ellie as part of our 12 week Intern Program.

If you're interested in interning with us, keep an eye out for announcements on our social channels or apply today!