What Is Your Personal Brand?

Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of believing a brand is nothing more than a cool logo and memorable name, recognized worldwide, reserved only for the Coca-Colas and Home Depots of the world.

Your brand is actually what other people think of you. It’s created by their emotional responses to interacting with you. When their experiences are consistently good, they begin to assign positive emotional responses to you. When they are consistently bad, or just inconsistent, then they assign negative emotional responses to you. These emotional responses create the mental image that is your brand, in the minds of those around you, be they customers, readers, or friends.

Many solo entrepreneurs also make the mistake of doing little or nothing to develop their brand image. So it’s left to chance. But there are a ton of things you can do to help mold that image that people hold of you. It’s extremely important to begin thinking of yourself in terms of the brand image you wish to project, whether you’re in a business or personal situation.

In my case, I really felt a connection to the image of a rock star. I already believe we are all God force energy in physical form, here to do everything we can to live up to our full core genius. My core genius is creativity: art, music, writing, etc. The medium may change, but my talent lies in creating content that entertains and inspires others to be conscious of people, planet and profits. And since my favorite creative act is singing, the rock star icon was an easy choice for me.

Define it for yourself, and believe it

Before I could project that image outward, I first had to project it inwards. I had to feel it and believe it. Like any structure, it can’t simply be a facade. If I don’t believe it, nobody else will either.

So the first step to developing your personal brand is looking inward. You need to really discover who you are. What is your core genius? What do you love in your own life more than anything else?* This is who you really are!

While exploring this, it’s important to be honest with yourself. Don’t water it down to make it more believable. And never water it down to make it more acceptable to anyone else. Any watered down version of your personal brand to yourself (your image of your own self in your own mind) is criminal. You’re limiting yourself before you even get started.

Always remember that if you see one person doing a thing, you can do it too. It may take some work, or practice, or balls, but you can do it too. So define your personal brand for yourself, and believe it with every cell in your body.

^{*I know many parents’ first response may be their kids. I am asking you to dig deeper than that. Your core genius is internal, your kids are external. You didn’t come to this Earth to have your kids. The Universe is much more efficient than that. If that were your only purpose, the Universe would have skipped you and just had your parents have your kids.}

Project it outward

Now that you know what it is, it’s time to start letting other people in on it too.

The quickest way to do this is by adjusting the way you dress, talk, and act. My rock star image is in perfect shape. That isn’t just going to happen through wishful thinking. But a powerful belief that I AM a rock star, coupled with daily exercise and clean eating is resulting in my body’s transformation. My rock star image makes sure I am dressed nicely every time I leave the house; no more wearing sweats to run to the bank. I look the part, act the part, and talk the part. And wouldn’t you know it, I am becoming the part. And so will you.

It may be acting at first, but if you believe it, you will project an impenetrable image that perfectly matches who you really are. You are alive, and you are worthy of anything and everything you desire. You are perfect Source energy, the power of the entire Universe, focused into your physical body. Why would you settle for anything less than awesome? And why would you project anything less than excellence to others? Project it, and you will become it.

Keep projecting it when you’re not there

If you are in business, then it’s imperative you have tools in place that project this same brand image when you aren’t around to do it personally. Your logo is “you” when the actual “you” isn’t there. Your logo is supposed to convey “who you are,” not necessarily “what you do.”

Conveying "who" means much more than just spelling out the company name in a cool font. Often, people's first impression of your business is made by seeing your logo. The logo is your chance to graphically portray your core values, work ethic, and culture to a wide variety of audiences. To your prospects and customers, the logo should give them a sense of what doing business with you is like, and give them a reason to differentiate you from your myriad competitors. To employees, the logo expresses the culture of the company, and can evoke pride and a feeling of worthiness in their work. To vendors and investors, it gives an impression of how much effort you've invested in your own company, and how worthy you are of theirs.

As a piece of graphic art, the words people use to describe your logo should be the same words you would use to describe your company. For example, some companies are perceived as hip and modern, while others may be perceived as classic and elegant. If you want your company to be perceived a certain way, then your logo must first be perceived that way. If it is, then it's probably doing a good job of conveying “who” you are. It's giving everyone who views it a true sense of what your company is all about, not just what you do to make money.

If you're like most people, you probably didn't give all of this much thought. That's OK, because your general goal in business is to succeed, and your instincts guide you to give your audience the best experience possible. And whether you realize it or not, you probably always work hard to give them positive emotional responses, thus building a positive image of your brand.

Hopefully, starting today, you will begin to focus your brand. You will begin to make sure that the true genius that is you is coming through loud and clear. Some people around you may be uncomfortable with the changes they see in you. You’re not here to please them. You’re here to live up the potential of your core genius. It’s in you, let it out.