If you want to build business you have to stand out in a crowd of competitors. Building your own identity as a personal brand can make you to stand apart from others. If you want to succeed as a start-up entrepreneur you need to focus on your Personal Branding!!! It is a modern skill which you can update and upgrade it depending upon your requirement! Personal branding is a key that unlocks your success in entrepreneurship whether you are start -up or aspiring business leader or freelancer. We all have some professional image, reputation, the perception of others about our qualities and abilities.
What is Personal Branding?
Personal branding is what people talk about you when you are not in the room! What people think about you when they hear your name or how people tag you? Professional or personal image of you. People often think personal branding is only to do with dressing sense, physical appearance and social media posts. But the fact is much more than that. It is also about how you communicate and transact with others, the way you conduct yourself, your attitude, set of beliefs you have, Etiquette, Manner, Nature, reliability & your identity in this universe.
Personal branding can be built as per your wish. It mainly depends on how people want to tag or label you as a person? For example CEO, Sundar Pichai is considered as one of the most influential business leader across the globe. He is tagged as a Humble, Soft spoken, Empathetic, Hard working, Talented & Powerful and so on.. Think about yourself now, how you want to get tagged?
Steps to build your own Brand
1. Focus on your Appearance:
Visual image of yours defines success. Define your Business image! Physical image is very important to be successful! Beauty is not about having the fairest skin or prettiest face. It’s about
Heart and mind! They matters a lot in your physical appearance. Look yourself best at all the times.
a. Dressing Sense
Dress appropriately, follow dress code correctly based on the occasion, for ex: Business attire for meeting clients & professional meets. Wear dress that suits you well & makes you comfortable and feel good.
One friend of mine who is an start-up entrepreneur & motivational speaker recently delivered a speech in a business meet, she was not confident during her speech, her speech delivery was quiet different and artificial was different from her normal style, when I asked her what happened to your trade mark delivery style, she answered me saying that first time I am wearing this business formal wear (coat and suit) and I was highly conscious & uncomfortable wearng it and not sure whether it looks good on me, that was bothering throughout my speech. So remember to wear outfit that gives you confident and makes you feel comfortable. That can impact your performance.
b.Dress color
Color of dress has emotional impact on us; Color you choose to wear can have a dramatic effect on how you are perceived by others. Color of an outfit can communicate a lot. Always choose pastel colors (light pink, light blue,light green ,aqua,lavender,cream ,ivory,white,light grey. )to dress professionally. Pastels colors have a calming effect & represent rejuvenation. You can also use vibrant colors like black and red.
C. Maintain Personal Hygiene
Personal hygiene can be defined as an act of maintaining cleanliness and grooming of the external body and Manners.
Maintaining good personal hygiene is very essential when you are around others.
Wearing clean clothing, keeping body free from body odor & Trimmed nails etc .People tend to avoid or hardly like to transact with poor hygienic person .
2. Being Assertive & Risk taking
Most of the Successful entrepreneurs are assertive. They do not have a problem in asking for what they want, or saying no to other’s demands that are not in their best interest.
Assertive behavior is a positive attitude and a self-affirmation that places value on the other people in your life. People with assertive behavior Creates win-win situations. They don’t intimidate others.
Being Optimistic and risking taking is essential key traits that you need to possess as an entrepreneur. Staying positive, willingness to accept & taking risk matters a lot in your Business! These both qualities distinguish you from others.
One of my great influence in personal branding is Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw –A spear-headed women in the biotech world ,Indian billionaire entrepreneur. Chairperson and managing director of Biocon Limited, she is listed as one of the most powerful women in the world by Forbes . From setting up Biocon to making it a global brand she had faced lot of challenges and got accolades for her efforts. She is best known for her Risk taking ability and her willingness to take & accept risks. She is very assertive and had overcome major challenges & entrepreneurial barriers in her journey.
3. Be authentic & approachable
Authenticity is the key to build trust and being true to you.
People always like to transact with authentic & approachable business person. They don’t like to converse or have a business deals with copied or false behavior person .To be authentic you have to be real, original and stay genuine.
People tend to work together if you are approachable .Being approachable helps people to connect and communicate with you without fear & helps to convey feedback in business.
4. Master a skill & Be unique
If you want to establish you as a successful brand then you need to master a particular skill. You may possess multiple skills, identify, select, focus on one skill of your passion and interest, acquire in-depth knowledge of that skill, then practice that skill and master it. Examples of some skills are, Innovation, Effective communication, Networking, Effective selling etc .In this digital world most of us are extremely good at networking. Through effective networking you can build successful business.
After mastering a skill you can create your own uniqueness in that particular skill. Mastering a skill and being unique in what you do, distinguish you as a powerful personal brand. Discover your uniqueness & Plan for your uniqueness.
5. Digital Presence
Digital communication and social media platforms are more impactful than ever before. You have to be careful in defining your presence in social media platforms. In current scenario Personal branding is built before meeting a person itself. It happens via Social media’s like Twitter, Face book, Linked etc. The client who is willing or interested to transact with you in business looks at your social media profile, understands/knows you before meeting you. So your digital presence plays a major role & impacts your business. It is very important to plan your digital presence as per your requirement.Devote more attention while keeping or changing your profile pictures, sharing post, posting videos etc they tend to communicate your personal brand to your customers. Be cautious don’t be narcissistic.
In digital media the main challenge for many of us is defining what our personal brand is and how to communicate it in an authentic and consistent way.
Francinebeleyi digital strategist, says define your personal image by keeping your same professional photo on all your online presence.
When you create videos you will need to project personality that’s sets you apart from the rest. Take utmost care whenever you post something in social media platforms, people perceive you value you through it.
Wishing you Happy Branding & All the success!
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