Building a strong personal brand has never been more important for your business as it is today - and I’d argue that if you’re an entrepreneur, whether you’re in real estate, direct sales, brick and mortar business or a service provider, the single most important long range investment you can make in your business is building a personal brand that will transition with you as your business changes.
Why? Because as the market continues to shift and the use of social media rises, people are inserting the SOCIAL back into business, and it’s no longer just about whether or not you’re good at what you do…it’s also whether or not they relate to you.
If you look at my business and platform as a case study, you’d see what look like unrelated businesses - but the through line, the thing that made my audience continue to grow (and my revenue continue to grow) was the fact that my personal brand carried me through each of those transitions.
Business 1: Direct Sales in the Skin Care Category. Personal brand was more about creating opportunity, freedom and options for women.
Business 2: Heath Coach. Personal brand was about empowering women, and supporting their needs so they could accomplish their goals and build a life they were on fire for.
Business 3: Business Coach. Personal brand is (currently and forevermoreamen) about helping women build profitable online businesses pursuing their purpose work, and building women’s confidence.
THE THROUGHLINE OF MY PERSONAL BRAND. A space to elevate and support women. It’s taken on many faces, but the common thread supported the business transitions which meant one vital thing: My audience stuck around. They grew with me. And that means my reach and revenue grew, with each business, too.
In the past 6 years that I’ve been an entrepreneur, I’ve been able to build multiple 6 (and 7!) figure businesses that were built out of the same platform and brand, simply because of my commitment to building my PERSONAL BRAND.
So how do you figure your personal brand out? Great question, I’m glad you asked.
If you can answer these questions, you’ll be well on your way to determining the through line of your personal brand.
- What breaks your heart? What big problem would you like to personally solve in your lifetime?
This matters because a personal brand has to STAND for something. While the “face” of my business changed, the “heart” always remained the same. We’re looking for your own “heart.”
- What do people always end up asking for your advice on?
This sheds a light on what the rest of the world sees you as an authority on. My authority in confidence came from people asking me all the time “How are you so confident?” Not because I woke up one day and said “Gosh, I want them to see me as confident!” They’ll naturally see your gifts much easier than YOU will. Let them tell you.
- How do you want people to feel when they watch you?
Are you funny? Motivational? Snarky? Serious? When they leave you, how do they FEEL? This gives us a flavor for the tone and style of your brand.
Ultimately, the best investment you can make (of your time and focus) as an entrepreneur is to start to build a personal brand that will stand the test of time and continue to grow and evolve as YOU do, because that will become the foundation of the future of your business, and it will become the thing that magnetizes people to you and your work.