Brand Yourself...But How?

picture by highrankings.com

Today's guest lecturer, Mitch Joel brought up some very effective and encouraging strategies in branding yourself, however, what left we bewildered and somewhat anxious was how do we truly discover what we are good at doing? I don't think everyone can wake up one day and say: "Hey that's me, I've figured it out!" How do we find that passion, that one aspect about our complex selves that makes us unique?

Joel's sideshow seemed very interesting in theory but how do you put all that into practice? I have spent days, months, even years contemplating what I, Farah Hayat, am good at. There are so many things that I enjoy but what is it that makes me different from others?

That concept is an extremely layered and complex question to answer. In essence, it involves doing some soul searching and probing deep in the realms of our deepest memories, passions and finding that one pivotal aspect about ourselves that is uniquely us.

I started looking around and finding ways in which I could discover how to uncover my "most noteworthy trait" and I fell upon Nate Ritter's blog which provided me with three simple and focused ways to brand myself which I found much more useful than Joel's idealistic slides. Now, don't get me wrong, Joel gave brought up the idea so, in that sense, I did learn a lot. But I didn't know the How.

So here is the How according to Ritter:

First, Ritter says: "Ask yourself what is it that your product or service does that makes you different. In 15 words or less. Take the time to write them down, and then take the time to read it again. Go on. Stop reading this. Start writing."

So, in general, the first step is to write down what it is that we do different. We have to start analyzing ourselves. This act of writing makes intangible thoughts, concepts and talents tangible. Ritter urges us to be creative, "compelling" and most importantly "ask other people."

The second step is to get ourselves noticed which Ritter refers to as"visibility." You can do this by joining groups, creating blogs, or simply helping your peers with whatever they find you useful for. This in turn helps you put your talent, uniqueness, or passion into practice.

Finally, make an influence on people. I'm sure we have at one point influenced someone's decision and marked ourselves in their lives. Similarly, Ritter says to mark ourselves on the economy.

So, essentially branding ourselves is dependent on finding what it is that makes us tick, what it is that people identify us by and then being able to transfer that talent to a wider spectrum in order to, which Tom Peters puts so eloquently in his article "The Brand Called You", become the CEO'S of oursleves...