Gone are the days when modesty was a virtue. Let’s face it, the meek may inherit the earth but modesty won’t get you first class tickets to your destination of choice. It’s an ‘eat or be eaten’ crazy jungle out there and in the competitive marketplace of ideas, image and influence the self-marketer survives.

The ability to spread the word about yourself and show others who you are and what you are all about is good for employment prospects, good for business, and makes good sense. But it is definitely an art form and it takes mastering. Do it badly and you risk coming across as an egocentric jerk. Do it well and it can open the door to all kinds of possibilities. (continue reading…)

If I had a dollar for every time I heard that, I’d be on a yacht in the Bahamas instead of sitting writing this blog.

It’s pretty simple really. A personal brand is all about what you bring to the world. It defines who you are and how other people perceive you.

According to the experts we form an opinion of someone within the first 5 minutes of meeting them. In today’s instant connection world you can probably shorten that to 140 tweet characters, or the time it takes you read a Facebook status update.

Every day in every way, people are forming opinions about what we say and do and think, and judging us on how we look, how we present ourselves, how we work and how we relate.

So whether you’re into this personal brand thing or not, you’ve got one. And just like any brand – celebrity, business, product or YOU – it needs to be authentic, sustainable and engaging if you want it to produce results. 

And personal brands have the power to produce some amazing results, let me tell you. Whether it’s getting a better job, winning a business pitch, or enjoying a more fulfilling relationship with your kids or significant other, your personal brand has a significant part to play.

But just like any successful brand, brand YOU needs to be well managed or it can lose traction and credibility in the marketplace. 

If you think working on your personal branding sounds too much like hard work, and prefer to adopt the “take me as I am and like it or lump it” philosophy, that’s your choice. It also makes you the complaints department if you aren’t where you want to be in your life, and could warrant a bit of navel-gazing and a good hard look in the mirror.

Personal branding is an investment in yourself and the people you care about most. Think of it as raising your interest rate and increasing your value in the marketplace.

Compelling personal brands don’t happen by chance. They take years to build and can be destroyed in the blink of an eye – just ask Tiger Woods.

We don’t all have the cachet of a Dalai Lama, Oprah Winfrey or Sir Dicky Branson. But we do have the power to choose how we think, feel, act and express ourselves, how we treat others, and how we respond to what life throws at us every day.

As Oprah Winfrey, stellar brand-builder (her own and anyone or anything she endorses), once told her business partner Gayle King “I don’t know what the future holds but I know who holds it.”.

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