Personal Branding

Personal Branding(brand)

By Steve Pavlina

Personal branding is basically(ˈbāsik(ə)lē) the way you market yourself to the world. Your personal brand is what other people think of you. In some ways it’s outside your control, but you obviously(ˈäbvēəslē) have some influence over it.

Personal branding is unavoidable(ˌənəˈvoidəbəl). As others interact(ˌin(t)ərˈakt) with you, they’ll automatically(ˌôdəˈmadiklē) form mental(ˈmen(t)l) associations that connect you with certain labels(ˈlābəl), often within the first few seconds. You can’t avoid being labeled, and other people can’t avoid labeling you. It happens automatically because our brains(brān) are wired to recognize patterns and form associations. The labels people attach to you become part of your personal brand.

If you type an email, you’re branding yourself. If you have a conversation with a friend or family member, you’re branding yourself. How you dress, what you eat, and how you talk all contribute to your brand. Think of your brand as the summation(səˈmāSHən) of all the associations about you that are stored in people’s minds.

Your external(ikˈstərnl) brand

Your external brand is how you project yourself to the world. There is an element of choice here. You can decide what to say or write in order to convey(kənˈvā) a certain image. Your projected image will influence what others think of you and how they might choose to interact with you. You may stumble(ˈstəmbəl) upon this image accidentally(ˌaksəˈden(t)(ə)lē), or you can deliberately(dəˈlib(ə)rətlē) target a specific type of image.

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Your internal brand

In addition to your external brand, which is how most people think about personal branding, you also have an internal brand. This is what you think of yourself.

What 3 adjectives(ˈajəktiv) would you use to describe yourself? Take a moment to think about that, and jot(jät) them down. Is this a brand you feel good about? Does it really resonate(ˈreznˌāt) with you? Is this the same image you project to the world? If you could change those adjectives, what would you change them to?

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https://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2008/02/personal-branding/