2022 is just around the corner, and I'm starting to plan how I will spend the Christmas holidays, both in terms of time off, and personal growth.
One of my focus areas will be to work on my personal branding and here is 5 reasons/tips on why you should do the same.
1. We all know "that guy", are you one and which one are you?
Do you sometimes find yourself looking for expertise, and asking if someone knows someone they recommend? Perhaps you need a dentist, an accountant, a good marketing advisor, a doctor, or perhaps a crypto expert. If you were to ask me I would easily go through the library of my network in my head and say " Oh yea you should speak to this guy, he is the best accountant I know". The point is we all know someone we will recommend in a field because they stand out in one area, are you that person, and what do you stand out with? If not, tailoring the message of who you are is a way great to start. For example, if somebody asked me if I know someone awesome with crypto I would say yeah talk to @fredrikaa or photography yeah talk to @katiolus.
2. The better known you are, for one thing, the more opportunities come to you.
I would like to think that I'm known for being a person that is really good with sales and creating strategies for companies to take off and grow. On a weekly basis, I'm contacted by startups and companies that need help with scaling, strategy advice, and sales help. This creates a lot of opportunities for me to do consultancy-based work for a fee, or be able to invest early on as an angel investor in projects I believe I can add value to with more than money.
One example is when I got contacted by an old friend who runs a huge Norwegian eye were brand Frank Walton in Norway. They have done sales direct to consumers and were planning to do B2B sales towards retail stores and opticians. I was hired for a strategy project where we created the whole B2B strategy, put the sales process in place and actually did the hard core cold calling, traveled around Norway, and closed deals with over 35 opticians and fashion stores.
3. Check your Linkedin and social media.
Are your Linkedin and other social media bios up to date? Do they state who you are and what you are good at? Make people see what you do and what you know. Read a book about a field that interests you? Share it. Saw a cool video of the topic you are good about? Share it.
4. Create a website
Get yourself a cool website that shows who you are, what you offer, and how to get in touch. Perhaps we could make a website build service as Squarespace powered by Hive? @Fredrikaa would that be possible? This Christmas I will give my website www.maxgouchan.com a big communicational cleanup. And yeah the grammars there are terrible.
5. Ask around if you are not sure. And check what the market thinks about you.
If you are not sure who you are. Ok, this may sound dumb but in a lot of time, we find ourselves being good at several things, and not specifically at something. Call around people in your network and just ask them " what do you think my specialty is?" "If you were to hire me to solve a specific problem, what would that be?" And check what other people perceive you to be good at.
What's your best advice on personal branding? And are you putting in enough time into it?
I think the simple (yet, likely daunting or seemingly embarassing) exercise of asking friends or contacts in one's professional network "what guy" you are to them (or what they perceive you to be uniquely knowledgable about) is very helpful and even healthy.
Not only can you get to know how others see you, and what image you currently have, but it can help you self reflect as well.
Highly recommend ed!
thanks for your input and thoughts @fredrikaa :)