How to Know You are Ready to Start Building a Personal Brand

Building a brand is hard. For anybody. Here’s why you should do it anyway.

Building a brand is difficult. Building a personal brand is, perhaps, even more difficult. And it can only be done when you know what it is that you have to offer the world. It is perhaps inevitable that there will come a time in your life when you will begin to seriously consider building for yourself a personal brand. Before that, let’s get back to the basics of a personal brand, what it is, and who needs it.

Personal Brand –What is it and Who Needs It?

I would say anyone who wants to make money has a personal brand, whether they are aware of it or not, and certainly whether they have begun to invest in one or not. So the answer to who needs it is –everyone. Your personal brand is really your business. Whether or not you work for somebody or for yourself –in today’s economy, you are going to need a personal brand. Your brand is the companies you’ve worked for, the school you went to –yeah, sure. But more importantly your brand is what you can do as a person, what you can bring to the table. It does not necessarily mean you are a social media influencer able to bring x number of followers to the table. That, after all, is a unique skill and not everyone has it, just like not everyone has coding skills. Ordinary people have a personal brand, just like ordinary people have LinkedIn and Twitter accounts, too.

When Do People Begin Building A Brand?

It’s funny how every year around May I start getting LinkedIn connection requests from people who are looking to connect with me usually from one of the two Universities I attended. These connection requests are not the usual sales connection requests you grow accustomed to receiving as a marketing professional. These are from bright eyed, clear faced soon to be or recent college grads ready to make their mark on the world.

Some People Start Earlier

A lot of folks have already begun building their personal brand before even college. These are the kids you see on LinkedIn who already seem to have lengthy profiles before they have even turned 18. Or they are the Logan Pauls of the world…