Look within yourself to define your personal brand

In my opinion, your personal brand should start with something you stand for yourself. In October 2010, I discussed looking at your values and interests rather than trying to turn yourself into someone else.

Your personal brand started with yourself

I suggested asking: What was I good at, what made me happy and what set me apart? An earlier interest could be a way into that conversation.

I discussed my own tendency to talk a lot and loudly. I’d tried to give that up, but accepting that side of myself helped me.

Ask others and try out the interest

Friends and family might help put your strengths into words. I also suggested thinking about the difference between days that felt good and days that didn’t.

It didn’t immediately have to become a new livelihood. I used a fishing blog, among other things, as an example of a project you could start alongside your other work.

A passion could take several forms

In my view, you didn’t need to be the world’s best at an activity to find a role around it. That could mean teaching, communicating or working on something related.

I couldn’t promise every interest would become a business. My point from 2010 was to explore what actually brought you joy and meaning and let your brand grow from that. Also read Skab din egen succes on finding your own way and using your strengths.

Also read about my later thoughts on personal branding.

A talented man with a very narrow target audience

I’ve just spent a few hours talking to a really sharp man. Among other things, we discussed personal branding. Although he was fantastically skilled, I got the impression his target audience was very small. Between the lines was a sense that his work had a hobby element and was probably hard to make decent money from.

It strikes me repeatedly when talking to people with abilities: They’re skilled but don’t really use their talents. One question in our conversation was whether everyone can become a personal brand. I don’t know whether everyone can. But the starting point must be looking within yourself to discover what you can do and what sets you apart.

Who were you before you grew up and became boring?

Perhaps you sit in an office doing accounts. Inside, you feel you’re a lively person but aren’t good at expressing it. You think: I’m good at debit and credit, but what on earth could I build a personal brand on?

My answer is that this isn’t about changing yourself. It’s about finding your way back to yourself. Who were you before you just sat adding up debit and credit?

Think back to when you were bloody good at drawing, dancing, singing, swimming or something else entirely. At some point, that joy may have been taken out of you. Perhaps other children said your dancing was awful. Perhaps they were jealous because you were better or freer than them. You were relaxed and didn’t even know you could be ridiculed. Then you got burned, and it hurt.

That’s the joy I want you to look for again. What were you good at as a child? What did you love? Can you find something real and honest in yourself that you’ve actually always enjoyed?

For me, it was talking a lot and loudly. I tried for years to give it up because I was teased and bullied about it. Only when I accepted I was who I was did I become happier and more successful in life.

Ask friends and family what they see in you and which values they associate with you. Look at the difference between a good day and a bad day too. What makes you happy? What did you want to be before you grew up and became boring? Those are places to start looking.

From fishing to a blog or a job

If you remember once loving fishing, start fishing again. Rediscover the passion and become as good as you were then, or better. If you still enjoy it, work on it. Otherwise, find another passion.

It can start as an evening hobby project with a fishing blog. You can test lures in a lake and see which catch the most pike. You can test boat engines. Many different activities can make you known among the audience you want to reach, whether anglers or people who love dancing.

You don’t need to become the world’s best either. Perhaps you liked tennis and had talent when young but will never be another Wozniacki. Still, you can become better than most others. Then perhaps you could teach young people tennis or work selling sponsorships for tennis players. Those are examples of finding a role around your interest even if you don’t become a global star.

Try working around your passions and let it develop gradually. That’s where I think you can find strengths and talents. Not necessarily in what parents, friends and others have told you to be.

He loved diving but was bored at work

One of my favourite stories is about a man who kept talking about diving. He went on diving holidays twice a year. He said how lucky he was that his job was flexible enough to let him go diving.

I asked whether he liked his job. Not really. It bored him a little, but the flexibility meant he could go to Thailand and dive twice a year.

So I asked: Why don’t you become a diving instructor in Thailand?

Then came objections about friends, family and everything else. It’s easy to find reasons not to. But if it’s your passion, couldn’t you keep in touch with parents and friends through Skype? Invite them to stay in your hut? Plenty of people would probably like to visit Thailand. You can also visit Denmark occasionally and make new friends in the new place.

To me, it’s about living your dreams and being true to yourself. That’s the foundation for making yourself a stronger personal brand. Strong brands, people and businesses alike, need to grow from authentic values. Otherwise, they become weak. And there are so many weak brands that a weak brand easily becomes irrelevant.

Best wishes, Martin