Before February of this year, I didn’t know what a personal brand was.

Now, it’s my most versatile asset as I’m running a paid community to help people build their personal brand in public.

In hindsight, it’s easy to understand the concept, but, back then, I simply wasn’t aware of it.

A personal brand is what you represent and how others perceive you by the message you communicate.

Everyone has a personal brand. It’s our reputation with our audience and our online presence. The difference is whether we leave it to develop by chance or we take control.

Our world is becoming more digitized by the day, and it’s your obligation to create your own digital home. Own your spot before someone else does. The Internet allows you to reach the entire world — within seconds — with all of the computing power available in your pocket.

A successful personal brand leads to growth. Create the life you want and impact people around you. Here are 5 lessons to help you get started today.

1 — Pick Your Vehicle of Growth

Writing is one of the best ways to clarify your logic and thinking and the benefits extend far beyond the page. Storing and distributing text online is cheap, which means your words can be read by almost anybody, anywhere in the world. Your work travels the world, while you sleep, and that attracts like-minded individuals.

It’s the best form of inbound marketing and a double-edged sword:

1. It attracts opportunity.
2. It helps to sharpen your message.

Writing online allows you to build your life’s resume. One that’s continuously updated and showcases your skills and experience. It forms your online real estate.

But, don’t let my example keep you thinking a box, there are many forms of content you can use. Some may drift towards video content to share their message with the world. My friend, Jason, is a great example of this:

The beginning of creating online is hard. The battle for attention is fierce and it always looks like other creators have their things figured out.

But, let me tell you one thing:

Everybody was once a beginner and felt like an imposter.

But, as long as you don’t start your content, you will stay at level 0.

Get practical:

• Pick one type of content and focus on nailing that one first.

2 — Make Noise, Listen for Signal

In the beginning, I wrote on all kinds of topics:

Mindfulness, marketing, self-development, entrepreneurship, freelancing, writing.

Great topics, but first of all, super broad and heavily saturated, and second, even more important: my audience had no idea what my message was.

If you don’t understand your own message, how can you expect your audience understands it?

Create content on a limited number of topics and become known for those.

Focus is essential. It requires you to dig deeper and explore new avenues of the topics you’re invested in.

You want to be the only person in the world who does what you do. Your reputation precedes your revenue — not the other way around. Building a personal brand comes before everything. You can’t build a brand out of thin air and expect people to follow you.

Invest in your personal monopoly. The internet has never made it easier to upskill yourself. To make it in life, it boils down to two options:

1. Make yourself useful.
2. Make yourself scarce.

It’s up to you.

Your unique voice & personal traits, combined with your skills make it impossible to duplicate. There’s always room for better or different.

Get practical:

• Pick three topics you want to keep talking about.

3 — Just One Step at a Time

Building an online presence comes with a healthy dose of patience.

The path of an online creator is not set in stone and can be vague.

Real, hard metrics are be missing, and going with the gut feeling is not always an option.

How do we creators then stay focussed and committed to the end goal?

As the digital environment, we’re in is highly dynamic and always in motion, you should have an understanding of your overall vision.

Your vision defines your future. It shapes your journey and the decisions you make. It prepares you for obstacles and when life throws you off track. Things that will evidently come.

These days, too many people get caught up in the way they should work towards their vision. They think about all the steps that they have to take to reach their end goal.

A beautiful way to overcome this challenge is the ABZ-framework:

A stands for where you are now, B identifies your next step, and Z is your end goal. It’s that simple.

Know where you want to end up, but focus only on the next, small step at hand.

This way, you remain focused. Every time you achieve your B, you identify a new B — one that’s aligned with your end goal. It’s the perfect combination of focus and overview, zooming in and out at the same time. A framework that’s suitable for any creator in a dynamic environment.

Get practical:

• Define your Z, but work on your B.

4 — Nobody Beats You at Being You

A personal brand is nothing without personality.

Your audience wants to see themselves or the best version of themselves in your brand. When your brand portrays the personality of your audience’s aspirations, they can resonate on a deeper level.

But, are you willing to give your audience a taste of your personality?

The more you give, the more they can resonate.

Allowing your audience to see your personality is extremely frightening in the beginning, but so powerful. It’s something that, even with all the AI available, is impossible to duplicate.

The moment you start being yourself, you feel it: nobody beats me at this game. And, building your personal brand is a game you’ll never lose.

The combination of your personality, values and unique skills attracts people, not necessarily the topic you create content about. Invite your audience in through your content and let them stay for your personality.

Get practical:

• Give yourself permission to be yourself. It might take some time and courage, but the rewards are amazing.

5 — Don’t Walk Alone

Building an online presence is about providing value, laying connections, and building relationships. You want to play long-term games with long-term people. It’s about empowering and uplifting others.

The key is to look for like-minded people who also have lofty ambitions. People who’ll support you. Do it right, and you will grow richer, smarter, and friendlier.

Form a tribe. On Twitter. Twitter isn’t dead. When you find the right communities, you feel it: it’s thriving.

The moment you start putting your genuine thoughts and ideas out there, you begin to connect with brilliant, like-minded souls.

I like to work by myself, but it’s super-valuable to have external input from people that know me better than someone I meet on the streets or in a bar. Find yourself an online support network, which helps you to stay focused and ask for objective feedback on a regular basis.

Get practical:

• Create or resurrect your Twitter profile and start engaging with people that share the same interests as you. I wrote about growing a strong community here.

Tying It All Together

Building your online presence is the currency of the future and doing this right will set you up for an exciting and prosperous future. For those that are willing to put in the work and put themselves out there with a well thought out strategy:

1. Consistency rules everything — show up every day.
2. Put out quality content — nobody likes to read B-content.
3. Engage with others and be supportive — build one another up.
4. Be yourself — anyone can smell a copycat from a distance.

The best moment to start is today.

Having a community that has your back and keeps you accountable while building your personal brand is priceless. Join Build Your House Club, a vibrant community of people building their personal brands and having fun along the way.