The one thing you want to be known for.

As a creator, your brand is everything.

It’s the thing people say about you when you’re not in the room.

Whether you’re building the next tech unicorn, working towards a successful solopreneurship, or working for a thriving company, investing in your personal brand has never been more important. Being known for something is an asset no one can ever take away from you.

Your brand is your reputation, and therefore any interaction with your audience or brand expression is a building block of your brand.

The best part?

It’s something you have a direct impact on.

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.

Your personality, values, and unique skills, that come with the content, attract people, not necessarily the topic you create content about. Invite your audience in through your content and let them stay for your personality.

“I am giving myself permission to be who I am. You either follow me for random content or you don’t” —

Jerine Nicole

Know Where You Want to End Up

Your vision is where you plan your brand to be in the future and a vital part of the creation process.

It allows you to project your brand into the future and sketch a picture of your future brand. The purpose of a brand is to impact other people’s lives. This makes you realize that you can be a little more ambitious about the future.

Big questions to ask yourself when you build your brand are:

• Where do you want to be in 10 years and what does that future brand look like?
• What does success look like for your brand?
• What’s the impact I want my brand to make on people’s lives?

Your vision should be big enough to inspire, but not too big for people to understand it and buy into it.

Microsoft’s vision was to put “A computer on every desktop in every home”. This vision was big enough to inspire a movement, without being too big for the leadership team to buy into it.

Rather than just imagining your ideal life, you focus on building character and establishing habits. It prepares you for obstacles and when life throws you off track. Things that will evidently come. But, your vision does not change. Your vision is bigger than small events.

If I get dropped off high in the mountains of Costa Rica or in the middle of Times Square, my vision remains the same. Yet, the next steps change, as the outcome may look totally different. But my core vision stays consistent. And, so should you approach vision as well.

It’s your Northstar.

Your Rules of Engagement

Brand values are the moral compass for the way you build your brand.

If your mission sets in place your overarching commitment in achieving your vision for the future, then your values are the behavioural commitments in your day-to-day activities.

Like all elements of branding, they are internal first and foremost.

It goes without saying that your values should be aligned with your personality and vision, but communication is key. Communicating core values ensures your audience that there is a collective underlying message in every interaction.

But, that’s just the first part:

Show tell, not tell them.

People that know you, know what your core values are, not because you tell them but because of your actions and behaviours over time.

The same is true with brands. It’s common today to list your core values on a dedicated page of your website, but without your actions to go along with the words, they mean little more than marketing.

Zappos shows the possibilities of a brand that lives its core values in the way it behaves. From the way they deal with customers to how they hire talent, all decisions and actions are filtered through their values. Some of these are:

• Deliver WOW Through Service
• Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
• Do More With Less
• Be Humble

By delivering on these core values, they inspire customers and have advocates for life.

That’s the level of engagement you want to strive for.

The Vehicle of Your Growth

Without you sending out your message to the universe, nobody will hear you.

Writing is the most fundamental form of communication. Every business or brand on earth needs writing to share its unique message.

Do yourself a favor and start messing around with your first letters on paper. 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.

Having to write about a topic is the ultimate test of your knowledge. Writing about topics where your knowledge is limited, forces you to study harder. Having an external force of accountability pushes you to become better.

Pick three topics you’re passionate about, experienced in, or know a bunch about. Write about a topic that’s known to you, but one you can help others with. Study like a freak, internalize the matter and write about it.

By doing this, you’ll attract like-minded people and you start serving as a lighthouse. You radiate the signal they want to pick up. Before you know it, you attract problems you can then provide a solution for.

Make noise, listen to the signal.

Become a Minority

Your brand message should be a reflection of who your audience is and what appeals to them, along with the position you want to take in the market.

Most entrepreneurs start their business in the hope that it will be successful. There are very few who position themselves well enough to give their business the best chance for survival, establishment, and then success. Be a part of this small group.

Build a brand from the inside out. One that has substance, meaning, values, personality, and visual appeal to give your business a starting point, a future brand, and a great vehicle to get there.

If you’re serious about growing your brand, my free ebook will help you.