Day #191: Why You Should Be Living As A Personal Brand

Brand
Your brand is who and what you are when all is stripped away. It is character. You are the controller, the dictator and the ultimatum of your own future. Aside from the variables, obstacles and parameters, which will always be random, but still of Murphy’s law. You only have yourself to either thank, or blame.

“Don’t live the same year 75 times and call it a life.” — Robin Sharma

I was recently reading an article relevant to the idea of; if only our own human brands existed and that there was nothing more than that to the business world. I mean look at it this way…

What if you could build a brand by living your purpose, setting goals, working hard and proving it. Then measure its success. Based on this, it would generate your income, your legacy, your social status and I guess who and what you are.

The article originally posted by John Buysee, goes on to explain his story and why and how he even came up with this whole idea. He further explains that to him, this is what a personal brand should look and feel like:

  1. Rooted in purpose
  2. Fueled by goals
  3. Supported through (habitual) action
  4. Proven with evidence

I wont go into the details, (read here for full article) but the whole point I am trying to get across is; you are you and you should always be you. 

If your personal persona/brand is to live a lifestyle of no work and all play, well than, good for you that you are able to do that and support your living. Or if you are someone who is solving problems day by day and running a small batch of subsidiaries hustles through the night, via your MacBook Pro, then this also is great.

There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living. – Nelson Mandela

Being you, and selling who you are and what you a do, will always be better than trying to be something you’re not and trying to sell something you cannot even do. There will always be a need for your hobby/passion as someone else will have the very same interest, but they won’t have spent their 10,000 professional hours focused on that very thing. Hence why you will be successful, following your passion.

“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from.” – Seth Godin

So here is a challenge for you. What is your passion? Firstly find it. Secondly, advocate it. Thirdly, see if you can make something more out of it that just an escape or a way to relax.

Need a helping hand? Check out some of my previous posts: