Is it just me, or are you also hearing a lot more about having a personal brand? It’s funny how you hear something a few times and then all of sudden you hear it in many different places – it’s as if your brain filters things, just like those ads that mysteriously pop up after you have talked about a particular pair of shoes. Go figure!
If you’ve been following the podcast you’ll know that I’m saying this tongue in cheek because I’ve discussed many times how our brain works and how we actually do have a filtering system in our brain that shows us more of what we believe, just like those pop up ads. The example I’ve often used is if you’re in the market to buy a particular car, possibly in a particular color, and then all of a sudden you see that car everywhere – it’s not a coincidence, it’s your brain doing what it’s supposed to do.
Knowing that this is how the brain works, I was laughing to myself when I saw a book on personal branding, a podcast on the subject popped up in my Itunes feed, and then my podcast interviewee, Bridget Kaigler, in episode #155 mentioned how her mentors had asked her to get clear on her personal brand. With all these pop ups about personal branding, I figured it was time to discuss this topic with the accountant moms in the CPA MOMS community and with those that listen to this podcast.
In the book I saw titled “Reinventing You”, author and branding expert, Dorie Clark, explains that whether you want to advance faster at your present company, change jobs, or make the jump to a new field entirely, the goal is clear – to build a career that thrives on your unique passions and talents. But to achieve that in today’s competitive job market, it’s almost certain that at some point you’ll need to reinvent yourself professionally.
In the book she describes several situations where you would consider reinventing yourself professionally and creating a personal brand:
- You’re at a new phase in life and you want to be known for something different
- You’ve been laid off and need to ensure you’re in the best position possible to land a new job quickly
- You want to move up in your company, and you need to take control of your reputation
- You’ve been trying to win a promotion, but feel you’re being held back by misconceptions about what you’re capable of
- You’d like to move into a different area of your company
- You’re just starting out in your career and haven’t built up a powerful resume yet, so you need to find another way to stand out
- You’re changing careers and need to make a compelling case that your unusual background is an asset, not a liability
Her approach to creating a personal brand is understandably very externally focused, helping you to be seen in the best light possible by others as you explore what the next chapter in your career and your life might look like. It’s about recognizing your strengths and weaknesses, developing the skills you need, having mentors and others to support you, and leveraging what you have in order to take you to where you want to be.
But in this week’s podcast I want to discuss your personal brand in a slightly different way, not so much based on that book I read, but based on the podcast that I listened to, which actually ties into a lot of what I teach you on this podcast. I think it’s going to help you see the importance of having a personal brand in a way that you might not have considered before.
Whether you think you’d like to have a personal brand or not for work or career purposes, I suggest you listen to this entire episode because whether you realize it or not, the truth is that you already have a personal brand. You may not agree with me, but you actually do have a personal brand which is why it’s also important to understand what it is and how you might want to mold or shape it.
This week I’m going to discuss what a personal brand is and an important way to approach reshaping or creating one.
What a personal brand is
When you think of the word “brand” what comes to mind? Do you think of big brands like Amazon, Apple, or McDonalds? Or do you think of smaller things like the brand of toothpaste your family likes or the brand of mechanical pencils you can’t live without at work?
When it comes to the concept of a brand, most of us would most likely mention the name of a company or product that we know, trust, and like. Similarly, the American Marketing Association defines a brand as “A name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s goods or service as distinct from those of other sellers”.
But have you ever thought of the fact that a brand isn’t just its logos or slogans – those are a brand’s aesthetic or how you, the consumer, visualize it. A brand is really what people think and feel when they see that logo, hear that slogan, or interact with that product or company.
From an accountant’s perspective, we are privy to the finances of companies and are well aware of the fact that many pay huge amounts of money in order to develop their brand and to make sure that the public thinks and feels a certain way when they’re interacting with their product. Just take a second and think about some of those brands that you gravitate towards and what you think and how you feel when you consider them.
For example, if you think about Amazon, their well-researched and tested logo has a smile on it, giving the consumer a sense of happiness, whether you’re aware of it or not, because we can’t help but associate a smile with something good. For a mega brand like Amazon, they’re customer satisfaction is paramount to their success, and they know full well that customer trust and loyalty is the key to their growth.
So in similar fashion to a company’s brand, a personal brand can also be considered what others think and feel when they see you, hear you, and interact with you. It’s the know-trust-like factor of your product – which is you!
The interesting thing is that, like the focus of that book I mentioned, most of us would consider our personal brand from an external perspective – making sure that people like us, want to work with us, and think we’re valuable. When we would consider optimizing our personal brand, we would most likely focus on improving the perception that others have about us.
In other words, we would want to understand the impressions of those whose opinions we care about, focusing on our external brand. It makes total sense since our brains are hardwired to seek approval of others and we’ve been taught to believe that what others think about us matters.
Of course you would want others to think well of you in professional and personal settings. You would want others to not only know what you’re all about, but also what your personal brand stands for based on what’s important to you and what your skills and talents are.
In essence, how they think and feel about you will dictate their actions, just like how you think and feel about certain brands dictates your actions. Whether it’s warm and fuzzy thoughts about a particular car manufacturing brand that excels in safety features, or it’s cold mistrust of that fast food chain that mistreats its employees, what we all think and feel then fuels what we do and what we purchase.
So while being externally focused on your personal brand is important, it also puts you in situations where you wind up spending a lot of time and energy trying to control the narrative and someone else’s thoughts and feelings. Unfortunately, especially for smart accountants, you can get caught up in looking for validation and valuing the opinion of others more than the most important opinion – yours.
While it makes sense to be externally focused when it comes to branding, I also want to help you to see that being internally focused is just as important when it comes to having a personal brand. The reason this is so important is because how you think and feel about YOU is going to drive how you show up.
Think about all the ways you show up in the world. How you think and feel affects things like your body language, the tone of your voice, the ideas that you think of, and your ability to act and react in ways that you want.
When you are internally focused on your personal brand, before being externally focused, you feel more secure, more confident, and less desperate for the validation of others. Being internally focused allows you to build a strong foundation either before or during your interactions and those times when you might be promoting your personal brand.
The issue is that if you aren’t internally solid and shored up, then when the inevitable naysayers show up and ignore you or reject you and your personal brand, you’re more likely to crumble or have your confidence erode over time. Or worse, you wind up becoming needy and controlling, trying to change their perception of you.
As I said before, whether you realize it or not, you already have a personal brand which is based on how you already show up in the world, but also based on how you think and feel about yourself. This is why it’s important to choose on purpose, rather than by default, what you want your personal brand to be and how you can start optimizing it more, from an internal standpoint, which is where all your power is anyway.
So whether you’re in a board meeting or a PTA bake sale, let’s consider the importance of the internal optimization of your personal brand.
The importance of the internal optimization of your personal brand
I don’t know about you, but whenever I’m learning something, the easiest way for me to understand a concept is to see examples. When I listened to the podcast that was teaching this concept of the internal optimization of your personal brand, it was the examples that really helped me to see the difference between the external versus the internal focus of a personal brand.
So with that in mind, I think it’s best if I go through some examples that you might be able to relate to in order to show the importance of the internal optimization of your personal brand in both professional and personal settings:
Example #1 – You have a managerial or leadership position at your company or firm, or perhaps you are a mompreneur with your own firm like our CPA MOMS franchisees. Let’s say you’ve gone through performance reviews and you had to let an employee go.
Optimizing your external brand – you would focus on wanting others to not feel like you’re a person that randomly fires people. You might have thoughts like “They don’t know all the things that went wrong with this employee” or “They don’t know everything that went into making that decision”. You might think you need others to know you’re a good person or that you did everything you could. From thoughts like those, you would probably show up defensive or worried. In the end, you actually wouldn’t wind up being the leader you want to be.
Optimizing your internal brand – you would focus on how you think and feel about firing the employee. You might choose to think “That was hard but it was the right thing to do” or “I understand it was the right decision and that’s enough for me”. By optimizing your internal brand, you decide that you’re a good person and that you did everything you could before letting this employee go. From thoughts like those, you would most likely show up calm and compassionate. In the end, you would move forward as a leader who does what needs to be done and owns the tough decisions that need to be made.
Example #2 – You’re an accountant mom who is either reentering the workforce after taking time to raise your children and have a gap in your resume, or you’ve had various jobs and just haven’t found the right fit. You’re now worried that this might be a problem as you go on interviews.
Optimizing your external brand – you would focus on needing to explain or justify what you see as issues with your resume. You might have thoughts like “I hope they don’t penalize me” or “I hope they don’t point out the issues with the resume”. You might think you need to make them understand that the gap in your resume or the various jobs wasn’t your fault. From thoughts like those, you would probably show up insecure or lacking confidence. In the end, you actually wouldn’t be showing up as your best for the interview.
Optimizing your internal brand – you would focus on how great you feel about having taken time to raise your children or the fact that you are willing to take on various jobs to figure out what best suits you. You might choose to think “Of course there’s a gap in my resume because I chose the best time to set my children up for success in their lives” or “I changed jobs because they didn’t support the vision I have for my future”. From thoughts like those, you would most likely show up relaxed and confident. In the end, you would show up to the interviews, answering their questions, and being able to guide the conversation more towards the future and how you would be an asset.
So hopefully you can see from these few examples that when you are focused on optimizing your external brand, you are in essence outsourcing your results to others and giving your power away. But when you focus on optimizing your internal brand, you are much more likely to get the results you want.
In order to start optimizing your internal brand and boost your confidence, I suggest you start to pay more attention to what you think about you, than what you want others to think about you. So if you had to guess, what would you say your personal brand is right now? Check in with that voice in your head – how kind is it towards you? What are your values? What’s important to you?
Do a little exploration about what matters to you but also how supportive you are towards yourself. You’ll have a much better chance at developing a strong personal brand when you make sure your internal brand is stronger than anything else.
When you focus on optimizing your internal brand, it becomes much easier to then optimize your external brand as well. And the best part – there’s a lot less chance of people-pleasing when you do.
Summary
- The truth is that you already have a personal brand which is why it’s also important to understand what it is and how you might want to mold or shape it.
- Similar to a company’s brand, a personal brand can also be considered what others think and feel when they see you, hear you, and interact with you. It’s the know-trust-like factor of your product – which is you!
- While it makes sense to be externally focused when it comes to branding, I also want to help you to see that being internally focused is just as important when it comes to having a personal brand.