First of all, What Makes or Breaks A Personal Brand?

You can't just decide to generate buzz about yourself for no particular reason at all - you need to know where you're heading before you can ever know how to get there. Strategically speaking, you won't achieve your goals if you don't know where you're heading, so you need to get clear on what you like and what you don't like. Since we live in an ever changing environment however, you have to be careful not to develop too rigid a plan to market yourself. As things change, you need to be aware of them and adapt accordingly so your personal name doesn't fall flat on it's face.

Finally, if you're not going to act on any of your goals, you won't actually head anywhere - therefore you'll lose your position in the market and your personal brand will suffer as a result.

I figured that I'd devise a short list in order to show you what the most useful tips I have found are in consolidating your brand and getting a direction for yourself to market it.

Five Steps to Take to Consolidate Your Brand:

1. Find out what you're good at - Don't be afraid to experiment in the early days to find out what you like and what you're good at. I have tried some really strange things in my day and to be quite honest, not a lot of it was useful in getting me interested in what I wanted to do. It was all about finding out what I didn't want to do. This was helpful because I have narrowed down my specialties so I can focus on doing one thing - becoming a good marketer and businessman.
2. Focus on What you're good at - I mentioned this briefly above but I didn't explain the significance of this point in the world today. Basically, all industries are becoming increasingly specialised. Think about a supermarket. In the old days, there may have been just a single shop attendant who would do all the duties in running the store. Today, in a supermarket, you might find there are 100's of people involved in running the store/chain. You have cashiers, marketers, IT personell, website developers, CEO's and CMO's - all of them have a very specific task at hand and they're very good at what they do. Some job applications even require that you have a degree AND experience working in a particular industry.
3. Learn how to promote yourself without sounding needy - You're not going to get very far with your personal brand if you don't know ways in which you can efficiently and effectively promote yourself. Especially if you want to do it under the radar and demonstrate specific characteristics through certain key points. Only someone who truly knows how to manage a personal brand can effectively project their desired image.
4. Take Responisbility for Yourself - If something goes wrong in your campaign to brand yourself, it's not so and so's fault. It's your fault for not recognising the issue at hand and dealing with it accordingly. Make sure you look at the issue objectively and recognise that you're the only one who can make a difference to other's perceptions of your personal brand.
5. Develop a clear image of what you want to be - Like I said at the start, if you don't know where you want to end up - the chances are that you will probably end up nowhere. One thing which is in your favour though is that you're mind is capable of creating a multi-dimensional image of yourself. What this means is that you can base your personal brand on factors such as how healthy you are, how you smell, what car you're driving, what people are saying around you, what you're wearing and even how you are walking more confidently. Believe it or not, but the more detailed you make this self-image, the more likely you will end up becoming like it. So, What have you got to lose?

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