The Six Steps to Personal Branding Success – Step One: Discovery

The first step to personal branding success is one of the harder steps. This is because it will require you to take time to figure out exactly who you are and what you want to do. The reason why this is so important is because when you begin to create your brand you have to be aware of what you want your brand to represent. In essence, you are discovering yourself. Many people want to skip this step and jump straight to the Development step, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. I would suggest that you don’t try to rush any of the steps and give each step ample time, attention and focus.

During this stage ask yourself the following questions:
1. What do you want to do?
2. What do you want to be known for?
3. What are you good at?
4. What is your motivation?
5. What are you passionate about?
6. What do you want your brand to represent?

By asking yourself these questions, you are creating a solid foundation for your brand to stand on. The first question may seem very simple, but actually it will require a lot of thought. That question really means, what do you want to do in order to become legendary? This will give you focus and guidance on how you should begin to build your brand. If you do not know what you want to do or what you want to be known for, your brand will be generic or it will be very complex and confusing. Choose a main theme and work towards that, but remember to be specific. Don’t just say I want to be successful. That doesn’t give you much to work on. What do you want to be successful at?

If you are not sure what the answer to the first two questions, the third question will help you out. Understanding what you are good at, might help you to figure out what you want to do and be known for. If you are good at speaking to people and connecting with people, maybe you should think about teaching, coaching, or even public speaking. If you are good at multi tasking or organizing information, you should look into event planning or project management. However, this question is not enough, because some people are good at one thing, but they are not passionate about it.

I have a friend who is great with numbers and data analysis, but she is not passionate about that. You want to make sure that you understand what you are passionate about and figure out a way to combine your passions with what you are good at. This will help you to create consistency when you begin to build your brand. If you are not passionate about what you are doing, then you will not be motivated to succeed or go above and beyond people’s expectations. Awhile ago, I wrote in my journal and I titled my entry “My Why?”

“My Why?” is basically my reasoning for doing what I do. One thing that I wrote down that I wanted to help people become successful and wanted to give people the opportunity to live a life full of abundance, success, excellence, and prosperity. I also wrote that I wanted to be a role model for young adults and help them to navigate their way through this crazy thing called life. I continued to write about my family, my friends, and my goals. I ended up typing up “My Why?” and placing it on my desk, so that whenever I felt unmotivated, lazy, or frustrated and wanted to quit, I would see it and realize why I was doing what I was doing. Try it, it may help you during this step.

I would suggest that you keep a journal, notebook, or a word document on your computer as you begin this process. This way you can use it as a reference when you begin to build your brand and to also track your progress through the Six Steps.
Self discovery is a vital part of life and it is essential as we grow, mature, and develop. The more aware you are of who you are, the easier it will be to understand your brand and how to communicate it to the world.

Happy Discovery!