Are you an aspiring artist? Is entrepreneurship your passion? Do you have trouble sleeping at night while thinking about your next great idea? The answers to questions like this will give you the insight to create your personal brand. The great thing about the Internet today is that you can become anything you want to be, whether it is your profession or just something on the side. During the days of most of our parents, Mom and Dad were strictly known for what they did for a living, what they looked liked, and how they interacted with their contemporaries. This is no longer the situation.
For the first time in history we are able to become whatever we want and there is absolutely no one there to stop us. Personal Branding is the way to become the person you have always wanted to be, whether it be on Twitter or on the congested streets of Manhattan. The problem is that it can also stop you from becoming what it is you have always dreamed about. My question for you is simply what do you represent? Are you a struggling architectural visionary, barely paying your bills? If you are then live that. Do not be afraid to display your designs on your Facebook page or Tweet about your innovative approach to gravity-powered water-collection.
The question what do you represent is vital to your future success and happiness. Here is what goes through a recruiter’s head when they see your Facebook picture of your recent record-setting keg-stand?
“Nice form, but is his unique ability to drink 50 fluid ounces of ice cold Natty Light really going to make him a great Financial Analyst?” (Midway through the thought, your beautiful resume on bone-colored 32 lb. paper with a barely visible watermark falls into the trash-can, never to be seen again by that organization)
This picture may be good for a beer-tap inventor, but not for a financial analyst applicant for Goldman Sachs. You are representing your ability to party, not your potential to become an industry-leading business executive.
We must take the actions to create a personal brand that is completely representative of what we want. Take five-minutes and browse through a friend of yours Facebook or Linkedin page and write down some of the characteristics that come to your mind when you are checking them out. Is that what they are really like? They could be an aspiring minister or a driven lobbyist, but if they are representing something different, then unfortunately that is what they are. There is no escaping it.
Your Personal Branding efforts will pay off huge dividends and your social status on Facebook will not falter due to your lack of drunken images.
What do you represent? Whatever you want.
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Brendan Wales is a co-founder of StarvingFreelancers,com, a site dedicated to bringing together talent and opportunity. He studied Finance at the University of Georgia and enjoys working with small-businesses. Two of his favorite authors are Jack Kerouac and Ayn Rand. Wales’ goal in life is to wake up in the morning and be excited about going to work.
