Getting Started with your Personal Brand

Ellen Looyen
'America's Leader in Personal Branding'

Written by Ellen Looyen

Believe it or not, I discovered my own personal brand many years ago, in a fortune cookie…It stated: “You find hidden treasure where others see nothing unusual”! And since my life purpose is all about “helping people connect more authentically and charismatically” (to influence, inspire and to lead more effectively), the two align beautifully; and my work is more meaningful because of that alignment.
 

The most successful personal brands align with one’s life purpose…

If you’re like most people, the concept of aligning your “life purpose” with the work you do probably seems elusive or perhaps secondary. Let’s first consider what we mean by ‘life purpose’

In my research, I’ve found “life purpose” defined in the following ways:

§ The expanding of one's potential in life

§  Becoming the person you’ve always wanted to be (i.e., becoming the best version of yourself )

§  Living authentically by utilizing your talents the right way

§  Being able to put the whole of oneself into one's feelings, one's work, one's beliefs

§  Creating your own destiny

As a Branding Specialist for over 24 years, it’s been my job to help people connect what they do, with their purpose or passion. The personal brands that are most successful are those that align with one’s life purpose.

Oprah Winfrey said:

“I’ve come to believe that each of us has a higher calling that’s as unique as a fingerprint – and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you.”

How To Get Started?

• First, uncover the WHY of your brand

What is extraordinary and unique about your contribution of value? Why do you choose to do what you do? Your “Why” is typically the passion that drives, excites and differentiates you from other (non-passionate) look-alikes.

Building an authentic personal brand requires an honest personal inquiry that usually leads to an evolutionary journey towards achieving more meaning and fulfillment in your work (and in your life).

• Next, articulate the WHY of your brand

This step involves defining your unique value proposition and translating it into self-promotional messaging. This messaging can then create meaningful and authentic connections to those who you most want to influence, help, sell to, persuade, serve, etc.

Everyone has a personal brand and a unique life purpose just waiting to be discovered and articulated…

Yet most people are not aware of how to build and manage their brand, strategically, consistently, and effectively. It’s never too late to take control of your brand and the message it sends (to positively affect how others perceive you). Creating a charismatic personal brand, that’s in alignment with your personal values and your life purpose, gives your life and work more meaning, while catapulting your business or career to the next level.

To take your own personal or business branding to the next level, attend Ellen's introductory webinar on 6/7 @ 10am PT/1pm EST where Ellen will take you step by step through the fundamentals of getting started on developing your own powerful, authentic personal brand. RSVP here

Making Things Happen: Action-Oriented Leadership

Key Takeaways from Advancing Women in Technology Panel May 15th, with Lucinda Duncalfe Holt (Founder and CEO, Real Food), Mandy Ginsberg (President, match.com North America), Heather Gilchrist (Managing Director, RAK Tech Fund.

Heather Gilchrist,
RAK Tech Fund

If I had one overall word that thematically linked all three panelists' advice, it would be 'action'.

Aka doing. To do stuff. To be bold. To not let analysis, excuses or fear stop you from moving forward and doing exactly what you want to do.

Heather Gilchrist summarized it well, into these three pointers:

1) Don’t ask for permission ever

2) Do what you love

3) Take yourself seriously

Lucinda Duncalfe Holt
Founder and CEO, Real Food

Lucinda Duncalfe Holt built on this, elaborating on the idea of fear:

'There’s nothing that can stop you from doing this except yourself. When you start to feel afraid, ask yourself: what’s the worst thing that can happen? (In her case, at the time) Worst thing is: I’m a failed CEO'. If you can live with the worst case scenario, keep moving forward.

All three women agreed that they had taken some ‘go big or go home risks’, and admitted that sometimes in the past they did not know what they were doing. That's ok, they assured the audience, it's all part of the leadership journey. Knowing everything perfectly before doing is the perfect antidote to action.

An interesting question came up, about how to inspire others to take the same kinds of risks that you were tolerating in the business. The answer was something of a surprise to the questioner: You can't. Not exactly. It's not fair to expect others to have your own risk tolerance - after all, it's not their ship. 

The best way to inspire as much risk taking and trust as possible is to admit the risk and show that you are willing and prepared to shoulder that risk personally. Lucinda recalled an amazing story of a woman who, during her time in the military, crawled through a field containing land mines to pave a safe path the next day for her frightened team. Unsurprisingly, this team was prepared to follow her on every move after that enormous show of personal bravery. Her leadership and commitment was never again questioned. 

A final tip? Ask, ask, ask. Lucinda's final piece of advice was: people love to be asked. Even if they say no, they still love to be asked. So give people what they love (and perhaps also help your business and yourself in the process!)

The Fun Theory

Play is a worthy pursuit for its own sake and can serve as creative stimulus for our most significant work.  Robert K Cooper

Little Tania, without a very good sense of her own limitations!
Yes, I did tumble off this one as least once.

How many mornings this week did you wake up filled with vibrancy and health, at your absolute best? How much fun have you had since Monday? What about since the start of the year?

If you are like the majority of people, you are not feeling impressed about the answers to these questions.

Did you know that only 28% of professional women would rate themselves as fun? And a disturbing 18% rate themselves as healthy/fit/well rested. In a recent Wimlink study with over 250 professional women, respondents were also more than five times as likely to rate themselves as unhealthy, unfun, than they were to rate themselves as not hard-working.

Stop a moment and ask yourself: what’s the point?

I had my pivotal moment of unfun-ness when one night, I decided I had to go out. I was living in Northern Virginia at the time, relocated from NY, away from friends, and all I did was work, travel, exercise, work.

Things started looking grim when firstly, I looked into my wardrobe and realized I did not own a single thing that could not be worn to the office or the gym! When did this happen? Staring at a sea of nice crisp grey, I remembered that I don’t even like grey.

Determined to remain positive and break my cycle, I did the best I could do with my wardrobe building blocks and headed to a local bar and sat down. Moments later, a man approached, sat down next to me and, trying to make casual conversation, guessed exultantly that I was a dentist. Needless to say we did not end up dating.

Point being – one minute you’re an imaginative, bossy, reflective, gregarious child who forces adults at your parent’s dinner parties to stop what they’re doing and watch your interpretive dance choreography. One minute, you’re writing poetry all the time and laughing so hard your stomach hurts and you can’t see. Next minute, you’re wearing a grey suit that you hate to a chain-restaurant bar in Reston, Virginia and the best pick up line you can get is ‘you’re a dentist, right?’

Life happens so fast. Our choices, even the little ones, pull us inevitably towards our future. So in each choice, in each moment, we need to bring fun back. We must play more – our success, creativity, health and livelihood depend on it.

Within weeks, I had moved back to New York, gone shopping, dancing and whatever else, and never looked back.

So I challenge you now, to stop for a moment and see how you’re doing. Are there any automatic behaviors that, like a needle in a broken record, keep you stuck repeating the same pattern, over and over again? Go back, deeply into yourself. Back into your center, to that place of power that you stumble upon occasionally when you’re in the zone and a small voice inside of you whispers ‘this is exactly me, this is exactly who I am’. You marvel at this as though you were somehow tapping into something powerful, outside of yourself.

That is your self, and it’s time to get to know you again so that you can finally sink your teeth into life, rediscover your groove, honor your childish aspirations and have some fun being truly wonderful at this whirling, colorful, life game.