Del Boy Reliant Robin or James Bond Aston Martin. Which one are you?

Personal Branding. A phrase that is banded around a lot at the moment. What does it mean exactly? Do you need to be the human equivalent of Coca Cola or Virgin Atlantic? No, you don’t. Well, that’s a relief then.

What you do need to do, however, is ensure how you present yourself visually fully represents your talents, skills, experience and expertise.

Ask Yourself This

Some questions to ask yourself:

• If I were to ask your friends / colleagues / clients to describe you in three words, what three words would they use?
• Are you happy with those words?
• What are your deeply held values?
• Do your values underpin every decision and behaviour?
• What would you like to be known for?
• How do you make a difference with your presence?
• What’s in it for other people when they meet / interact / work with you?

We owe it to ourselves, and everyone we interact with, to be the best versions of ourselves we can be, every day. To not do this is extremely rude and discourteous. We are potentially giving the message to other people that they are not worth the effort, so we couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to our visual impact that morning.

In order to gain and receive respect, we first have to give it. We can do this in a variety of ways, one of which is in how we project ourselves visually – our personal brand.

This is not about wearing the most expensive, designer, suit. It is about knowing who we are, our personal ethics and beliefs and expressing these in a way that honours ourselves and everyone else.
We all want to be successful in business and earn our worth. If people present themselves in the world looking like a Reliant Robin they cannot expect to earn an Aston Martin salary! To command that salary or price tag on our products / services our personal brand needs to be congruent and in alignment with our corporate brand.

There is no point having a fabulous website / business card / brochure if, when people meet you for the first time, your personal brand is in misalignment with your corporate brand.
People will be confused. Whilst they are trying to figure out on a subconscious level what isn’t working, they will not be listening as consciously to what you are saying as you would like them to be.

Don’t offer the opportunity for incongruence and misalignment to enter your life. Be your authentic self with all your values, skills and talents on show – every day. Your bank balance will thank you for it!

By Katie Day of RDP International Ltd

If you have any comments about this guest post please add them below or contact us direct. Personal branding is as key when meeting a lender than at any time. Thanks for the article Katie.

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