Be Intentional about your Personal Brand
My last name is Sishuwa, if you are an ardent follower of political critique in Zambia you will recognize the name at first glance, over the years I have walked into different offices and interacted with individuals whose first question upon meeting me, is if I am related to a certain author as opposed to eagerly wanting to know me. This means my personal brand is overshadowed by this author’s personal brand whether we are or aren’t related. It’s safe to say that this author has done a great job at attracting his target audience and influencing their perception.
Personal branding is reputation building for your target audience, it requires intentional steps to influence their perception of you or the reputation you hold in public. It is what your target audience thinks of you and how your behavior influences their thoughts of you. Essentially, you can attain control over their thoughts of you by behaving in a manner that speaks to the image you wish to portray. One might ask why this is important especially when the self-love movement asserts that it’s what you think of you that should matter more than what others think of you. Have you ever considered that perhaps you keep getting passed up for that promotion because you are committed to running errands for everyone in the office as opposed to show casing your leadership skills or maybe you keep dating the wrong people because every time you open your mouth to speak, you sound like love is not for you, you are happily single but deep down you are dying from this cold weather and the fear of growing old alone.
I recently interacted with a friend who accused me of conducting myself in a manner that is not reflective of the goal I verbally expressed the desire to attain. He not only accused me of being too busy but also, of having expressed an apathetic attitude towards the goal I seek to achieve. My first response was denial but I eventually realized there was some truth to his allegations, I hadn’t truly been intentional about achieving this goal, neither in words nor deeds, and whenever I spoke of my goal my actions were contrary to my verbal expressions.
In case you are confused let me give you an example of what being intentional about personal branding looks like; over the last 10 years I know someone who has acquired two degrees and a post graduate diploma in one field of study, she has joined an international public speaking club and signed up for French classes. In addition, she has carefully taken steps to achieve her dream career by working only for target companies to ensure she gains the right experience that will position her for her dream job. She has continued to make decisions that make her visible to her ultimate target organisation including reviewing the specifications on every job advert they put out in order to make improvements were necessary. Each step has been about building a personal brand that will influence her target audience’s perception of her, when they interact with her, she wants them to say ‘’hi, we have been looking forward to meeting you’’ as opposed to ‘’hi, are you related to so and so?‘’. Let me be quick to add that being linked to someone else whose brand is easily noticeable isn’t a bad thing, you can use it to your advantage but that’s a conversation for another day.
In terms of career, many of us have it all figured out or at the very least, we know someone who does, and it would be helpful if we took deliberate steps to learn from such an individual. Do you want a promotion or a raise, what have you done lately that shows your employer that you are the person for the raise or that you deserve a promotion? have your actions and speech been so intentional that your target audience cannot help but notice that you are the right person for the job.
This does not only apply to your career, but it also applies to your love life, often we find ourselves attracting the wrong people, this isn’t entirely our fault because good steak attracts both a five-star chef and a beast. However, instead of taking a laid-back approach, how about we take intentional steps to attract the right type of people, we can do this in so many ways such as being clear about what we want and where we stand. Do you want a life altering love story with someone who shares your values and will love you unconditionally through life’s changing seasons, but your social media posts are filled with talk about how all men are trash and how all women should be feared right after Satan? I can assure you that your brand will matter when you get your 5 minutes in the spotlight with your target audience or person of interest. You will either present as a red flag or the perfect candidate. I am not advocating for a lack of authenticity here, I am advocating for strategically working on yourself to ensure you are best placed for the things and people you want, that means filtering the content that goes into your head to ensure that what you say and do are intentional enough to create the brand that gets you your dream job or love life.
I recently thought about the type of man I want to settle down with, I still have some character developmental work to do. If he met me today and we had to have the sort of conversations that stimulate me mentally, he wouldn’t think I am a suitable spouse so I started taking intentional steps both in speech and conduct to be the type of person my desired future spouse would even think to look at twice, and to be the type of woman my old suitors would not even think to look at twice because my brand doesn’t speak to men who are not ready to settle down and start a family anymore.
