BernieBorges.com Blog: Social Media and Web Marketing

Give Yourself Permission to Build Your Personal Brand

I often encounter people stuck in a rut in their careers. They usually enjoy their jobs (some more than others). But, they aspire to move to the next level in their career and they don’t know how to do it. For some, it’s unemployment. They’ve been searching and searching but haven’t found their next viable opportunity. For others, it’s just getting noticed enough to advance to another role.

Getting Over The Hump

I’m no psychologist. That said, I am convinced that for many people this conundrum is in part a self fulfilling prophecy and to some extent in their own hands. This may sound a bit like “tough love.” In fact, that’s how I intend it. Now, I fully realize that unemployment is high. Getting over this hump is not a walk in the park. But, it’s doable.

Embrace The Digital Age

We live in such an amazing time. The tools, technology and culture have made it possible for us to meet and network with people around the world just as easily as down the street. Our ability to do so is limited only by how much sleep we need. Any of us can create and publish content and get recognized for it.  Any of us can create an online reputation worthy of getting recognized and rewarded for it.

For some people, it boils down to giving yourself permission to build your personal brand!

If you’ve watched any of my training videos or attended any of my seminars, you’ve heard me give the following advice:

• Create content through blogging and social networks
• Build your social AND professional credibility
• Become entrepreneurial

I give other tips in addition to these but in the interest of brevity, I’ll limit this post to these three tips.

Content is King

Content creation is relatively easy. All you have to do is talk about what you know well. I advise everyone in this situation to create their own blog and share their thoughts with the world. If you don’t like to write, then get a Flip camera and shoot video and create a YouTube channel. Or, share your thoughts through social networking platforms including Twitter or LinkedIn or Facebook. If you’re really ambitious and devoted to building your personal brand, use all of these tools to share your stories with the world.

A Five Year Overnight Success

Don’t wait for someone to ask you to create content. No one asked best selling authors to write their first books, or popular bloggers to write their first blog!  Anyone famous didn’t get there overnight.  It takes time, dedication, persistence and to a large extent self-permission. That’s right. For many it boils down to giving yourself permission to just do it. BTW, you don’t have to achieve fame to enjoy the benefits of building your personal brand.

The Nike Strategy

This advice is actually very simple advice! Executing it is not so simple. It may stretch you outside your comfort zone. It may require that you work harder than you currently work, but in a different way. I wrote this blog post at 5:30 in the morning. Are you willing to get up early to build your personal brand?

Given the abundance of options available to all of us to build our online reputation that can open up new doors of opportunity, it often boils down to just doing it.

If this article hits home for you, I have three simple words of advice for you: Just Do It!

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