I am obsessed with personal branding.
I write about it, I create podcasts and video content about it, I post on Instagram about it.
I talk about it to friends and business colleagues.
Personal branding is my THING.
Now, if you were to ask me why I am so attracted to it, I would probably have to go and sit down in a quiet room for several hours to think it through.
Because as with anything we are drawn to in life, our motivations are many and varied and may not even be completely obvious even to ourselves.
However, there are three key reasons why the personal brand business model resonates with me so strongly. I’m sharing them below because it’s possible you might identify. Certainly, if you are considering making a personal brand yourself, they are worth thinking about.
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I am happy being in the spotlight
OK , this needs a bit of breaking down.
Because I don’t want you to get the idea that I’m some kind of crazed show-off.
Quite the contrary.
When I was at school I found it really hard to make friends.
On top of that, in some ways I didn’t really WANT to make friends either.
I was shy, but I also preferred my own company.
What that meant was that when the other boys were playing football in the playground at break time, I used to sit in a corner by myself under the old oak tree and play alone. Trying to keep out of sight.
However, as I got older, I found that although I am a natural introvert (I draw more energy from being on my own than in crowds) I also enjoy the buzz of giving value to others through entertaining them, teaching, motivation and so on.
In particular (because I’m naturally reserved) I like to do this through writing.
(Writers are nothing else if not performers who don’t like getting on stage very much).
But I also like to create podcasts, video content and—-these days—-I quite enjoy giving talks and doing face-to-face consultations too.
The reason all of this is important is simply because when you run a personal brand business, you must be prepared to be in the spotlight.
After all, the whole edifice is structured around YOU.
So if you are the kind of person who prefers to remain behind the scenes and invisible, then a PB is not for you.
This is something you need to consider upfront if you are looking at the PB model for yourself.
2. I love creating content
OK, let’s narrow this down.
Basically, I love to write.
That means that anything like articles, Tweets, books, course materials, marketing emails, Quora answers is up my street.
In addition, I also now enjoy making podcasts (you can listen to mine here). Podcasting is really ‘writing out loud’ anyway, and some people create scripts beforehand.
I also don’t mind doing live videos.
(Editing videos is a skill-set that I have still to learn, and to be honest I’m not incredibly excited by it.)
But if it’s writing then I’m there.
Understand this: if you want to create a personal brand, you MUST put out consistent content.
I am not a celebrity. I do not have the luxury (or curse) of the world’s media following me around with cameras publicising my every move.
If I did, I would monetise the attention.
But as a ‘regular civilian’, I have little choice but to create my own content. And I have to do it consistently in order for people to find me.
Fortunately, I love it, so it’s win-win.
But if you don’t enjoy creating at least one form of content then you should consider seriously if the personal brand route is really for you.
3. I believe that personal branding will withstand the A.I. revolution—at least in the medium term
Look, A.I. is a big subject and worthy of a whole other post. Let’s just acknowledge here that the robots are coming, and they want your job—-certainly, if your job is easy to automate in any way at all.
That includes not just blue-collar jobs are at risk, but also a hell of a lot of white-collar ones too.
I used to work in advertising, and that industry is on the road to automation with the use of digital ‘trading desks’ used to buy and sell advertising across a whole host of media.
It’s just one example of what’s happening across the board.
The point about a personal brand is that you are essentially selling yourself.
I write about dating and online business. Sometimes I go off at a tangent and talk about something else entirely—-theatre, politics, literature or whatever.
But people still follow along because they have bought into my personality, and they way I write and view the world.
That personal touch is, in the medium term, going to be VERY hard to replicate with technology.
After all, we like certain actors, TV personalities, politicians and so on because of their personal traits.
Because of their humanity.
It is very difficult to see how A.I. will disrupt this for a very long time.
Certainly, I couldn’t see myself following an A.I. writer or creator, simply because ‘it’s’ points of reference would not be human, and it is humanity above all that I seek as a consumer of content.
It’s possible that either my view or the technology will change, of course.
Let’s face it, pretty much anything could happen.
But for the moment, my view remains that building up your own audience through a personal brand remains the best way to future-proof your career and earning potential.
I realise there’s a lot of detail here! If you want to find out more about how I built and monetised my own personal brand business go here.
