The importance of a personal brand
It's about marketing and selling who you are as a person
Early in my career I was nervous about posting on LinkedIn or other platforms such as Substack; but having grown up in the Wild West era of Social Media, there was a healthy level of paranoia.
The concerns I had, and the concerns that many I mentor bring up included:
What if I get roasted by commenters?
What if something I posted comes back to haunt me later?
What if no-one sees it and I wasted my time?
Honestly, the concerns make sense; but that’s if you think about building a personal brand like you think about building a social media profile. Whereas it is actually both more and less than that at the same time.
In this post we will dive into why a personal brand is important and why you should start building one now, if you haven’t done so already. We will do so by addressing three key points that we believe are important when building your personal brand.
Showing who you are
Displaying your accomplishments and skills
Building a repertoire
Showing who you are
Think about your presence online. You will likely have several personal social media profiles - which you may have set to private - and most likely a LinkedIn account; if you have been active in the job market, quite likely your CV is on so many job portals and job boards you have lost count.
Typically your professional profile, and the CVs you have sent, are outdated. So if someone wants to find out about you, they see outdated information. A personal brand involves creating posts, and content such as this Substack so people can learn more about you; and typically how you approach things, what you think of things, and what you are capable of professionally.
It’s not just about content creation though, whatever form that may take, its about increasing your organic awareness. Recruiters, Talent Managers, and potential clients will meet thousands of people in their lifetime; you want to stand out in their mind, and a personal brand helps you to do that.
It’s important to bear in mind however that building your personal brand has to be personal to you. You are not trying to be an influencer, although that may happen as a by product; you are trying to show who you are as a person to as wide an audience as possible. As such, speak with your tone not somebody else’s of ChatGPTs; use the platforms you feel comfortable with; and make sure that what you are showing is important and something you have knowledge about.
Think of it like an extension of your CV. You don’t lie on that, so don’t lie with your personal brand.
This brings us onto the next point quite nicely, but before we do one thing that comes up quite a lot it “I don’t feel qualified to speak on this”. An understandable point. This imposter syndrome feeling is common, and I had it for the longest time. However, if you speak about what you know even if it is coding scripts and interesting tutorials then in time your confidence and experience will grow; and as that grows so will your personal brand.
Displaying your accomplishments and skills
Every personal brand is somewhat bragadocious and self serving; it is cringe inducing. I was speaking with a business partner of mine, and both of us hate watching our speaking engagements back. Eventually you learn to live with the cringe.
Again if you think of your personal brand as an extension of your CV, it is how you can display your skills and expertise. What can people come to you to get help with? It may not directly lead to jobs, opportunities, or sales; but what it does it helps you increase your memorability.
If everyone has a personal brand, then maybe that argument falls down a bit; but, if we think of it as the next stage on the journey then it becomes stronger. People see your CV or LinkedIn profile, they want to find out more… but you don’t have any additional content; even if everyone has a personal brand then this allows people to continue learning more about you increasing the chance of success, jobs, opportunities, and sales down the line.
Your personal brand will be a living and breathing thing; it will change, as it should, but think of it as another way of letting people learn how you can help their businesses.
Building a repertoire
Personal brands evolve and change. The first time I tried to do this was in 2013; barely out of my Undergraduate studying for my Ph.D. I talked about Statistics and things I found interesting, then in 2017 I launched a personal website, and now in 2024 Substack. Each of them at the time served a purpose.
More importantly though, each of them encapsulates a topic or a discussion point, and is something that I can send people towards if it is relevant. I have that repertoire of content that may be useful to someone. Like all brands, your personal brand will grow and gain traction, but only if there is something to gain traction on.
Oh, but what if…?
Eventually, you will be comfortable with your personal brand; but for most people, especially technical people who are used to hiding behind a screen, it will be so unbelievably uncomfortable you will want to quit.
There are a thousand reasons not to start a personal brand, but an equal number of reasons to do so.
Here’s the reason that got me. I was fed up seeing people say things I disagreed with online, and non technical people who were comfortable with their personal brand dominate the technical space. So I thought fuck it; either I can be quiet and annoyed, or do something to change it. If it fails, no one will see it, no harm no foul; if it succeeds, then I have added a perspective I thought was missing to a valuable conversation.
You should think of your personal brand as a logical extension to your CV. Many I mentor struggle to put all they have done into a two page max length document. If that sounds like you, then a personal brand is a great way of getting around that.
Speak with passion, speak with honesty, and eventually people will pay attention.
I'll leave you with this. Posting on the internet feels like the scariest thing, purely because everyone in the world may see your content. Two things.
Chances are very few people will see it, and in the main people aren’t arseholes; if they disagree you may learn something
If you do make it big; people will dislike you, it’s going to happen. Don’t feed the trolls, and engage with those who want to engage. You will most likely have more positive engagements than negative ones.
With that I encourage you to start your personal brand! What have you got to lose‽
Before you go, why not help my personal brand by subscribing to The Technician’s MBA, it’s free and helps me a ton, also consider sharing this to spread the word.
Grand. Thanks for your time.