Branding Yourself for Success

Here's the chilled part - you get to pick how people perceive you! Are you wondering how exactly you can influence the thoughts of others when they are around you? It is all about your personal & professional brand.

The picture you describe to the world (knowingly or subconsciously) is powerful. People depend on their perceptions of others to evaluate situations & make decisions, so they are constantly scanning for signals from the people around us & coming to conclusions based on what we have observed. Sometimes you may feel that someone's perception of you is inaccurate or even unfair, but it is part of human nature to try to sort things for meaning, & that person's brain is picking up on signals & trying to generate order from them.



What lasting impression do you leave people with? Is it consistent? Ask yourself: is my own self-perception of my brand in alignment with what most people around me would say is my brand or who I am & what I offer? Or are there some gaps or disconnects between the? Is your current brand what you'd like it to be?

What exactly is a personal brand? Tom Peters first used the phrase in 1997, calling personal branding the creation of an asset pertaining to an individual (including body, clothing, appearance, & knowledge) leading to an indelible impression that is uniquely distinguishable. With all due respect to Mr. Peters, it took me some time to get my head around that definition. My own take on it, & how I describe it to my clients is: personal branding is taking the essence of who you are & what you offer the world, & packaging it to leave a long-lasting impression.


A number of the essential elements of defining your personal & professional brand are: your outside appearance & style, the way you communicate, your self-perception & character, what your life experiences have provided you in the way of skills & wisdom, your passions & values, & your vision for the future. These sound simple on the surface, but each area has a depth & complexity to it that when you delve in to it, provides richness to your brand. The elegant personal brand is an amalgamation of all of these pieces of yourself, distilled in to a surprisingly simple description of yourself.

When you modify your outside picture & your actions, it changes how others perceive you & treat you. In the event you are naturally bubbly & lively, will people react to you the same way if all of a sudden you became serious? Of coursework not. The brand you select to report must be authentically you, or it will feel uncomfortable & you won't exhibit it consistently. However, when a modify aligns your brand with who you are at the core of your being & your inherent strengths, it also transforms the way you feel about yourself.

When you can define your personal & professional brand, it is authentic, & aligned with who you are now & where you are going, you can then manage your brand picture. You can dress, act, communicate, & make choices that are in line with that brand. Because if you are not managing your brand, who is? Your brand is managed by default according to what someone who comes in contact with you decides that it is.

Proactive brand management is essential for success. It lets you be in control of your fate. To be perceived as the ideal person for promotion, or the ideal candidate for a job.

The person with the greatest control over you getting to the next level is you. If you are not being attentive to how you are perceived, where you require to go, the opportunities around you, & taking action that is consistent together with your personal brand, you are going to be left behind wondering why others around you are getting promotions or raises.

Careerevolution Group's personal branding programs are based on the Personal Branding Model developed by Lauren. If you are wondering how your personal brand can help you get ahead, contact us at 303-325-5765 to schedule a call to find out.

Lauren's passion & talent for helping people connect the dots between their current job situations & their ideal outcomes led to her specialization in the field of strategic career coaching. They has dedicated the remainder of her professional life to showing people how work can be enjoyable, significant, values-based & balanced. Careerevolution Group was formed to transform people's experiences of work so they can enjoy their success!