Personal branding is about managing your name
- even if you don't own a business -
in a world of misinformation, disinformation, and semi-permanent Google records.
Going on a date? Chances are that your "blind" date has Googled your name.
Going to a job interview? Ditto.
-Tim Ferriss
I remember years ago reading the book Four Hour Work-Week by Tim Ferriss and after having read it, being in an alternative universe where anything is possible and everything goes. Fortunately for me, the idea that anything is possible has grown exponentially and I still believe that you create the world you live in.
Tim’s quote is about the importance of caring tremendously about your digital footprint and your online image. Where I left off a few weeks ago (you can check it out here if you missed that post) was that there are a handful of foundational points that need to be taken care of before you can carry on with streamlining your message and beginning to create content online. Once you have the details in place to create your online presence, it is important to take a break, step back, and reflect upon your lifestyle design and goals before moving forward with your brand.
After you have a beautiful headshot, brand continuity across platforms, and a general idea of what you want to be known for, the next step is to discover what you want the most in life and why.
One of Stephen Covey’s famous quotes is “begin with the end in mind.” When applying that to your personal brand, the magic to a solid beginning is knowing where you are going. When you know where you want to end up and why, your writing, personal brand, and daily actions begin to fall in line very quickly.
Once you have laid the framework for your brand and online presence, the next two steps are for the purpose of syncing up your personal brand and the beginning stages of creating your lifestyle design; I found these two points to be very important in my own journey.
- Find a role model and online presence to watch and take notes.
- Create your end goal.
While marinating on those two action items, reading Four Hour Work Week and 7 Habits of Highly effective people to begin to create and focus on the type of lifestyle you want and how that plays a huge contributing role in your personal brand. Lifestyle design is covered in great detail in Tim's book and I will be focusing on it intentionally in my next post, covering how my own lifestyle design led me to where I am today.
Lindsey Rainwater is a consultant and coach to the fitness and wellness industry. She specializes in business development and leadership. Currently she is working with the Fitmarc Team helping Health Club owners all over the south central region of the united states propel their business forward via group exercise solutions. For more information about Lindsey, follow her @lindseyrainh2o, all content posted at www.lindseyrainh2o.com