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As a leader, I quickly learned that building a personal brand was a necessity for myself. The personal brand allowed me to enter entrepreneurship on my very own terms, gain time and financial freedom, and ultimately live with life that I wanted as each the owner of the company and my mother.
I have not at all times been an entrepreneur. I worked as a marketing director at the FOX local partner for ten years, and later as a consultant in the television industry. From day after day I managed budgets, developed recent promotions, flew to conferences and continually strategist easy methods to increase grades in a fighting industry. It was the work of high and high pressure that I loved and gave all the things I had. But then life called that I couldn’t ignore.
When my life has modified
At that point I had a two -year -old daughter and I was pregnant with my son. I still remember how one day she raised my daughter from kindergarten – she was the last child there and she ordered her face to the window with tears flowing down her face, waiting for her to bring her home. My heart has completely broken. I gave myself so much of my work, but at what cost? I missed the most significant.
Soon after, I began working with my son 12 weeks earlier. He was born, weighing only two kilos, nine ounces and spent 77 days at the ICU. The first 12 months of his life was filled with countless visits to doctors and health terror. When it was time to return to work, I asked for a hybrid schedule – which was before the zoom – so I could possibly be there for my children, especially my son, who needed additional care. But the flexibility I needed didn’t exist in corporate America. I was desperate of the freedom of time to give you the chance to work on working hours, caring for my son. No work in the country would let me be a mother I needed to be at that point. Then I knew I needed to do something else.
Why personal branding is essential for women
As women, we regularly expect that we juggle all the things – our profession, families, relationships – and they still keep all of it together. But playing in response to the rules of one other person does not at all times work. I needed to create a company adapted to my life, not the other way around. This is the power of personal branding for women -leaders: it gives you freedom. This makes you control your time, value and profession.
When you build a personal brand, you do not promote a company. You share your story, know, your knowledge and “why”. This sort of authenticity resonates, especially in a world where women are insufficiently represented in conference rooms and C-Suites.
I trained dozens of management, which were good in what they did. They made thousands and thousands for someone’s company, but at the end of the day they were burned, unfulfilled and felt as if that they had missed their kid’s lives, climbing the corporate ladder. When they realized that they may pack their specialist knowledge in a personal brand, earn on it and create the flexibility they wanted, it opened a completely recent world of possibilities.
How I built my personal brand
After making a decision to depart my corporate work, a co -founder of a area of interest website and a digital community for moms in my area. It was a resource that didn’t exist at that point and began quickly. But it stood out that we built it as a personal brand.
My co-founder and I were “mothers”-brands of the brand. We appeared authentically, trading in written content with local publications in exchange for the exhibition, and even conducted a weekly local radio program we proposed a real conversation about motherhood, we answered questions related to women like us and divided our lives. This combination built trust and credibility in our community quickly. It all began with the personal strength of the brand.
During the 12 months we had over 100,000 monthly visitors on the site and generated USD 70,000 per thirty days in promoting during part -time work. We sold this business after only a 12 months and used this rush to launch my digital marketing agency, D2 Branding. Today, in addition to our marketing services, I train women -entrepreneurs on easy methods to build their very own profitable personal brands so that they will change into consultants, authors, speakers and pads.
What I learned along the way
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Authenticity is all the things: You don’t have to pretend you are someone you do not. People attract real, related stories. Show yourself as your authentic self, and the right people will connect with it.
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You are already an expert: Think about what your loved ones and friends come to you for advice. Are these recipes? Professional Council? Fashion suggestions? It’s your area of interest. You can take this information, pack it and teach others easy methods to do what you have already done.
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Visibility creates the possibilities of: My co -founder and I didn’t have any experience in social media or organizing a radio program, but we have just appeared, which gave us credibility. It put us in front of the recent audience and made us unforgettable – and we were capable of build a huge community of local moms. Look for ways to be visible (social media, podcast performances, speaking concert events) and don’t wait for you to feel “ready”.
Related: 3 Principles of the success of the personal brand
Your next steps
If you are a leader, able to take control of your time, income and profession, building a personal brand is a strategy to control your destiny and life on your terms. Ask yourself:
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What is my unique story or specialist knowledge?
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What problem can I help people solve?
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How can I appear authentically and share it with the world?
You don’t need permission to start out. You just have to imagine that your story matters because it is so, and the world must hear it! How many possibilities did you miss because you have not launched a personal brand? The possibilities do not go to the most talented, they go to the most visible.