“Those golden handcuffs may be coming off whether you like it or not.”
This was something that came out in a conversation with a dear friend this week. We were talking about goals, scaling, and the joy we each take in working one-on-one with clients. He’s a composer and I’m a holistic brand strategist, but each of us could have gone to work for – or built – monolithic powerhouse companies.
We talked about the lure of SCALE. The perceived stability. The freedom. The freedom? Really?
Each of us has more freedom now than we ever would running a big company. We work with the people we want to work with, we feel the impact of some of the more socially conscious projects we take on. And we are KNOWN in our industries and to our audiences – company names aside – based on our Personal Brands.
Now there’s an obvious cost of delaying your Personal Brand strategy:
Every day without a clear, strategic message is a missed opportunity—for speaking gigs, podcast features, book deals, and positioning yourself as the authority you were meant to be.
But at this moment in time, there also is an impermanence in the air, a sense that fealty to the corporate beast may not be rewarded. That the golden handcuffs, shiny though they may be, are perhaps not made of SOLID gold. Whether they are or not, there would seem to be an innate logic to hedging your bet.
Do any of us have time to be saying, “I’ll wait a little while to be me. I have all this great stuff within me, all these accomplishments, and so much possibility, but I’m fine being defined by the three-letter title. I know who I am.”
I contend that it’s worth plumbing those depths, as I alluded to in my last newsletter.
If ever there has been a moment to summon all of your talents, qualities, experiences, and wisdom, and sculpt a towering 360-degree Jolly Green Giant or Wonder Woman of a Personal Brand — this is it.
360 degrees. I repeat that, because many of my clients come to me with an embarrassment of riches: accomplishments, awards, degrees, knowledge…all of it waiting to be harnessed into an incomparable message for maximum impact.
Impact comes in all forms – the effect you want to have on your community, advances is tech or the arts, the expansion of minds, the ease of execution, any or all of these can be done when the self-secured shackles are removed.
The beauty of Personal Branding is that it coexists with the corporate identity. In fact, it includes that identity, and all the other hats you wear. It is the sum total. And it is the core.
A building is a monument, not a legacy. For a few bucks, you can erect the former.
But to what do you aspire for the latter? Chances are, it starts in here, in your heart. All branding is personal, as I say. So linked to you is your Personal Brand, that it travels with you wherever you go.
I build brands that open doors – our clients achieve greater impact, influence, and growth through messaging, brand voice, and brand strategy. Book your Personal Brand Audit now to see what’s possible on the way to incomparable.