You are your own brand manager

I was talking to a friend this morning after my workout while I waited for the changing room to clear out.

A mutual acquaintance of ours came up in the conversation and my friend said, “They’re shifty.  I just don’t trust them, it’s not natural to be that happy all of the time.  Honestly what fires up their belly when they think everything is right with the world?”

Which I guess is a fair enough question but then I reminded her “They are the face of a brand that inspires health and happiness, it would be kind of a prerequisite to be happy – on the outside at least”.  I finished our conversation with “I’ve never been a brand, I’ve always just been me.”

But it got me thinking am I a brand?

About.com defines personal branding as “the process of developing a “mark” that is created around your personal name. You use this “mark” to express and communicate your skills, personality and values”. 

It goes on to state;

“The end goal is that the personal brand that you develop will build your reputation and help you to grow your network in a way that interests others. They will then seek you out for your knowledge and expertise.”

Are we not all representatives of our own brand then?

Surely we all want to express our values and attract others.  After all that’s how the human species has managed to survive this long.  There wouldn’t be much procreation going on if we weren’t out there trying to “network”. 😉

It was when I realised that, “shit I am in fact a brand” I sat down and really reflected on what it is that I am portraying to the world and whether it was a “brand” that I was proud of.

I use my family as a yardstick.  Would I be comfortable having my Mum, Dad or even kids when the time comes reading what I write and in turn would I be ok if my kidlets grew up to “be me”.  But perhaps more importantly am I being me or just portraying what people expect from “my brand”.

Firstly I do tend to write without censorship, I have a tendency to let my hands type faster than my brain can reason with them.   But I’ve never written anything that a) wasn’t true b) I wasn’t ok with having all and sundry read which includes my extended and immediate family.

However, when it comes to the subject of branding I’m probably quite lucky because this blog was never set up with a clear objective in mind so none of you really have any expectations from me other than that at some stage I will talk about burpees (because I actually have a real “thing” for burpees), I will post more photos of my socks than anything else AND that I will never give up eating dessert – ever.

I’m hopeful that no one has ever had a conversation about me that includes the words shifty or untrustworthy and I’m pretty sure I can never be accused of being “too happy”.

You see this blog has never been my “highlight reel” in fact far from it.  I’ve shared with you my body, big, small, surgically enhanced, upside down and at times laid up with injury.  I’ve outlined all my self-doubts, failures and fears but thankfully I’ve been able to lighten the mood and share a few triumphs along the way as well.

Although there are many labels I would rather not have associated with “my brand” the word unnatural is one I’m ok with.  I understand that for the general population it’s not natural to love burpees as much as I.  At least the domain name suits my brand to a tee. Nothing could be more appropriate than burpees for life (dot com)!

I’ll leave you with this thought, you are your own brand manager. Are you conveying the message you want to the world?

Till next time

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