What You Need to Know About Personal Branding. Personal branding is the practice of people marketing themselves and their careers as brands. The personal-branding concept believes that success comes from self-packaging. You are your own Chief Marketing Officer. If you take up the challenge, then you manage your image and how you want to be perceived. Take the contents of your character to create your legacy by delving into your authentic self.

“Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.” ~ Jeff Bezos, Amazon

Your authentic self is your mind, body, spirit, and soul – the sum parts of YOU. How you look, speak, and act creates your personal brand. You have a choice. Be deliberate in how you look, speak, and act and you control your brand. Do the opposite and you will be labeled by others by what the majority think about you.

Well-known people who have taken control of their public image and molded their brand to be what they want others to see include Richard Branson, Sheryl Sandburg, Lady Gaga, and Justin Timberlake. Look at their websites, interviews, performances, published works and you will see consistency, clarity, and constancy. That is the key to creating and maintaining your personal brand.

The most powerful tool you have in career development is effective networking. To be successful, networking needs to be purposeful, specific and reciprocal. Be prepared to communicate your value clearly. Offer to share your expertise. Keep your contact information and stay in touch.

Create a branded résumé. What is your unique brand promise? Keep that in mind. Include your key accomplishments. Follow your visual design established with your first branding piece, meaning same font, size, style. Consider a quote about you from a recent evaluation or similar. Quote it in the third person with a relationship credit.

A personal brand is a never-ending journey of self-discovery, and the sooner you take control of it, the sooner you can get on with achieving the most important goals in your life.

Career Advice Simplified is an experienced and full-service career services coaching company providing clients with strategic career planning, career coaching, résumé reviewing, résumé writing, cover letter creating, biography constructing, interview preparing, social media profiling, and personal branding. If you have the desire for a stepped-up career, we have solutions. Win the game of job hunting with our specialists. We provide resume and career services in Sarasota, Bradenton, Lakewood Ranch, Venice and all along the Suncoast!