How to Build Your Personal Brand for Career Success

Podcast Transcript:

Coreea: Welcome to another episode of Promoted, a podcast about leaving low-wage work for good. I’m Coreea, a senior career coach at Merit America, a national nonprofit organization providing a pathway for workers out of low-wage jobs into well-paying careers with upward mobility.

In this episode, we will be discussing how to build your personal brand and why personal brand is important to your career journey.

Let’s first talk about what is a personal brand. I want to take you through this step-by-step.

I want you to think with me for a minute about your favorite brands. What’s your favorite restaurant? Where do you love to get your favorite, let’s say, sandwich—your favorite fast food place?

As you think about your favorite restaurant or even your favorite athleisure wear, what do you love about it? Do you love the way it feels? Do you love the service you get when you go to this particular place?

I want you to start thinking about the things that you experience—the way it smells when you walk inside or how something feels on your skin. These are things that make up your favorite brand. And so what I want to ask you is: Do you consider yourself to be a brand? Big question, right?

I know a lot of times we’re thinking about brands, we’re not necessarily considering ourselves as one. But I’m going to challenge you to consider yourself as a personal brand moving forward. This is going to be one of the keys to success in meeting your personal and professional goals.

So I’m going to ask: What makes up your personal brand? Are you the dependable person? Are you the person that people can trust?

These are things that you may not be thinking about, but they make up how the world sees your personal brand. It’s what represents who you are and the journey and values that you hold in your career.

So potential employers, they’re looking to understand who you are, your ‘why’, and what motivates you. So think about what your personal brand is and then go a little bit further and think about how you can create a personal brand. This is a quick example that one of my mentors Cindy Groso gave me.

She wanted me to kind of think about an experience of shopping. She wanted me to walk down the aisles and purchase Hershey’s chocolates. Let’s just say Hershey’s miniatures, for example.

As you’re walking down the aisle, whether it’s at a pharmacy or a big brand store, what do you see on the aisles? Do you see lots of candies around it? What are the colors inside of the bag that you experience?

When you purchase those Hershey miniatures, what are you going to do with them? Are you going to hide the bag for yourself? Or are you going to share them with your family and friends? Or put them in the office candy bowl for other people to have?

Most of the time that’s what people do when they buy miniatures—they share them with other people and they’re easily accessible. You can pretty much get them anywhere.

Next, I want you to think about an experience that’s a little bit different.  The brand is a brand called Godiva.

Godiva is one of the most well-known chocolates that are out there, and when you purchase it, it’s a very different experience. If you’ve ever been to a Godiva store, what you’ll know is that when you walk in, there is an aura about the store.

There’s the perfect lighting and the chocolates are set up in a display kind of like a jewelry store. When you walk up to the Godiva countertop, you’re going to ask for your candy à la carte. You’re going to pay for it by the pound. It’s a totally different experience altogether. And typically when people buy Godiva, it’s for a special reason.

Because there’s something very special about the experience and the candy itself—it’s a very rich taste—you can’t get it everywhere. You’re going to probably pay about $9 to a $100 per pound of Godiva versus that Hershey that cost you maybe $10 for that small bag.

What’s the difference? What would make someone pay $100 for a pound of chocolate versus $10 for a bag?

It’s the branding of it all. It’s the experience. And when you’re creating your own personal brand, you want to think about what is the experience people have with me. What is it about me that makes people want me in the room in this space? That they want what I have to offer? That’s what a value statement really is, and that’s what your personal brand should be about.

What is the ‘it’ factor that you have that’s going to cause an employer to hire you versus everyone else? This is something really important to think about simply because today’s job market is very, very cutthroat and hard. And if you want to stand out from the crowd, you have to know who you are, what you bring to the table, and your overall value.

As we continue thinking about our personal brand, I want you to think about ways you can create it. One of the things I like to tell my learners is “You have to be it before you become it.” That means you have to think about becoming the HR executive that you want to become before you actually get the role.

So, I want you to start thinking about your mindset and how you dream about yourself from where you are now to where you want to take your career. That is one of the things that’s going to help you the most.

You have to create your own story or your own narrative about who you are, the experiences that you’ve had in the past, and where you want to go in the future. Once you create that narrative and you can explain it with ease and confidence, other people are going to be able to enjoy and hear that experience and see the value that you know you bring to the table.

Of course, throughout this you’re going to be working on your resume. You’re going to work on your LinkedIn and your portfolio. But more than anything, your mindset is what we need to work on the most.

So as you go down this journey and start thinking about and looking around at your personal brand, you know like Apple or Nike, I want you to put yourself in the same category. Because once you craft that story anad share it out to the world, you are becoming the very thing you’ve always dreamed yourself to be.

At Merit America, we understand the importance of building your personal brand. That’s why our program includes personalized coaching from a coach like me and our other career coaches here. We’re here to guide, support, and empower you because more than likely you already have your own answers. You just need someone to help bring those things to the forefront and navigate the world of professional networking.

A career coach can offer you so many things, such as personalized guidance. We provide tailored experiences and advice and strategies to help you create your own personal brand. We won’t leave you to do it all by yourself.

Confidence. Confidence is key and we’ll help you build the confidence to share your personal brand. Not only with potential employers but with the world.

Goal setting. Together, we’ll define your career goals and help you understand how your personal brand can help you achieve your personal goals, not only professionally, but personally as well. 

And last, but certainly not least, accountability. I’ll hold you accountable and other caoches will as well to help you navigate any road bumps along the way. So you’re not going to have to do this alone. That’s one of the things that makes Merit America stand out from the pack.

I want to thank you personally for tuning in and giving me your time. Time is one of those things that you can’t recycle, so I really appreciate you being here listening. I hope these tips can help you build your personal brand and your ideal career. If you’re interested in learning more about Merit America can help you take the next steps in your career, please visit our website at www.meritamerica.org. Thank you.