MY BRANDING LESSON
Personal Branding in the Entrepreneurship world
Many may wonder for a long time why their brand doesn’t equal to mass amounts of money and success; this is while those who master branding are making a killing out of their brand. Most start-up entrepreneurs do not understand the simple fact that success takes time, an extreme amount of dedication and persistence. When one comes up with an idea it is to that person the best idea ever but to implement an idea is something totally different. It is much easier to penetrate a market when you are well branded.
The Big Sit-down
I was able to secure a sit-down with a branding and PR consultant to see how I can develop my brand with the lack of resources and capital I have. He told me to never say I don’t have ‘the lesson had started’, he then explained to me that it does not take much; he said it just takes personal representation. What impressions do I leave with people? And then he made an example : “You see son if you are always late, your brand will be ‘the late comer’, if you are always in trouble your brand will be ‘the guy who is always in trouble’ and if you are always jogging your brand will be the one of health consciousness”. We cannot control how people think of us but we can alter it by our reaction.
What I have learned.
It’s really the small things we do on a daily basis that makes us who we are. Some of the things that tarnish our reputation we don’t notice and some we do. It is easy to create a good brand by simply keeping to your word; Raymond Aaron said that we South Africans are struggling so much because we do not do what we preach. He said this because a limo was late; so if the limo driver was early he could’ve saved South Africa the embarrassment. Again I will repeat ‘IT’S THE SMALL THINGS’. If you are an entrepreneur and you wake up at mid-day which is eight hours after the world, it is quite obvious that you are not serious about your business.
What will show most to our peers and business associates is what we are trying very hard to hide most of the time. DO NOT HIDE YOUR BAD HABITS, CHANGE THEM! People will have their own views about you as soon as you open your mouth and speak, or even before you speak, just by looking at your dress code and appearance. Your job is to make those views and perceptions positive by all means. Your job is to portray what you want to become more than what you are. Your job as an entrepreneur is to get out there and get to do extraordinarily unique things that set you apart from the average guy. YOUR JOB IS TO BUILD A PERSONAL BRAND, BECAUSE BEFORE PEOPLE CONSIDER DOING BUSINESS WITH YOU, THEY CONSIDER WHO YOU ARE.
Article by Ashley Thekiso
