Wait a minute Karen, you are telling me I need a personal brand! “ I am not a company, I don’t want to stand out.” I just want to be and live and do. Well I have news for you, you have a personal brand whether you want to or not or whether you are intentional or not. Why not be intentional so that the brand and the trail you leave behind is one that you want to be known for.
When someone years ago asked me what I thought a brand was at its essence, I said without thinking. It is the soulprint of who you are. It is what people think about you when they think about you. What are people thinking about you?
It is your essence. It is how you talk, it is how you respond and NO not just in business because being authentically you can only work if it encompasses both your business and personal life. It is impossible to separate the two.
Okay how in the world do I figure that out if it is imperative to have a personal brand for my life and my business? The first step would be to sit and think about what moves you or breaks your heart, then set about changing that. For me it breaks my heart when people are unkind to themselves and each other so for me Love must lead the way in ALL of my business and life decisions. This holds true in EVERY contact with another person whether they believe as I do or not, whether they are kind or not, I ALONE AM RESPONSIBLE FOR HOW I TREAT AND RESPOND TO OTHERS.
Trust is important so I want people to know that to the best of my ability what I say I have studied and explored and feel confident. If I don’t feel confident then I will tell you so and then we can explore it together. Fake it till you make it does not work for me. Perhaps faith it till I make it but never fake it. People can see right through that. Besides you hang out with smart people right?
I can not change my value system to suit my business system. When we are seeking out people we want to do life with, we want to be able to trust them. You would not say that you would want a spouse to be relatively faithful, you want them to be completely faithful. Life is not relative in this sense.
I want my brand to be a reflection of kindness, love, hopefulness, anticipation of what is great about life, wholesome, uplifting, joyful, enlightening, elevating. Why not sit down and take a quiet moment and think about what words reflect who you want to be in life and business.
I believe in self education and becoming the best version of myself so that I can help others do the same. When I take the time to teach others to become better then I naturally become better. For me and my company I believe that teaching others what you have been taught is a vital part of success. You can only keep what you are willing to give away and it seems the more you give the more you gain.
I have always loved the words of Maya Angelou. ‘I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.’ So how are you making people feel when they hear you speak, when they see you living out in the world? Are you leaving a soul print of love and kindness and hopefulness? What is your brand?
I am so thankful that I am surrounded by kind and loving humans that truly at their essence want to make this world a better place. The power and the purpose of business that is built on strong core values has the ability to change the world one human at a time. I am thankful I work with a big group of world changers.
Loving you deeply!!!!
