Whether you own a company, or are growing your career, you have a personal brand. Your brand is what drives your influence and impact – not only in business, but in all your relationships. No matter how much you have already achieved in life, you occasionally need to take stock of how you are showing up. When you do, there will be four clear signs that it is time to reinvent your personal brand for continued personal growth and transformation.
Sign #1: You’re Attracting the Wrong People
Whether you are plagued with poor hiring decisions, a dead-end job, unreasonable customers, or disappointing romantic partners, the common denominator is the relationship dynamic. There may have been a time that these were the right sort of relationship to help you grow, but now you have moved on. However, your brand, and who you have become are now out of alignment. What you are telling yourself, as well as people around you, about what you want and deserve needs to change. Otherwise, the disappointment, conflict and frustration will only get worse.
Sign #2: You Feel Invisible
Invisibility manifests in two distinct ways. First is feeling ignored or overlooked within your organization. The second is the inability to connect with your ideal customers, and can kill a business very quickly. If you fit in either of these categories, your brand message isn’t clear. Instead of standing out, you blend in. It’s time to dig deep and look at who you really are – your values, purpose, mission and vision. This is what we are made of, and it is irresistible (to those who resonate with who we are). Own it.
Sign #3: You’re Overwhelmed
Many of us believe stress and overwhelm are not only inevitable, but are a badge of honor. They are neither. They are signs that we have unwittingly diluted our personal brand. A clear brand has focus, direction and established priorities. And it then dictates all our actions in an expansive and attractive way. Stress and overwhelm, on the other hand, are the symptoms of a scarcity mindset – which implies you are not enough (smart, credible, talented, etc.), or there is not enough (time, money, etc.) When your brand is properly aligned with who you are, there is unshakeable confidence and clarity that attracts more of the right opportunities and people. This doesn’t mean you won’t ever feel stress or overwhelm again – but they no longer need to be your constant companions.
Sign #4: You Have Lost Your Inspiration
This is the most heartbreaking effect of a misaligned personal brand. It is also the most unnecessary. No one really ever loses their inspiration. We just cover it up with layers of other people’s ideas of what we should be or do.
Think of restoring your inspiration like restoring the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Carefully, layer by layer, we strip away the grime and residue of external validation, so our own inner brand can shine through in all its brilliance. It has been there all along, and building a personal brand is about stepping into your authenticity courageously and, for some of us, a little fiercely. No one can be you better than you can.
Sign #5: You’re Coasting
When you have had a successful brand for a while, you will reach a plateau. This can be a very dangerous place to be. If you stay in your comfort zone for too long you risk irrelevancy. Signs you are resisting your next evolution range from customer or employee attrition to a sense of internal boredom or restlessness. At this stage, many global brands actually collapse. The higher you have risen with your personal brand at this point, the harder you are likely to fall if you don’t take the time and effort to reinvent yourself.
Whether you are trying to accelerate your business’ growth trajectory or rise above the office political landscape, reinventing your personal brand is a powerful place to begin. It is a relatively quick process, and the results are nothing short of amazing.
If you are ready to make the deep personal shifts that can transform your brand, book a free discovery session to find out if this work is right for you.