bridge to a new future—after spending some time in one area, it’s easy to feel trapped or boxed in. We can become labelled as only being good at one thing, which, even if that used to make us happy, in time it can feel a little claustrophobic, as if we could never break free of that particular label. Even though I will discuss both playing into and drawing strength from that label, once you have a strong brand profile, you then have license to do something a little bit different, as long as you use that previous profile as a bridge to the new you.
Personal satisfaction—fame and fortune are nice, but these are not an end in themselves; most are engaged in their work for much deeper reasons, such as we may feel we have a message or a gift that we feel compelled to share with others. Lifting your brand profile increases your ability to do so.
Building a personal brand is a game – and it can be a fun one. It’s not only a game of talent, skill or even diligence. Sure, those factors all contribute to our success. But as many high-profile people demonstrate, the greatest factor in our success is self-belief – being willing and ready for profile opportunities when they turn up, which they will.
This book is part inspiration to get started (the first few chapters), and part self-help manual (the rest of the book). The Business of Being You is designed as a beginners guide that anyone in business can follow; you will find lots of simple tips and tricks you can apply immediately for effective profile-building. Some sections may not be relevant to you right now - for example, not everyone will choose to begin building a media profile. However, those chapters are there for reference later on, when you may need them.
Are you ready to play?
You are not your job
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? Mary Oliver
When I left the corporate workforce, it took me six months and a sojourn around South America to shake off an identity crisis. I had already created my own venture—a public relations agency—which gave me an employment story to keep my ego at bay. However, I needed to wait for my business partner to exit her corporate role before we could officially kick off the new business. Desperate to fill the void, I spent my first few months of so-called unemployment in a frenzy of confected activity.
I had been in the habit of filling every waking hour generating output for others. Stopping work felt to me like coming down off drugs.
I initially planned to use the time writing a book. Instead, I rushed in to help launch a new business for a friend of a friend. I wasn't passionate about the venture, and he turned out to be a tough taskmaster. After a couple of months and a few hundred hours of unpaid work, I craved a rest from his relentless demands. When I stopped responding for a few days, I received a series of aggressive phone messages—the final ones at 7am on a Saturday morning—waking me up to the reality that despite being unshackled from the workforce, I had once again become a slave to someone else's agenda, simply because my ego had demanded that I attach my identity to some form of work.
Life was continually nudging me towards my own ventures. However, I was hardwired to seek others’ approval, and it took another decade of rude awakenings for me to learn to generate my power and status from my own interests and passions—not other people’s.
Many I know are workaholics, prone to filling any empty spaces in their lives servicing others’ agendas. Of course, this tendency is known by many different names: ambitious, passionate, hardworking, and successful. Do these sound familiar?
This focus may serve us for a time, by delivering a decent salary, an impressive job title, the gratitude of our boss or co-workers, and something to brag to our friends and followers about.
However, unless the cause we are working towards is something we truly care about, and unless there is scope for us to be recognised for our efforts and to put our signature on those work activities, one can wind up feeling cheated. Whether we are twenty-five or forty-five-years-old, eventually, we will need to back projects that have our name on them, and that allow us to receive the kind of recognition we each crave for our contribution.
What's your kryptonite?
Getting ensnared by others’ work agenda is a common trap; however, there are many others. Working with all kinds of personalities in public relations, I have seen it all. Even those with a financial commitment behind building their personal brand can come up with the most bewildering excuses that prevent them from going through with their plans. I'm fond of using Fairy Tales to illustrate the kinds of mind traps that keep many from pursuing their own ambitions:
Meet Cinderella, a talented young woman with enormous potential who is trapped in the back room cleaning, and who isn't allowed to go the royal ball and hang out with the important people. In reality, like every other single woman in the village, Cinderella has an open invitation to attend the ball. However, she has allowed her wicked stepfamily to brainwash her into believing she's not entitled to go.
Cinderella's modern male counterpart, Clark Kent, is a closeted superhero who hides behind thick glasses and a dull day-job. Clark never receives recognition for his many incredible achievements, and he also never gets the girl. Perhaps he disguises his powers because he is afraid of being exposed to the deadly kryptonite that weakens him?
In both cases, their fears of discovery are both immobilising and exaggerated.
We all have our own version of kryptonite (or the wicked stepfamily that constantly throws obstacles in our path to greatness). This kryptonite is that thing that keeps us weak, while always seems to thwart our opportunities or drain us of energy and hope when confronted with our true passions and ambitions.
Take your identity back
Fear of not meeting your obligations to your employer (or clients, suppliers, or ...? fill in the blank for your overlord) is a common trap that conspires to keep many invisible. Employer brands are very powerful, and since the corporate culture revolution, workers have been asked to subsume their identity to their employers' (at least while at work). Fear of retribution, damage to your reputation, or the loss of your sole source of income has kept many people in their identity cages.
In the past fifty years this has meant that for many, their most powerful source of identity has been derived from their current job title. When we meet someone in a work or a social setting, rather than introducing themselves or others as a whole person, the focus often goes immediately to what do they currently do, as if that job title is their identity? Does this sound familiar?
There are many forces at play around our working future that mean deriving our identity primarily from one job is no longer an option for most.
In the next few years, a significant percentage of the workforce is expected to be independently employed – either as a freelancer or an independent contractor or as a self employed business person.
According to a 2018 study of 6,500 global executives by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Harvard’s Business School’s Managing the Future of Work initiative, freelancers are predicted to have a significant impact on their workforces. Around 40% of respondents said freelance workers were likely to become a greater part of their
