We are in a new frontier of business development. It requires a new skill set: well-cultivated personal branding. Coaching, personal services, manufacturing, retail, and sales are becoming more and more about personal relationships and marketing online. Mastering this new frontier requires you to sell yourself more than your product to get attention and set yourself apart from the competition. I am here to tell you that the easiest way to do this is with your personal image aka your personal brand. So why is personal brand so underused?
Women’s fashion is more complicated than men’s
Business has been dominated by men for a long time and let’s face it, men have it easy. Professional image for men falls into two categories: the suit and the uniform. Women’s image has always been more versatile. There are a lot of options but that can make it more complicated. There is also a stereotype that women innately know how to dress so they should not need to “hire someone” to show them. Many women become so overwhelmed they either give up entirely or settle on a capsule wardrobe that quickly becomes boring.
We have become a more casual society
The jeans revolution, pop culture, and working from home have ushered in an age of casual dress as normal. The positive is it is easier to be comfortable; however, it also means that styling is a dying art. The disconnect here is that casual can be styled. Professional image does not have to mean tailored and button-upped. At the same time being allowed a more casual dress code in your industry does not mean you have to look like a slob. Well-cultivated personal branding can absolutely include jeans, sneakers, and T-shirts.
We think that image consulting is only for the rich and famous
More and more industries require being on camera and that comes with a whole new set of criteria that Hollywood as known about for some time but now the average person needs to be educated on. The public eye is no longer reserved for the rich and famous. This is making it harder than ever to get noticed. Many of us are competing in over saturated sales markets. This means that ads are heard and then forgotten, networking events are over-flowing, and clients have a plethora of options to choose from. Staying one step ahead of your competition is vital. It is time to embrace the art of “getting noticed” that celebrities have been using for decades.
We do not ask the question “how is my image holding me back?”
Business owners have no shortage of coaching. Money coaching, mindset coaching, goal setting, sales coaching, leadership training it goes on and on. Yet there is a gap in business development and that is personal brand coaching. Why are you putting so much effort in honing your skills to do the job but not the skills that land you the clients to do the job? If you cannot attract the right clients, then you cannot do the job. If you are doing everything right in your career but are not reaching your goals it is time to ask yourself “how is my image holding me back?”
If this resonates with you but you are struggling on how to cultivate your personal brand and image join my mailing list and follow me on Instagram to learn more tips and trainings.
Photo by Mikhail Nilov from Pexels