“Personal branding is the practice of people marketing themselves and their careers as brands”
What is a branding?
Every time I saw a rabbit and nude beautiful women, the only thing which would come to mind was Playboy. Without even have to read the magazine article, I associated a rabbit or nude beautiful women with Playboy- that is branding.
A brand can be anything (symbol, name, design, reputation, emotion, sound and tone) which separates one thing from another. In the case of Playboy, the nude women and rabbit became part of the brand. The nude beautiful women separated its brand from other magazines. Personal branding has become one of the important factors on a personal level. One needs to be branded in order to adapt and survive.
Benefits of Personal Branding
· You will be able to open professional opportunities.
· You will get a good job (a job you dream to have).
· You will meet amazing people.
· You will get the respect you deserve never mind your background.
· You will be associated with the best names.
· You will be a mentor, people will look up to you.
What are you being associated with? Google will make you famous
Nowadays, we find a lot of the youth abusing social media, posting naked pictures. Select the pictures you want to upload, select the status or tweets you want to send on your social media platforms. Most people do not get hired not because they are not fit for the Job, but because of the things they associate their names with. If you are a student, make it a point your name is associated with students, not just students but good students. Type in your name on google and see which photos of yourself pop up! Are they good? Are they bad? You will decide.Personal branding is a formula which helps one to have a direction in life.
We are unique and special in our own different ways. You are special, you can be anything you want to be. That is one of the most interesting parts in life; it all depends on yourself, how you want to brand yourself. It all start with the mind, change your mindset and be the best you can be. Once you change your mindset and have a positive attitude towards life it all starts to work in your favour for the best.
We all know by now, that if you want to achieve in life (get that degree) you need to dig the right places. But to dig the right places you need to be informed and have the knowledge needed. Social media has played a big role in our lives. It has changed the traditional ways of doing things. While growing up in the townships of Soweto I had to wait for the 7:30 pm news, not knowing I was preparing myself for the real world. Gone are those days when I waited. Gone are those days you will say I can’t find a Job. “YOU CANT FIND A JOB BECAUSE YOU LOOKING IN THE WRONG PLACES” you cannot dig for Gold in The UK, but you can dig for Gold in JOHANNESBURG. Bosses, C.E.O and Mangers are on twitter, LinkedIn etc. they are an email away, all you need to do is change your mindset and start building a name for yourself. Things won’t come to you, but you need to wake up and smell the coffee. Just like I did, “I waited for the 7:30 pm news every day” just to be informed.
Social Media is not the only way to brand yourself
It all start with respecting your parents, yourself and everyone else around you. When you start to have respect for everyone, you start to build relationships with the people that matter. You will learn how to treat people, you will learn how to communicate with people. Most importantly you will able to dress up appropriately. Imagine you are called up for an interview and you never knew how to dress appropriately. Do you think you will get the Job? Do you think people will take you seriously? Think again, life is too short to be ignorant. YouTube has everything if you want to learn something then visit YouTube and learn it.
Wake up, Personal Branding goes a long way. Even a boy from a village can brand himself to be someone one day. Remember to associate yourself with the right people, right words and the right pictures.
A message to Graduates and Tertiary students
Be humble, Nelson Mandela was humble. Take a look at the best leaders. “Are they not humble?” What is keeping you from being humble? A simple smile can change everything, a simple hello can change everything.
Personal Branding does not happen overnight, it start at an early stage. And an early stage for me is NOW. Behave in a way that other kids would wish to be you, and remember you. Give back to the community. Take just one kid and build him. Give her the advice you never got the chance to get. I used to see people succeed in life, and I would ask myself, "How they do it?"
ADVICE: Keep in mind, you can’t do everything at once. You need to prioritize and start with the most important things. Have goals! Dream big and all things will work out for you.
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