Building a personal brand business is something many people are starting to think about, especially now with the way things are. We’re all living in times of uncertainty concerning pay cuts, job losses, etc. And that’s just the start of it.
When it comes to personal branding, there’s nothing more empowering than growing the business of YOU.
Yes, that’s right, the business of you. I’ve always believed that each of us has something valuable to share with the world. We all have a variety of knowledge, skills, and experience, and there’sn audience for everyone out there.
How do I know this?
I’ll start by saying that I didn’t always know this. I wasn’t very bright at school. In fact, I hated all of the subjects. I found none of them interesting, apart from Geograhy and science. Even though I was rubbish at those subjects as well.
My PE teacher once told me –
Fabz, why is it that everything we try to teach you, you suck at? There’s nothing you’re good at!
I left school with that exact belief that I wasn’t good at anything. I didn’t just get that from my teachers, I got that from my parents too. They were worried that I wouldn’t amount to much, and they made that judgment based entirely on my annual school reports.
Having left school, I became unemployed for a short while before going on to bounce from one dead-end job to the next.
If I could go back to my twenty-year-old self and tell myself that I was wrong, I would.
Today, I know who I am and what I’m capable of. I know what I’m good at and what I suck at. It’s just taken me many years to realize that we’re all like this regardless of where we’re at in life.
So, I know you have something valuable to share with the world. I know you have a killer brand inside of you, screaming to break out.
As I have already cited, with the current state of the economy, and with the way, things are shaping up with regards to COVID-19, leading to pay cuts, job cuts, etc. No one is safe anymore.
Sure, you might feel stable for now in the knowledge that your job or career is OK, but do you want to spend your whole life always looking over your shoulders, wondering if you’re really safe for the next 10, 15, or 20 years?
It’s not a question of could it happen, it’s a question of when will it happen.
I know this very well. I watched my beautiful wife devote 12 years of her life to working for a company that undervalued her in every way possible.
In the last few years of working for this company, she put herself under enormous pressure and stress, even working out of hours for free, just to satisfy to prove her worth. There were no rewards, not even a thank you in the bag. In the end, they turned around and made her roll redundant, and she was forced to find another job quickly.
She loved her job; she was passionate about it. But the company she worked for, a Farming Cooperative Store here in the UK was the worst place she could have devoted her time, energy, skills, and knowledge.
She is a stubborn woman, my wife, and the thought of starting her own personal brand business scares her. After 25 years of working for companies, I guess you kind of get institutionalized, right?
When push comes to shove, I’m rightly guessing that nobody wants to live a life of mediocrity and always having to look over their shoulders, worried about the security of their job and future.
I know this because 16 years ago, I made the life-changing decision to screw my soul-crushing 9 to 5 office job to focus on my personal brand business. It wasn’t easy; in fact, it was one of the hardest decisions I had to make. But looking back, I’m darn well glad I did it.
Now, I don’t want you to do something crazy like to leave your job to go and start a business. That would be the dumbest thing you could do. That’s not what I’m trying to encourage you to do. In fact, you need your current job to fund the growth of your personal brand business.
So, as to the question – ‘When is the right time to start building your personal brand business?’ My answer would be right bloody now!
OK, so enough ranting and chanting from me – When it comes to literature, specifically speaking, books, there are so many of them on the topic of personal branding.
All you have to do is search for personal branding books on Amazon and you’re going to get a ton of results!
So many folks are willing to share their experiences, journeys, tips, strategies, success, and failures on how to build a rock-solid brand, so you’re in good hands.
So, without further adeue, here’s my top six personal branding books to check out in 2021!
You got this!
This one is probably the most complete and comprehensive book on the topic of personal branding you’ll ever read. It should have been published many years ago, in fact.
The author, Chris Ducker, is no stranger to personal branding. Based on his own incredible success, his knowledge, and insights, Chris will guide you through every step to building a personal brand that matters.
From weighing out your strengths and weaknesses to building and marketing a website to promoting and selling the value, you have to offer. This book covers everything you need in detail to get started the smart way.
My all-time favorite book on the topic of brand-building.
The Miracle Morning has transformed my life and changed my daily habits. This is one book I am eternally grateful for, especially now more than ever.
Working from home has its bonuses. But one can easily fall into a rut of sleeping, working, rinse and repeat, day in and day out. Which is not a great lifestyle to have.
If you are looking for a book to inspire you. If you need the motivation to wake up every morning and be ready to tackle anything that gets thrown at you. No author does it better than Hal Elrod, and no book teaches you better than the Miracle Morning.
This book has helped me become more focused, motivated, and productive in my business. It’s also helped me to overcome my anxiety and depression, which was pretty bad at one stage.
The Miracle Morning is one book I enjoy reading over, and over. I highly recommend it.
Building a successful personal brand business begins with taking a long, hard look at yourself. And then going off to read this book.
Reinventing You, by Dorie Clark, will help you define your strengths, realize your abilities and build a standout personal brand that people will love! This book will make you realize your true potential.
An inspiring guide from an author who loves to share practical tips, strategies, and success stories that you can relate with to help you build a stand-out personal brand.
Kraig Kleeman has to be one of my favorite personal brand ambassadors of all time. I admire his story and his unique perspective on what makes a human being stand out in the world of personal branding.
This book will help you identify what makes you, you! And when you figure that out, you can make truly it shine.
Career Kred is an insightful book on building up your career profile in the digital world. Perfect for the late boomer or for the young individual not entirely sure what to make of the web and technology.
If these are leaving you feeling rather overwhelmed, this is the book to get your hands on to help you make sense of it all.
Next on my list is Designing Your Life, authored by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. This book is for anyone between the age of 16 to 100. Really?
Regardless of age, you can design a rewarding career and an amazing life using your skills and passions.
Whether you’re an artist, designer, author, consultant, planner, life coach, this book will show you how to take that skill and passion and turn it into a thriving career, step-by-step.
It all goes back to what I said at the beginning of this post – I believe that everyone has something valuable to share with the world, whether it’s a skill, knowledge, or experience.
In the book, Digital You, the author William Arruda describes accurately what personal branding is in the 21st Century. We often associate personal branding with being famous or having millions of followers on social media. It goes far beyond that. It’s about expression, desire to stand out, being the person of value, and using your skills and abilities to create a unique brand that sets you apart from everyone else.
Digital You is one of the most resourceful books on the topic of personal branding. It will help you create a complete package for developing a personal brand that is unique to you.
I’ve read a few excellent books in my time, mostly self-help, practical guides, and motivational books. But, for me, it has to be The Rise Of The Youpreneur by Chris Ducker that makes the top of my list.
Why?
As I already said, it’s the most comprehensive book I can think of on personal brand building.
This book would have probably saved me a ton of time, and heartache had it been published around 10 years ago when I started my personal brand journey as an artist and designer. There are plenty of things in the book I completely missed out on in my journey, so I’m grateful that it exists now, as I often go back to it.
Chris Ducker, himself, is a successful entrepreneur and has plenty of validation to go by. This book is not the usual nonsense. It’s filled with practical tips, ideas, complete processes, combined with Chris’s inspiring storytelling of the struggles he went through, burning the candle at both ends to realization and finding success.
I honestly thought I knew a lot about personal brand development. I thought I had covered most of the things I needed to know and do to succeed myself. That was until I read this book.
So, if you’re starting from complete scratch, or even if you’ve had your personal brand business for some time and need to reignite your inner fire, this book is the one to read.
It’s inspirational, motivational, empathetic, and best of all it’s educational. Again, you can find this book here on Amazon.
Watch my vlog episode below for more books, some not listed in this post 🙂
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