How to Build Your Own Life Brand by Stedman Graham

When I was playing high school basketball many years ago, there was one name that stood out in every game:  Chuck Taylor.  Chuck wasn’t a big scorer or a great rebounder.  In fact, he was constantly underfoot on the court.  More accurately, he was on our feet.  Before there were Nikes or Reeboks, Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars was the brand.  It was the most popular basketball shoe of my high school generation.

Back then, when you made the varsity team, you just had to get a pair of Chuck Taylor high-tops.  All the players that I admired in high school, college and the pros were wearing them, so I associated Chuck Taylor with success on the basketball court.  I grew up like everyone else, with hundreds of other brand-name products around me – top brands such as Wheaties, Pepsi, and Ford Thunderbird – but my desire to have a pair of Chuck Taylor’s marked the real beginning of my brand awareness as a consumer.

A brand product is one with a unique identity intended to set it apart from similar products.  We are so bombarded by product brands that we are hardly conscious of them much of the time, but most of us have at least some level of brand awareness.  We can sing the jingles of our favorite brands.  It’s the real thing!  We can repeat their ad slogans.  Just do it!  Most important for the companies that make brand name products, we look for them when we shop. The business world has long recognized the value of creating a recognizable and clearly defined brand.  In recent years, the principles of branding increasingly have been applied to individuals too.  Just as Coca-Cola, Apple and Tommy Hilfiger have brands with assets that they develop and pitch to consumers, you too have assets that you can build upon, market and expand. Each of us has a unique blend of talents, knowledge, and other personal assets.  We want to make the most of those gifts by developing them and sharing them with the world.  When you build a Life Brand, and then manage it, expand upon it, and protect it, you create a method for sharing your gifts and putting them to their highest use – for your benefit and the benefit of everyone within your reach.

A Brand-New Way Of Looking At Your Life

Like a product brand, your Life Brand carries a guarantee or a promise of inherent value.  The brands that endure are those that keep their promise and build upon it. Your Life Brand’s promise is contained in your special blend of talents, skills, knowledge, and other personal characteristics that give you value in the world.

Think for a minute about the people who you appreciate most in your work, your relationships, and within organizations or groups you belong to.  They are people who deliver something you value, aren’t they?  They have skills, knowledge, or personal characteristics that add to the quality of your life.  Their “brands” or reputations carry a promise.  Do you have an employee or a coworker who comes through every time?  A trusted adviser, whose wisdom you rely upon?  A favorite aunt or uncle, you can always count on to make you feel loved and appreciated?  A friend, who makes you laugh even in difficult times?  Each of these individuals offers something specific that you value.  The people who mean the most to you, then, are those who offer you the most value throughout your life.  The individuals who stand out in the world around us are those who offer the greatest value to the most people – just as those products with the strongest brands are the ones that offer us the great value.

Branding Yourself

If you have any goals or dreams for your life, then, whether you realize it or not, you are already pitching your own “brand” every day in many different ways – whether you are a high school student hoping to make the grade for college, a college student preparing for a career, an athlete vying for a position on a team, or a business person working to get ahead of the competition.  To build a Quality Life Brand, consider the following rules.

The First Rule: Your Brand Can’t Be All Things To All People

In the world of brands, from consumer products to celebrities and personal brands, there is no single brand that appeals to each and every individual or target market.  Coca-Cola has one of the most powerful brands in the world, but there are many people who prefer Seven-Up or Dr Pepper or simply a glass of water.  Michael Jordan has a powerful celebrity brand, but not everyone aspires to be an athlete or competitor “like Mike.”  Some prefer to be scholars or inventors or healers.  The point is that no single brand can appeal to all of the people all of the time.  So why try?  Your goal should be to become the best at whatever it is you love to do and then build your Life Brand around it.  Simply ask yourself.  What is it that you enjoy doing most?  What gives your life meaning?  What do you look forward to doing more than anything else.  What is it that you would do with your life even if you didn’t get paid for it?  I believe that above all else, you should follow your passions by identifying the things you love to do and then building your life around them.  That is how you create a Quality Life Brand that inspires others and attracts opportunities over the course of a lifetime.

The Second Rule: Keep Stretching For Everything Within Your Grasp

The second rule for building your Life Brand is a corollary to the first one.  While you should never try to be all things to all people, you should certainly never stop stretching and reaching for everything within your grasp.  The greatest Life Brand I am aware of are those that are far-reaching.  These people never strop stretching their brand assets – their talents, knowledge, and skills – in order to keep growing and reaching new heights of achievement and fulfillment.  All powerful Life Brands are like that.  They are constantly searching for new ways to stretch themselves and their talents and knowledge.  What can you do to extend your grasp?  How can you increase the value of your Life Brand?  What can you bring to bring more value to your work, to your relationships, and to your community?  These are questions that you should never stop asking yourself, because they ignite your passions and keep you alive mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

The Third Rule: Think Long Term When Building A Life Brand

One of the great benefits of creating a Life Brand is that it helps you to always keep your lifelong goals in mind so that you stay on course to your dream.  Whenever you are tempted to go for short-term gain, I advise you to think about the impact it might have on your Life Brand over the long term.  It can be something as simple as telling off a coworker who has done something to offend you.  Before you go for the short-term satisfaction of telling the coworker exactly what you think of him or her, give some thought to what the long term implications might be on your Life Brand.  Will venting your anger and frustration help your brand image around the office?  Or would it be better to resolve your differences in a less confrontational manner?  What about the consequences of misrepresenting your education or experience on a resume or in a job interview?  How can an employer trust someone who has lied about something so important as his or her education and previous experience?  Consider the long-term implications of the choices that you make.  If you start each day by asking yourself, What can I do today to build greater value into my Life Brand? and keep that long-term thought in mind, I believe you will avoid the short-term traps that await us all.  Train yourself to think for the long-term when building, expanding, and managing your Life Brand.

The Fourth Rule: Market Your Brand, But Let It Sell Itself

The best way to market your Life Brand is to be such a stand out that other people generate “the buzz” for you.  Networking experts say that personal referrals or word-of-mouth recommendations generate 80 percent more results than sales calls to potential clients or customers.  The way to market your Life Brand is to always be alert to opportunities to contribute.  If you are attentive to the needs of others, if you act on your opportunities to be helpful, if you are thoughtful and well prepared, if you keep your promises and remain committed to your ideals and goals, you will never, ever have to sell yourself.  Other people will do that for you.  They will spread the word.

The marketing of your Life Brand begins with the person sitting next to you in class, at work, in church, or on the train.  Your brand is built one person at a time.  And it begins with you and the value that your Life Brand represents.  Just as there are many ways to sell yourself, there are hundreds of ways to market yourself.  If you feel that you need to expedite the process of building a Life Brand by marketing it, look to those places where you can add value.  Consider student clubs or professional organizations, fraternities and sororities, community service groups, and special interest organizations.  Identify the needs of the organizations that interest you as well as the ways in which you might add value to these organizations.  When you give of your talents to help others achieve their goals, the rewards come from the most unexpected places.

The Fifth Rule: Fortify Your Brand By Teaming Up

When one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the nation, Rich Melman of Chicago, was asked in an interview what his greatest strength is, he replied: “Surrounding myself with people who complement me.  I’m painfully aware of what I don’t do well.” One of the most vital aspects of building a brand is teaming up with other Life Brands who make you even stronger.  Having a strong team around you enables you to focus on your strengths, knowing others will take care of those areas in which you may be weak.  Build your brand on your strengths and you will always find ways to overcome your weaknesses.  Always remember that you don’t have to be master of all things; you only have to look to others whose skills complement yours. 

The Sixth Rule: The Strongest Life Brands Are Those That Lift Others Up

You won’t be remembered for what you took out of this world; you will be remembered for what you left behind.  We all have things we want to accomplish in our lifetimes, but you should always keep in mind the legacy that you will leave.  What will your lasting impact be upon your chosen line of work and the people you work with, the people you love, and those in all of the communities to which you belong?  If you always keep that question in mind when making decisions as to the direction of your life, you will build a Life Brand that may inspire others long after you are gone.

Stedman Graham is chairman and CEO of S. Graham & Associates, an educational company that creates customized training and leadership development programs for corporations and educational institutions.