A personal brand communicates who you are, your strengths, expertise, and your personality. As a side hustler, showing your personal brand will build a stronger professional reputation. Personal branding is intentional and can be crafted but if you’re trying to be someone you aren’t, your audience won’t relate to you. As Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, said, “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” So, focus on building a personal brand that’s authentic, accurate, and effortless to maintain.
Here’s how you can build your personal brand while building a business:
1. Define Your Brand Foundation
Time to sit down and list your core values. Some great examples are sustainability, empathy, and innovative ideas. Then, list down your passions and strengths. Being self-aware makes you real and people connect more with authenticity.
2. Define Your Target Audience
Spend some time on this step. What are the kind of people you like interacting with? Are they gym-goers who practice a healthy lifestyle? Are they homesteaders who homeschool their kids? Are they 9-to-5 office goers who want to quit their jobs and become self-employed? Tailor your brand to directly talk to them and create a compelling brand message around it.
3. Craft an Irresistible Offer
In this step, question yourself how you will relate to them? Will you show your gym routine or do you also want to show the recipes you make? A sustainable personal brand is one that’s effortless and feels natural to you. You must be seen as an expert if you want to influence your audience.
4. Optimize Your Online Presence
Start with the basics. Make profiles on social media platforms that’s used by your target audience. Build a simple website that talks about you and links to your social media accounts and any other accounts. A quick look at your website and accounts should tell people who you are. Invest in professional photography and clear call to action, for example, give me a follow, join my Facebook group.
5. Develop a Content Strategy
Only take on how much you can handle and don’t fall for competition. Find out the main topics and themes that align with your brand and interests your audience. Don’t only make one type of content, as that narrows down your reach and income sources. If your main style of content is videos, post some photos and write blogs on interesting topics that you’ve gathered a lot of first hand information about. Plan your content ahead of time with a content calendar, so you stay organized and maintain consistency.
6. Network and Build Relationships
Start local and build a community, so you can create content together. It also helps you come across new audiences and test new content. You can also attend industry events, join professional groups, and connect with influencers that’ll help with business promotion afterwards.
Building a personal brand is an ongoing process. Take intervals in between to track the performance of your content and online presence. For more side hustle advice and tips, follow Carrie’s Courses blog.
