If you’re a business owner who believes that sales, marketing, and branding are not that important, then you’re making an extremely costly mistake.
Here’s the deal. Most entrepreneurs and business owners struggle because they lack sales skills. Most haven’t taken any sales training and don’t know how to sell. Even fewer are good at marketing because they don’t think it’s important.
An even smaller, tinier percentage of business owners are actually good with branding, and that needs to change. Personal branding is such an important part of your business. Next, I’ll share with you why you need to build and manage your personal image.
Why Most Entrepreneurs Are Not Building A Personal Image
Have you read E-Myth by Michael Gerber? It’s a phenomenal book for small business owners. In the book, he says that most entrepreneurs are actually not entrepreneurs. They are actually technicians.
These business owners are technicians who are good at what they do. They have a craft, a skill, and then they have an entrepreneurial seizure. They’re doing their normal routine and suddenly it hits them: they hate their boss and they could be a better boss. So they decide to start a business. This might describe you.
A big problem is most business owners don’t think of themselves as a brand. You think Michael Jordon is a brand. Oprah Winfrey is a brand. But you think: Me, John Smith? I’m a brand? What do you mean? I’m just a person, John Smith. I’m a father, a husband.
You don’t think of yourself as a celebrity. So you don’t work on your personal branding.
Personal Image Vs Personal Branding
So what exactly what is personal branding and why do you need it?
First, let’s back up a bit and explain personal image versus personal branding. Personal image is what people instantly see at a glance, like the way you dress. It’s the first impression people get.
Now, personal branding is different. Personal branding is what people think of you over the long term. When they say your name, what words come to mind? When you’re not in the room, when they’re talking behind you, what do they say about you?
Your reputation is your brand. It’s the public perception of you. Your personality, skills and values. It’s not everything that you are. Just aspects of you that you project to the public because very few people actually know the real you anyway.