As an entrepreneur, there’s no exact recipe that leads to success. Sometimes it’s catching a break in an unexpected place. Other times, it’s a little luck.

That said, there are some common threads all entrepreneurs have in common, and one of the most important of those is a personal brand.

A personal brand is how you “sell” yourself:  a blend of your story, skills, experience and ideas.

When your personal brand is strong, you’ll have a much better platform for distributing your product, be that a book, a service company, or anything in between.

With that in mind, here are the four crucial steps for building a stellar personal brand.

Be Uniquely Yourself

If there’s a way to mess up a personal brand, it’s trying to be something you’re not. It’s a “personal” brand for a reason: because it’s personal!

No matter what industry you’re pursuing, you certainly have competition with talent and ideas, just like yours.

But what do they not have?

You!

So, when creating your personal brand, figure out what makes you special. What are your gifts or strengths? How do people think of you? What are your own competitive advantages? Once you’ve honed in on this, lean into these ideas to ensure your personal brand is in line with the type of person you are.

Don’t pretend to be something you’re not. Be genuine. Be authentic. Be uniquely yourself.

Network

If done well, networking is a powerful tool. For personal branding, it can have associative benefits.

For example, say you’re an investor looking to grow an online presence. If you form connections with other investors, you’ll gain attention from people who follow them. Then, if those people resonate with your personal brand, they’ll follow you, too!

Some people confuse networking with shooting out invitation connects to every suggested contact on LinkedIn. Instead of a shotgun approach, be sure to make all your connections intentional, personal, and meaningful.

Enhance your online presence

I’ve written about the power of a website before, and I don’t want to harp on about it, but the benefits of using digital tools to create an online platform for yourself cannot be understated.

The single most important thing any business (or author, artist, entrepreneur and thought leader) can do for themselves is making a website or having a website made for them, and the need becomes more important every single day as the world becomes progressively more digital.

As you claim your corner of the internet marketplace, consider not only working on your website, but also:

• Email marketing
• Video marketing
• Social Media management
• Logos and creative media

This shouldn’t feel like homework, either. It’s an opportunity to be creative, expressive, and have fun!

Publish, publish, and publish!

Think of your website, platform, and the rest of your personal branding efforts as building a car. With everything you create, your car is getting better and better.

But what does a car need?

Fuel.

And that’s where publication comes in.

Being published is a major step toward being a credible expert. This doesn’t necessarily mean publishing a book, either. Publishing can take all forms: essays, posts, tutorials, how-tos, videos, and more.

But, regardless of what you publish, it needs to be great. The higher quality content you publish for your followers, the more high-quality followers you’ll earn.

One great practice is setting out an hour of each day to create this content. An hour might not seem like a lot of time, but trust me, it will add up. If you give, give, and give to your followers, they’ll give back, too.

One fantastic way to get credibly published is an upcoming business anthology book featuring Kevin Harrington of Shark Tank.

This book, published by MindStir Media, is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get your business knowledge published in a book associated with one of the brightest modern business minds (see “networking” above).

If you choose to pursue this opportunity, you’ll have the chance to earn boosted credibility and marketability as a best-selling author, expanded business opportunities, more high-paying clients given your expert status, and more!

As you work to build a personal brand, publishing great content is the fuel that makes your car go, and this anthology is about as powerful of a publication as they come.

____

Do you have another key to building a rock-solid personal brand? Let me know on Twitter @authorjjhebert.