It’s no wonder Chris Brogan makes it to the top of the top 50 social media power influencers’ heap! He has great stuff to say. And he willingly shares his wisdom with the rest of us via his blog and social media outlets such as Twitter (where I follow him and am an unabashed fan!)
In his recent blog post 97 Ideas for Building a Valuable Platform, Chris reveals how to;
Start Somewhere. Embrace Brevity. Video, Video, Video. Ideas Drive Platform. Be Yourself. Humble Is Better Marketing. Your Three Roles. Overnight Success. What to Talk/Write About. What to Avoid.
The section of tips (41-50) on Be Yourself directly relates to personal branding, my passion. So of course I have to share these with you. Follow these tips when you want to express and live your personal brand every day. And you want to, of course, don’t you?
Be Yourself
41. The more I act like myself, instead of like what I thought the world wanted, the more successful I become.
42. Realize that there’s a “hot mess” line, meaning that you have to filter the “you” that you put out there a little bit. People don’t want to hear every woe and misery in your life. (Most times. Dooce not withstanding.)
43. Realize that being yourself means you won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. Embrace that.
44. The “yourself” that most people want you to be is the one that they can learn something from. And yet, if that’s not what you want to be, disregard me and be yourself.
45. Part of being yourself is untangling from other people’s expectations. This is a very difficult matter, and yet important to building your platform.
46. “Be yourself” doesn’t mean be only about yourself. Connecting with and caring about others is always a trait that earns more attention.
47. It’s great to have a lot of passions. When displaying this via your platform, try to tie them to a larger storyline so that people understand how they connect.
48. Never let your shortcomings become your reasons why not. Richard Branson is dyslexic. Ryan Blair went from gang member to millionaire success story. Excuses are Band-Aids on wounds that don’t exist.
49. Marsha Collier said it best: “You can’t build a reputation on what you’re going to do.”
50. Start where you are. Lots of people worry that everyone’s so far ahead. Those people? They started somewhere.
For personal branding perhaps it is better to be yourself but I doubt everyone does. I agree with have a lot of passions thought. People generally like other ambitious people in the work environment.
Posted by: Jim | January 28, 2012 at 04:57 AM
I like this most of all "41. The more I act like myself, instead of like what I thought the world wanted, the more successful I become."
Posted by: Dan Scarfo | February 03, 2012 at 09:33 AM