Personal branding done well requires an implemented strategy, especially at mid-life. It keeps your career current and exciting at a time when many others are happily hanging out in routine. Setting a strategy to continue to grow in your career and continually evolve your personal brand takes courage, insight, and vision.

Begin by observing yourself in your current position. Your personal brand is based on your authentic self so don’t be afraid to let your differences begin to show as long as those differences are appropriate for your situation.

In our world today it is likely that you will need or want to reinvent yourself professionally. Your personal brand can support your reinvention by reminding you that at your core you are still you and need to be your authentic self. Your reinvented self may be wearing a new outfit, but in all that you do, no matter what you call yourself, you are still you. Your personal brand helps you identify those core pieces of yourself that you want to express and use in the world.

Reinventing yourself means you are ready to take responsibility for your life and work. Life is an adventure and as scary as it is, embrace your role in the creation of your new self. Don’t be afraid to learn new things. In order to build your confidence, you first need to shift your mindset. Start out expecting great things for yourself and having faith that the changes you are making will turn out well. Transform your negative thoughts into the positive actions that will help you move to where you want to be.

Here’s the great news: Studies show that most workers who change careers at older ages say they enjoy the new job more than the old job. So look at this time of change as a new opportunity to follow the dream you’ve always wanted to achieve. Ask yourself how can you combine your wealth of experience, knowledge, and personality to deliver something that the younger workforce can’t. Brand yourself to stand out, regardless of your age.

You can spend years building your reputation, so remember to protect your brand by taking the time to notice these important behaviors.

Are you ready to be cast in the workplace as you would be cast in a Hollywood movie? A huge workforce trend is the movement toward a gig economy, one that resembles how the movie industry works. Think about how a film is made:

 1.  Someone wants to make the movie and finds the money to fund it.

 2.  The key players are secured: the director, producer, and lead actors.

 3.  Everyone else is hired, each person bringing special skills to the set.

 4.  The whole crew works on the movie for as long as it takes to complete the project.

  5.  All the people hired for the movie say their goodbyes and move on to look for their next gig.

Many workplaces now function this way, and many more workplaces will do so in the future. As a result, workers need to be agile and able to clearly communicate what they can do and who they are.

Having a strong personal brand will serve you well in the gig economy. Instead of hoping that someone notices you and offers you steady, long-term employment, you must be prepared to take your personal brand on the road and leverage your skills. Chances are, you may not be an employee in the future; you may be a free agent.

The workplace has become project-oriented. More and more work is being organized into smaller segments that are facilitated by project teams. Projects are a great way to grow your brand because they have a beginning and an end, have specific deliverables, and often have measurable results.

Start thinking now about how you can take on more project work, and you’ll be taking a crucial step toward becoming more employable. Toward this end, stop thinking like an employee and start thinking of yourself as a company of one offering your clients the best service that you can provide.

Consider an example of how a project gig might work: You join a project team and work on a project for two years. That project ends, and you take what you have learned and join former coworkers at a start-up business. You work really hard to build the company, and it’s sold to a larger company. You leave and go to work for a competitor where you settle in for three or four years. That company merges with another business, and you leave to set up your own consulting firm. This type of transition goes on until you work fewer and fewer hours — not necessarily retiring, but at least modifying your work to fit your older lifestyle.

One of the first things I did during this time of change was to pause and think about what knowledge and techniques I used to guide my clients through career and identity changes. I then began to write my ideas in the “Dummies” style, with easy to understand language in a how-to book that smart people could use to develop their own personal brands. I wanted to be true to my own brand of creating community and putting people at ease as they read the book, so I gathered some of my favorite personal branding experts and asked them to contribute their specialized expertise. The book takes the reader through a step by step personal branding process. It is filled with exercises and practical examples of how others have been successful in uniquely building their personal brands.

I’m very proud of Personal Branding for Dummies as it hits the shelves at the first of June. It is an easy to use, practical guide that can support just about everyone in his or her career.

I have a friend who is a corporate trainer. He found his sweet spot in working with emerging leaders in an internationally diverse company. He claims his sweet spot is training these leaders in leadership development and helping them grow to be better managers. He likes to work with mid-level professionals who are eager to improve in their careers in a global environment.

Finding your sweet spot allows you to stay true to yourself, and it should give you direction to form a strategy for developing your niche. This concept applies whether you’re an entrepreneur or working in a company. (Your sweet spot in the workplace becomes something that you are uniquely known for.)

Most likely, when you were in junior high, standing out was deadly. At that age, nothing is more important than fitting in. But fitting in can carry you only so far. At some point, if you truly want to succeed and shine, you have to figure out how to differentiate yourself from the crowd.

I’m not saying that you need to stop caring about what other people think or to stop listening to what your loved ones think is good for you. Instead, in this book I ask you to make an honest assessment of what you want and who you are. You can’t build a personal brand based on someone else’s ideals. If you did, you’d be a fake.

Taking an honest assessment about who you are and what you want means looking at what you do well and owning it, as well as knowing what you don’t do well and recognizing those limitations. You definitely should seek input from others during this process. However, you can’t let them determine who you will be. Personal branding is about you being you in the most authentic way.

Most companies have a corporate brand or a set of company guidelines that all employees agree to buy into. Often, the company brand is part of its allure to workers. For example, workers at Google buy into the idea that Google is a company on the cutting edge of innovation and has a reputation for being a cool place to work. Someone chooses to work at Google because he believes he’s the kind of person who fits that corporate brand.Intertwining your brand with your company

Tip: As you build your personal brand, you can identify areas of growth that overlap with your employer’s goals. One place to begin is to look at the company’s annual report where the mission, vision, and values are stated. Ask yourself if you can see how the personal brand you’re developing overlaps with your company’s mission, vision, and values.

A wise employer will encourage you to align your values with company values and find this “sweet spot” of personal buy-in. You’ll have greater satisfaction with your work and fill your employer’s need for increasing job performance and greater productivity.

Remember

Personal branding can appear to be a self-centered approach to work, but in fact, it’s an avenue of self-empowerment. Having choices gives you a feeling of control over your destiny by taking away a feeling of being a victim (feeling like you have no choices) in your work. When you develop a strong personal brand, you demonstrate a pro-activity that can help you grow over the course of your career. Your dedication to self-improvement ultimately serves the people you work with as well.

Speaking with personal branding guru and Reach Communications founder William Arruda, he described the personal branding in the workplace:
When I started my personal branding business over a decade ago, companies were skeptical about personal branding. Today, companies understand that corporate brands and personal brands work well together. Your company needs you to deliver on their brand promise in a way that is authentic to you. You must leverage what makes you exceptional in support of your company’s mission. If you conform to a set of standards without integrating your greatest strengths and passions, your company does not benefit from the unique ingredient you can contribute.

Excerpt from Chapter 17 of Personal Branding for Dummies by Susan Chritton: Personal Branding in the Workplace

In decades past, having a college degree ensured your employability. But as recent college graduates are well aware, that degree doesn’t ensure employment any more — especially if the student hasn’t developed a special employable skill set. In fact, many college graduates are now enrolling in vocational programs, such as bookkeeping, veterinary technician, or cosmotology, to learn specific skills.

On the other hand, a vocational student who hasn’t learned to think more broadly may plateau at a certain career level with no possibility of promotion.

Remember

You always need to be learning and figuring out more about the niche that defines your personal brand. Your learning options may include university extension programs, community college courses, weekend management courses, online skill-building courses, and self-study. You can never, ever think you’re done learning, or your brand (and your career) will stagnate.

Excerpt from Chapter 17 of Personal Branding for Dummies by Susan Chritton: Personal Branding in the Workplace.