What is a personal brand? I think the best way to is to illustrate what I mean. So you are just starting your own company, and you’re aggressively building a network of contacts. You meet someone new at an event and you say “Hi, I’m Kevin Shockey and… (your tongue swells instantly and the words squeak out)… I’m starting my own business in raising gorillas.” Or whatever your business might be. It was at that critical moment I realized I needed to have a brand. I’m not just referring to a company name and logo. It goes way beyond a simple name. Just as a company such as Coca-Cola works to ensure that their brand Coke always projects exactly the perception that marketers want the public to perceive; your personal brand is your identity, it is the perspective that you want each person you meet to have after they meet you.

This is what brought me to this point. A slight mention to Tom Peters should be only fitting. You can read what he had to say in 1997 in The Brand Called You. I think I must have read this in an alternate life, because I can’t seem to find it my article archive. A Google search yields a plethora of brand consultants. I wonder if that is something I want to do or am I’m trying to become?