Personal branding techniques:
the why, how and what?

How can we can leverage our values in our communication, be it at our next pitch, presentation, or event, without feeling stuck, unmotivated or unsatisfied?

Simon Sinek shares with us: "Words may inspire but only action creates change"

Simon has studied law, worked in advertising companies and began to build his own business. He has focused on learning and understanding why, how and what leaders and businesses do to leverage their communication strategies and why it is important for us to level up our presence.

Ask yourself who do you want to work with and how much time you want to spend on each project. You can do this by following Simon's shadow by diving into the minds of great leaders and entrepreneurs, such as Neil Patel, a digital marketer and SEO expert, who helps other companies grow their revenues. Or Neil Eyal: he can help us build healthier 'habit forming' routines and make our weekly schedule more actionable. Let's go even further into starting our day with a growth mindset thanks to Mel Robbins, steering us in the right direction; find your safe space, limited judging or criticising, a space for your imagination, creating your roadmap for on-going projects and potential clients.

Start with believing in yourself and understanding who you are as an expert.

Mel Robbins tell us that "Confidence is created by the small things you do every single day that builds trust in yourself"

As a freelancer, find out what is your hunger for what you are doing. Ask yourself these questions:

• Why are you doing it?
• What are the pains and challenges?
• Why do you need to solve them?
• Where do you start?
• How do you want people to see you?
• How do you see success?

Let's take an "aspirational anchor" such as Mel Robbins. What can you associate with her story:

Feelings of "nothing is good enough" and being perfect. Has that stopped you from learning and having a growth mindset? How about jumping into so many different jobs with no direction or even being in debt or earning way below your bottom line. Can you relate to any of this?

Let's look at the steps Mel took to reach success; rebuilding her life; a strong mindset, the ability to believe in herself. So Mel too dived deep into optimism and made it real in her life.

So now how can you khap (derived from Yiddish "seize the opportunity") and make it your own; copy and paste.

Write your goal and what steps you need to take on this creative and exciting journey.

If you'd like to see more actionable steps to building a great freelance personal brand, see Haykuhi Voskanyan's video from our Freelance Business Month.

Why use SWOT and TOWS analysis?

A useful framework we can use is the SWOT and TOWS analysis. They are powerful tools which look at competitive opportunities for improvement.

Here is an example of how you can visualise a problem or an opportunity:

I once asked a successful freelancer why does his customers want to come back and keep working with him? He shared some of his strategic options with me and said he provides excellent service. I asked him what is excellent service and he replied that when the customer requests something, he responds as soon as possible, which shows that he cares. He makes the customer experience as easy as possible using automated platforms to streamline and scale up customer success.

Why use SMART goals?

We could even go further with our common freelance struggles: sustaining customer satisfaction, keeping retention high and reducing churning. It is a win-win for all of us. We can start to understand how our customers engage and stay loyal to our brand.

Set specific goals: Ask questions to understand who you are working with. You could start with your online community, in local groups in your neighbourhood and in areas where your target audience sits. Customers prefer word of mouth referrals - learn more about getting great referrals here.

Measure your goals: Create surveys through Google Forms or Typeform, to identify why the customer likes your brand and what do you give that is unique?

Achievable goals: Set up additional services that will benefit your customer's experience but will not use too much of your valuable time. You can use newsletters, email campaigns, additional tips and tools plus discounts (great platforms: Zapier, Facebook suite and business, Wix.com, Canva.com).

Realistic goals: Test your service with your target audience and see what are the problems; restructure your Specific goal, so you can sustain customer satisfaction.

Timely goals: Align with short and long term goals.

We are continuing to explore how important it is to think about why we do what we do and what it means to us. If we begin to care about what we are passionate about, even with the big knocks, our "aspirational anchors" just like Simon and Mel have taught us with grit and perseverance, we can live our dreams!

Live your passion, make it a reality because now you are smarter. Begin today by giving and sharing your values.

You can read Vanessa's previous article on "What is personal branding?" here.