The thing that frustrates me about personal brands is the facade they put up. You know they are pretending. Trying to be cool. Being a “Know-it-all”.
There is fear of being judged. ‘Being yourself’ is too risky. Being genuine is no longer a choice.
No space for weaknesses.
Look, maybe it’s not right to expect authenticity. Even right now, I am pretending a little when I write this LinkedIn post. But there is a difference between ‘pretending a little’ and ‘blatantly showing off and saying things that are largely exaggerated’.
Some people are good at carrying this facade. Others don’t like it. They try it for a bit and then give up. Some never try at all. The whole ‘Personal brand’ thing is too icky for them.
The problem lies in how we look at the word Personal Brand. We want to be the next Dan Koe, the next Ankur Warikoo and the next Justin Welsh.
How would it be if we reframed this?
What if personal branding was NOT about showing off, putting on a facade, and building followers?
What if your personal brand was about building deep, meaningful relationships?
What if being genuine helped us build these relationships?
Don’t tell me about the business impact. For high-ticket sellers, few deep, meaningful relationships matter than a lot of shallow ones.
Stop building a personal brand. Start building relationships.
