Personal Brand Greatness: Five Big Limiting Beliefs Holding You Back (And How to Overcome Them)

Do you know what a personal brand does?

It put the reins back in your hands.

It's that all-weather control centre from where you can manoeuvre your next career move, start a business, write a book, and create other assets that you can own, scale and monetise as you please.

A well-built personal brand is empowering. No, not throw-your-head-back-and-evil-laugh kind of power. But it gives you the type of energy that comes from confidence and love for your work.

When you grow your personal brand consciously around authenticity, doing what you love, helping people, and helping yourself (money, reputation, opportunities), you'll hit a sweet spot that almost nothing else can replace.

And the beauty of a great personal brand? It seamlessly crosses borders, jobs, industries, life phases, and everything else, making it the most bulletproof success foundation that you can build for yourself.

But if personal brands are all that (and they are), then why don't more of us have these self-made empires?

Why aren't more of us writing books, giving TED talks, packaging our expertise into online courses, and getting invited onto The Ellen Show?

Well, I’ve got two possible answers for you:

1.    You don't want any of it.

2.    One or more massive limiting beliefs are holding you back. 

If you don't want to build a personal brand, and this excellent article introduction above hasn't managed to convince you, then I'll give it one more shot, and then I'll leave you alone. 

Take a look at this piece of advice on Inc.com: In one simple sentence, Warren Buffet explains the power of personal branding.

And if you belong to Camp Two, and you’ve got a liming belief holding you back, then today is the day you make your big breakthrough!

Here are the five biggest limiting beliefs holding you back from building a great personal brand:

1.    You’re too busy

You work 70 hours a week, have kids on Zoom school, a spouse who needs at least a little attention, a dog that needs walking, and well, the laundry isn't doing itself either.

I get it: You’re busy.

But the thing about 'busy-ness' is that it's relative. You're never too busy for the important things that have to get done.

You're never too busy if the results of doing something or the consequences of not doing something are life-altering.

Kill this limiting belief by:

-      Attaching some perspective to your personal brand – really understand what you will gain from it and what opportunities you are missing out on without a personal brand

 -      Visualise the success you would like to achieve from your personal brand, and write down some of those visualised goals

 -      Ditching the excuses and really fine-tuning your calendar – chances are, you will find 30 minutes a day to work on your personal brand

2.    You’re not brand material

Feel like there’s nothing about you that can be packaged into a personal brand? Understandable. I've had people say to me, 'Well, I'm just an accountant, I've got nothing to brand.'

It’s hard to start thinking of yourself as a brand. But remember, your personal brand does not have to revolve solely around your job. It can be a hobby, lifestyle, work ethic, or even all of the above.

To the self-proclaimed 'ordinaries' out there: Think about the unique blend of characteristics that make you 'you.'

Is it the way you solve complex problems? Is it how you manage your time? Is it how you balance two jobs and family life?

Think hard about this: What do people come to you for? At work, beyond work? What do you love to talk about, read about, or work on, even when there's absolutely no pressure to do it?

Your personal brand is within you; you just have to identify it and give it some real-world shape.

 Kill this limiting belief by:

 -      Finding your 'Ikigai,' the Japanese term that roughly translates to 'reason for being.' Finding your Ikigai is something of a life purpose exercise – it's incredibly eye-opening, I recommend it, personal brand or not.  

 -      Talking to people around you. Let your coworkers, friends, and family know that you are looking to shape a personal brand. Ask them what they think of you – your strengths, your abilities, things they would like to learn from or about you.

3.    You’re not a marketer or brand-builder

I’m not going to convince you that you are indeed a brand-builder– I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.

But you know the one thing that you are?

The only person who can own your personal brand.

So, if you’re feeling the itch to start creating that recession-proof, self-sufficient empire around your skills, thoughts, and abilities, then you're going to have to pick up a few necessary marketing skills along the way.

The good news is that basic brand-building and marketing (just enough to get yourself out there) is pretty easy when it’s broken down systematically.

Kill this limiting belief by:

 -      Assessing the few necessary marketing skills you need to get your brand out there. Some of them you might already possess.

 -      Setting up a call with me for guidance on how to get started on your personal brand. Fees: Your time and rapt attention. 

4.    You're too late to the game

Some people have been building their profiles, putting out content, and building a reputation since the start of the Internet Revolution. Blogs that are 15 years old, YouTubers that have been going at it for eight years now… 

And here you are now, ready to launch after your ‘competitors’ have been doing their thing forever.

It's scary to join in the game now, I know.

It can feel intimidating as a small fish, especially when you can publicly see your older, more established competitors (or role models) succeed so publicly when your content is falling upon seemingly deaf ears.

BUT you’ve also got a massive advantage: Use your vantage point as the newcomer to look at what’s going on in the industry as a whole. You can identify the gaps and swoop in with your awesomeness.

It’s always going to be a slow start, no matter when you start. But get in there and learn. Three years from now, you won’t be a newbie anymore. You’ll have mastered the game, too.

Kill this limiting belief by:

 -      Learning from the experiences of those that came before you, and consciously fill a gap in the market with your personal brand

 -      Taking action now. You might feel like you don't need a personal brand now. Still, as we become more connected, digital, and dip increasingly into the knowledge economy, personal brands are going to start to matter more and more.

 5.    You’re going to fail 

 You're all fired up. You know what you want your personal brand to look like. You get your first post ready, and you hit ‘Publish’ with jittery fingers and much excitement.

 What’s going to happen? Are they going to LOVE me? Are they going to HATE me? 

 You check back in 10 minutes. Nothing. That’s ok, still only been 10 minutes…

 You check back in an hour. Two likes – Your mum and your best friend.

 Another hour, and one more like – your sister. And that’s it for the week.

 Now you feel like an idiot. You knew nobody would care about what you do and what you want to put out there!

 This is the most inaccurate limiting belief but also the biggest. Fear of failure is what holds most of us back from achieving our full potential.

 It takes time for people to see what you're trying to do. You went through a whole behind-the-scenes journey to identify your personal brand, decide on a content strategy, and put that first post out.

What people see is just one post amongst the millions that they scroll past every day.

 So, you'll need to give it time, patience, and, most of all, consistency. It’s called ‘growing’ and ‘building’ a personal brand for a reason.

Kill this limiting belief by:

 -      Starting with the intention to try until you succeed

 -      Reading up on other thought leaders, influencers, and business owners who have made it. Many of them started extremely small and faced failure and rejection over and over until they made it.

Most often, it is this fear of failure that is the underlying mother of all limit beliefs when it comes to conquering any challenge in life.

 We tend to hide behind busy schedules and lacking skills as excuses, but you know as well as I do that if you really wanted to make something happen, you would find a way.

 A personal brand is no different. If you are convinced you need to build one, then the next step is to direct your energy towards making it happen.

 What now?

If you read through this, you spent the last 7-10 minutes thinking about your personal brand. Please don’t let that go to waste.

 Make some kind of a commitment to it right now: Block two hours on your calendar to do your Ikigai exercises, set up a call with your mentor to discuss your ideas, schedule in a chat with me to get the ball rolling, buy an audiobook on personal branding – whatever it takes.

 If you’re going to do this, commit to it in some small way right now.

 Otherwise, you know as well as I do, the idea will die in your head, which is the sad fate of so many potentially-great personal brands.