Branded

I recently had the extreme pleasure of attending the Pennsylvania Governor’s Conference for Women. I actually got to attend for free, courtesy of a few colleagues from a fellow organization. Nothing could please me more than going to a conference…for free…and getting out the office for a day to hear wisdom from women of all walks of life.

I attended several different sessions; one about using the Internet for all its worth, one about how to wisely manage your finances, and another about career transitions. Each session was helpful in its own way, and I really learned a lot. But I think the greatest piece of advice I took from the conference was from the third session, urging me to draft a brand statement—a brand statement about myself.

I have vaguely heard of this concept; the idea of marketing myself as a valuable asset. I never took it seriously in the past, but the more the speaker spoke, the more it made sense. It’ll be hard to accomplish my goals in this world without setting myself apart from others. And isn’t that exactly what companies do when they are trying to create buzz around their products?

I’ve got to learn how to market myself and I think this would be a great start. I think I’m going to give it a try and I highly recommend that you do too. I can think of few better exercises than reflecting on my strengths, my beliefs, and my goals and formulating them into my own personal brand statement. So how about it? Do you dare to brand yourself?