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✅ FREE WORKBOOK: Your Brand Story: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building Emotional Connections
Podcast version:
What do people say about you when you leave the room?
What do they remember? What conversations are attached to your name?
In the book The Brand Gap, Marty Neumeier says:
“A brand isn’t what you say it is. It’s what they say it is.”
That’s what it means to have a personal brand.
So, yes—whether you’ve realized it or not, you already have one.
It’s been there all along, taking shape through your actions and inactions.
So here’s something worth asking:
Is your personal brand telling the story you want it to tell?
What if, instead of leaving it to chance, you could make it magnetic, authentic, and impossible to ignore?
Today, we’ll uncover how to take control of your personal brand and use it to create the kind of success you’ve always dreamed of.
The Brand Others Already See
Think of your personal brand as your shadow. The closer you move toward the light—your purpose, your ideals, and the things you stand for—the bigger and more clear your shadow becomes.
And as that shadow stretches further into the world, it begins to take on a life of its own.
It might touch people you may never meet, shape perceptions in ways you can’t control, and influence decisions you don’t even know about.
The more visible your brand becomes, the harder it is to influence every single perception.
Everything you say, every choice you make, every product you sell, every post you share—these actions ripple out into the world.
And once they’re out there, they’re out there.
That’s why shaping your personal brand with intention matters. But where do you begin?
External Cardinal Directions
Well, your brand already exists in the way others perceive you, remember?
So let’s start there.
Ask at least 3 people to describe you in one word that reflects how they see you.
Once you have all the words, pick two words that you feel most connected to.
Keep them.
These two words are the external cardinal directions of your personal brand compass.
We will talk more about this compass in a minute.
The Brand You Already Have
If your personal brand is going to be authentic, it can’t just be based on external perception. We also need to uncover how you see yourself.
A brand that doesn’t feel authentic to its creator won’t inspire trust or loyalty in others.
So how do we uncover these internal values?
Internal Cardinal Directions
Instead of trying to figure out what your values are, try this:
Write down at least 3 things that, if someone else did them to you, would upset or offend you.
Describe each in one word, avoiding obvious things like betrayals or lies.
Focus on values that feel personal—things that might not bother everyone but would bother you.
Once you have the words, flip them. Ask yourself:
What’s the positive value or trait that counters these negatives?
These are your core values.
Now, narrow it down. Pick two words that resonate most with you.
Keep them.
These two words are the internal cardinal directions of your personal brand compass.
Your Personal Brand Compass
At this point, you have two external cardinal directions and two internal cardinal directions.
Together, these four words form your personal brand compass. A tool to guide you in all directions without ever losing yourself.
When you can move North, South, East, or West without feeling lost, your actions and decisions become clear.
You stop second-guessing yourself because your principles and actions are aligned.
That alignment makes your brand magnetic.
People are naturally drawn to brands that stand for something.
This is why the same products, when advertised by different brands, have different results.
Now that you have your personal brand compass, we need to use it to answer this question:
How can you take control of your personal brand to turn into something intentional, authentic, and impossible to ignore?
Let’s work on it.
Building Your Personal Brand
Ok, so… we’re going to use AI to work on this stage of development.
Any free AI tool can handle what we’re about to do. So feel free to use any AI tool of your choice, ok?
Refining Your Cardinal Directions
You need to take your four cardinal directions and refine them into actionable directives—practical steps you can take every day to embody your personal brand.
You can prompt your AI tool with something like this:
“Based on these four words below, write four directives, one for each word, so I can use them to guide my actions and build a personal brand around them.”
Then, write your four cardinal directions. For example, let’s say they are:
Reliability, Integrity, Empathy, and Creativity.
Wait for the AI to process your input and generate your refined cardinal directions.
It might give you something like this:
- Reliability: Deliver on every promise, consistently exceeding expectations to build trust and establish a dependable reputation.
- Integrity: Uphold honesty and strong ethical principles, ensuring that every decision and action aligns with your core values.
- Empathy: Approach every interaction with understanding and compassion, actively listening to connect with others on a deeper level.
- Creativity: Embrace innovation and originality, transforming challenges into opportunities with unique and effective solutions.
Great. Now you have a set of refined cardinal directions that will give you clear, actionable steps to express your personal brand through consistent, intentional actions.
The final step to building your brand is to become your brand.
Becoming Your Brand
Remember when we talked about your personal brand being like a shadow?
The closer you step into the light, your purpose and ideals, the bigger and more clear that shadow becomes.
Now it’s time own that shadow and give it a shape. Not any shape. But one that represents your personal brand compass.
Why? Because…
Any success that’s not aligned with your personal brand compass will not feel like success. It will feel like slavery.
A lot of people feel enslaved by a kind of success that doesn’t fulfill them because they followed what looked right to others, instead of what felt right to them.
So, how do you make sure you don’t fall into that pit?
Here is how:
Building your Brand Identity
Your four refined cardinal directions make your personal brand compass.
The role of your personal brand compass is to inform you who you are.
Now it’s time to turn who you are into what you do, so others also know who you are through your actions.
That’s what it means to become your brand.
Your brand is everything you do that’s based on everything you are.
Are you following?
To become your brand, you will engage in a daily personal brand assessment. The goal is to turn ideals into practice and practice into a new identity.
This is what we have to do:
Open a note app on your phone and create a new note or doc.
Paste your four refined cardinal directions there.
Now. Set a daily reminder on your phone to take this personal brand assessment.
It won’t take more than 5 minutes to complete it, so don’t stress too much about the right timing.
Here’s how the assessment works.
Step #1: Read the first of the four refined cardinal directions.
Step #2: Answer this question: Is there at least one action taken on the previous day that represents that cardinal direction?
Step #3: If you identify at least one action taken that represents that cardinal direction, assign one emoji to it. If you don’t identify one, don’t do anything.
Repeat the process to the remaining 3 cardinal directions.
Try to do this daily but don’t stress out if you miss some days.
In a few weeks, you should see something like this.
Some cardinal directions will turn out to be more prominent, while others will fall behind, forming a pattern.
This visual feedback is a tool to amplify underrepresented cardinal directions and ensure that your compass is consistent with the personal brand you want to create.
Over time, you will notice that these cardinal directions are becoming a natural pattern in your daily life.
You will also notice that the underrepresented ones will naturally become balanced with the others, creating a personal brand compass that take you North, South, East, or West with the same level of confidence.
In other words, you will develop confidence to handle any situation.
So, we’ve uncovered your personal brand’s essence—how others see you, how you see yourself, and how to align your values with your actions.
You’ve built your personal brand compass, refined your cardinal directions, and taken the first steps toward living a brand that’s uniquely yours.
Now, here’s a question:
How will you use this clarity to move forward?
Whether it’s reshaping the way you show up at work or creating a business that feels true to you, the possibilities are endless when you lead with clarity.
Your personal brand is your most powerful asset—it’s not just what you do; it’s who you are.
Every choice, every action, every moment adds to the story only you can tell.
And remember this:
The more aligned you are with your core values, the more magnetic your personal brand becomes.
Because the world doesn’t need another version of someone else. It needs the truest, most intentional version of you.
Step into the light, become your brand and let it redefine your place in the world.
