So you know you need to start taking your personal brand seriously, but where do you start?
One of the biggest struggles I frequently see with entrepreneurs and content creators is figuring out what their personal brand is. They are trying to speak to everyone instead of speaking specifically to their ideal clients, customers, or audience members. Their websites, social media platforms, messaging, and branding designs can range from random to downright confusing to their audience.
By discovering and clearly defining your personal brand, you can position yourself in an authentic way that attracts your target audience. Positioning yourself with clarity and confidence is the catalyst you need to make this happen. This is the secret to attracting the right people for your brand and business—no hard selling required.
This is exactly why I’ve created a quick worksheet to help you develop your personal brand, because sometimes you just need a little clarity. Remember, to build a profitable brand that grows your business you simply need to be yourself!
Personal Branding Worksheet
>>DOWNLOAD THE FILLABLE WORKSHEET HERE for an easy place to answer the following questions!<<
In order to nail down your personal brand, you need to ask yourself the RIGHT questions. The goal of this worksheet is to figure out and define your personal brand with clarity and ease. These questions will help you start discovering, defining, and building your brand. It’s a good idea to spend some time answering these questions thoroughly and honestly!
Describe what you do
Are you a service-based business or do you offer products to your customers? Are you a content creator or influencer? What exactly do you offer your clients or target audience? How do you differentiate yourself from your competitors?
The more specific, the better! Ideally you’d want to be able to get this description down to a quick one-sentence elevator pitch that clearly communicates exactly what you do and who you do it for.
Remember, to create your personal brand, you need to gain clarity around your brand so you can start speaking directly to your audience with a refined message.
Who exactly is your target audience?
Who is the specific person you think of when you imagine your ideal audience member? I want you to think about psychographics and demographics. What is their gender? Where do they live? What do they do for a living? What pain points keep them up at night? And what are their aspirations? What are their values, hobbies, and interests? Who do they follow and what do they consume online?
Again, the more specific, the better. It is so much easier to build your personal brand when you know who specifically you are trying to reach. When you have a specific person in mind, it helps you focus on everything, from your social media content to your sales copy to the products or services you might want to create or offer.
Write down your personal values
Personal values are the main principles that set a standard for guiding and determining your attitude and actions, both personally and professionally. Having defined values will help you establish the direction of your personal brand by determining your sense of purpose and what is most important to you. The more clearly your values are communicated, the more your ideal target audience (who also shares those values) will be drawn to you.
Some examples of personal values are honesty, transparency, connection, diversity, efficiency, faith, freedom, flexibility, originality, playfulness—these are just a few, but the point is to list out whatever your values are. If you need more examples, check out the last page of this worksheet for a list of common ones. Try to identify your top five core values that are at the heart of who you are.
What words describe your personality?
What adjectives describe your personality? Are you adventurous, imaginative, dependable, relaxed, edgy, energetic, feisty, or spiritual? How would you friends describe you? How would those you do business with describe you? Ask them!
Your unique personality is the differentiator and what sets you apart from your competition. No one is the right fit for everyone so leaning into who you are is going to attract the ideal audience who will resonate specifically with you.
What are your hobbies or interests?
What are your hobbies and interests both inside and outside your business? And what do you love doing? If you had all the money and security in the world, what would you pursue?
Defining and sharing your hobbies and interests is another way to differentiate yourself and really attract and connect with the right audience for your brand and business.
What are your core strengths?
Your core strengths are the innate talents that come naturally to you. Your core strengths give you a competitive advantage and they are present in every activity you pursue. Are you creative, analytical, determined, persuasive, detail-oriented, collaborative, organized, dedicated, have high social intelligence, or a strong leader?
If you don’t know your core strengths, that’s okay—here’s a blog post to help you identify them!
What are your weaknesses?
Similar to the above, knowing your weaknesses can be just as powerful, so don’t shy away from them. You can and should ask trusted friends or colleagues to get a more objective view. Some common weaknesses include being impatient, not taking criticism well, procrastination, taking things personally, or being too passive.
Knowing your strengths and weaknesses will help you know what to focus your time and energy on, and what you should delegate to others, particularly when it comes to building your brand and business.
What are your skills?
We all have our own unique skills. Where strengths come naturally and generally last a lifetime, skills can be taught and learned, but can also be forgotten if not practiced regularly. Some we’ve learned from jobs or previous experiences, some were developed in school, in extra-curricular activities, or at home.
List any and all of your skills. They don’t have to be related to business either—even the ones you don’t think are relevant can actually be applied to your brand and business in some way.
Do you speak any foreign languages? Have you developed excellent time management skills from previous experiences? Are you a skilled artist? Do you know how to code or design a website? Are you a great writer? Are you an amazing sales person?
Once you’ve honestly answered these questions, you should see the beginnings of your personal brand starting to form. You want your personal brand to embody who you authentically are, and this worksheet is a great way to jump-start the process of finding unity in your branding.
>>DOWNLOAD YOUR PERSONAL BRANDING WORKSHEET HERE to start defining your branding once and for all!<<
If you want more on how to build a personal brand the right way…
- Recommended blog posts and Beyond Influential episodes on personal branding
- FREE Masterclass on 3 Secrets to Building a Profitable Personal Brand!
- The Clarity Course: This is the best (and first) place to start if you’re serious about building your personal brand the right way. It’s my proven, step-by-step process to position yourself online with a clear message in an authentic way that attracts your ideal audience—whether you’re creating a personal brand from scratch or have already started on your personal branding journey.