What is a Personal Brand?
When we talk about branding and the idea of what is a brand is really, I’m reminded of this story of my wife, AJ who is also my business partner and CEO of Brand Builders Group. She is a chronic overachiever, a check lister, and runs the house like a business. Always on the go, go, go!
When we got married, we had to go down to the county clerk’s office. When we were there, they gave us a form to fill out for the marriage license.
And AJ is filling out her information. The top half is all about her. She writes in her name, birth date, social security number, etc.
She gets down to the bottom half of the page, which is supposed to be all about the husband. Rather than having me fill it out, she decides she is going to fill it in for me. She writes in my name, birth date, social security number and she gets to the last question which asks about ethnicity.
And she writes in for me, “Caucasian”.
I looked at her and I said, “Honey, what are you doing?”
AJ said, “What?”
“You just wrote down ‘Caucasian’.”
“Yeah.”
I said, “Honey, I’m Mexican.”
I think it was the first moment it had dawned on her she was actually about to marry a Mexican man!
We had been dating for several years. She knew that my grandmother was born in Mexico. She knew my mother’s maiden name is Realivasquez.
She knew that but it was not how she thought of me.
Personal Brand Quote
It’s interesting because when you think about the definition of a brand, I offer a very simple definition.
A brand is simply what people think about when they think of you.
How to Build a Personal Brand?
That is the question we should ask ourselves when we are trying to build a brand, to influence what people think of when they think of us.
The best part of that story with AJ?
A couple of nights later, we had our rehearsal dinner in Nashville for our actual wedding. AJ grew up in Georgia and I’m from Colorado.
Our families were just meeting each other for the first time and so it was a bit awkward and tense. She told me to tell that story. She thought it was funny and it will help break the ice.
So I stood up at our rehearsal dinner, in front of both of our families and told the story exactly how it happened. As soon as I did that, my whole side of the family starts cracking up. They thought it was hilarious and they are doubled over in laughter!
But her whole side of the family, all at the same time, start looking at each other and saying, “What?! He’s Mexican?!”
Needless to say, our marriage has survived, and we are doing well!
What do people think of when they think of you? Leave me a comment.
