Model, businesswoman and author Sonia Booth believes it’s crucial to reinvent yourself on a continual basis and always refine your personal brand.
Success in any sphere should never allow you to become complacent. If you don’t reinvent yourself, you become stagnant, which can in turn lead to irrelevance.
The world is changing at a very rapid pace and you need to keep abreast of it. You need to increase your knowledge and up your skills whenever you can.
Staying Relevant
Writing the book was intimidating. I knew I had these ideas in my head, but I wasn’t sure if I would be able to transfer them to the page. However, once I started writing, I found that everything flowed naturally.
It was a very rewarding experience. It’s important to step out of your comfort zone and try new things, especially if they intimidate you.
Anticipate Change
If there’s one thing you can be sure of, it’s that things change. Never believe that success in the past guarantees success in the future. You need only look at the long list of actors and musicians who had one massive hit, and then disappeared completely. You can never sit back and relax. You need to seize every opportunity that comes your way.
Personal Branding
Personal branding isn’t just for celebrities — everyone should consciously sculpt their own personal brand. Why? Well, there is a lot of noise out there and a lot of people clamouring for attention.
You need to make yourself stand out if you want to secure that much-coveted contract or promotion. Building a recognisable personal brand opens up professional opportunities. In today’s entrepreneurial landscape, you can’t afford to just be another face in the crowd.
Developing Skills
Focus on gaining and sharpening the skills that are important in your field. Technology has changed the game. Staying on top of the latest developments requires constant work.
Image Building
Whether we like it or not, image is important. People will judge you by how you dress and how you carry yourself. You need to think carefully about the image you wish to portray.
What others say about you and your personal brand can have a much bigger influence than what you say yourself, which is why you need to carefully consider your image.
Self-Promotion
Self-promotion has a negative connotation for many people, and, in fact, inappropriate self-promotion can be very off-putting. Self-promotion isn’t inherently a bad thing, but it needs to be done with tact.
Shamelessly promoting yourself and name-dropping is not good, but there’s nothing wrong with being proud of your achievements.
State your credentials, if the situation allows. Self-promotion is about strategically building your personal brand to ensure that those who can help you accomplish more in your career will know the value you represent.
Online Identity
Technology has become a big part of our daily lives, so it makes sense to get involved with social media. That said, you need to approach social media in a way that can provide real value.
Assess the quality of the community, audience demographics and growth, and whether industry experts and peers are part of the conversation.
Social media can be used as an information tool and help you keep abreast of current affairs. And it helps you to connect, engage and interact with like-minded people and followers, who can help promote your brand.