Maegan LujanWhether you run your own business or work in a corporate setting – the most valuable asset you have is you.
You are your brand. It’s time you started acting like the CEO of that brand.
CEOs see the big picture. They craft their brand story. They steer the ship. In order to be the CEO of your brand – you need to do the same, for your own life.
What does a CEO do?
To understand what it means to be the CEO of your own brand, you have to first understand what a CEO does:
They set the strategy and the vision for an organization, they are strategic, they are in charge of everything that happens within a company, and they are the driver of a company’s success.
And that’s exactly what you have to do for your own brand. You have to be the in the driver’s seat.
How do you want people to perceive you?
How do you want to be remembered?
What do you want your name to be synonymous with?
While many have painted building a personal brand as a millennial pursuit fueled by self-indulgence – it’s far from that.
Your brand is your story. It’s claiming your voice and dictating your future. It’s taking control of what you put out into the world – and writing your own story.
– Maegan Lujan
Technology and Your Brand
We live in a day and age where technology has handed us a brand creation and management platform.
We get to tell our story – live our lives – and encourage others on their paths FOR FREE.
But that’s not all.
It is no longer a luxury to take ownership of your personal brand – it’s a necessity. With the onslaught of apps and social media – your digital footprint can be the catalyst to your promotion through the corporate world.
You’ve never had a greater ability to network or to build your resume than you do in today’s digital world. Which is why it is so important to be intentional about how you craft your brand.
How I Built My Personal Brand
You don’t want to be an internet celebrity.
You’re climbing the ladder – working hard.
You want people to take you seriously and to know that you are a force to be reckoned with.
I get it, because I’ve been there.
My story – how it started – is not paved with privilege and a first-class education.
It is one of loss, loneliness, and struggle.
But I turned that story into one that I am proud to tell.
I turned foster care, no high-school diploma, and no college degree into a professional woman – at the top of a world-renowned company, innovating, winning awards, and setting new records.
I’ve taken what was given to me and turned it into a personal brand that screams success. I steer the narrative around who I am.
But to build that brand – to tell that narrative, I needed to tell my story, my way.
I needed to explain the journey in-between the data.
Because, without that, I often felt judged or misunderstood… even held back for not fitting the “standard” specs in a self-imposed frame.
For me, expressing myself and owning my brand, is a vehicle of owning where I came from, why I am who I am, and a platform to turn my negative experience into a positive one.
And if you want to be successful in today’s world – you need to do the same.
How?
How to Build Your Personal Brand
Have a Vision: You can’t become what you can’t envision. Envision where you want your life to be. Picture where you live, how you dress, what your career looks like.
Then – begin to make small adjustments to make your reality look more like the future you envision.
Who do you need to become to be the YOU that you see in your future?
Live with Intention: Know the path that you want to be on, and live everyday with intention. Living with intention is CRUCIAL. What parts of your story are you telling? What message are you sharing over and over? How are you taking what you’ve been given and using that to rewrite the story people associate with you? Do you use your social media intentionally. Are you having meaningful conversations? Think about how your story is being told.
Have Confidence in Yourself: You have successfully gotten to where you are today because of your past, not in spite of it. Tell your story in a way that clearly shows how you carved out success and built something incredible for yourself. There is no need to hide that.
Harness Your Power
The reality is…
There are high level executives – of companies – that have harnessed this powerful engine, and became the CEOs of their brand. They fully stepped into being a great leader, and built a personal brand that became an asset the organizations brand.
And to learn more about stepping into the role of CEO of your own brand, check out this video from the Cannata report.
Extra Resources:
Here are a few of the books and tools I used on my journey in personal branding.
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