Personal Branding: Personal Experience and The Art of Being Professionally You

– By Soren Neupane

 

Anybody is a Brand. Anybody can Build their brand. There are people who can help you. They can embellish your brand. How far you want to take it is upto you.

Now this is very personal. When I attended a Neuro-diversity 1-day session at the  Wellington High Community Classes  – and Nigel Sutton spilled out the nuts-and-bolts of ADHD, I  could feel developing  connection to  my clan and my community. His cIass got more and more interesting. And started realizing my decades of suffering from my inability to get things done and concentrate on things I could do well. And complete them.

Realizing, finally, that I was one of the ADHD inflicted individual, I asked Nigel if he could give me a  brief TikTok rundown. In other words : how to do good TikToks. He is good at that.   ‘Sure” said he and w e had a session on TikTok.  I ‘d wanted to see if that was my niche.  (it wasn’t).

Come Ana Lyubich. I attended her class. She was e neruoaesthetics expert. (I had no idea what it was). But ‘she optimized visuals’ and I was attending her class. She sounded approachable and very ‘connected’. And I said : lets form a group that can learn, benefit from each other. ‘Right on’ said she and we laid out quite a few  A3 sheets for people to write down their details.

At that point, Bhajan Mehta, another attendee like me, stepped up and said :“I’ll create a QR Code for people to connect using WhatssApp’. He created it and Ana projected it on the whiteboard.

What I noticed here was : nobody – Nigel or Ana or Bhajan -blinked and doubted the intentions and the journey. And they were in action. They ‘believed’. They were the kind of people who, if someone lobbed a hand grenade, they would step up to it and throw it back saying “so guys that was not a lemon. That was a hand grenade” . And then you’d hear a big bang.

I wanted to  work and ‘subscribe’ (as they say) to these people. This community.

They were brands in their own rights. Knowlngly or unknowingly.

And here, I wanted to create my own brand. And there was Ana Lyubich who could assist.

Why Personal Branding Matters

In today’s digital age, personal branding is essential. It’s about shaping how others see you and turning your identity into a marketable asset. Like a well-tailored suit, it showcases your strengths while masking imperfections. As our personal and professional lives blur, the rules of branding evolve with technology and culture. It’s no longer optional—it’s expected.

Tablets or tabloids, human beings still have a way of distilling an image of you for a reason and storing them in their minds. Algorithm or orchestric rhythm. It is there.

Personal Branding: Your Key to Staying Relevant

In a hyper-connected world, not having a personal brand can be – let’s say, disastrous. A strong brand works for you, showcasing your image while you focus elsewhere.  Success now hinges on perceived excellence, boosted by strategic self-promotion. With algorithms driving visibility, personal branding is essential to stay relevant in an ever-shifting professional landscape.

Some silver lining tips : being attentive, replying to calls, emails, showing empathy, being generous with smiles – they could all be building up towards the YOU brand and you might not even know it. Because that is just you. You don’t do things to add to your brand. But people notice you. Your actions.

The Power of a Strong Personal Brand

When your personal brand gains traction, the rewards make your efforts worthwhile. Opportunities naturally come your way—speaking gigs, collaborations, and higher rates become the norm. A strong brand works for you even in your absence, building trust and attracting clients. As your brand grows, so does its value, yielding greater returns with less effort. However, staying relevant demands continuous adaptation as technology and trends evolve.

And you have to be ‘present’. You have to be sincere. And you have to show it. If you make a mistake, admit it.