What Does It Mean To Brand Yourself?

Being a nurse for many years, I did not understand the term Brand Yourself when I brought my business to Social Media. I thought my Brand is a “nurse” and what the heck is an Avatar?

My network marketing business did well 11 years ago. But at about year 6, it wasn’t growing as much. People didn’t want to go to home meetings anymore.

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Introduced To Network Marketing

I was introduced to network marketing and knew this is what I always had been yearning for. No, not specifically network marketing but being home and making money.

I enjoyed being my own boss and setting my own schedule. That meant I was not giving up my business.

Social Media Is More Than Social

Social Media was really turning a corner as far as it was not strictly social anymore. Businesses of all kinds were coming online.

So, I took the leap!

I knew I needed help and a lot of it.

Why?

I did not know what it meant to Brand myself or what really is an avatar ?

Because I didn’t know technology or really Social Media!

That meant I had to find mentors to teach me.

This is when I started hearing Brand Yourself.

My Brand

I will confess I struggled with this for a long time.

Remember, I was a nurse for a long time. I didn’t really know how to figure out what my Brand was or is.

Avatar! What the heck is an avatar?

My avatar is actually me or someone like me. A person who didn’t grow up with computers and now needs to learn.

As a nurse, I had a lot of knowledge that I had to give to my patients. But for some reason I did not equate the technical things I was learning to actually be the same as nursing. People needed to know what I was learning.

Humm, is this my Brand?

I thought I needed to “know it all” before helping some one with their technology struggles.

That was my selfish “perfectionism” rearing it’s head.

One day finally I looked in the mirror and said to myself, ” you did not know everything when you were a new nurse. Why do you think you need to be perfect now?”

I was still trying to figure out my Brand.

Investing In Myself

I did learn I needed to invest in myself.

Yes, I invested in learning technology.

But I was growing and like a child grows I needed guidance.

That meant someone to guide me on a one to one journey.

Having A Mentor

Well, I have a mentor and she has pushed me to continue to grow and one day she said to me, ” Deb, you have a lot of knowledge in your head. You need to share it with others so you can fill up with more knowledge.”

Boy was my mind playing games with me. Frustration, self doubt, overwhelm, you name it I had it.

My mentor would push me and challenge me on blog writing, teaching, Facebook LIVEs, webinars and just giving value.

She said it is a Know, Like and Trust issue. ” My avatar needs to know who I am before my avatar could like me and trust me.”

This was so totally different from my background. When people found out I was a nurse, it was like instant trust.

One thing my mentor did was just let me get my frustrations out. She would ask questions about what I had just said.

One of those questions was, “did you listen to what you just said?”

As I thought about what I said I realized my Brand was coming alive and I knew I was making progress.

This learning process made me also realize I did know a lot of things. I wanted to teach and help my avatar.

I was figuring out who I was becoming. With that I needed to pass the knowledge on to my avatar.

You see, I had become a fifth grader and my avatar is a third grader. She needs me to help her grow.

Thanks to my mentor I have figured out my Brand. It is ME! Which I realize will change as I grow.

So, you do not have to figure it out on your own. I did not.

Having a mentor helps collapse time and money because they have already walked the walk, fallen in the pitfalls and can help eliminate these for you.

I learned what my Brand is. Who my avatar is and I am an entrepreneur not a solopreneur!

To Your Success,

Deb