To declare ownership of an animal, farmers would and still do, sear the rump of livestock with their own unique, poker hot brand. Over time this age-old technique of branding has evolved to represent the identity of an individual, company or business. When the world recently plunged into murky uncertainty the distinction between professional identity and whether it should be personal or corporate became hazy and blurred.
The Business of You and Your Genius
The concept of genius is one that originally came from the Romans who for the longest time had this idea that we all had a pocket of genius located just above us from the minute we were born to the time we died. Our job as human beings is to access this genius. As Mark Twain said the two most important days of your life are when you are born and when you find out why!
So, why do we need to find out why? Because we can live a life 10 times better. Imagine where you’re currently sitting; hammering away at the same job, tediously dragging yourself from one task to another, making cursory conversation, until finally you collapse exhausted. We’ve seen so many people suffering from this – exhausted and fatigued. How do we end the day exhausted yet exhilarated?
When you’ve tapped into your creative genius that you were born with and you’re using it, you’ve aligned with your purpose. There is no tedium in that, but with all the noise in this world and all the demands and stresses we’re faced with, how, I hear you say, do we allow ourselves the luxury of harnessing this genius?
Well, here’s my suggestion. Try dispensing with the logic and accessing the heart to help gain access to your intuition. Practice this and you have pure, solid gold that will help you connect the dots to your own genius. Also, stop wasting that energy and start saying NO to the things that fail to add meaning or value to your well-being. If it does not feed your genius then it’s not working for you.
Now, let’s take it one step further. For your genius to truly flourish, mix up obsession with STILL space. Short periods of super focus and intense thinking followed by spurts of quiet and space will allow you to connect the invisible dots and access your genius better. Now, the idea of accessing your genius is to weave it through the other geniuses in the human race and improve the general well-being, adding to the world and making it a better place to live. Which brings us back to why building the Business of You is so important.
Sharing Your Genius
So the simplest and clearest way to market yourself as a personal brand, after you’ve discovered your genius, is by sharing your work and how you relate to it. Many entrepreneurs hesitate to share themselves personally for fear of putting off potential customers. But it’s often the alignment of values and resonance with stories that endear us to brands and influences our buying decisions.
Andrea Leda said, “I don’t share my wounds, but I do share the wisdom of my wounds”. Think about how you relate to friends and family in your life who have personal brands. People feel obligated to like people but are often ambivalent about liking businesses. Studies have shown that when identical messages are shared on personal social media accounts instead of business brand accounts, they are shared an average of 24 times more.
Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose
It is entirely up to us to create a real impression of who we actually are, even when pursuing success. This means bringing authenticity to the table. It’s that intangible factor that sets us apart from everyone else, allows us to stand out, to be noticed and to be taken as credible. It takes courage to step into your personal brand and it will undoubtedly create super fans or detractors, or as I recently read in a quote – “there are no haters, just quitters”. But don’t let that deter you from stepping into your genius and living your life to its fullest potential.
