Personal branding exercise

Take 30 minutes to do the following short exercise to determine a) what your brand is and b) if it aligns with what you want it to be!

Click here for a printable worksheet, or follow along with the steps listed below!

STEP 1: Get started

  • Write down five words that describe you best.
    • Do these words convey the qualities that you want?
    • Re-evaluate words to ensure they are ones that you would want others to use to describe you!

STEP 2: Get feedback from others

  • Send out a brief survey to better understand how others see you. This step offers valuable insights. It is fun to know what others’ perceptions are and it can help you to see yourself differently.
  • Click here to use our survey template.

STEP 3: Review how you present yourself on paper

  • Pull out your resume (even an old version) and paste your content into Tagxedo.
    • Which words stand out?
    • How many of the 5 words appear?  Synonyms of the 5?
    • Update your resume to showcase your differentiators!

STEP 4: Review your online profiles

  • Use Tagxedo again, this time on your LinkedIn profile.
    • Look for those key words again! Not aligned? Insert some of the keywords into your LinkedIn summary.
    • Have 2 extra minutes?  Do the exercise on your entire profile page and separately on the summary portion only (cut & paste text).

STEP 5: Review how you’ve invested your time

  • List recent accomplishments, both personal and professional.
    • Re-write accomplishments with some of the words you listed in step #1.
    • Look for gaps!  Which words are not represented?  Go back and rethink what you’ve done that reflects those words.

STEP 6: Revisit your positioning

  • If one of your accomplishments from step 5 doesn’t align with the five words that you think describe you, figure out why.
    • Rethink other aspects of your brand that you had not considered.
    • Identify activities that could reinforce your goal.

Use your brand to save you time

  • Figure out how to say no! Review your calendar. Consider how you have spent your time and what aspect of your brand each calendar item reinforces.