Presenting Your Best Self Online & Uncovering Your Personal Brand - Worksheets Step-by-step instructions to get you thinking and organized Who is looking for me ( audiences ) & what are they hoping to find out? My Audiences (who is looking for me online?) Why are they looking for me / What are they hoping to find? Presenting your best self online & personal brand - worksheets by Rachel E. Locke, PhD RachelLocke.com p. 1 of 9
What are my goals for my online presence? My Audiences (re-list your audiences from the previous page) What are my goals for interacting with this audience? / What do I want to communicate to this audience? Presenting your best self online & personal brand - worksheets by Rachel E. Locke, PhD RachelLocke.com p. 2 of 9
Where do I appear online now? List those places here. Places I appear online Notes (e.g., What is my impression? Do I need this? How much content is required here? Is there anything that needs to be changed immediately?) Presenting your best self online & personal brand - worksheets by Rachel E. Locke, PhD RachelLocke.com p. 3 of 9
Which of these sites I will choose to use to communicate with each audience? Sites where I appear online Audiences (re-list your audiences from the previous page) Make a check in the box if you plan to meet goals for the corresponding audience there. Add any other notes in the boxes. Think about how much effort it will take from you to keep each site up to date. Think about where the majority of your content should reside. Presenting your best self online & personal brand - worksheets by Rachel E. Locke, PhD RachelLocke.com p. 4 of 9
Match your selected sites with your goals for each audience repeat this step for each audience Look at each site you plan to use to meet goals for a particular audience; determine if each goal for that audience is being met currently and note your findings in the box. Remember, you don t need to meet all goals on all sites. Think about organizing your content in such a way as to minimize the amount of upkeep required by you If you plan to start a new site (e.g. your own website, LinkedIn, Research Gate, a departmental site), use the boxed to make some notes about what you will say or include to meet your goals. The point here is to FOCUS and not put up a lot of stuff that no one will care about. Audience: Sites where I plan to meet my goals for Audience Goal #1 Goals for Audience Goal #2 Goal #3 Goal #4 Goal #5 Goal #6 Presenting your best self online & personal brand - worksheets by Rachel E. Locke, PhD RachelLocke.com p. 5 of 9
Lots of questions to help you discover your personal brand You don't create your personal brand. You already have one. These questions will help you reveal it. I compiled these questions from 6 websites that each had a list of questions. Sources are listed at the bottom of the document. Don t worry that some questions seem similar the goal is to get you thinking. Who Am I? What adjectives do I use to define myself? Choose one word that truly resonates with you; consider using it as the foundation for your brand. Who do I admire? Note the characteristics or experiences that draw you to those people. Do these give you any ideas about who you are? Professional goals What are my professional goals? Mission What statement defines what I am all about and what I want to accomplish in life? What do I want to be known for? What do I want to be known for? Passions / what am I curious about? About what topic(s) can I talk endlessly? What s the part of my job I love the most? What energizes or ignites me? What gets me out of bed in the morning? What is my oxygen: what in my life can I simply not live without? What brought me immense joy as a little kid? Values Your values are your operating principles. When you re living in alignment with your most important values, you are energized, confident and available to others. When you aren t, you create a drag on your energy. Presenting your best self online & personal brand - worksheets by Rachel E. Locke, PhD RachelLocke.com p. 6 of 9
What are my top three pet peeves? What situation makes me feel angriest or most annoyed? Which of the values listed here most resonate with you? (https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newted_85.htm) Purpose / Why do I do what I do? Your purpose is connected to how you want to contribute to the world beyond your career. It describes your role in turning your vision for humanity into reality. Having a purpose helps you identify what to pursue and what to avoid. Why do I even like doing what I do? What s my biggest hope or dream? If I won the lottery and didn t need to work, how would you spend your time? If the world were a perfect place, what work would I be doing? In this perfect world, what am I achieving through my work? In this perfect world, how am I impacting audiences? Differentiation / Superpowers / Uniqueness Your superpowers are the things you do better than everyone else. Often, they are things you do with little effort. What do I do better than anyone else? If I were to receive an award, what would it be for? What do people frequently compliment me on or praise me for? What aspect of the world would be different if I had not been a part of it? What most strongly sets me apart from my peers? Why should anyone pay attention to me? Why am I the better choice for a new job or a service I am delivering/selling? Why am I uniquely positioned to satisfy the needs of my target audience? What is it that my manager, colleagues, friends, and clients come to me for? What do others usually come to me for that I think isn t a big deal? What do I want the word to know about me that s unique? What abilities do I consistently apply to produce positive outcomes? What shortcomings am I consciously working to improve? What do I offer others? Presenting your best self online & personal brand - worksheets by Rachel E. Locke, PhD RachelLocke.com p. 7 of 9
Look at how yourself as a whole and figure out how what you do is unique. Look at your interests, hobbies and preferences. What do your three favorite books, movies or songs say about you? What would someone learn by knowing your taste in music, food or sports? What do you favorite interests say about you? What makes the way I achieve results interesting or unique? How do I do what you do? What am I like to work with? What is my essence? What do others think about me? What adjectives do people consistently use to describe you perhaps when they re introducing you to others? What do people remember most about me? How would they describe the experience of working with me? What do people say about me as a leader? What makes me memorable or identifies you as a leader? Personality What traits do I show to the world and what am I not comfortable showing? Who am I here to serve? Your brand shouldn't appeal to everyone. We all serve someone. Who will you choose? Who is my target audience? Who are my ideal clients? Who do I want to attract; who do I want to repel? Do you want to attract a particular demographic or geography? Do you have certain skills that will be of more interest to some than others? Create a profile of one individual who exemplifies the qualities of the audience you would most want to work, perform, or teach for. Write down a list of these qualities. Rank these qualities in their order of importance to you. What are you both good at and passionate about? What are you both good at and passionate about? Presenting your best self online & personal brand - worksheets by Rachel E. Locke, PhD RachelLocke.com p. 8 of 9
Education and work experience What are the factual bases of your career? Create Your Brand Statement Try putting key elements above together into the following template to create your brand statement: I am a (doctor/scientist/artist/lawyer etc. how you see yourself professionally) who (describe how you use your unique talents) for (describe your target audience) so they can. (describe the desired experience you want your audience to have) (C) Astrid Baumgardner 2010. Astrid Baumgardner, JD, PCC is a professional life coach and lawyer, Coordinator of Career Strategies and Lecturer at the Yale School of Music and the founder and President of Astrid Baumgardner Coaching + Training, which is dedicated to helping musicians, lawyers and creative professionals take charge of their lives and experience authentic success. In addition to her work at YSM and her individual coaching practice, Astrid presents workshops at leading conservatories and law firms on topics including Career Planning, Goal-Setting, Time Management, Dynamic Communication, Conflict Management and Personal Branding and Networking. She is the author of numerous articles on the various aspects of how to achieve and live authentic success. Sources https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140626014132-7549562-how-to-build-a-personal-brand-strategy-and-action-plan https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2015/06/09/10-crucial-questions-for-defining-your-personal-brand/#6a2dea835c3c https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2013/11/12/7-questions-to-ask-when-uncovering-your-personal-brand/#4809f5bc60e9 https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2016/04/26/10-questions-to-ask-yourself-before-creating-your-personal-brand/#3c57f0b7388b https://www.levo.com/posts/9-questions-to-help-you-define-your-personal-brand http://astridbaumgardner.com/articles/16-personal-branding-for-musicians-and-artists-using-your-unique-gifts-to-connect-with-your-audience Presenting your best self online & personal brand - worksheets by Rachel E. Locke, PhD RachelLocke.com p. 9 of 9