Have you ever felt that you're not performing up to your potential? 

That your peers and competitors have achieved more, or you misread crucial opportunities? Have you ever said, " How did they get that fantastic opportunity?". Guess what? You are not alone. 

Let me explain.

At Altius, we've always done Personal branding in Workshops, mostly to help Corporate professionals do better. This month Feb 2021, we designed individual sessions focussed on Solopreneurs, Startup Founders & Senior corporate Professionals. 

Potential- performance mismatch emerged as the main worry across demographics.

We learned there are five major career concern areas that most people have. Here's a shortcut to figuring out what's holding you back and how you can move forward. I've framed them as first-person questions to make them easier to articulate.

1. How do I Maximise my career potential?
2. How do I create fresh new connections?
3. How do I communicate the value I add without blowing my own trumpet?
4. How Do I discover hidden opportunities for career growth?
5. How Do I refresh my image?

Let's Tackle them one at a time.

1. How do I Maximise my career potential?
   1. The simplest way to get to the top is to set yourself challenging goals. Goals give your efforts a purpose, can be measured. The trick lies in identifying the goal that motivates you the most.  
   2. The second way to ensure career growth is continuous learning. No area of human enterprise has been untouched by the tech revolution, your ability to learn, apply and harness this growth will define your trajectory.
2. How do I create fresh new connections?
   1. A professional relationship benefits both parties. Consider how helpful you will be to someone before connecting.
   2. If you cannot think of a direct reason, ask what their current projects are. Identify who in your network would help their goals. Either way, make sure you have both an 'ask' and a 'give'.
3. How do I communicate the value I add without blowing my own trumpet?
   1. Every achievement & learning has its own story, if you saved money for your client by improving Facebook ads, communicate it. Storytelling is location agnostic. It works everywhere, at interviews, in performance reviews, and any person-to-person communication.
4. How Do I discover hidden opportunities for career growth?
   1. Your network is your best bet for growth. The first step is to define a clear ask. Eg. " Please connect me to funded startups who need marketing services ?" ( Seriously! Please do !). The second would be to identify 10-12 people in your network per month that this request goes out. A couple of months of persistence will bring results.
   2. Second, Connect with peers, colleagues, or even strangers who are doing cutting-edge work. Connections bring exciting challenges and opportunities for growth and learning. That tweet to Elon Musk may work. No harm in trying.
5. How Do I improve my image?
   1. Keeping your social media profiles open, engaging, and valuable is the best for your image. An up-to-date, well-written, and optimized LinkedIn profile is the first step to professional growth.

In conclusion, A strong personal brand is an asset leveraged for better job opportunities, investment, funding & relationships. Managing it is not too time and resource-intensive, and results are exponential. 

If you have questions like “What is personal branding? Will it help me grow in my career? Should I sign up for a session etc. ?" visit https://altiusconsults.com/ownyourbrand/.

Stay awesome.