“If you for a second, don’t believe in what you are doing, whether it is your personal brand, or the product you represent, you need to get out now.” Gary Vaynerchuk

I have been meaning to write a post on Personal Branding for a while now. I spent 40 mins watching this video twice and making notes on Gary’s speech, before deciding that i cannot explain Personal Branding with more passion and energy than Gary does.

So below i have taken the 10 most significant parts from the video and constructed them into this post about Personal Branding.

First and for most, I really want to thank everyone for reading this. I mean, this is outrageously humbling. Every single person who is reading this, since your here, there’s no doubt in my mind that you’re going to kill it.

1. Have Patience and Passion

Lets starts with passion, there’s way too many people right now that are doing stuff they hate. There is no reason in 2010 to do rubbish you hate. None. Promise me you won’t, because you can lose just as much money being happy as hell.

Have patience; success does not happen over night, but it also won’t happen unless you ‘get off the bench and into the game.’

2. Listen To Your Community

Listen to your users absolutely; but caring and understanding your users is a lot more effective. People listen but they don’t do anything!!! Do something, answer those emails, give a shit about your community, care about your user base… That’s what you need to do.

You need to care about everything and it starts with yourself. Look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself,

“What do I want to do every day for the rest of my life?” Do that. I promise that you can monetize that.

3. What’s Your Legacy?

Legacy is greater than currency. Has everybody completely grasped that your grand children are going to watch and see everything you’ve even done? I think about that every single day. I want my grand kids to be proud of me.

4. Hustling and Building Business

Do you know what I hustle about? I hustle about meeting every single person on earth and building a relationship to create another exciting opportunity.

Hustle is the most important word, ever… and that’s what you need to do. You need to work hard.
We’re building business here, this isn’t about parties and wasting your life away watching relentless episodes of daytime television and Eastenders.

Getting a load of users or Social Media statistics is not a business model. Make some cash along the way!

5. Believe In What You Do

If you’re pumping out good stuff, people will follow. But if for a second, a half a second, that you don’t believe in what you’re doing; whether it’s your personal brand or the product you represent; you need to get out now. Please!

6. Understand The Game Is Changing

We only get to play this game one time. One life.

The way everything is changing is unbelievable. Everybody is consuming content everywhere. The people that controlled it; Newspapers, Television and Radio are no longer in control!
That is a huge factor that people have not totally wrapped their head around. You need to build brand equity.

It’s about brand equity in yourself, because you never know what could happen.

7. Networking and Being Transparent

I love people, so networking is a huge advantage for me. Get out there and network. People are the people that are going to help you. The only way to succeed now is to be completely transparent… Completely.

Everything is exposed. Everything you do. So your legacy is your ultimate life. It’s all you’ve got. And you can build so much on that. When you have brand equity, anything can happen.

8. Using Social Media Tools

What’s very imperative to me right now is using the tools. Too many people are trying to figure out which tools to use. Shall I use Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, which tools shall i use?

All of them… Your user base, and the people that care about you; you need to connect with them anyway you can, everywhere you can, as often as you can. That interaction is essential. Communication is essential!

9. What We Do Is Real

Look at Reality TV, that’s about as real as shit! That stuff is not real. But we still like it because it’s somewhat real. This other stuff is very real. The place where we play is very real. And it is a massive, massive opportunity.

I hope people wrap there head around that, because we are going through a gold rush of branding. In the old days to become a brand you needed a lot of mainstream media attention. But now, if you get talked about enough in social media; blogs, networks, videos, you can get there.

You can build your brand. Your companies brand.

But it all starts with that first moment when you look in the mirror and you ask yourself, what do I want to do?

10. Time To Do Damage

If you want this, if you’re miserable, if you don’t like it or you want to do something else and you have a passion somewhere else. Work nine to five. Spend a couple hours with your friends and family and then spend seven to two in the morning putting your game into action!
Who says you have to work to someone else’s schedule anyway?

But that’s it. It’s not going to happen any other way. You’re not going to make stickers and stand on the street selling your ideas, cos really nobody cares about you until you make yourself heard. Get off the bench and into the game!!!

“We only get to play this game one time… one life.”

Check out more from the legend that is Gary Vaynerchuk here

Similar Posts:

• Identifying Clarity and Purpose In Your Journey
• The Next Chapter: Joining Chelsea Football Club
• 10 Reasons Why Musicians Must Use Twitter