To be successful in the digital age you must invest in your digital first impression, tell your story and make it easy for others to discover who you are, why you do what you do and what problems and services you have to offer.
It’s been evident for many years that our first impression in business and life no longer happens with what we’re wearing rather what comes up when someone googles our name or finds us online.
This shift has empowered the “personal branding movement” a topic I’ve been writing about since 2014 and is probably not new to most reading this.
But for most of us, we don’t consider ourselves as creators or marketers and we don’t know what it takes to build a brand or create content or invest in a community and isn’t that work really just for entrepreneurs and those “want to be influencers” anyhow.
Like it or not times have changed and it doesn’t matter if you work for yourself or a company, how people see you, discover you and feel about you is often the key element for whether you get promoted, close the sale or get recognized for your hard work.
In this hyper-connected digital world, the only way to do this is by owning the fact that you must be the one sharing your experiences, invest in your digital-first impression, making it easy for people to discover you and telling the authentic stories you want to be remembered for.
The beauty of this hyper-connected digitally-driven world today is that it’s leveled the playing field giving everyone the ability to tell their story no matter your resume, your background, where you live or how much money you have. The possibilities of doing great things with this power are truly endless but this power is also the reason we are currently overwhelmed by fake news, bad news and those selling unicorns rainbows.
For the past 3 years, I’ve instilled in my community that to embrace my #PressTheDamnButton mantra you must first admit that perfection is a fairytale and control is an illusion.
For those that have done this, the results have been incredible. But for many, they still have questions such as: why do I need to put myself out there?
- Where do I start?
- How do I stand out from the noise?
- What should I share?
- What should I still keep private?
Interestingly enough, by shifting your perspective and answering the first question, you’ll almost naturally figure out on your own the answer to the second question.
One of the massive issues is the lack of awareness we currently have on how much time we spend or don’t spend on the good in the world compared to the bad. We aren’t going to beat fake news or bad news by continuing to give it the majority of our attention, media coverage, and watercooler talk.
But let’s face it in this comparison society we live in today we’d rather share the bad things happening to others which makes us feel good about our current situation than amplify our friend’s success and good things happening in the world for fear of how it will make us look or feel.
This must stop and we can each do our part by unfollowing, muting and removing those people who spew hate in our feeds while also going out of our way to tell our own stories and amplify the good stories happening around us each day.
Our Role In Making The World A More Empathetic Place
We can all agree that the world needs more empathy but wrapping our head around how we can make that happen can be extremely overwhelming causing most of us to consider the concept a pipe dream ultimately shifting our focus back to the small things in our lives that we can control that aren’t nearly as overwhelming. I break this down in more detail in my recent blog post “who or what is to blame for the lack of empathy in our digital world?”
This is only natural and when it comes to a concept like “changing the world” it can rightfully be overwhelming but I will challenge you that making the world a more empathic place is different.
Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another but the question I don’t believe we are asking ourselves is what role do we play in allowing others to understand and sharing in our own feelings?
This is only made possible by us putting ourselves out there, telling our stories, being vulnerable and amplify those around us doing great things.
Yes, investing in the future of your digital first impression should be plenty of motivation for valuing and building your personal brand and creating content that highlights your stories.
Still, if that isn’t enough, the harsh truth is if you don’t make this change, you’ll be drowned out by the bad and fake and we won’t move the world to a more empathetic place as we won’t have a chance to understand or feel for you.
If you’d like to learn more about my Press The Damn Button Keynote or other keynote programs email my speaker agent to set up a call today: Michelle@MichelleJoyce.com
