It’s science that human beings judge people based on first impressions. We judge people on the way they look, what they wear, and how they talk- down to the car they drive. 

The car you drive can say a lot about what stage of life you are in and the level of success you are at. Sometimes it means that you value other things way more than the car you drive. Does this mean you have to invest in another vehicle today?  Not really.  It just means that you have to be conscious of these judgements and decide if you care enough to make it a part of your personal brand.

Personally, I’m going to be rocking my mommy van for a little while longer until the kids get a  bit older. 

These vanity metrics do affect your personal brand whether you like it or not.

 

Thank you for tuning in this week for our personal branding series.  Today we are going to talk about some vanity metrics.  I’m not talking about the online vanity metrics like how many likes we have on your facebook page.  But rather things that people associate with your personal brand whether you like it or not. 

 

Yes, these things are super vain.  But just because they are vain, doesn’t mean they don’t occur.  Here is the number one thing people want to figure out about you as a person. 

 

Whether or not you are successful.  Success can be measured in so many different ways to different people.  However some of these factors are more vain than others…I’ll let you decide.  First successful metric is Money.  What kind of car do you drive?  What does your car say about you?  If you drive a motorcycle, that has a badass feel to it, versus a Honday Odyssey Minivan.  What house do you live in?  Living out on a farm in a simple two bedroom farmhouse versus an extravagant, beautifully decorated mini mansion have completely different feels to what type of person would live in each type of house.   

 

How about your family? Are you a 28 year old with 4 young kids?  Are you a 50 year old with no children?  Please realize, I’m not saying you need to plaster these on your website or on your social media platforms, but these are things people that know you and that follow you on social media will probably know about you.  One is not better than the other, just realize it helps you connect with certain people and push away other people. 

 

Are you in shape? Are you overweight?  Your physique is part of your brand, like it or not.  Yes, please are judging you based on your weight.  Would you trust a 23 year old fit women that has had no kids to help you lose weight if you are a 48 year old mother of 4 that has 40 pounds to loose?  Or would you trust that 55 year old fitness coach that has lost 60 pounds after her 5 child and has helped keep it off despite menopause kicking in.   

 

I know for me, when I see female entreprenuers  that have kids AND are super fit I think instant super woman.  Why? Because I personally know the struggle and think wow, how do they do it?  To me, that is success.  EVEN THOUGH I know there are SOOOOO many factors that can affect all three of those criteria.   

 

So while I’m not saying you need to go and buy a little farm if you want to be seen as more low key and modest or you need to go and find that mansion to be seen as super successful, I AM saying know that there are many things that are part of your personal brand whether you like it or not.  I call these the vanity metrics that people use to figure out if you are a successful person or not.  While there IS so much more to success than those factors, it’s nice to be aware. 

 

Homework for this week:  Think about ways you can incorporate your successful attributes into your personal branding story that you can use on your website and the story you tell to others.

As most of you know, Alimond Studio has always offered strategy within our headshot sessions as well as within our video shoots.  However, we are stepping it up with now offering Personal Branding Strategies for professional that are trying to revamp their online presence.  We are doing it for individuals that want to not just look good online, but want to truly show others why they are different than the rest. 

Now this isn’t Branding for your Business.  We have wonderful relationships with full Marketing agencies that we’d be happy to refer you to that are amazing at helping you in that arena.  However, this is for YOUR PERSONAL BRAND.  

 

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