I haven’t met a single business person recently who isn’t looking to define how they stand out from the crowd. Today’s buzzword is personal branding. Whether you’re competing for a job, protecting your business from getting hit in these challenging economic times, or trying to get your arms around the right next career path, standing apart first requires that you define your professional assets.
What are professional assets?
Think of your professional assets as all the skills and experiences you’ve gained along the way. Your training, skills and experiences are the pieces of thread that have weaved the tapestry you have become.
How do you define your assets?
- Make a list of your major areas of study, job skills and experiences. Don’t discount anything, even if you don’t think it applies right now. It is a part of your tapestry and it may carry more value than you realize. You may discover that training or experience that you had many years ago has contributed to your strengths in ways you take for granted.
- Review each asset with an eye towards understanding how it contributes to your professional value. For example, I earned a business degree with a concentration in computer programming. After college I fell into the business of direct marketing and dismissed the programming background for many years. It wasn’t until I became an entrepreneur who wanted to save money by building my own web sites did I recognize the value of my programming background. Web 2.0 training is now an element of our offerings.
- Take a step back and think about how what you love to do fits into this picture. Most people make the mistake of believing that their passions have no place in the hard world of skills and expertise. Yet when you separate heart and mind you’re not working with the whole of an individual.
By bringing all of who you are into the exercise, you will truly arrive at how you stand apart.
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