Of Branding & Impressions

Tip #14 is about branding. Your brand is the impression you leave people with.

Thus it is not something we decide to do or not do, have or not have on any given day. It is something that is always a part of us.

This however does not mean the impression we leave people with cannot be changed.

At any time in our lives we can decide to reinvent ourselves or present new sides of our personality to the world.

What people see of us at any given time is only a slice of all that we fully are.

For those of us who have dreams or visions of fame and notoriety even simple business success, branding is important. 

Decide on the image you want associated with your content.

I share stories and perspectives from my own life. As a writer I see myself writing non fiction. Truth is stranger than fiction and I have a lot to say. 

There are ideas of fictionalizing some content but it is more about changing names to protect private citizens rather than deciding how a story will go. 

As a brand I like to be versatile.  

I never know where inspiration will spark or what new thing might grab my interest.

All in all I cannot say enough about the power of intention based action.

I will leave you with this story from my high school days:

We moved across the country just in time for me to start 9^th grade.

I understood school culture and cliques. I was used to knowing most if not all the students I had classes with. 

As a people person this was very comfortable to me. It afforded a wealth of information if no other clout. 

The last thing I wanted to do was get thrust into the wrong or even just one clique in the new location.

What to do? What to do?

I decided to dress the part for groups I wanted to infiltrate.

This meant picking severely different outfits from day to day. 

Preppy

Rocker/Stoner

Girly Fashion

Nerdy/Geeky

Normal

Thankfully there are few pictures of those long ago days. Each look of course included make-up and hair. 

I did not act any different each day. I tried to stay open and talk to everyone. I settled in and life went on. 

My family had moved from a large capital city to a one stop light resort town so the high school was not very big. I soon did know a majority of students at least those who I shared immediate grades with.

It has only been in the last few years via Facebook that I heard this report from an old high school friend:

 

"Tosca I remember when you moved to town. Before I knew you I was watching you and trying to figure you out. 

Every day it seemed like you dressed to fit in to a different group. It was curious. I was not sure what kind of people you would best fit with."

Success!