Your Daily Brand

I attended the wedding of some high school friends yesterday.  Their event was beautiful and you could see there personality coming through in all of the details of the decor, the cuisine, the music and the events.  A wedding is a once in a lifetime event to share with all of your dear friends and family.  On this one day you are showing your true personality and expressing yourself without reserve.  You are really figuring out your image and your brand.  It isn't every day that you can hold such a grand event to showcase your tastes, but shouldn't you try to do this in your every day life?

There are many ways to express yourself; through clothing, through the organizations you associate yourself,etc.  But how do you really make someone understand who you are when you meet them briefly, passing at a networking event or in a 30 second elevator ride? How can you really make them see the potential you have?

There are many ways to build your brand through digital tools, such as blogging, twitter, facebook and countless other mediums for sharing your voice.  But to the people who really matter, the people you actually interact with in person, how do you establish this?  I noticed that at the wedding I attended, I was being classified as a school friend.  Purely by my age, and by my assigned table location.  Anyone who didn't know me would automatically be able to strike up conversation about my friend from school days.  Real life does not neatly categorize you so well.  

First impressions are key.  You never know who you will be spending quality time with, and who you will merely see in passing, so making a strong first impression of who you really are could be the most important skill.  First Impressions are my new skill to master.  I am going to work on overcoming my shy side and really letting my true colors shine through.  I challenge you all to do the same, as we all will be moving on to new endeavors as school comes to a close and will be making many first impressions along the way.