Personal branding has become a future career direction that many people are pursuing. Whether or not you plan to leave corporate employment to become a one-person company, building a personal brand is now essential.
However, after managing this for so many years, I felt somewhat stalled this past year. So in August, I enrolled in the "Personal Brand Empire" course by Yu Weichang (Chang-Ge), hoping to integrate and systematize my years of self-media experience! Through helping others with consultations, I've refined my logic and approach, and discovered five things you need to know if you want to build a personal brand!
- Don't focus on numbers initially—focus on doing what you love
Reflecting back seven years ago when I started writing articles and blogs to express my workplace feelings—these workplace stories unexpectedly inspired others. Back then, I could publish three thousand-word posts daily after work and loved doing it. Just knowing that people were reading and responding satisfied me. This sense of achievement was what kept me updating consistently in those early days, and after six months, I received my first speaking invitation.
- Find a role model and learn from their mindset
Working alone for too long becomes lonely and exhausting. I believe everyone should find at least one role model in their field—like James Clear, Ray Dalio, Simon Sinek, etc. Look at what they've done on the personal branding journey: newsletters, books, website management, and so on. Then persistently move in that direction. You'll gradually adopt their thinking patterns and slowly attract like-minded people to you.
- Create rich life experiences to evolve your brand
Everyone grows and changes—you never stay in the same place forever. If you want your personal brand to continuously evolve, you must actively create rich life experiences to have more stories to share. For example, I previously joined a startup accelerator and experienced the entrepreneur's lifestyle, gaining presentation competition experience I never had before.
- Followers shouldn't just be passing visitors—turn them into dedicated members
Building a personal brand attracts supporters who like, share, and comment on your content. However, in the massive flow of public traffic, there's too much information. If someone only visits once and doesn't remember you or come back regularly, and you don't keep them engaged, they become mere visitors. To maintain continuous interaction, you need to bring them into your private traffic pool. Through hosting events and sending newsletters, turn them into members and have meaningful conversations with your fans.
- Personal brand building is an endless cycle of production and optimization
Many people think that once they succeed, they can relax and coast, but reality is harsh. With ever-evolving technologies like AI and Web3, audience tastes change, platform algorithms change, and the emergence of reels and short-form videos changes content formats. Nobody knows what the future holds, but if you're managing a personal brand or self-media presence, you must continuously optimize all of these. So this path is an endless cycle of production and optimization—what matters most is "passion."
Which of these five points resonates most with you?
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments ^^
