 Welkom back. This is why in the morning still. Thank you so much for sticking with us. My name is Ram Aguco. It's a pleasure being with you today on this fine Monday morning. And today we want to have a discussion on personal branding. This is concerning your career on right here on youth and politics. What is personal branding? What is personal branding? What is it that comes into your mind when we talk about branding? How can you ensure that your brand sells you and that it sells your product in a way that makes you stand out from the rest? Today let's talk about personal branding right here on why in the morning. And to help us in this particular discussion I am with the one and the only George C. Miu. He is an author, a professional speaker and a HR expert. Garibusana George. Santisana Mr. How are you doing my brother? I'm doing well. I know it's been a long time since we had a discussion here. But we thank God at least again today we're meeting. Let's first of all start with personal branding's definition. When you talk about personal branding, how do you define it in a nutshell? There are so many ways to define this term but if you just look at it, it is personal branding. So you just need to understand that when you talk about personal, these are attributes that are unique to you. Then when you talk about branding is now how do you package those attributes and maybe in this marketplace and sell yourself out? Yeah. The thing that is unique to you? Yes, that's why you call it personal branding. People can copy past ideas. That's true. But is it possible for you to stand out with that, could be past that idea as an individual? When it comes to personal branding, I think it's very much important for you to be unique and authentic. And one of the things that people are struggling with today is trying to be some people whom they are not like Oscar Wilde puts it this way that be yourself, everyone is taken. So one of the things people are really trying to lose it is we begin by trying to be so and so. I want to be like Ram, but I want to be Ram. I cannot be you. I can just be the best version of myself. So when it comes to this personal branding, you really have to understand that you have one to identify rather than know yourself. Like you as Ram, know who is Ram in terms of what are your attributes. And these are the very things now you package and now sell it out to the market. What makes you stand out? Yes. That's what makes you unique. What makes you unique? Yes. See me, I'm thinking. So many people always look up to someone. We all have that person that we look up to. That's true. That mentor that we see every day and want to emulate. Is it okay to want to be like someone? I remember you've mentioned that a few moments ago. Is it okay to want to be like someone? You admire them. You admire how they walk, how they talk, how they handle issues concerning life, how they handle matters. You admire how they dress, how they think. You admire their career path. And some go to the point of doing courses that are in line with our mentor's career path. Is it okay to admire someone and to want to emulate them? Well, it's okay to admire but not to be like them. Not to be them. I don't know if you get me. I can be admiring who you are, but I don't want to be you. Don't be a copy-pasted machine to me. Yes. Like what I just mentioned, everyone passing is taken. So why should I try to be like Ram? I can only just borrow a few things from your life. But I have in the back of my mind that I have to remain to be George. You know, this world is always trying to force us to be like somebody else. Like why don't you be like so and so? Why don't you especially come to these matters of momentum? Even parents tell you be like the son of so and so. You get this. And so along the line you get to lose ourselves because you're trying to be like somebody. And now we lose our brand. And in this world you can't fake something for long. You'll try to fake to be somebody, but after a while then you'll still go back to your default. At some point you'll notice that no, this is not my trajectory. Your nature will just click back for the resettings. So you really, as much as you want to, we have to admire people, that's okay, we have to learn from people, that's okay. But you should not really be like them because you be you. Be you. That's what sets you apart. And that's what now brings in the issues of this brand. So you can pick up tips from them. Yes. Take up ideas. Yes. But customize them in your own. In your own unique way. I cannot speak the way you speak, for example, but maybe I can admire how you listen, how you do things, you get it. I can learn something from it. But now at the time I begin to try to speak like the way you speak, I am losing myself. How far does personal branding go? Are we talking just in terms of career, in terms of businesses? Where is it applicable? Because someone may say, ah, I'm not in business, I don't need a personal brand. Who does it apply to? Allow me to say this, there is always a myth people always think to begin with that personal branding belongs to the celebrities. Like because you ram these big people, people always think that way. And that's wrong, it's something we need to really do away with. So somebody will talk to you and say, I don't think I need to have this personal brand or I need to work on it. But let me say this, whether you know it or you don't know it, you are a brand. Everyone is a brand. Now what makes the difference is how you are marketing, how you're selling your brand, how you're building up your brand. And now that's what differentiates us in the market. Those who work on their brand, they are out there, people can recognize them. You are here because you're a brand, you work on your brand. Yes, so the issue is whether you know it or you don't know it, you're a brand. So and now one you know it, now you keep on working on it. Then also let me just mention this that personal branding is a journey, it's not just an event. When does that journey start? When does that journey start? I mean because I'm looking at the age of the young people that are watching us today, does someone who is in primary have the right of saying that I want to build up my personal brand? Is there a particular age limit when it comes to the start of this journey that you're talking about? And it's just like the very question I can ask you, when does the career begin? Haaa, is it when you graduate from the university or the college? Or when, you know, that's the very question, but now let me just take you back to what you're asking me. When does this start? I love that, I love that. It starts when you realize that it's important in your life because that's when you begin to take it serious. Can a parent help a child to build up a personal brand? Yes. By trying to really make the child understand that there is this thing called personal branding and you really need to be deliberate about it as early as that age. So those parents perhaps they began to be a bit more careful about this personal branding when maybe they are going into entrepreneurship, they are going into careers, you see then they will also think that that is a time when you should start working on this stuff. So you should pick out what your child is interested in from a tender age and help it harness it up and build that brand. I love that. Parents are you hearing that? You're hearing that? It is important. Personal branding starts from the time that you realize the path someone wants to take. Let's talk about now some of these tips. How can we build a personal brand? Because you said it's a journey. That's a journey. You said it applies to everybody. That's true. And we will define what it is. The tips. Now that I know it's a journey. How can I build my brand? All right. Even before I share a few on that, allow me say that this branding thing it can refer to a product. A person like you and me or a service. Okay. Yeah. A person or a service. Or a service. And now you see all these things come in our life at different times. But now let's talk about a person like you and me. But as even you go into that you have to remember that now in this market where you're going in people will come to you because you're a brand. People will value you best on your brand. We call the brand value and something like that. Sometime you attract who you are, some time people think that I'll attract quite a number of say resources. But the brand doesn't really matter. But let me just tell you this, that brand matter. You attract who you are, not what you want. So now this begins to take us back to now this journey of personal branding. You have to begin to develop yourself into what you want. And so what do you do? Number one thing I can just quickly say know yourself. That's where you start the old matter. Identify. Know who you are. And that takes you to the question of who are you. What's your identity? Yes, your identity. Because that's what you're going to sell to the market. That's what people are coming to. People will be interested in. Because they have you looking at someone who is still trying to find out who they are. Yeah, so who are you? Because once you know who you are, you'll know how to market yourself. But if you don't know who you are, most likely you'll get it wrong. You will place your lad on the wrong wall. Then after some time you've climbed up, then you realize no. I should have placed it on this wall. So to begin with know who you are because everyone is taken. The challenge is like what I mentioned when it started. People are trying to be who they are not. We fake it, big time. And there is this belief that fake it till you make it. That does not apply. In personal value throw that out. Who started that to begin with? You know we need to understand the context of that. But what do you want then? Yes, I've had it big time, but I don't believe in that. Be yourself. Because anytime you're going to fake it, you're going to, you know, just look at it this way. Any fake brand in this market does not last for long. That's true. It may seem to be doing well, but after some point the original one will just be coming and people say this is what you want. It's the same thing with branding. How long are you going to fake it? Be yourself, be original. Be yourself, be original, be authentic. The original see me you. Yes, that people know you for who you are. Not what you are trying to be. Wow, wow. So to begin with, be yourself. Be yourself. Find out who you are. Find out who you are. I'm looking at this teenager who is still having this identity crisis. Yes, yes. And knowing thyself becomes a problem. I want us to talk to parents today, Asimio. Yes. Talk to this parent today. How can a parent help their child to throw this journey of self-discovering? Allow me also to say this that self-discovering is a journey. It's not again an event that we just work up today, then you know yourself. When you and me we're still discovering ourselves as we move or rather walk in this genre of life. And... Because even at our age we're still... Yes, there are some things we don't know ourselves. You get surprised, hey, so this is me, you get it. And also this child, you have to be patient with this child. But before you even go into that, it's good for me to mention to you that in this life again you'll notice that there is no recovery without discovery. Until you discover yourself, you never recover anything even if in the life of that child. So you need to discover, okay, what are the things that are good in this child? What is he or she good in as early as that time? Then begin to really push them in that line. Okay. Package them so that as they go on they grow in need, you know you're growing your brand as well. Yeah, you're growing your brand. So we're saying a tip of growing your brand, number one, identify who you are, get your identity. All right, let's get motifs here. So after you've identified yourself? Then you have to really know package yourself. Package. But how you do your things? What do you mean when you say packaging? Personal, I'm calling it personal packaging. We said personal branding just about identifying the unique attributes about yourself, you're a good communicator, you're a journalist and all that. So what happens is you have to package yourself, you went to college, you are gone through internships, many job experiences. You see, it's been packaging yourself to be a brand you encameth to this kind of trajectory. Aha. So you really now begin to realize, so what are some of the areas that can really make me stand out or rather bring out the best of myself? That is still part of packaging yourself. What are some of the market that I should focus on and what is the key thing there that's for a youth? Yeah, go ahead. Then as you do that, something else you need to do when it comes to this journey is be visible. Be visible. Yeah. That's number three, be visible. Yeah, let people know like, drama exists. You know. Okay. Otherwise, how will you know that you are a good journalist? You have to do your stuff and people see. When you say be visible, I want you to be very clear here because now I know somebody that is thinking how far is too far in terms of this aspect of visibility? Are we talking about trending? Because now people do so many things to trend. Are we talking about just making a series of posts every now and again? How far are we talking about here? Let me use this analogy. I don't know how audience will understand it. Somebody puts it. It's like blinking to a girl in darkness. Will you see it? She will not. And so it's the same thing with this. There must be light. There must be light. People have to see it. And so, very importantly, for you to be visible is let people know what you do. Let people identify you with it because that's very much important. As you do that, be consistent when you're doing this stuff because this genre of personal branding, like what I mentioned to you, is it's not an event. Like just happen one day and it's a genre that you have to walk in. So, as you're visible again, people have known what you do, then also be consistent. Let people really don't come to a point of asking themselves, we used to see this guy do this stuff. Where did he disappear to? Be consistent. I'm not saying that it will be easy, sometimes this genre is stuff. Because you know who you are and you're building up. You're building up a brand, it's like any other thing. You know, sometimes people get tired, you lose content. Yes, sometimes you can lose content. You can. I don't know if you found yourself in that position. Big time. You haven't why they're so old, why you post today. But that's it. You have to really think out of the bracket and see what to do. But if again you're in the right trajectory, most likely you'll never get stuck. You'll never get stuck. And anybody can do that. Yes. If you're faking it now, that's when the time come if you realize, hey, I can't proceed. I think now let me change it to something else. But if it was within something that is within your calling, I think you cannot really struggle. Now, when it comes to support, do we have things that we need as individuals that can help us build our brands that we can use? Somebody can, at home, can use to build their brands because now they're saying, I want to do this, but I don't know where to start from. Okay. At home, something that can just really help this person build up a brand? Build a brand, resources that are available for them. Because someone may say, I want someone to buy me a camera. I don't have money to buy a camera. I don't have money to buy a camera. So I cannot build my personal brand. I don't have a family to help me, to support me. So I cannot build a personal brand. Do we have these support systems or resources that can help an individual build a brand? Yes, they are there. They are there. I believe resources are everywhere. You know, you always say that you have to start from somewhere to get somewhere. To get where you want. And that somewhere could be where you are There's a reason why you're there. Yes, people build brand from anywhere. But if you cannot see the opportunities around you, then you'll always think that the other side is better. Or I need this and that. If you really interrogate that, you realize that sometimes we even say you've just mentioned something that somebody may say, maybe I don't have this or that and maybe something that's starting on money. You don't really need money to build up a brand. Yes, it's important, but some of the things you may need, they are not really about it. Like for example, say associations. Association matter when it comes to personal branding. The people you associate with. Your networks. That is important. Do you really need just you to make yourself available and hang out with those people, let them share with you their mind also, share with them what you know, you get that. Because as you know, personal branding or other branding, people can either build or dilute your brand. Thank you so much, George. To the end of this discussion, George, thank you so much for coming. I appreciate your presence. It has been all about mandas consigning personal branding. How can you build your personal brand? And of course I was with George Simu an author and a professional speaker also a HR expert. George, I appreciate it. Thank you, sir. And of course, that ends us to the end of this discussion right here on career talk on this fine Monday morning and your short break will be back with more. My name is Ram Magukko. It has been a pleasure.