I have been fortunate over the past 18 years, with client referrals and organic growth driving my consultancy business. However, over the last 12 months of sharing my weekly #TinaTells on LinkedIn, I’ve come to realise the importance of investing time in building your personal brand.
People buy from people and want to know you’re the best trusted advisor for the job. A strong brand and clear proposition reinforce that trust and hopefully then leads to new business opportunities.
While there’s value in staying within your niche ‘pond’ and honing your expertise, I found that stepping outside and expanding my network was key to unlocking even greater success.
I would recommend networking and attending events that will broaden your thinking or meet a different community of people. For me this could be meeting new agencies; attending subject matter events e.g. on AI or the Future of News or attending CEO talks by the Marketing Society.
As always time is a challenge. When you run your own consultancy, time is money and any time spent outside your ‘pond’ is when you are not earning but believe me, it is worth it. Be selective on the events and meetings that you want to attend. Maybe put some criteria in place but think about putting yourself outside your comfort zone to attend an event that you wouldn’t normally attend.
From breaking free from your ‘pond’ these events and meeting new people will hopefully help you to gain fresh and different insights from the ‘pond’ that you are in that may challenge you, which could lead to better outcomes for you and your clients.
Define how different and challenged you want to be. You want to enjoy the challenge after all. But the event that you are dreading and went to anyway will probably be the most interesting and beneficial one to attend.