Everyone at some point in their life was at the bottom of the food chain… but how do you beat time and forge a presence in your industry sector?...
As an aspiring entrepreneur aiming to breach the start-up scene, the first thing to note is that I have a very small position in the market and therefore will struggle to gain any traction when voicing my opinions to the market. So what do I do? …Well, I
need to build credibility and accumulate a following. With this in mind you try and forge some sort of PR generation; whether that be through a blog, Twitter, or some other tool available to you. I have unwittingly been gaining recognition in the payment space
by simply giving my opinion on hot topics that interest me. As a young person in the financial industry you, like me, most probably lack the level of knowledge and expertise of those senior to you, but submerge yourself in the area you wish to break in to
and your opinions suddenly become valid.
Game Theory – ‘In order to give a credible message to somebody you have to be seen to be giving something up in return. There must be an element of risk on your part.’ If you have the chance to help somebody in an area that you happen to know a lot about,
do it! More than likely they will be a source of knowledge on a separate topic that they may wish to impart on you right there and then or in the future. This is another way of building a place in the market; be the ‘go to guy’ because it’s likely to pay off.
Personal branding is sometimes seen as a wooly subject, and to be honest I can understand why. It is often over-engineered and a bit ‘out there.’ Below however, are the logical bite-sized chunks I have personally seen to have an impact when it comes to creating
a personal brand;
- Provide value – do things, don’t just say them, reputation is important
- Differentiate – stand out as an expert in your field
- Build yourself online…
- Pick a topic you love and that’s unique
- Define a mission
- List your skills, talents and experience you have with regards to the topic
- Think of a ‘title’, use this generically across all social platforms to create uniformity
- List five words that define you and use them repeatedly (if people hear it enough times they will believe it)
- Find three meet-ups to attend regularly in order to establish yourself
- Be consistent
By doing all of these simple things you build a timeline of consistency in the subject you are interested in. Although this comes from a slightly entrepreneurial slant the lessons are still effective across the board. Make it hard for the senior guys to
lay the anchor!
“Don’t worry about trying to get to know people, be someone worth knowing.”