I made a list at the beginning of September, we are now mid-September, and I have not checked anything off. I was motivated to start or re-start documenting my corporate journey and sharing. After a few days the motivation vanished as if I never dedicated time to the checklist. As if I didn’t lose sleep over it.

This checklist is a step-by-step road map that will help me pour creativity into my “personal brand” outside of my corporate career. I know about “personal branding” because I have created and molded my personal brand at work. 12 years ago, I decided to invest my time and invent my personal brand at work because I needed a separation of my corporate life and personal life persona. Every change I had in companies, title, and additional responsibility required me to enhance my personal brand.

In my career path, my personal brand was top priority, I discovered that having a strong personal brand was key to success because it provides a framework to how to approach an assigned task or project. Here is the core of my brand at work: responsible, reliable, dark blue, Calibri, resourceful, and insightful. These are my core pillars at work. My work product looks and feels the same. I can quickly create a portfolio to showcase my work, and it will look cohesive.

Now, I would like to build a personal brand outside of work, but it is harder to drill down what I want. At work, it was easy because my personal brand has been aligned with the type of work and the company values. These 2 combined give you a cheat sheet to what to include as your pillars and where to start. Outside of work, the possibilities are endless, and you are the only one holding you accountable, at least in the beginning when you are building your audience.

I keep looking for what will motivate me to stay consistent in this journey. It keeps staring me in the face and I keep ignoring it looking for something different. If I combine staying true to myself and increase the value of having an outlet for creativity this is my cheat sheet. The cheat sheet that will get me through my checklist.