Six months ago I achieved a lifelong ambition and became a published author. I've been growing into this new version of myself over the last eighteen months and I’m sure that over the next 5-10 years I will experience further changes to my personal brand. It’s something that every female has to face as they go through life – this changing personal brand.

One of the brand changes that many entrepreneurs go through is the metamorphosis from salaried job to owning your own business. I am not sure if you can prepare mentally for the transition that you experience when you leave corporate life to strike out on your own.

I was working with a client today, an ex-lawyer who is setting up her own business, and now doing something that she loves and is truly passionate about. After our last coaching session I set her some homework, which forced her to face how her professional identity had changed, and the brand she now wanted to outwardly and inwardly portray. In the session today, my client confessed how hard this had been for her. After 20 years of mentally and physically working towards being the best lawyer she could be, it is difficult to emotionally redefine what you are about and what you do.

My client, in her working life, may now be at her most authentic. That still doesn’t make this transition from employee to business ownership quick or easy.

As you go through life, you, often willingly go through large changes of personal brand and identity – child to teenager, student to career professional, singleton to couple, couple to parents. Becoming a parent is perhaps the biggest identity change that you will go through in a life time – but you normally have nine months to prepare for this. The business world moves at such a pace, that you never normally have the luxury of nine months to prepare for a change – you are often expected to make large identity changes at a drop of a hat. A friend of mine is currently retraining as a patent attorney, and has left behind fifteen years of being a scientist. Has she made the full transition to her new corporate identity? I doubt it.

You may be thinking, how do I quickly transition from the old brand to the new brand? I don’t think it is that simple to say you do A, then B, then C and you will be there. I truly believe that the first thing you need to do is acknowledge that your brand is changing and identify what you want it to become. By proactively identifying what you want it to become, you focus your conscious and sub-conscious mind to help you to grow into the new brand. A coach or mentor can also help speed this transition up – particularly as they can help you truly acknowledge where you have been, where you are now and where you need to get to.

Your brand and identity is more than just how you dress, or what you put on your business cards, or e-mail signature – it’s what you feel inside, and how you portray that to the outside world.

A personal brand and identity takes time to build, and truly live and breathe it. I truly believe that it is worth taking the time out to build your own brand and personal identity. In my experience, a strong personal brand and sense of your own identify gives you the inner confidence to go out and achieve truly great things.

Has this post struck an accord with you?

Image courtesy of Deanster1983

Heather Townsend helps professionals achieve business and career success using social media and networking. She is the author of the current best-selling book on networking, ‘The Financial Times Guide To Business Networking’. She regularly blogs at partnership potential and joined up networking