We all have an identity known as branding. We want to be unique and set apart from everyone else. We want people to remember us as individuals in our relationships and our work. It is essential to build your identity as the first step to entrepreneurship. You have to set yourself apart from the world.
I am a nurse. Everyone thinks all nurses are the same. Each nurse has their identity as a particular type of nurse, such as an Emergency Room nurse or an Intensive Care nurse or Operating Room nurse.
With each career, we choose we are setting ourselves apart as individuals.
However, a nurse goes further to personalize their identity and brand themselves with their skills. Each one of us becomes very good at particular things in our field, such as starting IVs or intubating a patient or soothing the angry patient.
When we become competent in a specific area, then our co-workers view us as an authority in our particular skills and seek us out when they need this type of assistance.
So, you see, it doesn’t matter what you do; you will build an identity and brand yourself in your profession and your personal life.
Your Identity As An Entrepreneur
What does it mean to develop your identity as the first step to entrepreneurship?
Precisely what is an entrepreneur?
These two terms entrepreneur and identity branding may be foreign to you, so we will explore each one for a better understanding of who you are in the business world.
Entrepreneur
According to Dictionary.com
An entrepreneur is a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.
In plain English, an Entrepreneur is someone who dreams and believes in an idea and forms a business around it. It can be a risk to put themselves out to the world, but this person is willing to give it their all to develop a passion into a lucrative passive income.
Quotes To Build On
I have listed three quotes by incredibly successful people. But do you think they started where they are now? No, they did not!
Oprah was born poor, sexually abused, and pregnant at 14. Did she allow her identity to be a poor black pregnant girl? Well, you know the answer to that.
“Don’t worry about being successful but work toward being significant, and the success will naturally follow.”
Walt Disney led a different life. He had a dream but had to file bankruptcy more than once. He was rejected 302 times when he was seeking financial backing.
Did Disney identify himself with failure and quit. We all know the answer to that.
“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.”
“I always like to look on the optimistic side of life, but I am realistic enough to know that life is a complex matter. With the laugh comes the tears."
Building Your Identity
We now know an entrepreneur is someone with a dream that does not stop or give up when they face failure.
Now that we have a good understanding of an entrepreneur let’s move onto how to build your identity as the first step to entrepreneurship. Why is this essential?
We established earlier that you have already built a unique identity in your personal life. You are a distinct individual set apart from anyone else. Now you will need to develop a personality or brand for your business.
What are your passions and dreams?
What problems do you want to help the world solve?
Let’s take a look at and learn from 2 iconic companies; Nike and Amazon.
Nike
The Positioning statement of Nike is “For serious athletes, Nike gives confidence that provides the perfect shoe for every sport.”
Founders Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman took their passion and built an identity as the solution to the problem for serious athletes.
They wanted to provide confidence for anyone in sports by providing the perfect shoe.
The identity or branding Phil and Bill gave their business years ago is still in force today. People who buy Nike shoes believe these shoes will solve all of their problems as an athlete.
Nike has set an excellent example of how you can build your identity as the first step to entrepreneurship.
Amazon
Amazon‘s position statement is: “Our vision is to be earth’s most customer-centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.”
Founder Jeff Bezos became an entrepreneur who wanted to serve the customer. Customer service was, first and foremost, the most important thing to Jeff Bezos. So, he built an identity for himself as a customer-centric company — people who go to Amazon trust that they are getting excellent customer service.
Jeff didn’t just become an entrepreneur; he built his passion and identified his business with his passion for serving his customers.
But as of April 2020, Amazon is slashing all of their affiliate commissions, which very well can destroy their identity. To keep a good branding and identity, one has to have integrity and build the trust of their customers. But this is a story for another time.
Quotes by Jeff Bezos
“Make sure you are focused on something you are passionate about.”
“You can’t follow the fashion when starting a business.”
“Pick something that you think is interesting that has real customer value and then stay there and let the wave catch you.”
Nike’s identity or brand is a solution to a footwear problem. Amazon’s identity or brand is a business that offers a solution to excellent customer care and service.
Both entrepreneurs identified themselves with their business and set it apart from the world but in different ways.
Branding can revolve around any part of business, like a product or distribution or the price or the design.
You must solve the problem. Your business must begin with your identity. Then you identify the problem and find a solution. Follow through with this thought process to brand your company.
Critical Point
Choose a passion and brand it with a solution. I want to make this part more transparent.
Learning how to Build Your Identity As The First Step To Entrepreneurship is one of the most critical components. The problem you solve and how you choose to do it will follow, but if you don’t have a clear vision for your company, you will lose sight of why you started it.
You want to build a brand identity people will trust and remember, and you want it to be a part of your passion and heart.
Give your identity and your personality to your business. You have many attributes. To mention a few: you are a socialite, or you like solitude, or you are kind, or you are a problem solver, or you love to help others. Take one of your attributes and use them to identify your company.
Examples
Here is another example from Jeff Bezos. He wants to give excellent customer service. That is a part of his personality of integrity, wanting to help others with kindness. The people he serves are vital to him, and he wanted to give a piece of himself to them.
You want to help people build on their life. This statement is a bit broad, but let’s say you start a company about dog care and products. You want to put your identity in your company.
You wish to convey your passion for pet lovers. Their dog is a part of their family, and you want them to know you care. You want to identify your business as one that wants to help by giving them the best care for a member of their family.
If you started a business selling crock-pots and your passion is “You want to help people build on their life,” you would want to build an identity around that. Your brand identity would be to support family love and help moms/dads spend more time together with their kiddos.
Summary
We have spent a great deal of time on branding. Now it is time to find a passion and figure out what the problem is that you can solve.
Who are you, and how can you put an identity or brand on your business?
Begin with a reliable solution for your customers by building a vision that supports your personality. Give your character to your brand and Build Your Identity As The First Step To Entrepreneurship.
Focus your business around this identity.
1. Find a passion something you love and want to tell the world
2. What are the problems, and how can you solve them?
4. Give your passion a part of your personality and identity
5. Set your business apart from any other entrepreneur
6. Stick to the plan to build your identity as the first step to entrepreneurship
So you are now branded, and your company has a personality. You are an entrepreneur, and it is time to reach the world.
Moreover, Your followers know you care because of the personal identity you have placed on your business. You have built a trusting relationship with the consumer.
You have created a good solid foundation for your business, but are you struggling with traffic or ranking on Google? Do you need help understanding how to get your passionate business off the ground?
I was in the same place you are now 2 years ago. I found a platform called Wealthy Affiliate who taught me everything I needed to know about SEO and ranking.
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What do you think? Have you found your brand and applied it to your business? Do you have questions for me?
I would love to hear from you. Please leave any questions and comments in the comment section below.
Hello Laura! Thank you for this article. I agree with you. I started building my first website a few months ago on a subject that seemed to me to be an excellent first blog idea. Later, I realized that I should have created a website with two main objectives, which are helping people and improving my personal knowledge on it.
Therefore, a few days ago, I decided to create a new website, which is more “me,” talking about what I love the most, and which is related to my career path. I feel much more comfortable with the idea of writing about a passion rather than “an interesting subject,” and I can’t wait to develop my new website. Your article confirmed to me that I made the right decision by focusing on my passion. I will be glad to read more items from you in the future.
Oh, now you have warmed my heart. I am so happy I can be a part of the confirmation on your new site. Be sure to sign up for my email list, and you will get all of the latest posts coming out. I recently released a part 2 course on choosing your niche and another on how to become an entrepreneur.
Here is the first part of a niche. Stay tuned for part 2.
https://resignwithmoney.com/how-to-find-a-business-niche-part-1-mindset/
Having a clear goal would help to focus more on what people truly want, and with that, we can focus more on building an identity for ourselves without having to think twice about it. Your article is truly remarkable to see here. I am a big fan of branding because I know how relevant it is to the success of any business. As you have expounded more on it, you have also broadened my view about it. Thank you so much
Thank you Rodarrick, I truly enjoyed writing this post as it helped to broaden my view also. We have to brand ourselves to our business.
Well, this was a good read. Building an identity for business seems like choosing one of your best qualities and doing business out of it. It is like choosing your methods unique to you and showing that to your audience. Of course, a lot of people want to follow what is working and don’t in any way want to be unique. Although there are areas where this might be a good thing if you’re going to stand out and succeed in the future, you have to do something you feel is unique to you and your business.
Thank you for stopping by. Branding your business is a significant part of success. In my post, I wanted to help affiliate marketers understand what branding is. I believe you have begun to see what branding is.
But remember to brand your business is not an option but imperative. You want to become transparent, and you want to be trusted.
Those are great quotes by great people of our time. As entrepreneurs, we sometimes forget the fundamentals of building a brand and focus solely on the money. I guess it is because we are not prepared to enter the entrepreneurship world and end up starting our businesses on the wrong foot. But it is never to late to build an identity as the business grows. I strongly agree that centering your marketing on finding solutions is a great way to establish identity. Thank you for these insights.
Thank you for your comment. I see that you have a real understanding of what it is to brand your business. I like the way you added that it is never too late to brand your business.
Branding your uniqueness is vital to your business Laura and being the person behind the brand just as important
This post is excellent and will help a lot of visitors learn what to do and how to do this correctly
You rock and I have bookmarked for future visits as you have some real gold nuggets on this site thank you
Oh, Vicki, I am so happy you found this article useful. Branding is one of the most important parts of an online business. And branding it with ourselves helps the public see who we are. Thanks for the bookmark.
Hello Laura and thank you for this amazing and informative article. I appreciate the time and effort you put into it. This is my first time on your website, and let me tell you it definitely won’t be last.
I myself am also an entrepreneur and a blogger. I try also to help people as much as a I can with my blog. I can agree with your point about building your identity. In order to help someone you must first help yourself and see what is your mission. Only then you will be able to actually provide help to others.
Also, loved the 6 keypoints at the end of the article. I think the number 1 is passion and everything else comes into place.
Strahinja
Strahinja,
I am so happy you found my website and have enjoyed this article. It warms my heart to hear you took a way some value and good ideas.
Laura
Hi Laura,
Your explanation of nurses and their different aspects of each job is very interesting. Each nurse is strong in a few areas. This is why it is wise to establish your brand online. Your unique selling point that makes you stand out from your competitors.
I have learned from you and will remember this.
Thanks for sharing!
yes Stella this is a good observation but please remember that a brand is a part of you and not just a selling point. You have to place a part of yourself into your goal and your brand. You have to have a passion to grow and move forward.
Thank you Stella