Fake It Till You Make It - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Fake It Till You Make It - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career The old saying is that you need to fake it before you make it. Do you believe this is even possible in the social media world? Between online and offline connections, dont you think that people will end up revealing the real brand you anyways? First impressions, and how people are perceived in general, have changed so much in the past few years, that its harder to promote yourself as a confident person, when someone might video you or greet you in a public situation. If weve learned anything from Mark Zuckerberg, and Gen-Y, its that most people have acceptable the end of privacy on the web. People want their network, or fans, to know what they are doing at all times. We get excited at comments because it shows that people care about them and what they have to say. Not everyone has revealed their true identity though, out of fear, and certain insecurities. The web is a harsh place and you will be judged and ridiculed, whether you like it or not. There are three major concepts you should understand, including paying dues, making it, and faking it till you make it. Below is my analysis of each one and I look forward to your comments. Paying dues Paying dues: Earning the right to something through hard work. A lot of older people tell young people that they havent paid their dues yet, meaning that they havent worked hard enough to earn respect. The respect comes from having a track record of success, doing work that you wouldnt necessary call emotional labor, and work that management passes down. For musicians, this means doing local touring, giving away free CDs and promotional products, in order to build up a large enough fan base that record labels would pay attention. For authors, the situation is quite similar in that you need to build a platform to market your book before you get an offer. For the average worker, paying dues is working long hours, putting in a lot of effort, supporting your manager, in hopes that you will get a promotion or some form of competition. Making it Making it: No longer having to pay dues, reaping the rewards of making more money, with less effort. When someone becomes an executive or a platinum artist or even a bestselling author, we immediately think theyve made it. In this way, we look at them like they cant fail and that they will become massively successful and rich. The problem with this saying is that its an illusion. Im sure youve watched the One Hit Wonders TV program on VH1 before. Just because you feel like youve made it doesnt mean youre set for life by any means. In fact, I believe you have to pay dues for your entire life, at some level, especially if you want to expand your brand and business into new areas. The economy is unpredictable, and organization hierarchies change constantly, which means you   will probably get stuck paying dues learning a new area or job role. Faking it till you make it Faking it till you make it: Pretending that you have confidence to become confident when youre actually successful. People who are in sales typically try and fake it by purchasing luxury cars so that they dont appear poor to their clients. Think about it, if I was trying to sell someone on an investment, and they saw that I drove a Kia, I would lose credibility, even if thats all I could afford. You have to appear rich to mentally convince the customer that what youre selling them will make them rich as well. Is this honest? No, but when youre first starting out, it might be the only way to brand yourself in certain fields. Does everyone have to known that youre faking it? No, but if they find out through a third party, you will lose credibility and there will be negative word-of-mouth spread. Your turn Are you faking it till you make it? What do you think of people who do this?