When you are on the path to becoming the thought leader in your industry, one of the many steps you must take is to make a personal brand attributes list.
This is because an attributes list will make you conscious about your core characteristics that will support your efforts.
By knowing your natural and strongest attributes, you’ll be able to identify the activities that could be more beneficial for your brand.
Keep in mind a personal brand is, in very little words, what people think about you when you’re not present.
If someone asks you: what do you think of X person? What will come to your mind it’s a group of characteristics that define them, good or bad.
You will think of their attributes.
If you want to have a successful personal brand, it’s key to make sure that all of those attributes are positive and influence the people that perceive them.
When you know your attributes beforehand, you can build strategies to highlight them and make sure people receive the information you want them to.
Building a personal brand attributes list it’s also a great way to get to know yourself, your strengths and your weaknesses.
Listing your attributes allows you to differentiate your brand from others: two personal brands can’t be the same because they will reflect different people’s experiences and personalities, and therefore have different attributes.
Everyone has a purpose in life and a unique talent to give to others. And when we blend this unique talent with service to others, we experience the ecstasy and exultation of our own spirit, which is the ultimate goal of all goals.
-Kallam Anji Reddy
In this article you’ll find everything you need to know about a personal brand attributes list and examples to get you inspired to make your own!
Contents
Differences Between Attributes and Skills
When talking about a personal brand attributes list, we might first think about our skills.
Even though they are related, they are definitely not the same.
Attributes are your natural qualities, while skills are the ones you develop through time thanks to work and effort.
Skills are tangible, while attributes are more abstract.
Attributes are your innate abilities, and usually stay within you for years or even your whole life. Skills, on the other hand, can be taught, learnt, and forgotten if not practiced.
Different attributes can help you develop certain skills.
For example, an important skill to have if you want to build a successful personal brand is good and clear communication.
If you are naturally a chatty person, who makes friends easily and knows how to synthesize information, it will be easier to develop your communication skills.
We present the following table with examples:
Read more about attributes and skills right here.
How to Find Your Main Attributes
Finding your main qualities it’s no easy task for anybody.
It requires introspection, analysis and a radical honesty with yourself.
We recommend to do the following:
- Write a list with as many attributes you can think about.
- Ask your friends and family to write their own list about you—without reading yours before, of course.
- Compare the lists.
- Find the common qualities.
- Make a “definite” list.
In order to feel 100% confident on your attributes choice, once you have the definite list, try thinking about specific situations in your life where those attributes have shown.
For some people it might be easier to think about their skills.
If that’s your case, list your skills and identify the attributes you needed in order to develop them.
By thinking about what you have been good at your whole life, you’ll understand why you were ever able to excel at those activities in the first place.
Attributes We Value at Latinpresarios
At Latinpresarios, we have some attributes we value a lot, in our team members and clients.
These are not excluding: all attributes can be special in their own way and these might not be your main qualities—and that’s not bad at all.
However, the attributes we consider to be the most related to our brand and our values, are the following:
- Trustworthy. Being trustworthy means that people can rely on you for different activities, knowledge and tasks. This also usually means people have no big problem opening up with you and being transparent in their conversations when you’re involved.
Being naturally trustworthy can lead you to be a great relationship builder and have good networks.
- Committed. A committed person is someone who always keeps their word and feels genuinely dedicated to certain causes, activities or tasks.
When you are committed with all the activities you get involved with, you have traveled half way down the path to become an organized and responsible person.
- Imaginative. We might link being imaginative with childish behavior, but it’s not! Being imaginative means to have a special eye that sees beyond the obvious and it’s able to identify solutions and opportunities in places where others only perceive problems.
If you work and train your imagination, you will master creativity and be able to solve problems and produce valuable content more easily.
- Integrity. An integral individual is capable of maintaining their moral principles in stressful situations. It also refers to someone “whole”, that takes care of different aspects of their life and career.
By expanding and strengthening your integrity, you will be a better professional with a firm and recognizable work ethic.
Other Attributes
Obviously, there aren’t only four attributes to choose from when making a personal brand!
We have made a list with some:
Benefits of Making a Personal Brand Attributes List
Even though we introduced before why it is important to make an attributes list for your personal brand, it’s important we clarify each of the benefits.
- It gives you ideas to build new strategies.
By knowing your attributes, you will know where to focus your strategies in order to take the most advantage of them and get the best results.
For example, if you’re a talkative person, you know it could be good to give conferences, interviews, and make videos talking about your preferred topics.
- It also shows you your weaknesses.
Everyone has weaknesses! And being aware about them it’s essential to your personal brand strategy.
Whether it is you want to overcome or just control them for the moment, the more aware you are of those “fragilities”, the more conscious you also become of your whole capacity as a professional.
- It clarifies what features you should show the most.
Maybe you’re focusing on a specific characteristic because “it’s good for your niche” or it is “what most of my competitors are doing”.
However, if you’re going to do something, you better do it right and with the best resources you have. When you know your main attributes, you also know what you want people to perceive about you and you become more genuine.
- It gives you ideas of skills you could develop.
As we explained before, attributes and skills are not the same. Chances are you have plenty of attributes you’re not taking full advantage of—just yet.
Once you have your personal brand attributes list, it’s time to analyze them and make sure you’re putting them all to use.
- It shows a new perspective on characteristics you don’t like about yourself.
At the end of the day, strengths and weaknesses are catalogued that way because we want them to. They are just characteristics we have, that we perceive as “good” or “bad”.
Your attribute list is a golden opportunity to try and look with new eyes those aspects you’re not that comfortable with and see opportunities in them rather than obstacles.
For example, maybe you’re an overthinker. This makes you anxious and insecure at times.
However, you are capable of coming up with many different possible scenarios, which can be very beneficial when building strategies, planning events or making a risk-management plan.
Why You Need a Personal Brand Attributes List
A personal brand attributes list can be really useful to have a clearer idea of yourself and what characteristics you should take advantage of in your strategy.
Once you know the difference between attributes and skills, you will be able to trace a map that builds the path to become a better professional.
At the same time, you will become more aware of your own weaknesses, give you ideas of new skills to develop, and new perspectives on your qualities.
When you’re going through this process, always remember this is extremely personal and will answer to your own needs.
At Latinpresarios, we look for your attributes during the discovery process, in which we learn about your goals, resources and other elements you will need to become the thought leader in your industry.
If you want to know more about personal branding and how it can improve your life, you may apply for a free call with us.
Get ready to take the mask off and tell your story!
